Posted by: Amy @ 3:55 pm
Rev. Lonna Lynn Higgs has been appointed by Bishop Will Willimon to be the new Chaplain of the United Methodist Children’s Home starting in June, 2010. She is a fifth-generation United Methodist pastor and is currently serving as Pastor of Hoover First United Methodist Church in Hoover,
United Methodist Children’s Home President and CEO Steven R. Hubbard says, “We welcome Rev. Higgs to this extension ministry. As our Chaplain, she will serve as a member of our Leadership Team and be responsible for all areas of spiritual growth as it relates to the children and families we serve as well as our staff.”
Rev. Higgs says, “What a privilege to join the Children’s Home Leadership Team as a new era of ministry begins! I look forward to ministry as Chaplain for a diverse and widespread community of children, youth, and staff.”
Rev. Higgs is a graduate of
Rev. Higgs says, “In addition to my first love - ministry with children, I enjoy shaping worship experiences that blend contemporary and traditional elements, interactive teaching, and helping persons of all ages become aware of the connections between mental, physical, and spiritual health.”
Rev. Higgs’ husband, Rev. Lawton Higgs, Jr., is the pastor at
Please join us in welcoming Rev. Higgs to our United Methodist Children’s Home family.
“Chaplain’s Corner” is a regular feature written by the Children’s Home chaplain, Rev. LuAnne Wages-Smith
Take a moment and think back. Do you remember your first day of school? How old were you? Did you know what was going on?
It can be very confusing especially for the little ones. My family has the story of my Uncle Vernon who lived right down the street from his school. On his very first day of school he came home three times–at recess, at lunch, and at snack time. He told his mother, “they let me out.” Of course his mother kept taking him back to school.
But in the afternoon once school was over he didn’t come home with all the other children. When my grandmother–we called her “Mama”–arrived at the school, she found him sitting on the steps, dwarfed by the bigness of the building. When asked why he hadn’t come home he said, “Well, every time I come home you bring me back!”
It isn’t just the little ones, though, who get scared and confused that very first day of school. Several of our children graduated from high school last year, or received their GED, and many of them began college in August. But their stories are different.
Like my family, these children also buy new school clothes, get school supplies, go to orientation and then come back and pack their bags. But they don’t spend hours deciding what they want to take to college on that first day. They must take everything they have.
For most college students this is a wonderful and exciting time. They are finally on their own. But for our kids it’s just one more time to start over! This one more time, they will have a new place to hang their clothes, brush their teeth, and a new place to sleep. In most cases they will also have a new roommate–probably one they have never met and did not get to choose.
They won’t ever go back and sleep in their childhood beds again. All of that, and all those they knew are behind them, and they truly are on their own.
I stopped by to deliver some school supplies to one of our college students, and asked if they had eaten. My plans were to take them to lunch somewhere of their choice. My agenda was to let them know that they are not alone, and that we still love them.
What I discovered was that they had eaten in the cafeteria the day before, but it was so big, and they had decided to just cook some noodles and not go back that day. It was just so big and they were all alone.
But they are not alone!!!! Not now and not ever. Their name is written on the palm of God’s hand right next to our names, and our last names are “Christian,” or “Christ’s own,” and WE ARE FAMILY!!!!
I will go back and take others with me. We will invite the director of the school’s Wesley Foundation to join us for supper. We want this student–all of our students–to know that our United Methodist family is still their family.
Namasté and Shalom
LuAnne
Posted by: Jill @ 1:23 pm
“Chaplain’s Corner” is a regular feature written by the Children’s Home chaplain, Rev. LuAnne Wages-Smith
If you have a few minutes, I have a survey I would like for you to take.
Don’t you just hate conversations or phone calls that begin that way? Well, if you do have a few minutes I would like for you to think about a few things with me, and maybe even answer a few questions.
Think back over your life. Ok, how many times have you moved? If I asked you to envision your childhood bedroom would you have a lot to choose from or just one to remember? As a child did you ever live with anyone who was not a family member?
When you think back over your childhood would you say you knew you were loved? At Christmas time were you ever afraid Santa couldn’t find you? And one more—when you saw pictures of Jesus with the children, were you the one in his lap or the one at the back of the crowd?
For many of the children and youth who come through our doors these are very painful questions. They have moved so many times and have lived with different families and in different settings. Their pictures aren’t on anyone’s dresser, and they are only 5 or 8 or 10 years old.
There was a family we serve that had three siblings. The youngest was 8 years of age, and they had been in 12 different places—sometimes together and other times apart. They would always tell each other goodbye whenever they went different places for fear that they would not see each other again. They live their lives as constant visitors, always searching for home and having no idea where to find it.
As their chaplain, I have learned, through the pain in their eyes, about a life where you make your own way, protect yourself with a hard shell around you, don’t hope and never allow yourself to love. They become self centered, angry and violent at times, and will tell you that they don’t need anybody in their lives—that they are fine by themselves. They are very believable until you look into their eyes. The emptiness you find stops you cold.
The message that I share with them is very simple and gentle…
“God has your name written on the palm of His hand. You are a biological child of God, not a foster child, and nothing can ever change that fact. And one more thing—Jesus’ greatest desire is to hold you in his lap, where you belong.”
Namasté and Shalom
(Namasté means, “The Christ in me recognizes the Christ in you.”)