Actually i have a lot of material to blog about but damn I'm either too tired, or too stressed or too lazy. Okay mostly just lazy. The other 2 reasons were added in so I don't sound like a lazytart.
Anyway, what i wanna blog about today is about ED.
Okay it's actually not because of the fact that i just had ED practice today but it's been something that I wanted to blog about for the longest time.
For starters, I just wanna say that one of the stuff that i'm
grateful for this year is actually being in ED.
It's always a very
comforting feeling to know that on every thursday, i'm gonna be around this group of people who are funny, dedicated and usually on this one-track mind to serving God.
It's really a huge difference being in ED where people are given this opportunity to serve and this opportunity to do things that are pretty much very enjoyable.
I like to sing. I like to make fun of people. I like to sing
out of tune sometimes in the company of my friends. I like to explore new ideas and innovative ways to reach out to teens. I like to be in the company of friends who won't judge me. I like to know that making mistakes is fine and I won't be criticized way past the point of being just plain rude. I like to serve without obligation. I like to fellowship with people who likes to do the same things as me.
Being in ED is literally being in another family. Just a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more fun.
It's something I look forward to every thursday and it's something i'll miss when we are on a break.
We pray before every practice and after every practice. We pray when we are doing any session. We pray after we finish our session. Our debrief session are always very comforting and very non-pressurizing. There's never any weird expectation being placed on any of us and yet we always strive to do it for the teens.
We work as a team but we don't work for the team. We work for those whom we're trying to reach out to.
It's just something that is very uncommon.
The advisors in ED are not working
with their title. Our advisors
do not need the titles to work. They are given the mandate to advise but they've never worked by the mandate nor work with the authority but rather just work as fellow Catholics. They
do not seek to hoard power nor do they seek to overpower anyone. It's something very uncommon even in our church itself. I've really learnt a lot from them all because it's a very different story from the many youth ministries I've been in. When our advisors do not seek power, they are in fact, being given more autonomy. When our advisors do no seek a manner of reproach, we all learn even more harmoniously.
Our president do not work by his title, rather he is just working together with everyone else without seeking that additional bit of authority. That's a president rarely seen. That's a president i'll love to work with.
I guess that is due to the different elements of this particular youth group that i am in.
Everyone in ED is a "someone". There isn't any need for anyone of us to deal with potentially very destructive conflicts that deals primarily with ego and the need to assert one's authority. There isn't a single one in ED who has issues dealing with this whole lot of
bullshit I call "power struggle". Once again, it's very uncommon. We try our best to listen to each and single one of us. There's never statements like " I'm so and so and thus you should listen to my way of thinking" or "I'm better and more senior than you so you should listen to me". NONE ! Not one bit !
In ED, there is no "advisors", there is no "leader", there is no "constitution", there is no "core team". ED has no "fundamentals" and ED has no "youth leader retreat". But ED worked better than many youth groups with the proper structure and hierarchy.
You can't say that ED has different dynamics and different structure that accounts for what it is right now. Rather, I say that ED IS the structure. ED IS the dynamics that made it possible.
It's something i'm very grateful for. It's certainly very refreshing. It's not one bit like those i came from. In fact, i'm so surprised by it that I even tried to seek out the "undercurrents" of ED. Just to see if there's anything fishy that i should take note of.
I enjoy being in ED. I enjoy how we don't see the need to serve the ego of our minds. I enjoy how we direct most of our energy towards being better so that the confirmands in RC can benefit more. I enjoy how our core team members and our advisors do not seek to hoard power. I enjoy how there's no "power hunger" in us. I enjoy how we don't undercut each other but listen to all. I enjoy how it's such a breath of new air when i entered ED from other ministries. I enjoy how we are called to serve and we, in fact, serve. I enjoy how we don't work against each other but to look beyond what we can achieve for those whom we are serving.
I guess there'll definitely be people who will not agree with me and can recount the many times ED has been embroiled in many conflicts and many power struggle. All i can say is that I have no idea because I only just joined ED last year and I can't account for much. As far as I've been in ED, it has been pretty much non-self-serving but rather seeks very actively on it's one track path true to it's aim, it's goal and the reason for it's formation. I'm
proud it turned out this way. I can't say the same for the years that I've not been in ED and
i'm not sweeping them under the rugs but even if they are true, then at least i can safely say that ED is no longer that way but it's pointing true north right now. It's pointing towards God. Our leader our absolute.
It's an atmosphere of familiarity and love. It's something I hold dear to my heart despite being one of the youngest member.
It's fresh air indeed.
