Nov 1, 2020
Young Adult Page
By Melissa Brown
Texarkana SDB Church
The other day in my Music Theory 4 class, my professor was going over the parts of a sonata form. He was explaining that the first part of the sonata form is repeated in the last part without changing it much. That repeated section is called a “recapitulation.” The descriptions of the sections made sense and I was learning how to differentiate them. Then out of nowhere, my professor referred to the portion I knew as a recapitulation with the term “recap.” I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that I had gone almost 21 years without realizing that recap was short for anything. Thinking back through my experiences with that word in TV shows, books, and conversations while replacing it with “recapitulate” was an odd task.
However, now that I know what it means, I can give a recapitulation of my time with Summer Christian Service Corps (SCSC). Through the spring, I completed pre-training assignments on videos and articles about missions. At first glance, I already knew much of the information that was offered in those materials. With prayer, focus, and time, I had small realizations about God’s character and love for the world. Then there was the week of intensive training. As many of us have experienced by now, hours of video calls can be difficult and tiring. Yet those days proved to be precious. It was awesome to meet and get to know everyone a little better during that week and through the summer. Since this was my third time going through SCSC training, it would have been easy to check out and decide that I already knew it all. But once again, my heavenly Father guided me to see the topics from new perspectives.
This summer, SCSC students created projects for their home churches and were encouraged to serve churches across the Conference through technology. I’m not proud to admit it, but when I found out that I would be serving in my home church rather than going somewhere new, I was disappointed. I was excited for new connections and ways to serve, but didn’t expect those from where I was. Just like I thought I knew all there was to the word “recap,” I didn’t predict the deeper connections and ways I could grow in that familiar place. I had the opportunity to strengthen relationships with my church and community and take on new leadership roles. Some of the projects I was able to be a part of in Texarkana included organizing a physically-distanced Backyard VBS for our community, visiting the homebound, and helping lead worship music. I was able to serve using technology by visiting a youth group in Rhode Island through video-call, assisting in my church’s live streaming, scheduling Facebook posts for the Helping Hand, and editing the video service the SCSC students put together. In each of these tasks I found avenues of discovering more about God.
Sometimes we look for earth-shattering revelations that have not been unveiled by anyone else before when we should be working on the “basics,” our connection with God. Psalm 105:4 (ESV) says, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” Maybe you feel like you are stuck in a familiar place with no chance to grow. Or maybe your church is doing a Bible study on a book you read last month! Be open to getting a deeper understanding of what you think you already know—we can all use a recap.
