Why this summer?

Elizabeth Troyer-Miller here with a few reflections . Recently I have been fumbling with the question of "why this summer? why this trip?". I am leaving a job I love, a place I have come to see as home, and at times I feel as though I am disrupting every pattern the culture I live in tells me is normal. So why?-I have no simple answer.
I am excited to learn from others. Excited to renew with myself and with others the joy that comes when we are in deep relationship with the God of love. Our God who seeks peace and reconciliation not just among warring parties but in our communities of faith. Our God who invites us to work along side God's mission as we together build God's Kingdom today. I look forward to learning from other congregations how they are doing this, and how we can support each other in that mission.
In my faith journey I have been inspired by the way Jesus invites us to follow him, this is not just in word but in deed. This invitation challenges me to disrupt the patterns in which our cultures leads and to live a different way, God's way. I am excited to learn where this journey has taken others, how God has transformed their relationships to their neighbors, their enemies and the strangers in their communities.