All Saints Episcopal Church, Hilton Head Island, SC
June 25, 2004
A member of the staff, Jeannie Holman, our Youth Director, has underscored to me the importance of paying attention to your heart, God’s imperceptible voice, and the power of faith. Jeannie announced recently that she would be leaving her position as youth director and pursue her desire to return to teaching in an academic setting. Very secure in her current ministry at All Saints, in the midst of continuing to build a strong youth program, nurturing Marie LaVigne as an intern assistant over the last year, Jeannie also paid attention to the small and often minute urgings of the heart and spirit.
Blessed with young Jordan in her life, and in the arduous process of adopting this wonderful young boy, Jeannie is positively optimistic and clearly has her feet firmly on the ground. Given all the security and positives of her current life, she has chosen to set the parameters of her life and faith out into the unknown. She takes on this journey a fierce devotion and love for Jordan, a desire to work with children, a wish to stay and continue to live in the Hilton Head area, and probably more importantly a deep desire to honor her life and God’s place in her life. For many years her sense of “call” was to youth ministry, and Jeannie is a person of faith that places the context of her life and vocation as a “call”; that there is a real ongoing connection between the path of her life, the decisions she must make, and the use of her gifts and talents, with a living God, in concert with her.
There is something very courageous about a person willing and able to listen to the urgings of the heart and the spirit; to be sensitive to the interior of their lives that often seem to defy the logic of the world. Abraham comes to mind, not to mention Noah and Moses, and we cannot forget Ruth and Mary the mother of our Lord, to name a few, who listened to the whispers of the Spirit of God urging them to go beyond the well defined landscape of their lives.
Jeannie desires to honor God with her life and vocation. I believe she is willing to step out into the unknown, even to be tested both outwardly and inwardly to move in a direction that is right with her. For any of us who have ever faced the fork in the road, or those seemingly monumental decisions about the heart, movement occurs not so much with meticulous planning and hard facts as it does with the quiet urgings, prayers that develop into conversations with God, a heart and soul willing to move beyond familiar ground, and a deep desire to find our place at the table of life.
For some things in life that are important, very important, we are willing to forsake the easy solution, live in disturbing silence, even the uncomfortableness of lack of answers to discover what we are looking for.
Jeannie is on that journey; indeed all of us are at points along that sacred path.
For the youth who have benefited from her caring and thoughtful ministry, Jeannie will be sorely missed and yet for years to come they will have moments where they will thank Jeannie for her love and faith. Parents of youth will continue to see and witness expressions of faith that found fertile ground through the insight and persistence of Jeannie. Above all, we have witnessed a servant of Christ whose purpose was to equip and strengthen, encourage and reveal the tremendous faith of our youth. As Jeannie moves forward to honor her continued call to serve, the foundation has been laid for her to find and affirm her own journeys of faith. In the spirit of Jesus Christ, we are forever grateful for Jeannie and her willingness to share her servant ministry.
Jim Moore gave a most thoughtful
Memorial Day address
just a few weeks ago. He was kind enough to grant us permission to
reproduce it here.
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