What’s Going to Draw Us Closer?

Our text at this past week’s worship service was James 1:19-27 which is a familiar part of James.  Verse 22 says, “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

It’s a passage that is lifted up in a lot of Protestant congregations and we looked at it in particular leading up to today, Ash Wednesday.

Last week I had the honor and joy to speak at a conference for young adults in ministry.  Relevance LEAD was a great time of talking with other pastors and lay people in ministry that were my age, to dream about the possibilities and life of the church, and to share in friendship, community building and collegiality.  It was a special time.  And something completely different than a typical conference as the speakers were part of the conference just like everyone else and we all have a vested interest in sharing these ideas and musings.

I liked that it was set up to dream big dreams and engage but there was another part of me that kept itching for the nuts and bolts, what would happen when the rubber hits the road.  Each person was wrestling with similar things and were living out their faith and that of their community in mighty ways, but it still begged the question of what this means for our greater church.  I felt a bit like James – let’s not just talk about this and know that we all feel in similar ways, but let’s do it.

It’s all well and good to talk the big talk, but if we go back home from this conference and it doesn’t change how we think or how we do things, if we don’t take away friendships that will continue as we journey together, if we don’t actually begin the first steps of these big dreams – what’s the point?  It’s good to know that you’re not alone, but if we stay completely in the theoretical, than it can sometimes just be hot air and words.

Just like this Lenten season.  I’ve heard students buzzing about what they’re giving up for Lent and that seems like the big question of the next couple of days.  I admit, I didn’t grow up with a huge emphasis on giving things up or adding things to my life and I didn’t really do it until college.  One of those years I gave up popcorn, which was my current obsession.  The next year, I gave up M&M Mcflurries.  Now that was all well and good and I think I could rationalize them as a step to be healthy but even that would be a stretch with all of the rest of the junk I eat.

You see, it’s not just about what we give up or add – it’s about whether those things draw us closer to God.  Several of our students have talked about giving up facebook.  One is giving up three hours a day with her phone – not just class time or when she’s asleep, but three hours where she won’t be checking it all the time.  She plans on this being time where she can draw closer to God.  Another student has covenanted to intentionally pray three times a day for the season of Lent.  If you’re just giving up chocolate or ice cream or coffee for the heck of it and it’s not something that’s drawing you closer to God – what’s the point?  I get the idea of sacrifice but I also think if we just do the sacrifice and we’re not adding things like reading scripture, doing a daily devotion, writing down things that we’re thankful for, renewing an old friendship, sending words of encouragement to friends, or walking in the outdoors with God in nature – than we’re fooling ourselves into thinking that we have this thing covered.  It’s not about choosing something so that if someone asks us about it – we can give a ready made answer, but choosing something because we have invited the Holy Spirit into our lives and have opened ourselves to see the areas that we might need to work on.

One of the students Monday night after worship described it as a giant Pinterest board where you’ve “pinned” all these different things and they look nice and easy and like things that you would like to do “one day,” but you never actually get around to doing them.  James is saying – do it now.  Lent is calling us forth to realizing that yes we are dust and to dust we will return, but in the meantime let us draw close to God and walk this road.

My brother Josh is doing a Lenten series called “Holy Walkabout” and I love the idea of Lent being this special time where we’re walking with God into the wilderness.  We don’t always know what we’re going to discover or the ways that God will reveal God’s self.  We don’t always know what areas we need to work on in our lives because I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty good rationalizer.  I would say that I’m exceptional when it comes to finding ways to eat junk food.  It defeats the purpose of Lent for me to negotiate back and forth if this counts or if that counts.  Because when we open ourselves to the Spirit’s leading and we actually go all in with this thing, we realize that it’s not just about us or having something to say when people ask, but it’s about wanting to be part of this larger story of God’s love and grace for us and how we can best live that out so that the world may know God.

So are you going to keep pinning the things that you want to do on a giant to do list to do eventually or you going to actually start chipping away at some of these possibilities right now?

God’s not going to hand out gold stars for those that participate and unsmiley faces for those that don’t.  It’s not about that.  But it is about deepening that relationship and trusting that real change, habitual change can take place in 40 days.

So think about it…ask the Holy Spirit to come and guide you…what are some ways you can draw close to God this Lenten season?  What are some things that hinder or road block your relationship?  What are some ways that we can intentionally live out our faith right now?

Dig in.

 

Oh so tempting…

What are some things that tempt you?

A good book?  Your bed in the morning?  A delicious chocolate cake?  That cute new skirt, shoes, or outfit?  That car you’ve been drooling over?  How about the latest smart phone or tablet?

We are all tempted by something or another.  Whether it’s to slough off our responsibilities and have a day all to ourselves or to use that person’s test or project to get a better grade or to get back in that relationship that we know is harmful to us – we know when we’re doing things that we shouldn’t do.

The lovely wikipedia describes temptation as – “A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt), health, economic, etc. Temptation also describes the coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation or otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss.”

For me temptation often has to do with some handy dandy rationalization.  For example, that Valentine’s version of the Reese’s cup is not nearly as big as a regular one….well, you can’t just have one….it has peanut butter and peanut butter is protein….maybe I can just count this as dinner….there has to be something else to go with that peanut butter and chocolate taste….strawberry laffy taffy would be perfect with that….oh boy, why did I just eat all of that?  But they sure were good!  At least at the time.  You can ask just about anyone that has been to Steak and Shake or Cookout with me.  I love the cookies and cream milk shake that I’ve ordered and I try to eat as much as I can of it, but by the time we’re on Cherry Road, making our way back to campus, I’m already saying – oh my goodness – why did I just eat that?  For that momentary bit of satisfaction, it can be an afternoon of yuck.

Withstanding temptation is not something that comes naturally to us in my estimation.  There’s something about human nature that wants to “just do it” as Nike used to say or wants to just go with it and face the music later.  I think we could each name times that we have been tempted by both big and small things?  I think we can each point to times when we’ve resisted that temptation as well as times when we didn’t.

One of the critical things in the text is that James is telling us very clearly that these temptations are not put before us by God.  God doesn’t go around throwing booby traps trying to play “Gotcha” with us.  It’s not some big Hunger Games where  things are made more and more challenging with no thought or care to your well-being but to make a good drama.  One – God’s not out to get us.  Two – I think we do a pretty good job of “getting” our self.  I don’t know about you but I do a decent job of enticing myself.  So when that temptation happens – it’s all on me to make the decision – yay or nay.  There are always going to be people or things around us offering us different choices or opportunities.  There are always going to be situations that arise where there are multiple paths.  It’s our choice the road we take and we deal with the consequences.

Below is a song that I’m a bit obsessed with right now – it’s been on Glee, Gossip Girl and Chuck in the past month.  And it’s one of those songs that is fun to jam to.  It’s also a song that to me talks about that whole balance of seizing the day and being young and rocking your life as well as the havoc and consequences that can come from that.  Sometimes it would be nice to destroy a bar and cause some destruction…but it also talks about the importance of community.  Sometimes it’s a community that loves us that can keep us from that temptation.  Sometimes it’s those that “can take us home” that give us the perspective and the truth that we need, to get it.  A life of enduring temptation is not a boring one.  It’s anything but normal.  And we don’t have to do it alone.  We’ve got a whole body of friends, a whole community of folks ready to carry us home and sings our own song right back to us in profoundly humbling ways.

That’s the cool thing though.  Even when we completely screw up and we’ve succumbed to temptation and we’re in the land of regret and consequences, we have people that support us.  We also have an amazing God that goes with us.  That doesn’t mean that God wipes away all the consequences or that it’s like some magic snap of the hands and things go back to normal, but it does mean that we’re not alone and there’s One that can give us strength and peace and perseverance as we continue on the journey.  That there are people who love and support us and who “have our back” and want us to succeed.

God is not this giant puppet master in the sky laughing at us as God makes life difficult – a la the producer in The Truman Show causing the great storms of life – God is the one who gives us blessings on the journey.  Every good and perfect gift comes from God.  The crud of life comes from sin in the world, the general decay of the world, our own poor choices or bad decisions, but the good of life comes directly from the God that creates, loves and sustains us.  And somehow in this giant mess of a life that we have created by our actions and choices, God reaches in and continues to breathe anew and afresh filling in the cracks and offering new possibilities for hope and a future.

So when are some times that you have been tempted?  How did that work out for you?  When is a time you resisted temptation and a time that you knew you shouldn’t but you did it any way?  Have there been times when we’ve blamed God for our own decisions?  Are there times when it’s easier to place the blame and responsibility elsewhere than actually have to own up to our part of the story?  How much does God love us?  How does God seek to be in relationship with us?  What are some gifts that God has given to us?

 

Underdogs & Favor

Sometimes I jive with the “header” that the Bible gives for each section and sometimes I think it may simplify too much, but see what you think.  Our section for today, James 1:9-11 is titled “Poverty and Riches” in my lovely NRSV bible.  And here’s what it says.

“Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.  It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.”

Every now and then, I like to hear what Peterson’s The Message has to say about things, so here’s that if you’re curious.

“When down-and-outers get a break, cheer!  And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer!  Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it.  You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers.  Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem.  Well, that’s a picture of the ‘prosperous life.’  At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing.”

I read these and I think that I’m reading some sort of Proverb or fortune cookie saying.  Let’s get excited about the under dog getting a boost, and let’s not be surprised when one who is successful ends up flaming out.

What does that teach us?  When we’re the lowly person, may we trust that God will raise us up and that our suffering or frustration is just for the present, but that as we are on the rise may we give Glory to God?  We shouldn’t see other people’s success as the be all and end all and we shouldn’t rest all of our hopes on a certain formula or model, because life is always changing and what the world sees on the outside as a prosperous life could wither and blow away pretty quickly?

I can’t help but think of our presidential candidates and what has happened this primary season.  When the little one, the one without the establishment, the one who hasn’t spent thousands of dollars per vote seems to be on the rise, there’s the person in many of us that wants to cheer.  If you don’t have a team to cheer for on Super Bowl Sunday, some of us will then choose to cheer for whoever the underdog is because sometimes you want to cheer on the team that has to go up against all odds to win.

When I was working at Emory in Religious Life, we had this ministry of hospitality on the Clairmont campus where we worked with a lot of graduate students, many of whom were international students who didn’t always understand all of the crazy sayings we have around here.  In 2004 when the Yankees and Red Sox were playing there were many of us cheering on the Red Sox – defeat of the curse and all that – and in explaining to Goh one of our students about it, I said that the Red Sox were the underdog.  I wasn’t getting into salaries and owners or stats or anything like that, but just the whole underdog thing.  Goh asked what being the underdog meant.  Where do we come up with these sayings?  We had a group on Fridays at lunch time with international students and they would ask about these sorts of phrases all the time, and it repeatedly stumped me the crazy things we say when we don’t even realize it.  Anyway, in my own silly way, I tried to explain what this meant and said that maybe it meant that something even lower than a dog – like someone that has no chance….heck I can’t even come up with a plausible explanation right now.  And I like dogs.  Anyway, the wikipedia definition is “a participant in a fight, conflict, or game who is not expected to win.”  We root for the Tiny Tim’s or the Rue’s from The Hunger Games or the nerd or ugly duckling that grows into someone smart and confident and okay.

See that’s the thing with James.  James is not often telling us things we don’t know.  James is giving imperatives, yes.  He’s not giving wiggle room, but commands.  And he’s talking about things that we see every day – our present realities.  The things that we say we believe as Christians in words but sometimes we don’t live out by our actions.

I think sometimes it’s easy to pull for the underdogs, but it’s harder for us to think about pulling for them if we feel like they’re taking our spot.  Does that make sense?  It was sorority recruitment on Winthrop’s campus this weekend and with that comes a whole lot of estrogen and parties and people trying to figure where they fit and measure up both as individuals and as groups.  There is a lot about this weekend I love – meeting new people, getting out of your comfort zone, people finding a community to belong to, all of the excitement.  There’s also a lot of things that I don’t really like – the feeling that everything is being watched and judged, that some girls don’t get to go to the group that they want, that people are basically making choices and trying to figure out which sorority is the “best” and that everyone than goes around saying that they’re the “best.”  Ugh.  And it’s not that some of the larger sororities don’t want some of the smaller ones to do they will, they do.  But if we’re honest, I think that only goes so far.  They want them to do well, but only to a certain point – the certain point where it would than tip and the roles were reversed.

So maybe we pull for the underdog, unless we’re the one trying to be toppled?  We pull for the underdog when the stakes aren’t our own but they’re someone else’s?  We pull for the underdog when we can get self-righteous about the injustice, but we don’t actually have to change our priorities or take any responsibility for it ourselves?

Or maybe that’s just me?  Or what I see as human nature?

To me it gets at this current popular phenomenon of people talking about “favor.”  That if things are going well and if God has made something successful that it must means God’s favor rests upon you.  Now I am all about counting our blessings and being thankful and I believe that God offers grace, goodness, mercy and love to us all.  I am a little uncomfortable though using words like “favor” because to me it automatically assumes that there are some people not in God’s favor (which I’m sure there are, but I think we would each point fingers to different people or sets of people with the assumption of who those might be) and it assumes that for those that are going through some cruddy things whether loss of a job, divorce, cancer, a yucktacular semester, a bad breakup, whatever – that they’re not in God’s favor.

This passage is telling us, yes, let those believers that are lowly boast in God raising us up and give that glory to God.  Yes, say that we are thankful and give the shout outs not just running through an Academy Award speech but for real in our actions, not just our words.  But it’s also saying that we shouldn’t look at that Mr. or Ms. Successful and try to emulate and do absolutely everything that they have done for success, because in the midst of their success, they will eventually wither away.  For some their 15 minutes of fame may be up.  For others they looked like they had it all together only to let their pride come before a huge fall.  This isn’t telling the rich and the successful that they are wrong or bad or terrible people – but that their hope and their joy and their life should not rest upon these things that are fleeting, but only on God.

If our hope and our strength and the very essence of who we are rooted in God and Christ are in our hearts than labels of lowly and rich don’t quite seem to matter as much.  It doesn’t become all about who is being raised up and who is withering away, because that’s not the point.  No matter what is happening in the here and now, we each have been called by name by God, breathed into by the Holy Spirit, saved by the love of Christ and are wading in the midst of God’s favor, not based on our success but as we walk the talk as children of God.

So what do you think?  What does it mean to you for the lowly to be raised up?  How does that make you feel?  What do you think about the rich being brought low and in the midst of a busy life withering away?  What are ways that we can stand firm with deep roots when the sun rises and the scorching heat comes?  Do we relate to the last bit of verse 11, “in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away”?  How are we ordering our life that we don’t just spend it running around like contestants on The Apprentice trying to make sure we’re doing what we can to get ahead?  What has struck you about James the most so far?  What do you think about this idea of “favor”?  What does that look like for you?

Next week:  James 1:12-18

James, James, James…

Last semester during our worship and sharing times we looked at the book of Romans.  This semester we’re looking at the book of James.  I feel like we’ve gone from theological treatise to practicality.  Here’s the passage that we’re focusing on tonight:

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greetings.

(that part is not the focus of the sermon, don’t worry…)

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.  But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the seas, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

- James 1:1-8

On a gray and dreary day like today sometimes just getting out of bed feels like a trial of some sort.  I can’t count on two hands how many people I’ve talked to today that haven’t talked about the gloominess of the weather and how hard it is on these kinds of Mondays.

I also know that now that we’re a couple weeks into the semester that people have finally started putting everything in their planners and they’re starting to wonder why they thought it was a good idea to take 18 + hours this semester.

So very easily this text could be read in the light of an academic semester as you face the testing and trials of classes and as you ask for endurance and wisdom.

We can also look back on our lives and think of times of trial and testing?  What have those times been for you?  At a retreat I went to they had us share our life story using pipe cleaners in small groups.  You may wonder how in the world we did that.  I had my doubts too.  She wanted us to do valleys and mountain tops moving the pipe cleaner up and down showing the scope of our lives.  I was at a random table of older women (as the one who was to later preside over communion) and it amazed me how much they opened up to a group of strangers.  Some of their pipe cleaners showed big spikes where there was a loss of a love one or a cancer diagnosis.  Some of their pipe cleaners looked more like inch worms with a low here and a high there and sometimes some plateaus.  Some have these gigantic challenging times that all of us recognize and can see on the outside as something difficult and an area to pray about.  Some of us though face just as deep of challenges, but they’re not so much monumental as the back and forth of the day to day.  We each have faced trials and testing.

How do you react to those times of trials and testing?

James is encouraging us here to consider it nothing but joy.  Not joy over the challenge itself, but joy that the challenge and testing of faith will produce endurance and that endurance, maturity.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you’re in the midst of a crisis where you have just felt absolutely done with everything?  You have felt helpless, alone, stressed, afraid, just given up?

What happened when you felt this way?

I’m listening to Adele on my pandora right now and she’s singing “Someone Like You.”  Talk about trials and testing.  Relationships whether romantic or friendships can be some of the most challenging thing of all.  But if we care enough about something, we will try to dig in our heels and fight.  We’ll fight and persevere and won’t take no for an answer when we love someone.  (Now I’m not advocating stalking here, but you know what I mean.)  Sometimes the testing and the perseverance and the endurance is what gets you through those hard times, because what you have is not something shallow like infatuation but it’s been tested and is true.

When you’re in the midst of a challenge or something where you’re trying to weigh options, pros and cons, trying to find the “right” answer – who do you turn to?  What do you do?  Where do you go for your wisdom?

Do you go to a parent or a friend or your grandparent or do you ask the crazy twitter or facebook world or do you go to your pastor or who?  Some of us like to gather a lot of opinions from a variety of people and weigh everything, nervous that we’re doing the right thing and looking for affirmation that we’re doing what’s best.  Others of us are a lot better at jumping off the cliff and taking those risks.  Do we go to God first asking for wisdom or is God the last one on the list that we go to after we’ve already talked to everyone else?  Is God our back up plan/safety net so that we can say that we’ve prayed about it?  Or is asking for God’s wisdom something that’s not just a priority but a necessity?

Are we sometimes afraid to ask for God’s wisdom, worried about the answer God may give?  It could open up whole new worlds or paths…..but it may not be the one we expected or planned for.

I like the words that James uses describing this wisdom that God gives – giving to ALL generously and ungrudgingly.  Generously and ungrudgingly give me the image of not someone holding all of the presents and keeping all of the good stuff to himself, but one who gives even more than we expect and not even with a hint of holding anything back.  We can all tell when someone really doesn’t want to give something but feels obligate and politely offers but doesn’t mean it.  My dad frequently tells the story of my grandad where he was about to close his shops for the night and so in his southern way he politely asked the person if they would like to stay for dinner, fully expecting them to say no, when lo and behold the person said yes.  We know that feeling of being offered something that really wasn’t a real offer, but we also know that feeling of receiving something that we in know way earned or deserved and what powerful thing that is.  Hello grace!

I like the image that James gives of one doubting as being like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  It’s not a wave in a lake or a pond that’s barely a ripple, but one in the sea that is bouncing here, there and everywhere.  Do you ever feel like that when faced with a decision?  Just like in the above discussion.  When you’re thinking about classes or majors or internships or summer opportunities or the big questions of things like what am I going to do with my life?  Is this the path you want me to be on God?  Is this the job you want me to take?  Is this the person that I will marry?

I guess some of us do resemble that double-minded and unstable remark at times.  I know I do.  Should I go on this retreat or is my time spent better here?  I could come with a gazillion examples.  But the bottom line is that this passage in James is asking us to go to God and ask God for the wisdom and for us to ask in faith believing that God will give us that wisdom generously and ungrudgingly.  And this isn’t just for the big life decisions.  This is also for things like – should I go talk to that professor and let him/her know that I really don’t understand and I need some help?  Or – when should I talk to my roommate or suite mate about my unhappiness in my living situation?  Or when should I talk to that friend about the ways that I’ve been hurt in our relationship and how do I go to God with this hurt and anger?

Testing and trials and asking for God’s wisdom are not just those things that relate to the milestones in our pipe cleaner of a life, but this is the every day.

Y’all know that Mike was out of town last week and I worked while the kids went to pre-school and than I juggled them and work the rest of the time.  Talking about testing.  I think Mommy needed more of a time out at times than Enoch and Evy did.  In hearing all of the things that many of y’all are juggling from classes to jobs to family to friends to all of the things you’re involved in on campus – I know y’all know what I’m talking about.

The beauty is that as people of faith we’re not in this alone.  Even if it sometimes feels that way – we’re never on our own because we’ve God right there beside us each step of the way.  Jesus within in, beside us, and before us.  All we have to do is ask.  Have you ever been thinking about something and worrying about something and it’s been keeping you up, but as soon as you actually open your mouth and talk to someone about it – it makes all the difference in the world?  Asking for help is such a big deal.  It can break the world wide open.

So as we start this study in James, may we be open to where God is leading us and the wisdom that God is revealing to us. May we recognize the challenges and trials and testing will come, but that God is faithful to us and will meet us exactly where we are and will give us the wisdom and assurance that we need.

Questions to think about:

James 1:1-8

How is God speaking to you in this passage?

What are ways that you have been tested?  What trials have you faced?

How has God brought you through those trials?

What challenges are you facing right now?

How have you gone in faith to God?  What are you specifically asking God to do in your life this semester?

What Can Really Happen with Passion!

We weren’t able to attend Passion this year in Atlanta but I have enjoyed the Live Stream – what a gift!  I have been blessed and amazed to hear of the amazing things coming out of the conference and I applaud CNN for providing coverage letting the world know that these 45,000 college students could raise 3.7 million dollars and growing to raise their voices for freedom!  Passion committed itself to try to raise 1 million dollars for people that are trafficked all over the world.  They lifted up the fact that right now 27 million people are struggling in modern day slavery.  They put together a tremendous team of organizations that are working in many ways on this issue and provided clear and easily understandable information to get the word out!  Amazing!  Check it out and educate yourself and spread the word.  There are so many people that don’t know about modern day slavery, much less that there are ways that we can help.  This is the church in action as God continues to free the captives!  (http://268generation.com/passion2012/#!/do-something-now/)

And here a group of college students has now raised 3.7 million dollars and counting…only God can make change like this in people’s hearts and in their priorities and in their pocketbooks!

If you would like to give and be apart of this, go here:  https://secure.268generation.com/dosomethingnow/give/freedom

As y’all know human trafficking is an issue close to the heart of Winthrop Wesley and is something that we have learned about and shared through documentaries and speakers on Winthrop’s campus.  This Spring, March 27th, we’ll be hosting Larry Martin, Director of Church Mobilization at International Justice Mission to speak at Winthrop.  We had the pleasure of visiting the IJM headquarters during our spring break trip to Washington, DC with the General Board of Church and Society last year.  I can’t say enough about their ministry and impact as well as the hope that they give in their sharing of stories and change.  To learn more about their work please go to http://www.ijm.org!  We’re also looking at partnering with other organizations on campus to make it an entire Justice Week as we educate, advocate, and combat human trafficking.  If your campus organization, church group, whoever would like to be apart of the planning of this week, please contact us at winthropwesley@gmail.com.  We would be happy to partner with you as we continue to speak out for the 27 million people still struggling!

So SUPER PUMPED about what’s happening at Passion!!  Rock ON college students – you are showing the world the present and future that you are making a reality!

Narcie

New Year’s Resolutions

It is that time of the year where we wipe the slate clean and say, ‘self, we’ve not been doing so well this last year, these are the things that we’re going to do better.’  We make resolutions to budget better, lose weight, eat better, exercise, graduate, keep our cell phone bills down, read more, and the list goes on.  This is a time of renewal for all of us.  I have only a few resolutions this year they include practical things like becoming more fit and being aware of my expenses.  Today, I downloaded the Gungor Beautiful Things album.  He has released a newer one a few months ago, so I know, I’m behind the times.  There are a lot of songs I already know through the wonderful Mike Jeter, but then this song Cannot Keep You begins playing.  I have decided that even though it’s January 4, it’s not too late to tack on one more resolution.  This song is the embodiment of this newest resolution.  I want to take my Lord outside of my bible, church, quiet time, like minded friends, and give Him to the world.  Why?  Because we cannot contain the glory of the Lord, nor should we.  His love, grace, and humbleness should explode from us.  He has lifted us from the ashes so that we can share His love and glory.  I want to find my Lord everywhere, and take Him everywhere with me.  So I add to my list Godliness.

What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Erica

Cannot Keep You — Gungor

To Do Before January 9th

This time of year there are tons of articles about things you should do before the New Year arrives.  Things like changing air filters and giving that last minute charitable donation.  Things of this nature don’t necessarily pertain to students, so exclusively here, I have your very own to do list before school starts back on January 9!!

1.  Buy/Sell Books
Selling books at the end of the fall semester usually proves more lucrative than selling at the end of the spring semester.  Professors don’t change editions in the middle of the year as they might over the summer, so the Bookworm is sure to welcome your books!!

2.  Validate Your Schedule
There’s nothing worse than having the controller’s office cancel your class schedule and then having to try to find all the classes again.  You validate on Wingspan after tuition’s been paid or a payment schedule has been set up.

3.  Make a Budget for the Semester
Make sure to include things like gas, eating out, materials for class, and all of the Wesley trips for the semester!

4.  Schedule Some Gym Time
If you’ve already starting working on gaining the freshman 15, no better time like the present to start fighting back.  Just 30 minutes of walking 4 times a week can lower your chances for all kinds of diseases, but more importantly it will make you feel better and you will be more productive.

5.  Clean up Your Computer
Your computer is one of your most valuable possessions during college.  So take some time to do a bit of cleaning on it.  Run some scans like virus, spyware, and defrag.  Also, those old papers may come in handy one day, so don’t delete them, but back them up on some sort of external memory and free up the room on your computer.

6.  Save those Christmas Gift Cards
I know it may be tempting to hit those after Christmas sales with your newly gifted plastic wealth, but save at least half of it to use in time of crisis later in the semester.  Trust me, you’ll be happy you did.

7.   Spend Time With Family and Friends
As the semester wears on, free time is harder to find, so take this break to spend time with your friends and family back home.

8.  Take time to get Checked Out
While you’re at home take the time to visit your favorite folks in the medical profession.  Get your eyes checked, teeth cleaned, and perhaps a physical.

9.  Get an Oil Change
Taking care of yourself is important, but let’s not forget about your poor car!  Before you return treat your car to an oil change and perhaps a tune up.  That way you’re sure to be able to get hither and tither all semester long!

10.  Do Laundry!
This one is the most important.  I always loved to come back with all clean laundry.  It is the best way to start the new semester!

Erica

Refresh 2011

For the past three years at the end of Exam week at Winthrop I’ve had the joy of attending Refresh – an amazing campus ministry conference put on by the lovely folks at College Union.  It has consistently been a welcome break at the end of a busy semester and at least in our calendar, always starts on the last day of exams so is pretty perfect timing as students have left or are leaving and things are drawing to a close.

There are several things that I really appreciated this year.  All of our speakers this year were great – one of the best years yet in terms of content, a broadness of views, range of topics, and interaction with participants.  There were a lot more groups displaying material this year which was fun and informative!  It’s always good to connect with our United Methodist seminaries, GBGM, GBHEM, and service opportunities like Alabama Rural Ministry.  I really enjoyed the addition of the “Genius Bar” or small groups.  That was a great way to connect with people that we might not know and wouldn’t normally come in contact with and each time we met, we had good conversation – amazing me at the level of sharing and the instant camaraderie.  I also was thrilled that there was a showing of the upcoming Blue Like Jazz movie.  The movie is hardly anything like the book and was not what was expected in a lot of ways, but I was still glad to get to preview it with a room full of campus ministers and student leaders and be able to give feedback and have a chance to discuss and ponder afterwards.

Some of the things that were challenges this year had to do with the same reasons that I love it – the timing.  At the end of a long semester, it’s hard to go straight through a day with small groups during lunch and stay focused and alert.  Maybe this speaks to my attention span.  One of the things that makes this conference different from other campus minister gatherings is the amount of staff/interns/student leaders that attend.  This is definitely a great way to get your whole team on board and to have a training opportunity.  It also gives the added benefit of hearing from some of these folks during small groups and other sharing times.  But, it also gives a different dynamic and different energy and there are pros and cons there.

The thing that I most appreciate about gathering with colleagues is those times in between.  I get more out of conversations over meals, during breaks or grabbing some dessert than just about anything else.  It’s not just a time to catch up with colleagues and check in with those in this wonderful community, but it’s a time to pick their brains and share the joys and the challenges and be with other campus ministers.  None of us have the same context or even necessarily the same type of student, but we do share a common mission field and setting which makes conversations rich.  So although I would potentially attend a conference because of a special speaker or band or workshop, the reality is that I attend these conferences because of this amazing community of campus ministers.  I attend because whether I zone out during the second hour of a speaker or if I don’t make it up for worship the second day, I feel refreshed afterwards.  I feel like I’ve been recharged not just personally and spiritually, but professionally – ready to take some ideas back, ready to listen to my students more, ready to be open to some of the things I’ve learned.

=0), Narcie

Why does this stuff matter?

Sometimes I feel like we are pulled into so many different directions and are pushing for so many different causes that we get lost in the mix. What is Winthrop Wesley? Are we the hunger and homeless people with Potato Drops and CROP Hunger Walk or the ones that do Operation Christmas Child or the ones that bring in speakers talking about Human Trafficking or go to seminars about race and poverty and immigration? We do each of these things and more and sometimes it feels like so many different directions that things get watered down.

But then I think about Jesus and who we are called to be as his disciples. He didn’t just deal with one aspect of the person or one aspect of humanity but he met people where they are and provided freedom, restoration, and new life to the whole person. He didn’t just shake his head at the world and say it’s no use, he put himself in situations that weren’t always popular or the norm and were often pushing the envelopes.

In a society laden with so much tension and venom over politics and religion and ideologies, do we worry so much about offending someone and stepping on toes or being so peaceful and passive that we’ve stepped from politically correct to completely neutered?

I was talking to a group of students the other day about classes and they were talking about a few popular ones here at Winthrop and how controversial the discussions can sometimes be. Some of them relished the classes where they could debate and share their views while others hated those classes and never shared what they really thought.

I’m a firm believer that in the middle of classes with tempers flaring is not always the best place to have an actual dialogue or heart-felt sharing of one’s perspective, however, I also believe that if we don’t stand up and open our mouths than yes, the rocks will cry out, but also we’re passing up opportunities for growth and change and revelation and we’re also letting those with the largest speaking stick, win.

I’ve met many a person who has questioned why faith and politics should mix. After preaching sermons in various places, there’s rarely a time when some sort of social commentary has come up and someone hasn’t said something about it afterwards. I get that. People think their politics and their religion shouldn’t mix and they often quote the whole give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, etc. passages. However, I think that can be one of the biggest cop outs ever. The world, particularly our young adults, don’t want faith just isolated in the corner, not interacting or informing their decisions. They want a faith that is alive and real and speaks to their world, right now. Our faith should influence how we think about the poor, what we think about spending, what we think about priorities and those things can’t help but bump up against government. It’s not a partisan thing, it’s a follower of Christ thing.

This is one of the reasons why I love the ONE Campaign. It’s not partisan. They’re not raising money. They’re not trying to hate, belittle or attack political candidates, but they’re trying to educate and advocate in powerful ways. It’s something that people from all walks of life can get behind and it’s easy – www.one.org. Our faith is not just something to keep in our pocket for the holidays or for Sundays or for that rare occasion when we need something, our faith is something that should shape how we see the world and who we are in the world.

On this World AIDS Day in the midst of all of the other days of awareness and calls to action and “stuff” that we push, may we not get worn out by all of the challenges of the world, but may we be enlivened and invigorated to share in the struggle with those that are suffering and be emboldened to share the story and advocate on their behalf. May we get educated and know the facts (less than 1% of the US budget goes to foreign aid) and may we know that Jesus didn’t call us to be Democrats or Republicans, passive or aggressive, but to be his light to the world.

Create your patch in the World AIDS Day quilt at www.2015quilt.com.

Learn more about ONE at www.one.org.

Get involved in the Rock Hill Community with the fight against AIDS and to support those as they walk this journey at www.catawbacare.org.

Read about progress:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/opinion/a-decade-of-progress-on-aids.html?_r=2&smid=fb-share

Fish Tacos

The title has nothing to do with my blog post, but I got your attention.  So, now to begin the real thing.  I have been thinking about the idea of change and how it applies to my life.  Four and a half years of my life aka my college career which included a victory lap, will be over in a few weeks.  Luckily, I have a job, but even with that little piece of security I know my life will be different.  This is a change I am willing to face, because throughout my college career there has been many changes that have really challenged me and made me a stronger, better person.  I know that life has stages, or as they say in Ecclesiastes, seasons and this is just the next one.  I will remember the good times and the people that supported me, and I am thankful for everything they have done for me.  As I go about on my way, I hope the best for the Winthrop Wesley Foundation, and many of the other amazing organizations I have been a part of.  It has been good, but I know there are greater things to come.  So, as you read this think about some of the seasons you have gone through in your life and how they have impacted you today.  Now, think about the future and how it is going to be.  Remember you have the power to change it, and don’t get too big for God. Peace.

Andrew Wilson