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Lutheran Campus Ministry
at The University of Arizona
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Every Friday Pastor Ron and fellow students from our leadership team send out weekly devotions over the LCM listserv. Below are some of our recent devotions.
I hope your Friday is going well. For this Friday DEVO here's a delicious recipe for a dessert called Noah's Pudding:
What do you think? Does this sound like an eatable recipe? Do the diverse food ingredients seem like they would be pleasing to the palate? This Turkish dessert was a gift brought by several UofA Muslim student guests (Akif, Emre, Zeynep, Aslan, Erkan, Selda, Amhet, Dilshod, and Alishare) to LCM Vespers this past Wednesday eve. The dessert is known as "Noah's Pudding," or "ashure." From the ancient story, when Noah and his family stepped off the ark they gathered all the varieties of food they could find and put it together for a meal. Diverse foods coming together in sweet compatibility. That was the theme of our Vespers – diversity coming together. We dialogued about prejudices that occur when we don't actually know people from another culture or religion. We shared traditions, TV shows, campus life issues. We learned about Islam, and shared our Christian faith (including singing Holden Evening Prayer). Ahmet (computer science grad student) even demonstrated and sang the beautiful Muslim "call to prayer" for us. What grabbed my heart was the ease with which we all related to one another. Despite our differences, we're all just plain human beings, beloved creatures and UofA students in God's amazing world. In fact, come to think of it, I think these are the times when I feel most alive and closest to God – when I step across borders and honestly meet people face to face and heart to heart. Maybe this is how God felt when the border between God and Earth was crossed, i.e. when "the Word became flesh to dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Hopefully we'll connect with these friends again. And hopefully in my own faith life I will find other ways to break through the barriers that divide me from God, from God's Earth, and from other people. I have a hunch that is where we will find the risen Jesus living. See you at Worship, or soon. God's peace and grace to you,
Pastor Ron ______________________________________________________________________________________________ For our first Vespers last night we looked at the Book of Genesis. Genesis means "beginnings." This 50 chapter book explores the beginnings of the Universe, and of the people of Israel.
We didn't cover the whole book, of course, but we did delve into some highlights. The idea is to get a sense of "what is
this particular book about?" Next time I lead Vespers we'll look at the Book of Exodus.
What I hope happens in these Vespers is this:
1. we'll ask the Bible questions, and let the Bible question us.
2. we'll learn that there are usually several legitimate (and diverse) interpretations for almost every story.
3. we learn about ourselves the more we delve into Scripture.
4. seeing God active in Bible stories helps us have eyes to see God active in our own stories.
5. and finally, it's okay to disagree
One of my favorite characters in Genesis is Abel (Genesis 4). Abel is the one pleasing to the Lord.
Yes, his brother Cain kills him. That's very tragic. But Abel is the one God favors.
What is going on here? The story doesn't reveal too much. But I wonder if what made Abel so pleasing
to the Lord is that Abel lived as though he really understood that the Earth belongs to the Lord for the good
of all creatures, rather than just belonging to him and his kind. That would cause one to live life differently, wouldn't it?
That would make the means of my living as important as the results.
The story makes me think about means and ends. I had a prof who always said: if the ends are to be honorable,
the means must be honorable. Never forget that. I've tried not to.
I hope you are having a good first couple of days of the Semester. May you be blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2)
This Sunday there is Worship at 10:30pm. Come on down to the CCC.
Also, be sure to contact Bob Schmid if you are interested in going to the theatrical production of
"A Raisin in the Sun" Sunday evening. bobnerna@msn.com
God's peace,
Pastor Ron
______________________________________________________________________________________________ "... in all times and in all circumstances ..."
I'll assume your Finals week has got you feeling both the "ups" and "downs." They're also called "blessings & bummers", or in church
language "glorias & kyries." It goes with the turf in this adventure called life (including college life).
My experience is that ups and downs (or good and bad) often run together. Here's what I mean:
Two friends from High School meet at a party over Christmas break, home from their respective colleges. The one says, "How have you been?"
The other responds, "I'm a student at the U of A."
"That's great!" says the friend.
"Well, no, that's bad," says the other. "I've never gone through such challenges in my entire life."
"Oh, that's bad," says the friend.
"No, that's good," says the other. "I've learned a lot about myself, my strengths and weaknesses."
"Oh, that's good," says the friend.
"Well, no, its bad," says the other. "I've not always liked what I've learned."
"Oh, that's too bad," says the friend.
"No, it is good," says the other. "It reminds me that God is loving and merciful, and is tolerant of me."
"Oh, that's good then," says the friend.
"Well, actually it isn't," says the other. "I like being the center of my own world, and not being dependent on anyone."
"Ok, then it's bad," says the friend.
"Well, really it is good," says the other. "When all is said and done, I do better knowing the weight of the universe
is not on my shoulders, that its not all about me, and that I need a gracious God.
This teaches me to always have hope, and to always be looking at every experience and circumstance from many perspectives,
on many levels. There is always more to the story.
As you prepare to leave campus in the next couple days, I pray that this has been a fulfilling semester for you, and that you are open
to the many and varied ways Jesus is working in your life. I'm going to enjoy time with my family, worshipping at Christmas,
hiking, eating good food, reading and writing, and renewing for the coming year.
Have a blessed Christmas and New Years.
Peace, in Christ
Pastor Ron
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"O Come O Come Emmanuel ..."
If you've noticed, the Semester calendar is out-of-sync with the Church calendar. While you finish up the term and pine for the last day of classes (ah ...:), and then nervously hunker down for Final exams and papers so that the semester will hopefully end on a high note (yea!), the Church year is just starting over. That's right, Advent kicks off a new year. We'll actually be celebrating the 2nd Sunday in Advent at worship tomorrow
Maybe this is okay, this divergence of calendars. A season of beginnings and hope isn't so bad for these last two weeks, right? Especially when you know God is going through it with you. That's what the word "Emmanuel" means ... "God with us." God goes through it with us. The situation can be a stressful exam, a faltering friendship, fears about going home because of problems in the family, uncertainty about finances ... whatever. God is "Emmanuel" in Jesus, "God with us."
Partake of the hopefulness and blessing of Advent this year. Soak it in in your personal prayer, our community Worship, in reaching out to your neighbor in need, in all times and in all places. And count the out-of-sync calendars as a blessing.
See you in Church, or soon.
Advent peace,
Pastor Ron
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______________________________________________________________________________________________ God sightings:
I saw a bobcat this week on my morning walk. Tuesday. It was about 20 feet out our back door. We looked at each other, I probably the more excited one. Then, s/he turned slowly and sauntered away. We heard a cry two nights earlier that sounded like a cross between an owl and a very old cat. Now we think it was this bobcat. We also saw probably the same one cross the road a 1/2 mile from our house in the dark after Vespers on Wednesday. If you've never seen a bobcat (this is only the 4rd time for me), it looks like a stripped tabby house cat on steriods. Not real large, but very muscular.
I was thinking about "sightings", those glimpses that come unexpectedly and rarely, but always leave you feeling like you've been touched by something very special. Maybe even a holy moment. Maybe even a God moment. Why? Because whether the sighting is from nature, or seeing a person that makes you do a double take, or even reading a passage from the Bible and seeing it in a new light, it causes you to stop and look again. In the stopping I realize busy-ness in my life, lack of focus, worrying about foolish things. I realize that there is much that I probably even don't notice that is right in front of my face. Maybe I've walked right past numerous bobcats without even noticing. But you can be sure on my morning walks since, I've kept my eyes a little more alert.
The faith community of LCM should help us all to keep our eyes more open and alert, especially to God moments all around us. Not just in the special times, but in the everyday normal times.
I've been giving haircuts to homeless men at Casa Maria soup kitchen the past 3 Mondays mornings. I'm going again tomorrow. Each time I see people through new eyes. I'm starting to know not just their faces, but also their hair, and heads (many with scars that have stories in them). I'm having lots of God sightings, and feel blessed.
I pray that God will bless us all with sightings this coming week. And especially sightings that will cause us to look more carefully into the world God has given us.
See you soon.
Peace, in Christ
Pastor Ron
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______________________________________________________________________________________________ We've talked many times about the number of "homes" a person has in college. It's a popular subject, somehow both clichéd and applicable, at the beginning of the school year as we adjust to leaving our hometowns and our families and settling into our new town with our new extended families. I want to talk about "homes" in a different light. On Wednesday, Betsy talked about a church that was more than a building, something that included people, hope, and pain. Consider what home is to you, besides the building; my childhood home is a place where I am myself, spend time with loved ones, and relax. I am even starting to feel at home in Tucson. Sometimes, though, homes are less simple; neglect or abuse may dissolve the peace that should be found there. Sometimes we turn our back on them for a more glamorous world. Sometimes we simply don't fit there anymore, and it is time to move along. Thankfully, we have more than one home. Apparently, God forsaw this college student phenomenon and offers it to all. He offers us a place to be ourselves, to spend time with loved ones, to relax. He offers us our faith, his plan for our lives, his son. We have a home with Christ- something more true than anything this world can offer. It need not replace a family home, but it is always there, waiting for its Prodigal son (or daughter) to return. May we recognize the gift we have in our many homes and the gift of perfect love from God, a God who yearns to welcome us back, renew our lives and send us out again ("Call us Home"). I'll finish with a prayer from the "Call us Home" liturgy: Loving God, we confess that our fear and pride have driven us far from you. Captive to a world of sin, we are restless and adrift, scattering discord and pain in our own an others' lives. Forgive and call us back to the place from which hope springs, love flows, and mercy reigns. Amen. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Love Yourself that You May Love Another First of all, to all of you who were aching with disappointment at not getting this "Friday" Devo sent to you on Friday, I apologize. I'm sure it was quite difficult to get through the first two days of your weekends without it. But here it is, your Friday/Sunday Devo. This devo's going to be about Love. Now, before I begin, I have to admit that I am not a devoted "devo reader." I've probably only read two or three in the entire time I've been at LCM. So if what I write here in this devo has already been written before, in some form or another, I apologize. Hopefully (or maybe not) you don't read all of them either and this'll be new for you. So this devo's about Love, more specifically, romantic, relationship between two people in college Love, and even more specifically, romantic, relationship between two people in college Christian Love. What is Christian Love? We know that as Christians we're supposed to Love God more than anything, and that we're supposed to Love our parents, neighbors, enemies, and especially the poor, and that we're supposed to Love them all as we Love ourselves. So this list of who (and Who) we're supposed to Love as Christians, and how we're supposed to Love them (as ourselves), leads us (or least me) to two questions (1) What is Christian Love within a romantic relationship between two people?, and (2) What does it mean to Love someone as we Love ourselves? Well, I don't think we can answer the (1)st question without first answering the (2)nd being that the (2)nd tells us how to Love: As we Love ourselves. Now, at first glimpse this seems pretty simple, and we have certainly heard this verse many, many, many times in our lives. But it seems that we often miss something that Christ is trying to telling us here: That we must Love ourselves to Love anyone else. If you don't Love yourself, and you try to follow Jesus' words and Love someone else (maybe in this case a girl or guy that you'd like to pursue a relationship with) like you Love yourself, you're not going to be able to Love them. You're going to "love" them like yourself and you don't Love yourself. So you can't Love them. And you won't believe that they Love you either, for can't accept someone else's Love unless we can Love them, and if we don't Love ourselves, we can't Love them. So Jesus is saying that to Love someone as He wishes us to (as a Christian) is to Love them as we Love ourselves. And to actually Love someone as we Love ourselves, we must Love ourselves! Sometimes we get into relationships that serve only as crutches to hold ourselves up amid all of our insecurities and anxieties. In other words, that girl or guy we're in the relationship serves more as a means to making us feel better about ourselves than an end in her or himself. Jesus tells us that this can't be called Love. For when we are in this kind of relationship (and I know many of us have been there) we begin to realize just how much we depend on this person, just how weak and helpless we'd be without them, and we begin to realize we have no idea who we are anymore, and how can we Love ourselves if we don't even have a self to Love? We start to hate whatever it is that we've become. And then we begin to hate that other person, that person we supposedly "love" as ourselves. We constantly argue and fight because we know that we depend on them, yet deep down we know that we need more than them. We need ourselves. We need to Love ourselves, and we need to Love ourselves in order to Love them. This isn't to say that we shouldn't feel a passionate need for the beloved. We should. It's to say that that need should flow from the Love that we have for ourselves; that Love that is so great we can't contain it, and have to give it to someone else. And Christ tells us that when we really, REALLY Love ourselves, we Love ourselves not because we think that we're so great and perfect and sinless, but because we know that we're Loved and accepted unconditionally by God, Who doesn't Love us only when we Love Him, but always, whether we deserve it or not. He gains nothing from us by Loving us. He simply Loves. This then must be Christian Love, and in this case, Christian relationship Love: To Love the other not so that they may Love us, not because we may gain something from them, but because we wish to graciously give them that Love that we have for ourselves, that Love we gain from knowing that God Loves us. So what is a Christian romantic relationship between two people? I'm certainly no master at relationships, but I'd say it's a relationship in which the two people can truly Love each other because they truly Love themselves, and can truly give themselves to each other in Love because they have Loved-selves to give. As Christ, we must Love the other not because we need them to Love us, but because we really, really need to Love them. I pray for both you and myself that we can know God's unconditional Love for us, that through this Love we can Love ourselves, and that with this Love we may Love another as much as we want to, and as much as they deserve. Hunt Hoffman ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Lauren ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Nashville, Tennessee. The city evokes images of Country Music, doesn't it. But I learned this past week while at the ELCA Campus Pastor's conference in Nashville that it means so much more. Our group of 80+ Lutheran campus pastors had a real treat on the Saturday eve. The Peter Mayer Group blessed us with a private concert. Peter is a studio musician, an A+ guitarist and singer. He records and tours around the country with Jimmy Buffett (of "Margaritaville" fame). Peter is part of Buffett's band, the Coral Reefers. Also, Peter has strong Lutheran roots, and has written many Christian songs. His band was featured at the 2006 ELCA National Youth Gathering (40,000 high schoolers) at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, TX. They play jazz, country rock, and classical. I bought 3 of Peter's CDs. One song in particular grabbed me. It's called "Loose in the World." I think it nails the Easter season so well. Jesus' resurrection means "Jesus is loose in the World." He can't be controlled or kept out, but is alive and stirring things up and wanting to make a difference. So I asked myself, how is Jesus loose in my life? In my world? Three thoughts come to mind: How is Jesus loose in your life? Is he doing anything interesting? Is he challenging you in a new direction, or trying to slow you down on a wayward path? I pray that you and I both will be given the eyes of faith to see where he is "causing trouble" this week, and find the where-with-all to join him and see where it leads. One part of the song goes like this: "The word went leaping off the pages, breaking in the windows and leaping over walls. All you asked for was a cool glass of water, and you got a waterfall!" Easter peace and joy, ______________________________________________________________________________________________ In church this morning I realized how often we, as Christians, talk about peace.
From the passing of the peace to liturgical responses to the songs we sing
during communion, peace is our most common prayer. If it's so easily found in
church services, why can't we find it in the world? Why can't we find it in our
hearts? There are a lot of types of peace we could hope for: understanding
between countries, a canceled class in a busy week, or the kind you find when
alone in nature. Tonight, however, I'm aiming small (kind of) and shooting for
just one: the peace we talk about in church, the peace that's so complete it's
hard to define. Jesus said, "I am leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and
heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't be
troubled or afraid." I hope, sometime soon, besides finding a moment to catch
our breaths in this busy time, we all know this bigger, real peace. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ I hope you're finding yourselves well as the end of the year is now at the horizon. God knows, I am. I'm starting to countdown the six weeks left of this year. But really, who's counting? Multiple reasons exist as to why, of course: The excitement of finishing another degree. The sadness of seeing many friends off for a few months. The burnout that's slowly arising... It was a sad realization the other day, when I found myself thinking that this will be my 18th year of schooling now done. (Freshmen... shhh) Many missed assignments and stressful nights later, I find myself thankful of having gone through it all. It was a blessing, though not every day seemed like it. We've all been there, sitting in the midst of the storm, offering up the well-spoken supplication and prayer, "God, help me!" Stress, as I'm finding out, is not just confined to school. Regardless, as I countdown to those last days and assignments, I'm finding myself slowly starting to show signs of fatigue. I'm willing to say, I'm getting tired. (No, it's not 9:30 as I write this email) I'll skip the science lesson and hope that you realize that fatigue and burnout are signs of stress. (Though for those of you who like that type of thing, please read the rest of this paragraph. For all of you others, please follow along with the next paragraph Highlighted with an asterisk) Burnout starts with very physical alerts. Your body is designed to give warning signals of stress overload, which may include insomnia or disturbed sleep, digestive problems, headaches, low energy, chronic tiredness, psychosomatic illnesses, muscle tension, teeth grinding, high blood pressure, libido issues, etc.. Please do note that these are not just obstacles to getting your work done, they are signals by your body to take some time. A few sad facts of the day (and please do note that I work for a Health Center) 1. Stress accounts for 90% of most diseases. 2. Half of all Dr's visits are stress related. 3. Lawyers, doctors, and clergy are the most prone to alcoholism and drug abuse (Sorry PR), 4. Type A people are showing signs of a possible addiction to adrenaline, 5. It is expected that more of us will die from stress-induced illness than old age. * Ok, so stress is kicking out butt, so what? Well, I guess I'm trying to say, relax. That test grade matters, but it really doesn't matter all THAT much. You think that my boss knows that I got a C+ on that accounting test my Sophomore year? (Though if anybody forwards this email to her,...) The answer to that is that she doesn't know, nor would she care if she did. Life will always be hurried and place deadlines and expectations on you. That's guaranteed. At least give yourself some time now to be healthy. I'm not saying that I lead this department in example, nor did I follow this advice to a tee when I was in your position. But perhaps I needed to hear it. Take some time for yourself: eat a good meal; go out and exercise; call somebody you care for; Take a break; Sleep in; Play a video game; watch the Food Network; etc.... Even our Creator took a day. Now I'm not saying quit what you're doing. But it's ok to find a better balance that doesn't kill you. It's okay to reset your perspective to what actually matters. Now, I'm not going to be foolish enough to tell you what your priorities should be. You can choose to answer that for yourself, you are an adult now. But, keep your perspective grounded. Finishing and Farewell - As this will most probably be my last Friday devotion, I sign off today in prayer: God, keep watch over us and give us the wisdom to know when you're there. Even when we're too stressed out to notice. Amen. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ The Cross ______________________________________________________________________________________________ "Jesus, for instance, had declared that it was harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle. Apparently in America, however, our camels were smaller and our needles larger." – Donald Worster in The Wealth of Nature ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Hope you all had a great weekend. I was just thinking--we're about to start the third week of the semester, and only now is it starting to feel like I'm back in school. The last couple weeks have been an awkward "transition period" for me (seeing friends I hadn't seen all break, figuring out my class/work schedule, trying to remember to do HW, etc.) and now I'm finally ready to start with my "normal" life again. Which also means I'm about to get sucked into a schedule that revolves around classes, prioritizing and time management.
Past Devotions Fall 2007 (Coming Soon!)
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