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Written by Betsy
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Monday, 25 May 2009 15:05 |
 Yesterday, I went to the church I grew up in for the first time in months. While I went (just graduated a couple weeks) to my state's university, it's still a 4 1/2 hour drive to get home, so I don't get to go home very often. On top of that, not every time I'm home can I go to church. Worshipping in the community yesterday left me with a bunch of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's still my church family, but on the other, they worship very differently from what I've become used to at my campus ministry.
My church family: I have seriously participated in this church since I was 7 years old. First, I sang in the children's, junior, and youth choirs. Then I went to youth groups and on rafting and service trips. I went to the Montreat Music and Worship Conference with my home church for a few years too. Even after I started college, I spent the summer after my freshman year as the Summer Youth Intern leading the middle and high school youth activities. It feels like my family not just because we've done a bunch of stuff together. It feels like my family because the adults (ranging in age from my parents' age on up) always ask what I've been up to and care about me.
How different I've become: The first thing that hit me yesterday was language. I prefer to use gender-neutral or both masculine and feminine pronouns when referencing God. Everyone at my home church uses (conventionally they say) masculine pronouns to speak of God. There are other aspects that showed me that the way I articulate my faith has radically changed. For example, the topic of my parents' Sunday School class was Contentment, and while it wasn't just me raising questions of social justice in regard to whether God truly gives everyone what s/he needs, it wasn't the first theme introduced.
Still, I thank God for these mixed feelings. I thank God for having a church family that cares about me profusely, but I also thank God for giving me places to grow in my relationship with God.
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Written by Cindy Eschliman
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 01:50 |
The year is winding down and stress is at its max for most college students. What are our plans for the summer? Our plans for next year? Our plans for the rest of our life? These are all questions we are asked by friends, family and professors. We ourselves can get bogged down by the thought of tomorrow, not even thinking about next week! Some days are exciting and others are full of crazy-ness, but the one thing that stays the same is our God. And our Lord is not asking us what our plans are; our Lord is saying “come, follow me.” In Genesis 12:1-5 Abram is called by God to “set out.” If we don’t read the rest of verse 5 we are left hanging as to where God is leading Abram. Often that is the story of our life. It is not always what our plans are, but the Lord’s. We are called by God to follow, taking ourselves and the gifts given to us, but not always knowing where we are being lead. It can be a very frightening thought…uncertain future, economical depression, job risk, but each of these doubts and fears we may have can be cast aside. We know we have a God who loves us, cares for us and will not let us go. Jeremiah 29:11 are words we should keep close in this time of uneasiness: “"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Blessings to you:
May the Lord bless you,
And keep you,
And make His face to shine on you.
May the Lord be gracious to you,
And lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
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Written by Addie
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Wednesday, 29 April 2009 22:43 |
This Spring Break I went to Biloxi, MS to work with Habitat on houses for the victims of Katrina. My week started off with a bit of a rough start. My mom broke her leg the night before we left and by the time we got to the first rest stop, my sister had called to say she’d been in a car accident on the way to visit my mom in the hospital. (My sister was fine and my mom has now moved to just one crutch, so their state is not the subject of this reflection,) :) I just want to set a mood for you all that I know each of you can relate to:
You all know what it’s like to have a bad day. “The case of the Mondays” happens daily in this life. So what does God say about what to do with that feeling?
In Ephesians 6:5-7 (The Message) it says, "Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don't just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ's servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you're really serving God."
Paul tells the Ephesians to “work heartily” and “work with a smile on your face.”
Really? God wants us to work with a smile on our face? Sometimes I think, “ok God, well, I’m helping the least of these, that’s good enough. I did what you wanted me to do, now where’s my gold star?”
God expects more from us though. He doesn’t just want us to do the work, but to want to do it, and to do it with joy.
One afternoon we took a bus tour of the area. (Characteristic of the people there, our tour guide made sure to point out that she gave “Recovery Tours,” not “Destruction Tours.”) :) We drove through and saw the buildings that had been rebuilt, the Casinos that were now opening, the memorial that had been done, the lighthouse that had measured the water line…all of it was interesting and important, but the most memorable for me was this: along both sides of the highway we were on, were Mississippi’s famous 300 year old Live Oaks. Because of the storm, they had soaked in too much water and had died.
Sometimes that’s what my trip, and life in general can feel like: your “Live Oak” has perished. The thing that kept you going isn’t working anymore and you feel like you can’t make it through. Everything you know has been destroyed.
But this is also what life is like: the Live Oaks along that recognizable highway that we all know from the news and that the Westminster students were driving along that day, were turned into something more meaningful than one could have thought:
The city had hired an artist to carve sculptures of native animals out of the dead trees to turn them into a living symbol for the survival of the city. The trees were now beautiful symbols of recovery and strength. Out of a hardship, the most negative image was turned into something positive and hopeful.
At some points in the week it was hard for me to be happy about what I was doing. It’s hard to get out of the rut of “the Mondays,” just as it was hard to know what to do with a dead Live Oak…I noticed though, that when I stopped thinking of my own problems and started thinking of how great it was to be helping these people, it got better. I was happy to help someone avoid a bad day, and that in turn made my work that much easier.
You make your day. You decide if you’re going to let the bad things pull you down. You decide if it’s a “destruction” or a “recovery” tour.
God doesn’t say that the hard work won’t be necessary, but he does say that you need to do it “with a smile on your face.”
Bad things will happen to you. You will fail, you will lose, you won’t get it done, you’ll forget, you’ll get in an argument, and some day, a Live Oak will die…you’re not protected from those things, but you are protected through them. With God’s help you can smile. : )
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Written by Betsy
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Monday, 27 April 2009 01:46 |
So I'm graduating in less than two weeks. Like many of my friends, I have plans already, yet I'm still scared. For the first time in my life, I am going to be totally independent. Though I have lived mostly away from home for eight years, the new independence is frightening. Not only that, I'm moving across the country (2662 miles away from my hometown according to Google). Ahh, it's scary just typing it.
However, I feel blessed for all of the family and friends I have that will support me through the transition. Through their support, I feel the presence of God. The God who watches over me and cares for me. The God who speaks words when I don't know the words. Last night, one of my best friends just said out loud how big a transition it's going to be for me. Hearing those words freed my heart from the anxiety it was feeling over the whole transition. All I pray is that God will continue to speak to me through my family and friends.
Anyways, if anyone out there feels the anxiety of transitions, whether post-college or otherwise, I pray that God will speak to you in all the different ways God does.
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Written by Cindy Eschliman
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Saturday, 11 April 2009 06:35 |
This was the first time I have ever spent Easter without my family. I had other responsibilities while being away at college. The experience was interesting. Although it is only Saturday of Holy Week, I am feeling the lonely feeling Jesus must have felt on the night of his death and the loneliness of his disciples while he was dead. Being one of only a few who chose to stay on campus this weekend has given me a beautiful reminder of the trial Jesus endured and a new appreciation for the commercialized holiday.
Yes, I did boil some eggs, and deviled them even…one of my favorite foods. Interestingly enough they are called deviled eggs…but enough on that.
I am preparing for Easter differently this year. Every other year I have spent Saturday night at church and helped the other youth prepare the sunrise service on Easter morning. Then, I would eat breakfast at church, return home and get ready for the regular Sunday service. It has always been a day spent with family and a day filled with joy. This year, there is no family, but there is joy.
There is a new family I will be meeting on Easter morning, my sunshine bundles of joy, the children in the nursery. They remind me of the real Easter joy, true innocent joy. They remind me of the fellowship and friends I do have and my family back home.
This Easter, no matter where you are, who you are with, remember the true joy of Easter. Remember the days before Jesus’ crucifixion too. It was a triumph, it will continue as a beauty. Enjoy!
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