narciejeter

Books, Campus Ministry, Faith, Sermons, Young Adults

Do we care enough to pray?

Posted on March 8, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

One of our small groups is reading Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution right now and it has brought about a lot of interesting discussion. I often feel like I’m defending young adults to the church and the church to young adults. As someone who was nourished and formed in the United Methodist Church who has seen the good, the bad, the ugly and the awesome as a preacher’s kid, and as someone who has felt called to lead and be apart of this church, there’s part of me that wants to defend it until I’m blue in the face. At our recent small group talking about the book, it was me and another student who is a PK who were defending the established church in the face of students that don’t necessarily align themselves with a particular denomination or group, but are serious about their spirituality. And before some of you reading think, that it’s just young people that feel that way, it’s not. Yesterday we had someone stop by Wesley giving us a donation to help with painting and repairing some of our windows around the building. Is this guy a United Methodist? Nope. Had I ever met him before? Nope. Was he young guy? Nope. He simply said he didn’t really believe in all the denominations but that he was a Christian and he wanted to help us out by doing the repairs and help the guy doing the work out, by giving him some work in this hard economy. There’s something about some of our denominational structures that people find intimidating or they’re just mistrusting. Who can blame them?

In a world where not just young people, but many relate sincerely to the statement, “I’m spiritual, not religious,” what role do we play as the church? There’s something about living out our faith and actions that speak louder than words that my students and many of us find refreshing in books like Shane Claiborne’s. Even the biggest of mega churches are starting to realize, you have to have that service and outreach component for people to buy in to what you’re offering. I’m not at all saying that our older generations aren’t socially conscious and don’t where their faith on their sleeves. Quite the contrary. I see the amazing folks of Bethel UMC rocking the soup kitchen week after week. I see many of our “great generation” as Tom Brokaw calls it, being the ones that give to our churches, to our missions, and to our campus ministries with their time and money. These folks are our bedrock. They are our foundation. We have relied upon them in our attendance, giving, and mission reports for years and years. I honestly have no idea what our church is going to look like a decade from now.

For years I’ve heard people rally around sayings like, “Our young people aren’t the future of the church but are the church today.” I also have heard very clearly that in the next ten or twenty years our church is going to change radically. At a recent District Superintendent gathering of the SEJ, Lovett Weems talked about a “tsunami of death” expected to happen by 2018. A new body is going to have to step up. Even more than that, a collective body needs to be formed and shaped and nourished as we go into this new territory together. And it needs to be something new…and thank God we believe in One that makes all things new. What worked in the 50’s and 60’s in our hayday is not going to work now.

I think most people would agree that we want our churches to have young people. I can’t imagine anyone actually admitting out loud in front of people that they really don’t want to give up their space or their community or that they want to keep it solely theirs and nobody else’s. Most people would also probably agree that we don’t really want to see our average age of clergy or congregant creep any higher. We want these young people to join our churches, but how often do we really try to plug them in to the life and leadership of the church? We think that a college Sunday school class is the answer to everything, like somehow these young adults are going to smell this addition out in the atmosphere or its like batman’s bat light is going to shine forth from that particular church and young adults will automatically flock to it.

I hear pastors say that campus ministry is a great place for college students and young adults but it’s hard to get them invested back in our local churches. You’re right about that. It is hard for young adults that have been fed, nourished, and empowered in campus ministries to go back to local churches where they don’t always feel heard or like they matter except in the “we really want you here because you’re young, but we don’t want to give you any kind of say-so over anything.” It’s not that you should be pandering to young adults or any one else in this consumerist crowd, but if some of the keys of the kingdom aren’t gently handed over it’s going to be hard to pry them out of the cold dead hands of our churches a decade from now.

So what does this mean for us? Where can we go from here? How do we bridge this divide?

A wise beyond words former student of mine posted this on facebook in reaction to some of the assumptions in the Call to Action report. This quote comes from the top of the page talking about vital congregations (http://www.umc.org/atf/cf/%7Bdb6a45e4-c446-4248-82c8-e131b6424741%7D/PROPOSEDVITALCONGREGATIONSPLANNINGGUIDE-2-14-11%20(2)%20(2).PDF) “The United Methodist Church is called to be a world leader in developing existing churches and starting new vital congregations so that we make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” Then he writes, “But what if we’re not? How do we know? How do we know we’re not called to repent of our sin of desiring worldly influence that has resulted in our church functioning to bolster war, imperialism, eugenics, and the like over the past two centuries? How do we know we aren’t called to use all our buildings to feed the hungry and house the homeless? How do we know we’re not meant to shrink and become even more marginal before our comfortable church learns what being the body of Christ is about? I’m unimpressed with the presumed triumphalism.” I want to give a huge amen and shout a loud PREACH BROTHER!

Yes, things are changing. And like I said before, I have no idea what the church is going to look like in the next 10 – 15 years, but instead of being sad and angry and depressed and bitter and cynical as is so easily slipped into, why don’t we intentionally pray, discern and vision, call on the Spirit to lead, get totally excited about the possibilities of what can happen if we let the old paradigms fall away and we revision anew. A “revision” of a paper, isn’t writing the whole thing over again, even though some paragraphs and parts, some sentences and words, sometimes even some of the critical parts are tweaked, corrected, and changed. We don’t have to throw the whole thing out, but we do have to imagine again what this church is called to do and to be in this world and what that means for us.

This is representative of where we are in campus ministry right now, trying to offer the Good News in the midst of people being pulled in different directions, trying to articulate that “church” isn’t just always those brick and mortar buildings with the steeple but that it can be community and justice and discipleship and nourishment too. As we stand on the precipice of something that’s going to change and happen whether we like it or not, we need to all be intentional in our prayer, in the Gospel that we share, in the asking of the Spirit to lead and guide us in ways that we can’t even imagine. These aren’t times to be afraid or hold even tighter to our fear and control, but this is an exciting time in the life of our larger faith community. How are we going to set the tone? How are we going to shape the conversation through the power of the Spirit? How are we going to step out in faith? What do we keep and what needs pruning?

I don’t know about y’all, but I haven’t decided what I’m adding or giving up to help me draw closer to God during this Lenten season yet. I still have til tomorrow night so I’m fine. I’ve heard of pastors intentionally praying for everyone in their congregation – love that idea or adding times of fasting and prayer. I think though one of the things that I would like to do and I would like my students to do, is to pray for our church. And not just little c church, but also big c Church. Instead of watching all of this unfold and getting swept to and fro in the midst, why don’t we actually ask the Spirit to steer the ship and blow and move? Why don’t we ask for guidance and discernment and illuminating instruction to be given to our church leaders, those lovely people we call the bureaucrats of the church, and not just them but to all of us – lay and clergy alike? Would you care enough about the present/future of our church to intentionally pray for 40 days? Do you think it’s inevitable doom and gloom or is there hope in the midst? I choose hope. And I choose to pray. And I choose to believe that God will shock our socks off with all that’s in store. We’re right on the edge of a powerful movement. The signs are there. It could happen. We can choose to see this as a wonderful opportunity or as the last death nail….let’s choose life.

wild and crazy kids — Evy and Enoch at a recent youth event...what will the Church look like when they're young adults?

Faith, Life, Sermons

Thank You for the Daffodils

Posted on March 3, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

We have some daffodils that appear about this time every year. Some might think they actually look kind of pitiful. They’re the only flowers that we have planted anywhere on the Wesley or Wesley House property and trust me when I say that we don’t do anything “special” for them to appear every year. The first year I was here, I noticed them and thought what a blessing they were that spring. Nice, bright and yellow flowers that suddenly just appeared. Now after watching them bloom for five years, watching them just appear out of nowhere in our bare flower beds, I am so thankful to see them. It amazes me that we haven’t had to do any work to keep them or make them bloom. We just get to enjoy them!

It reminds me very much of the text this past Sunday from Matthew talking about the flowers that neither spin nor toil and the birds of the air and how if God can clothe them so beautifully, how much more can God take care of each of us. (Matthew 6:24-34) Never more than seeing those daffodils today have I felt the glory and peace in that text. No amount of miracle grow or extra water made these daffodils so beautiful – they just are. So even in the midst of the most trying or worrisome of times, may we enjoy and bask in the sunlight of the One who created us and who brings us new life every day. May we trust that we will be provided for and that we just need to trust, hold on, and enjoy exactly where we are!

What are some things that we worry about?

Do you ever go about your day and suddenly you’re in a worried or stressed mood and you’re like – what happened? What changed? Often I find that if I look back to what started this “worry cycle,” it was something that pricked my own fear or discouragement. By figuring out what started it and giving that to God, it’s easier to move on and not let the things that we can’t control or the things that seek to hurt us, have any power in our lives.

We look to the birds, even the crazy seagulls, geese, and ducks at Winthrop lake, and we know that God provides. I look to these daffodils that miraculously appear offering the promise of Spring and that extra burst of joy even in the midst.

What are some of the beautiful things in your life that God has blessed you with? What happens when we worry? How can God speak to us in the midst?

daffodils looking crazy — So with the beautiful bright sunlight, for some reason this is how my camera took a picture of the daffodils. Wowzers!

Campus Ministry, Faith, Health, Life, Sermons

Choose (Abundant) Life

Posted on February 22, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

It’s that time in the semester when the students are getting really stressed out. Have you ever wondered why they phrase is stressed “out” and not stressed “in”? Yes if the stress starts leaking everywhere, it’s eventually going to come out, but there’s so much inward affect that stress has on us. Facing challenging, difficult, and overwhelming situations from every direction can take a huge toll on a person and as the “prayer” section of Winthrop Wesley’s prayers and praises notebook seems to heartily begin to outweigh the praises you know people are starting to feel down and discouraged.

Around this midterm time it can feel like when it rains it pours. It seems that when things begin to get hard, the difficulty sometimes can grow exponentially. A couple weeks ago, we looked at Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and I feel like some of the themes in that text are cropping up all over the place. God clearly lays out two courses – two ways in which life can go and God asks for us to “Choose life.”

Choose life even when things seem out of control or insurmountable. Choose life even when there’s no way things could in a million years work out. Choose life even when by all logic in this world there aren’t easy or clear answers. A pastor colleague of mine who frequently amuses and challenges me with his facebook statuses, posted this earlier today, “I watched some news this evening. I watched FOX, MSNBC and CNN. The message I got? We’re doomed. There is no hope. Pack up your kids and head to the hills. Empty your bank account and hide your money under the mattress. Stock up your shelves. Be afraid, very afraid. And Justin Beiber made the cover of Rolling Stone. Yep, the world is coming to an end!”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or crawl under the bed myself. I admit that I have caught a little “Bieber fever” in that I enjoyed his Glee episode and some of the songs are quite annoyingly catchy, but I’m not watching the movie. That’s neither here nor there. His status was another reminder of very much what the world gives us. We’re doomed. There is no hope. It’s like one of the Charlotte local news networks that Mike and I refuse to watch because the guy always seems so happy when something really awful has happened and he gets to report on it. I know you’ve got to sell the news but do you have to be so gleeful about an awful car accident or shooting or fire?

There’s a lot in our world that says yep, we’re doomed. It actually would be a lot easier to say that in a lot of ways. You don’t really have to work to bring about change and transformation when the world tells you it’s a waste of time. What’s the point?

But is that the way of faith? Is that the way of the cross? Or more significantly – the way of an Easter – resurrection people? Is that the follow up of the verse – “Choose life so that you and our descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lords swore to give your ancestors to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” It’s not just choose life. It’s not just choose to believe in the bright side, the cup half full, the silver lining. It’s not just reject the negativity that we all know is contagious, the complaining and criticism that does harm and not a bit of good, the spiraling of fear and angst that has no end. It’s choose life that you may live – loving God, obeying God, and holding fast to God even when all may seem lost or today feels about as cruddy as it can get. It very clearly reminds us that Jesus said he came to bring us abundant li

What does the word abundance conjure up for you? Abundance is enough for everyone. It’s more than enough. It’s awesome. It’s bountiful. A bountiful life.

Is it hard to believe this sometimes? Yes. Heck yes. We got word on Friday that Mike’s 2 year old cousin, Lachlan, who was born with some heart defects and has already experienced heart surgeries, now has a brain tumor. The neurosurgeon would like to operate and the family is meeting with the cardiologist this Friday for approval of the surgery. I can’t imagine what Leslie and Cullen are going through in these days as they await these appointments. There aren’t any words or platitudes or anything that can sermonize that or make it go away and be all right.

There’s that choosing though even in the midst. And sometimes we can’t make the choice on our own. Sometimes it takes a community of faith, a family of strength, a body of believers united in hope to help us continue to choose life. There are good days and there are bad. Sometimes it means that we need to cut out some of the negative – whether a toxic situation, person, or past hurt or wound that we haven’t given to God. Sometimes it’s not letting our fears or our worries rob us of the joy of today. We have to make the conscious choice to step away, turn off the news sometime or change the channel of our hearts and life. There are days when I know and feel and rest in the promises of God for the life that each of us is given and there are days when I get on Wikipedia and start the worry spin cycle of why’s and what if’s and let me tell you – that path leads nowhere good, productive, or very positive. That’s where that holding fast to God comes in. Holding fast to that peace that transcends all understanding, holding fast to the hope and strength that only God can give, and holding fast to someone that can give us more comfort and love than anyone else. We will hold fast to the promises of God.

I’m not saying that we all walk around as Pollyanna’s because life is real and it hurts and it really is scary sometimes. The key is going back to the Source of life – to the Creator that knows our hurts and the things that keep us up at night and even the things that we don’t want to say outloud. May we in the coming days and weeks and times of uncertainty or chaos or stressed out to the max, find ways to ground ourselves in the power of the One who ignites, breathes and drenches us in new life and hope each and every day.

How will you choose life today?

Yes this is beyond cheesy in some ways and pretty old, but definitely goes with the text – Big Tent Revival’s “Choose Life”:

Campus Ministry, Faith, Life, Methodism, Sermons

Frustrated but Humbled in a Good Way

Posted on February 11, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

Do you get frustrated when things don’t go the way you think they should? Or even more than that, do you feel frustrated when people consistently don’t live up to expectations or react in ways that you feel are hurtful or uncaring or selfish or self-centered? There’s such a balance in giving grace to people and loving them as who they are and holding people accountable and really encouraging growth. Jesus gave us an awesome example with that, but wowzers is it hard to figure out how to live that.

When someone messes up it would be really easy just to ignore it or get over it or forget about what has happened, and of course there are times and places for that, but if we’re talking about Christian community – it is not okay to shut people down, to take things for granted, to not welcome folks, to constantly talk about inside jokes that keep people on the outside, to belittle and criticize in ways that are far from constructive and are much more destructive. Negativity is so contagious. And for some reason instead of the church being in sharp contrast to that, it seems that it’s easier for it to happen here than not.

At our district clergy meeting on Thursday we talked a bit about the challenges and hostile environment that some encounter. In a conversation with a colleague about the church politics of the church kitchen, it amazed me how territorial, rude, and close-minded people can be when they’re the ones on the inside/part of the club and someone else is looking in. And if you think that “we’ve never done it that way before” is a phrase just used in local churches and not campus ministries, I wish you were right – but sadly, it’s not the case. I think back on my dad’s talking about what it takes to get to real community – the chaos and conflict involved – and I get that. But can’t we be different? Or at least can we try to not be as self-centered and hostile as the rest of the world? How can we worship and have solid fellowship with someone on a church retreat or on Sunday mornings and then turn around and not speak to them in the aisle at the grocery store or the local Target? It’s so unbelievingly frustrating.

Not that I’m the “are you being a good enough Christian” police? Not by any means. It actually usually make me wonder if I have been a bad “shepherd.” Do we as pastors really lead by example? And what is that example? Yep I know we are called to offer God’s love to everyone. I get that. But I also don’t remember Jesus talking to the Pharisees in a lot of flowery rainbows and butterflies language. Sometimes it was harsh and hard to hear. He was straight up with them. This thing – this discipleship – is not just about insiders. This is not just a club for you that have figured out how this things work – when to stand for the apostle’s creed or sit for the prayer or whatever. This isn’t about who can complain and criticize and attack people the most because you think you have the inside track or power. This isn’t about who has the most friends or knows the most gossip. This isn’t even about the pastors, the singers, the musicians, the people in charge. This is about something different. Thank goodness!

Our theme verse for Wesley this year comes from 1 John 3:17-18 from The Message, “If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something abot it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love.” I really like the text. But it’s really scary to put that on all the Wesley shirts and the posters because if we put that out there and if people walk in and they’re not welcomed and people keep to themselves and are doing their own thing – it’s a bit of a contradiction, right? A sort of significant one.

How do we practice real love? How do we live that out? As pastors or leaders in the church, how do we not take it personally when this is such a challenge in our congregation? Are they “getting” anything that we are saying or are people tuning in and out and just not catching on? Maybe. Or maybe we’re lacking in our preaching and teaching. Could be. Do you at some point say forget numbers, forget statistics, forget all of the nit-picking – we are going to try to live out this love of Christ and the heck with the rest of it?

As you might read between the lines, it’s been a pretty frustrating week. And discernment and reflection in the midst of being tired makes things all the more personal, hurtful, and accentuated. But the scripture this morning from the Upper Room was a good word in terms of where we are,

“Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
-Isaiah 55:6-13 (NRSV)

You know what that tells me? That sometimes we just don’t know. It’s not about us or our ways or what we’re doing or not doing. God’s purposes are being carried out. God is sowing seeds all around us. We can prepare the bread, but the yeast is what mysteriously makes it rise. I don’t think that lets people off the hook in terms of how we are to be in the world if we claim to be disciples of Christ – not by any means. But I do think that God says that God is bigger than all of that. God will work, and is working in spite of all of us folks that mess it up. It’s not about us – at least not all about us. That is a relief. Even if we’re expecting a bunch of thorns (and it sure feels like that sometimes in ministry), there will come a cypress. A couple of those would be pretty awesome!

So yes things may be frustrating when they don’t move or grow or change or act according to what we may think is right. True. And I may expect a heck of a lot out of people when I may not have a right to – remember that whole plank in your own eye thing. But before I throw the baby out with the bathwater. Before we sit down and say all is lost – it’s good to know even when I don’t measure up or when I feel like I must be the most gigantic hypocritical mess of them all – God is in the mix – bringing beauty from ashes. May we seek and know God and be challenged to live it out. For real. Not just kidding or just during small group or children’s sermon or Sunday school or Disciple group or on a retreat. We are called to live out this love all the time – a la Wesley’s – “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

When you claim you’re a Christian whether saying it, wearing it, on your car, whatever – you’ve got to back it up. We’re not all going to be “perfect” all the time but that beauty of sanctification is that we don’t have to constantly stay in the low pit of negative, critical, spin cycle of sin. Change can happen. And God still moves. Even in the midst.

Culture, Faith, Ministry, Prayers

Not just “Virtual” Community

Posted on January 26, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

My mom had surgery this past Monday. It’s at least a 4 week recovery so we appreciate the prayers! I talked to her Monday afternoon when she got out of surgery on the phone and one of the first things she said – “Prayer request” and she asked that we would pray for her recovery, doctors, etc. but mostly that people would be able to hear her with her hoarse voice after the breathing tube during surgery.

What is the fastest way to send out a prayer request? Pray of course -duh. But a great way to get a lot of people praying – facebook. Suddenly there were clergy people, friends, church members from all sorts of previous churches, family – all praying with a sentence typed into a status.

I’ve been to the church conferences and I’ve read the articles about “appropriate” technology and the ones asking if this virtual community is really killing our real life community, etc. I get that. I understand that people need to go outside and build relationships and engage in hands on experience, dialogue, etc. But, I also think that social media offers a great chance for building community with people you may have lost touch with, people who you may not have ever met but you share communities in common, or people that maybe are just acquaintances but that you care for, support, and pray for.

A colleague of mine said that if he has a bunch of mutual friends with someone on facebook he’ll go ahead and friend them and will explain to them – if we have this many people in common and paths that have crossed, inevitably we will be friends. Something to think about. And then there’s the thing going around facebook now saying that we can’t possibly know everyone we’re “friends” with and asking these same friends to post how we’ve met.

I know that some of these are generational, societal, even security questions about what information is shared and how comfortable we are about sharing openly and honestly on the internet where as the lovely Social Network says – things are written in ink not in pencil. But I hope that we are able to support each other whether near or far, whether close friend or acquaintance, whether we talk every day or it’s just a Christmas card or we had some powerful shared experience long ago.

I truly believe that this community is not just a virtual community, but that it’s real and alive. I don’t think it always is and I know there’s exceptions to everything but I know that I can personally say that I’ve been moved by people’s support not just in cards or letters but in emails and comments and any other electronic communication. That is just as meaningful to me as anything else.

Maybe everyone doesn’t feel that way? How does the different form of community affect our love and support each other? our pastoral care?

Listening to a sermon online? Watching a worship service from a podcast? Having a small group discussion on skype? What do these mediums to do the essence of our faith? I certainly don’t have all the answers and I definitely don’t have the inside track to all of these different technologies but I do think that wiping them away as things that don’t build “real” community is a disservice and a shame when they can be a powerful resource for hope, healing, comfort and love.

What have your experiences been with virtual community? Yay or nay?

Community, Epiphany, Faith, Life, Light, Movies, Sabbath, Sermons

Those Lights

Posted on January 24, 2011April 6, 2013 by narciejeter

I’ve really enjoyed the lectionary texts from the past couple weeks that have focused on light. I’ve always liked Epiphany but even more so this year for some reason. I appreciate that Epiphany is not just one Sunday that we celebrate those lovely wise folks coming to see the new born King, but that it’s an entire season stretching until the day before Ash Wednesday where we’re all opening our eyes to God around us. To me that’s pretty significant in our church calendar that this time between the birth of Jesus – the incarnation – and Lent is a time where we a people of the light get a chance to center and focus on that light, opening ourselves to it.

I admit that I’m now watching ABC’s “Off the Map.” If that makes me a drama and Grey’s Anatomy lovin’ television watcher than so be it. I like the concept that these three doctors have come to this jungle to get away from whatever they have left back home and yet they seem to face these same fears and concerns no matter how far they have run. In the first episode the three newbies gather and realize that the doctors that hired them had done their homework on each of their back stories. The guy of the group says, “So much for a blank slate!”

I think sometimes we feel like that. “So much for a blank slate!” We wish that everything would just go away and be wiped clean. The thing is though that community and church is not just about slates being wiped clean although it does say Jesus scatters our sins from the east to the west. But there’s something about people loving each other in spite of the flaws and the crud. There’s something about folks sharing in that refuge and safe place and being that harbor for each other whether it’s in the good, the bad, or the ugly.

Sometimes that being there for one another is letting go of a past wound or hurt. Sometimes it’s acknowledging and saying outloud a secret that has kept us bound and stuck, whether it be our own, a family secret, or a burden we just kept on carrying. Sometimes it’s admitting that we may not have it all figured out and we really struggle in some areas. Sometimes it’s confessing something and seeking reconciliation. Sometimes it’s just being open to where the Spirit of God leads.

It amazes me that at the times we are the most down or low or hopeless/helpless/spent – these are the times that often the light starts to break into those cloudy days. There’s just something about that light that no matter how dark it may get – it breaks in. We watched the movie TRON last night. I know, I know – not the most high brow or Oscar worthy – but it was really surprisingly good and we didn’t want anything that would make us think to much at the end of a long Sunday. I never saw the original but I really liked this one. Part of the beauty of the story is that one of the characters had never really seen the sun. She had no idea what that would look like. She had read about it in books, true, but if you think about it – if you had no concept of what the sun is – how do you describe it? The warmth, the light, that it’s practically everywhere, that it moves and shifts and changes.

There’s something unexplainable about the light but there’s something incredibly powerful. In these days after the shooting in Tuscon, as we think about what it means to be community and shelter for one another as the Jars of Clay song talks about that I’ve mentioned before, I think about all of us holding candles together as one. All of us lifting those candles as one. That’s a powerful sight. That it’s our collective voice, our collective being – lighting up as one. Not “Lord in your mercy, hear my prayers” but “Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.” That we as community as a fellowship of believers lift each other up, we rejoice with each other, we mourn with each other, we keep telling each other to press on.

In that same episode from “Off the Map” (I know, I know) the main doctor says at the end to one of the new girls who’s figuring out why’s she there to look at the Southern Cross. They’re a set of stars that look like a cross in the sky (yes, I wikipedia-ed it so it’s sort of legit). He talks about how Magellan used the Southern Cross. He knew that even if he was lost, he knew that if he found that in the sky, he would make his way back home. All he had to do was keep on going. So he tells her, “Keep on going.”

Now I know that there are times when we don’t want to “Keep on going.” There are times when we think we can’t keep on going, much less want to. But there are people and songs and scriptures and even those sometimes annoying bumper stickers that are lights that pop out along our way that help light our path to keep on going. There is a shelter of people that help us to keep on going. And that’s not just with a slate wiped clean, because you can’t escape and dodge forever, but that’s with all of who we are and are yet to be.

So are we those lights for others? Are we ready to welcome people? Are we ready to open our arms and our hearts and our eyes? Are we as the Church/church ready to offer a refuge, a harbor, a light to those in a world raging? Or do we just look like a big blob of dark with all of our “stuff” that sometimes gets in the way?

One of my favorite songs off of the new Jars of Clay “Shelter” CD (i know i can’t stop listening to it) is one called “Small Rebellions.” Sadly there are no youtube videos that I can find out there yet. But the words are below.

“God of the break and shatter – Hearts in every form still matter – In our weakness help us see – That alone we’ll never be – Lifting any burdens off our shoulders – If our days could be filled with small rebellions – senseless brutal acts of kindness from us all – if we stand in between the fear and firm doundation – push against the current and the fall – God of the worn and tattered – All of your people matter – Give us more than words to speak – ‘Cause we are hearts and arms that reach – And Love climbs up and down the human ladder – Give us days to be filled with small rebellions – Senseless brutal acts of kindness from us all – If we stand between the fear and firm foundation – Push against the current and the fall – We will never walk alone again – No, we will never walk alone.”

I’m glad that we don’t walk alone. That there are lights along our way guiding us home and that we can be lights to the world. Open our eyes Lord that we may see the ways that we can grasp hold of your light today that the world may see and know…

Psalm 27:1, 4-9, Isaiah 9:1-4

Death, Faith, Health, Tumor

Would life change for you?

Posted on January 7, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

I know I haven’t posted much about the tumor lately and to be honest I haven’t wanted to. This is not because I haven’t been thinking about it but the opposite. I think this summer when everything happened, I didn’t really process or take the time to think about everything because it was so fast and then it was the school year and semester and you know how crazy that is. With a little bit of a break over the past couple of weeks, it’s been tough. I have a friend who says she only blogs on the bad days, but for some reason, I don’t. I’m not saying that I haven’t had challenging days and hard days and have not blogged, but when I’m really wrestling with something, I just don’t always want to articulate or “sermonize” it.

After Christmas I did my latest MRI and the next day went and saw the neurosurgeon. He said there was no change, so the little line of tumor on the motor cortex hasn’t grown and for that I’m thankful. He didn’t really say anything new, but for some reason I took it more to heart. I asked him whether I should get off of the seizure medicine or not and he said that was up to the neurologist but he also warned that it is more likely that I will have another symptom whether seizure or otherwise before an MRI would actually pick up a change. Then he said that it’s not a question of if the tumor will come back, but when.

Now, I know that he’s said this before and I know that this type usually recurs but for some reason it hit me worse this time. I think it’s because there’s a huge part of me and a sense from a lot of the people around me that everything’s fine now and back to normal and that I have to lead my life as I’ve always lived it. And I do really want to do that. It’s hard to tell if I should just go about business as usual or if my life really has changed completely.

I am a huge fan of wikipedia. That may be completely against my English teacher self and I know it’s not always right or accurate but if you want something quick and consise – especially when I’m trying to figure out history during the Tudors or looking up actors or actresses – it’s a great site. Did you know that I didn’t even look up “oligodendrogioma” which is the tumor that I had/still have a piece of? Didn’t even think about it in the rush of the summer and semester. The diagnosis and the treatment and much of the article follows exactly what we’ve been doing and I didn’t even think to look there.

Now part of me is glad that I didn’t. I didn’t know that the median survival times for a grade 2 is 11.7 years or for a grade 3 is 3.5 years. That’s a median I know and as the doctor said I could still live to be 80. But how does knowing that information affect my life?

Not that we ever know specifics or a particular time table but if you knew you had say 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years to live, how would that affect how you live your life? Would it? Would you change what you eat or how much you exercise or if you take your vitamins? Would you spend more time with friends and family and try to make more meaningful relationships? Would you change careers or look at fulfilling your hearts desire in a different vocation? Would you live your life differently?

I’m not talking about Tim McGraw’s, “Live Like You Were Dying” song and sky diving and rocky mountain climbing – love the song but that’s too cheesy of segue for even me to post. I’m asking a real question. How would you live your life differently? Or would you? Maybe it’s better just to keep on keeping on and keep fighting and do the best you can and not change anything. Or maybe we should be living our abundant lives to the fullest every day regardless of any prognosis, time table, or outcome?

I don’t know. I don’t quite know how I feel about this yet or if this changes anything. I know that I believe that prayer is powerful. I know that when I read that article or I read other materials about this tumor that it is miraculous that I have come away from this with very little deficits – not being able to remember names and numbness and tingling every now and then is significantly different than what could have happened. I thank each of you and my community folks for this. I know that God walks with those on the 3.7 year side as well as those that live to be 80 and that God’s mercy, love and grace is shown to each. I know that we all have “stuff” to deal with and for each of us it can be a long and winding road.

When I think about New Year’s resolutions or I think about the future, I think very much of how we live our life. How do we let our lives speak? Would you live your life differently knowing…?”

Here are some quotes from the beloved Parker Palmer:

“Verbalizing is not the only way our lives speak, of course. They speak through

our actions and reactions, our intuitions and instincts, our feelings and bodily

states of being, perhaps more profoundly than through our words.”

“Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks–we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.”

“We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are.”

“Humility is the only lens though which great things can be seen–and once we have seen them, humility is the only posture possible.”

“As a young man, I yearned for the day when, rooted in the experience that comes only with age, I could do my work fearlessly. But today, in my mid-sixties, I realize that I will feel fear from time to time for the rest of my life. I may never get rid of my fear. But . . . I can learn to walk into it and through it whenever it rises up . . . naming the inner force that triggers . . . fear . . . Naming our fears aloud . . . is the first step toward transcending them.”

Campus Ministry, Faith, Music, Sermons

The Shelter

Posted on January 4, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

I bought some CD’s for Mike for Christmas that I thought would be good for worship. Some were definitely better than others and I was hugely and pleasantly surprised that Jars of Clay’s new album – “The Shelter” is chock full of great music. There hasn’t been a CD in a long time that I’ve listened to with such interest and have felt so moved by. One of the quotes on the album says, “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. Wow. I like those words.

It’s less than a week before students are back. That is a scary, scary thing with so much to be planned and prepared and geared up for. In thinking about this semester though, part of me just wants to claim those words. It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. What does it mean to be church? What does it mean to be in community with one another?

I think about students and the many walks of life they come from and all of the journeying they do during these young adult years and as much as it sounds all feel good and Oprah-y to talk in glowing terms about community all the time, I know it is hard. It’s hard to be in relationship with people that don’t look like you or think like you or vote like you or think the wrong things are funny or don’t want to laugh at your same jokes. But who wants a boring homogenous group? Well, deep down, a lot of people probably do. It’s a lot easier that way.

But how is that the kingdom of God? I hope I’m not surrounded by just a group of snarky white girls in heaven. Lord have mercy on all of us. When I think about campus ministry and the coming semester, I want to see us grow not just in size or number although that would be great. I’d like to see us grow in our love for one another. And not just for one another but for the people that don’t look, act, or sometimes even smell like us.

My prayer is that we get past the quick, hollow greetings and dig into the relationships. That in the midst of the busyness of college life that we can provide a shelter for one another. That’s one of those things I can’t do all by myself. That’s the cool thing about the Christian walk. You can’t do it all by yourself. At some point you have to enter into the chaos and the messyness that is relationship.

It is the shelter of each other that the people live.

Here Dan Haseltine introduces The Shelter…

Here’s them playing the song in the recording studio…

Here’s a version with the words…

I know that I need the shelter of each of you and I thank God for this community that walks with me each step of the way. May we each find and cling to our shelter.

Christmas, Epiphany, Faith, Grace, Movies, Resolutions

December 26th anticipating the New Year

Posted on January 4, 2011April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

(Post was written for a newsletter on December 26th)

The 12 Days of Christmas leading towards Epiphany continue on but already it feels like the season is beginning to pass as the debate begins on when to take down decorations and as new “things” have found their way into our homes. Questions swirl in the mind both wondering – How are we going to fit all these toys in this house? And thankful – How good does it feel to finally get new kitchen towels after 8 years of marriage? It feels good by the way. This season is definitely a time to catch up with friends and family whether through visits, calls, or Christmas cards, but for me it also seems to be a time of reflection, taking stock, or working on things that might have slipped my attention during a busy semester.

I’m sitting here eating a chocolate covered marshmallow Santa as I type this and I’m thinking how ironic it is to talk at all about looking ahead and resolutions and New Year’s as I’m staring down at a bowl of Christmas candy. So what will your resolutions be this year? Do you do them? I had a student a couple years ago that seriously did them and wrote them down and taped them up beside her computer. Go her! I’ve thought about it before and I guess have attempted a time or to, but I was much better at keeping “resolutions” while in an accountability group with some peers in college or as a Lenten practice. In my mind why do we wait til certain times of the year to start making a change in our life? Take for example me eating this bowl full of candy. I can tell myself, hey – you better eat it now because come January 1^st you’re not going to do this anymore. Or I can just say, hey – if you eat more than one of those chocolate Santa’s you’re going to have a stomach ache and by the way – why are you always eating so much chocolate? Maybe you should get more sleep or should do a little exercise.

I know, I know. Enough with the inner monologue. The thing about the Christian walk is that we don’t just evaluate and assess our lives once or twice a year. We’re not just counted as naughty or nice once a year either. This is a walk, a journey, and something that often takes some perseverance, faith and a whole lot of grace. Sometimes we’re discouraged. Sometimes we’ve had enough. Sometimes it’s been a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, a bad year. Sometimes we don’t know how we’ll pick up the pieces or where to begin. But begin we will with the love and grace of God that is always sufficient if we but ask.

I am reminded of the movie, The Sound of Music, another holiday favorite that I love. When Maria comes back to the abbey not quite knowing what to do, and Mother Superior says, “Our abbey is not to be used as an escape. What is it you can’t face? You must find out. You must go back. Maria, these walls were not built to shut out problems. You have to face them. You have to live the life you were born to live.” With the help of God we can face both the small and the most humungous of bumps in the road. In this season of ponderings may we take a deep, hard look at the lives we are living and may we live them more abundantly and more hopefully in the love of Christ. May we see the challenges of our days as opportunities to grow and learn. May we know that making a change – creating a new habit or letting go of one – is not something that’s once a year, but we can keep climbing that mountain with a Savior that walks with us every day. Listen to wonderful Mother Superior. Listen to the Spirit of God alive and speaking to your heart.

“Climb Every Mountain”

Climb every mountain,

Search high and low,

Follow every byway,

Every path you know.

Climb every mountain,

Ford every stream,

Follow every rainbow,

‘Till you find your dream.

A dream that will need

All the love you can give,

Every day of your life

For as long as you live.

Climb every mountain,

Ford every stream,

Follow every rainbow,

Till you find your dream

Advent, Books, Campus Ministry, Christmas, Faith

From the Winter Wesley Newsletter

Posted on January 4, 2011May 3, 2011 by narciejeter

(Written on December 9th for the Winthrop Wesley Winter newsletter)

I have been struck this Advent season with contrasts and contradictions. I listen or try to escape from Christmas music on the radio this time of year and its frequently a sharp contrast to everything I see around me whether driving, in lines, trying to cross things off the gift, party, and card lists, and in all the “stuff” that goes into the preparations of this season.

Yes, Advent is that season of preparation, but not necessarily the preparations we make. This is a preparation that’s not just about the everyday hustle and bustle but also about getting ready for something completely out of this world—something revolutionary, new, an in-breaking of the kingdom of God. We get ready for the coming of God in the form of a baby—a God who dwells among us and with us. But we also get ready for the second coming of our savior—a time when there is good news and great joy for ALL people. This is good news not just for the pretty ones or smart ones or the ones lucky enough to be born on the right side of the tracks or in the wealthy country, but for all of God’s children.

I think of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wisemen, the prophets – a mix of folks. I think about some of the sights and sounds we saw at Journey to Bethlehem. I think of the words of the prophet—to look to the star and that there is One who is coming who is beyond our imagining. This story is not just one of familiar and beautiful manger scenes and it’s certainly not just a good children’s story. These were trying times and people were being taxed and children lost lives as Herod began his search for the Christ child.

A couple weeks ago I began reading the series The Hunger Games. Excellent adolescent literature so perfect for my brain at the end of a semester. Suzanne Collins does an amazing job bringing this post-apocalyptic world to life. She got the idea from flipping through channels on her television and seeing on one channel a reality tv competition and on the next footage of the Iraq war. Her stories are not for the faint of heart. They are violent and graphic and terrifying. It’s not a pretty picture of people sending their children off to fight to the death. See—I told you not a rosy colored story.

But that’s not much different from the context Jesus arrived in. Here these people were under Roman control, not knowing what was going to be demanded of them next—their money, their children, their lives. The thing about the books—there’s no savior at the end. For some of us, we relate to some of these horrors. There are hard things that we see everyday whether it be a fifth grader committing suicide or children going without food or the loss of a friend or loved one or the loss of one’s job or home.

For some this isn’t just a hustling and bustling time of year, but it’s a painful time. That’s there. That’s part of the story. Pain and hurt and fear are there. But there’s also this thing that I can describe only as wonder. The thing about this season is that as much as I think my heart is hardened or as much as I’ve blocked out the music since it’s started playing after Halloween this year or as much as I feel caught up in finishing the semester and trying to keep the kids from going crazy waiting for Santa—the wonder of Christmas inevitably sneaks up.

You see, it’s not about all these things or all this chaos. But it’s also not just about our current circumstance. Because we are told very clearly, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that shall be for all people . For unto you is born this day a savior who is Christ the Lord and has name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace…” This Prince of Peace can give us that peace that transcends all understanding whether it be as we are awaiting grades or exam results, health questions, job changes, or life decisions.

And this kind of peace can transform the world. Not just people in this place, in this community, or in this land—but all the world. My hope over this Christmas break is that in the midst of everything as students are catching up on sleep and connecting with family and friends and as all of us frantically try to make it through, that we can find time to stop and breathe and take in what it means to be a people who believe in this Emmanuel, a people who believe and live out this peace.

Merry Christmas to all of you and much love, peace, and blessings!