Category: Campus Ministry

Posted in Campus Ministry, Lent, Life, Sermons

Week 1 of Lent – Storms

Posted on by narciejeter

We began the Lenten season with Matthew 4:1-11 which is the familiar section where beforehand Jesus has been baptized and he goes into the wilderness for 40 days and nights.  He is then tempted by the devil 3 times with questions about his power and Jesus responding in scripture back to him.  When people are questioned about their power and their authority is questioned, sometimes their hackles are raised and it’s easy to react out of a defensiveness or justification of how powerful you think you are.

When this Sunday rolled around a couple weeks ago, the Charlie Sheen saga was at a fever pitch.  It was right after he started waving around a machete on top of a building.  Now I know that people in Hollywood generally may have a healthy sense of self, but waving around a machete and talking about bi-winning and having goddesses are not really the way to go about winning America’s love much less your argument that you are the one with the most power that everyone should praise.  And yet, there was something about this terrible spectacle that at least some people watched because ratings have been up for the show and people couldn’t get enough of the news stories, interviews, and magazine covers.  There’s a certain kind of power that needs attention to be validated.  There’s a certain kind of power that feeds on the frenzy whether good or bad and the ego just continues to grow and mutate.

Now Jesus, who is both God and man could be argued to have been the most powerful human to ever walk the face of the earth.  Nope this wasn’t some demigod or Zeus.  This was God, right here, Emmanuel – God with us.  Now, you didn’t see Jesus waving around machetes or calling for press conferences to do great miracles and healings.  In all actuality a lot of the miracles and healings that he did, he did with what was handy whether a couple loaves and fishes or his own spit mixed with some dirt, and about half the time he told the people don’t tell anyone about this. 

In this snapshot with the devil in Matthew, he’s not falling for the trick of the attack on his ego, he’s answering clearly and definitively in scripture.  In some ways this would have been prime time for him to show how awesome and powerful he is.  He had just been baptized and a loud voice had burst through the clouds and said “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)  That’s bigger than any political endorsement that you could get.  With a ringing pronouncement like that you would think he would have immediately used all that capital and start ministering everywhere showing all the he could do.

And yet, in Matthew immediately after the baptism it says that Jesus was then “led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”  Jesus was led by the Spirit.  He didn’t just go off on his own and start building his own little kingdom on earth with a huge building, marketing campaign, and tv spots.  He listened to the Spirit and followed even if that was into the wilderness where he would be tempted.  One of my dad’s favorite Bible verses in high school that he shared with me when I was in high school was 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says, “No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”  Jesus could handle this testing.  He could.  That didn’t make it any easier to go through.  That didn’t mean it was any less tough.  When is fasting ever easy for the human body?  As any youth group that has done the 30 hour famine can tell you, fasting is not easy.  As anyone who has given up desserts or chocolate or soft drinks or sugar for Lent can tell you, fasting is not easy.  Mother Theresa used to say, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”

What are some ways that we have been tested?  How did we respond to those tests?  How was God with us in those tests?  Tests are not necessarily things we look forward to whether in school or in life, but if we prepare for them, it’s that much easier to be ready.  One of the students and I talked last night about questions of theodicy or why God lets bad things happen.  She specifically was asking about a friend who had died while still in high school, about my brain tumor, and about the continued struggle and misery of the people of Japan.  I don’t have some big, perfect answer to give that’s going to wipe all the sorrow away.  I don’t.  But I do know that God is with her friend’s family and with the people in Japan.

I don’t believe that God causes cancer or earthquakes or tsunamis or abuse, but I do believe that God is with us in our sorrow and in our anger and in our doubts and in our fears.  I have no idea why God allows some things to happen.  Like I told her last night, as much as I think that may be one of those things that we would want to ask on the other side, I honestly don’t think we’ll care all that much at that point in the midst of God’s presence.  I also trust and know that if we dig into the Word of God and if we are fed spiritually that when the tests and struggles of life arise, we’ll be that much more prepared.  Jesus didn’t just let the devil keep taunting him.  He answered clearly and specifically from the Word of God.  Even when scripture was thrown back at him, he didn’t waver from the truth and where his heart and trust was.  He was strong.  He was ready.  He wasn’t just on a Charlie Sheen power trip.  He didn’t have to prove his power by some big display or some long soliloquy.  He just had to answer solidly and unwaveringly in faith.

Often it is our fears that get in the way of us feeling this security or confidence.  In the movie The King’s Speech a lot of the soon to be King George’s hang up with stuttering goes back to trauma and fear.  A lot of our fears and worries can be traced back to our own traumas and fears.  God is offering us something different though, better than any SAT or GRE prep course and better than any class we can take at the local college, community center or YMCA.  God is offering for us to know God whether through scripture or prayer or song or meditation or silence or just opening our hearts and eyes to the fingerprints of God around us.  God is offering us tools and foundations so that when the storms of life are raging, we know who’s standing beside us.

So as we continue this Lenten season, may we continue to prepare ourselves through repentance and renewal knowing that God is beside us and before us no matter what this world may bring.

When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When the storms of life are raging,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When the world is tossing me
Like a ship upon the sea
Thou Who rulest wind and water,
Stand by me (stand by me).

In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me (stand by me);
In the midst of tribulation,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When the hosts of hell assail,
And my strength begins to fail,
Thou Who never lost a battle,
Stand by me (stand by me).

In the midst of faults and failures,
Stand by me (stand by me);
In the midst of faults and failures,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When I do the best I can,
And my friends misunderstand,
Thou Who knowest all about me,
Stand by me (stand by me).

In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me (stand by me);
In the midst of persecution,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When my foes in battle array
Undertake to stop my way,
Thou Who savèd Paul and Silas,
Stand by me (stand by me).

When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When I’m growing old and feeble,
Stand by me (stand by me);
When my life becomes a burden,
And I’m nearing chilly Jordan,
O Thou “Lily of the Valley,”
Stand by me (stand by me).

Posted in Books, Campus Ministry, Faith, Sermons, Young Adults

Do we care enough to pray?

Posted on 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.

Evy and Enoch at a recent youth event...what will the Church look like when they're young adults?
Posted in Campus Ministry, Faith, Health, Life, Sermons

Choose (Abundant) Life

Posted on 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”:

Posted in Campus Ministry, Faith, Life, Methodism, Sermons

Frustrated but Humbled in a Good Way

Posted on 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.

Posted in Campus Ministry, Faith, Music, Sermons

The Shelter

Posted on 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.

Posted in Advent, Books, Campus Ministry, Christmas, Faith

From the Winter Wesley Newsletter

Posted on 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!

Posted in Campus Ministry, Culture, Faith

Advent

Posted on by narciejeter

Advent is one of my favorite times in the church calendar.  I guess it’s that sense of expectation and hope that draws me in.  It’s a time of preparation, different from Lent, when there’s a sense of anticipated joy and hope not just from the ashes but at the end of a long journey.  Maybe those are similar in your minds but to me there’s a difference.  Take the Gamecocks.  I know, I know.  In many ways it feels like you’re living a life of Lent.  From dust you came to dust you will return and to hear our statistics against Clemson, in having so few seasons where we’ve had 9 wins, etc. you would think there are ashes all around.  But then there’s that sense of hope that comes with being a true fan.  The hope that the unexpected will happen.  Who in the heck thought we would ever see a day where we would go to the SEC championship?  Who can forget that Alabama game early in the season?  It’s the unexpected – the things that we don’t prepare for – the things that shock are socks off – the things that blow away our preconceived notions and judgments.  These are the things that meet us where we are, root us to our core and it’s just CONTAGIOUS.  It’s absolutely contagious.  These unexpected and gamechanging experiences that open us to this season and greet us anew as we prepare each year – the joy, the beauty, the WONDER are contagious.

I can’t say it better than this clip does.  I love it.  It makes me smile every time.

To me – this is Advent.  The world is looking like the girl with the smirk or the arrogant unimpressed Simon.  There’s no way this frumpy woman has a chance in hades of doing anything but something pitiful and off key, but POW!  It’s not just the surprise – it’s not just the huge unexpectedness of it all – it’s that in the midst of this beautiful thing – somehow people get drawn in.  You see Amanda raising her hand with her to hit the high notes, you see faces transformed, and you see the lovely Simon grinning like a cheshire cat with dollar signs.

This is Advent.  Not just a time of talking about dreams or what if or one days, but getting ready right now.  Putting yourself out there right now.  Going for it right now.  It’s easy in the consumerism and the narcissism and the pessimism to let the weight of the world fall heavy on our shoulders.  It’s hard in the lives of students right now to feel the full weight of the semester with assignments, tests, papers, group projects, etc., with most of them exhausted, sick and ready to have a break.  It’s hard in the lives of teachers and parents trying to get through these last few weeks before Santa, Santa, Santa.  It’s hard for those who have lost loved ones, who have lost jobs, who have no idea where money is going to come for electricity much less gifts.  It is hard.

But Advent is so much more than just our personal worlds.  It’s the inbreaking of the kingdom of God as God Almighty, the Great God of the Universe, became One of us.  It’s the waiting not only for this child (the already) but for the Triumphant King (the not yet).  It’s the waiting for justice and righteousness and all of the beautiful words in Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.  He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

So in this season of Advent I’m doing my best to focus on the thanksgivings.  I’m doing my best to open my eyes and my heart to the unexpected all around me.  I’m trying to not let the to do lists or the gifts to still be gotten or the Christmas cards that probably won’t happen or the people that cut you off in traffic or the things that constantly go wrong in the midst throw me off track in the midst of centering my heart and being present to the journey towards the stable.

I am asking God to wipe away my cynicism and my weariness and to fill my heart with the joy and wonder and Christmas spirit that’s more than a cheesey Christmas song or tv movie, but that is life giving and life changing.  Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Posted in Campus Ministry, Culture, Faith, Sermons, Television

Gripey no Griping!

Posted on by narciejeter

Are you a griper?  Not sure if griper is a word but I know the sentiment.  I think it’s easy to gripe in our society.  Maybe it has to do with how blessed we are.  Most of us have food to eat, have a roof over our heads, and generally compared to many in the world are hugely blessed beyond imagination. 

For a while it was the whole comparison of who has the biggest house or car or highest paying job – the oh so loved keeping up with the Jones’.  But these days it seems that it’s who’s got the worst life or the most to complain about any given day.  Who’s having the worst day ever?  I love social networking – facebook, twitter, etc. and I’m glad that people can share with each other and lift each other up.  I think it’s an awesome community thing and heck there’s a lot of pastoral care out there.  I’m unsure though if we’re noticing the line between venting and griping.

Griping.  That negativity.  That dissatisfaction.  That yuck is contagious.  If enough people complain about something, it becomes the reality for those people and it’s just an open festering wound without any hope of repair or restoration.  What good does it do to gripe?  Does it make you feel better?  Why?  In my lovely little defensive driving class Vicki Reavis said something that has stuck with me – you can’t control the other car.  You can’t control what the other person does.  But you can control how you react to it.  You can control what you do.  So when that person steals your parking space and you had your blinker on or doesn’t give you the courtesy thank you wave or goes super slow in the fast lane or drives in “stealth” mode with no blinkers or cutting you off in traffic – you can’t control them – but you can make sure it doesn’t get under your skin and shape your day.

The thing is – if we believe in a Savior – a God with us, if we truly believe that this Teacher that came and walked among us really calls us to this new life….if we really believe that – than we’ve got a lot to be thankful for.  I loved seeing people’s thanksgiving facebook statuses.  It was fun to read what people are thankful for.  I wonder how easy/hard it would be to keep up that practice all year long?  Could you come up with 1 or 2 or 3 things to be thankful for every day?  If you had the discipline to do that, would that change the way you see the world?  Would you appreciate things or look for things to be thankful for in a different way if your eyes were open and watching for them?

Don’t go down the griping road.  Just like on Dora the Explorer – Swiper, no swiping! and in life Griper, no griping!  Vent.  Get it off your chest.  Verbalize it.  But don’t let it ruin your day and rule your life.  Look around you – these beautiful trees changing from Autumn to Winter; the expectant and crazy anticipation of Christmas in the eyes of a child; the mighty wind blowing through the trees.  God has provided for us everything that we need.

Check out Chris August’ Starry Night.  I love this song.  If we believe this, we won’t be griping.  We’ll be praising.

So even on this cloudy day during the last full week of classes when students are swamped completely and are trying to figure out how in the world they will get everything done – may they get the strength that they need, may the keep going in perseverance, may they get restorative rest even on little sleep, may they find time in the day they didn’t know they had, may they have wisdom in scheduling their time, and may they know and feel the love and grace and peace of God surrounding them!

Posted in Campus Ministry, Culture, Faith, Music

Don’t Break Even

Posted on by narciejeter

I keep hearing The Script’s Breakeven when I’m in the car.  The opening lines “Still alive but I’m barely breathing.  Praying to a God that I don’t believe in…”  I wonder how many people start to feel that at this time in the school year when people are tired, sick, maxed out, and papers/tests/projects/finals are creeping up?   Heartbreak and things not seeming fair and things not going as planned, that’s not just college, that’s life.  But the song is right in that sometimes things don’t “break even.” 

Some seem to get all the breaks and others don’t.  In this National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, that seems really fitting.  As we have walked in CROP for the hungry, as we’ve been packing boxes for children all over the world in Operation Christmas Child, as we have given up meals for Oxfam and are sleeping out Friday night for the homeless…as tough as we may have it – we’re still really, really lucky.  That’s not just a cliche or empty words.  I’m glad that in the love of God, we all come out even.  I just hope that as the people of God, we do our best to even out the injustice, inequality, and crud in the world so that the light, love, grace, and truth of One who calls each of us is shown in all that we do and say. 

Last week I had the honor of participating in the Killingsworth Gala in Columbia.  Wearing high-heeled shoes when you’re already close to 6 feet tall is not something I choose to do in the day-to-day.  Actually barefooted is much more like it.  In the midst of getting ready (all white outfit with white fur hat and leopard print high heels = hilarious) though we all bonded.  I ended up sitting beside a beautiful woman named Jenny and I helped her with her clothes.  We were all really nervous.

I had no idea why Jenny was nervous until she walked out on the runway the second time and began to share her story.  Killingsworth is a place for women to go that are emerging out of crises situations.  Jenny very humbly and powerfully and eloquently shared her story with the over 700 people in attendance – her abusive past, her drug addiction, the loss of her children and then her truly turning her life around.  It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen or heard.  That took so much guts to do in front of all those people!

After leaving that night I heard this song in the car.  In thinking about her story and the story of students and friends and loved ones who have been through beyond hard situations and that helpless feeling that you feel especially when it looks like the other person or people are getting the breaks.  Why is that?

I don’t think some of us have all the answers and I don’t think we should start spouting off things like if you do x, y, z then life will turn up roses.  It’s hard to hear but I totally get what Becca was saying in her blog from the CDCA today.  http://jhc-cdca.blogspot.com/2010/11/to-hell-with-good-intentions.html  But I do think we each have a story to tell.  In the midst of me not breaking my neck walking down the runway, the lovely mc said I was a walking miracle.  That’s not necessarily someway you’d like to classify yourself because you then know everyone’s looking at you and thinking what happened to her?  And that’s what Jenny asked me.  So what did happen to you?  Oh, just a brain tumor.  No worries.

In the grand sceme of things – it really is no worries.  I’m fine.  And there are loads of people out there that are not.  We each have a story to tell.  Seriously.  No brain tumor or drug addiction or bad car accident needed.  We each have a story of redemption that does make us walking miracles.  In some ways it may not be a big deal to us, but if we’re not sharing these stories than there’s a whole world out there that thinks they’re praying to some crazy punishing God that zaps some people and not the rest.

Things may not break even.  But the gift of salvation is offered to each of us.  And our stories tell that louder than anything else we can make up.  A clergy colleague shared with our district clergy meeting last week something that his church did last year called Cardboard Testimonies.  Apparently, a bunch of folks have done this at their churches.  I love it.  Not entirely ready to spring this on our church, but I like the challenge of sharing even a bit of your story with others.

Here’s the link.  Check it out.  http://www.vimeo.com/5088437

For more info on Killingsworth and they’re amazing work: http://www.killingsworthhome.org/page6.html

Posted in Campus Ministry, Culture, Faith, Justice, Politics

Taking Your Own Advice Part 1

Posted on by narciejeter

So do you ever take your own advice?  Part of me thinks that preachers are probably more guilty of not taking their own advice than just about anybody.  Maybe someone beats us out…but even the most obvious of examples – therapists, teachers, politicians – still probably do a better job than we do.

I try very hard not to ever say who I am voting for.  You may disagree but I think that’s a personal thing and not something that should be blasted from the pulpit.  There’s also perhaps a hesitation on my part because I don’t feel like debating my beliefs with everyone that could have a problem with them.  I vote both ways.  Nope, I am not one of those people that just checks the straight party line button at the beginning of the ballot and even for that, some of you are scratching your heads and thinking what’s wrong with me.

Now by saying that, I am not saying that politics don’t enter my sermons more often than not.  I just can’t seem to help it and I probably should apologize both to the congregations in this district and to my students because I’m sure they get tired of hearing about issues of human trafficking, hunger, relief for families, homelessness and legislation around that, and other stuff that I just can’t not say something about.  So if you ask me if my sermons are political, I wouldn’t want to say yes because I’m not saying “Vote for ????” but I don’t think that we as Christians can just sit on the sidelines on all of these things either.

I know, I know.  I can hear the give to Caesar, what is Caesar’s saying in the back of my head or the much misused “the poor are always with us.”  Mike actually created a political add 2 years ago before the last presidential election when the Caesar saying came up in the lectionary.  Here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aanw_AUw1vc

 Thankfully he found it.  You would not believe how many crazy things pop up when you youtube Jesus political ad.  It was pretty much just talking about how anything can be misconstrued and used for “the other side” in this crazy time of awful political ads.

But see that’s the thing.  As much as I want people to vote and I ask my students if they’ve done their absentee ballots or if they’re going home to vote and I dragged my sick self to the polls yesterday, there’s part of me that was just overwhelmed by all the sheer negative gunk that has been happening.  There’s part of me that doesn’t know who to vote for because the cynical side of me says it doesn’t matter because as soon as they get to Washington they’re all going to be the same anyway.  No one wants to work with the other.  Nobody seems to care that lives are being lost not just at war but right here with jobs being lost and people not able to put food on the table.  It’s just so incredibly frustrating.

I’d like to think if we all banded together and held all of our representatives accountable to putting some of these power things aside and actually moving forward on some of the urgent issues of our country then we could make something happen.  But, I know that we (us regular folk) wouldn’t agree on what those are either.  It’s hard to make anything work when people are so polarized.

But I can’t spout off to people that we have to vote – that men and women have fought for our right to vote, that many of us couldn’t have voted 100 years ago, that we can’t just sit back and say we don’t like it and yet do nothing to change it – and not vote.  So I did.  Did all of “my” folks get elected?  Maybe not.  But do I think we need to pray for the ones that did?  Heck yes I do.  Because no matter if “our” people got elected or not – they need to all be “our” people and in our prayers.  Because we need some leaders with wisdom and integrity and passion to lead the way.  We can’t just sit around saying how awful everything is and demonizing people without honestly and urgently being in prayer for our world, our nation, our state, our communities – our leaders.

Nobody ever wins.  One “side” may “win” this year but then a couple years down the road it will flip and over and over again.  Politics is politics and the cycle continues but we as the church cannot keep sitting back and let our representatives duke it out in Washington while we just sit back home and go about our day to day.  We have got to be involved.  We’ve got to be advocates for the least of these.  We’ve got to not just protest and rally and yell at each other, but actually have dialogue with each other.  Let’s face it – we may not always change each others minds, but at least as we talk about it we can say – “Hey, so and so isn’t a complete moron, and they believe in this person, or issue, or cause…maybe I can’t or shouldn’t make blanket stereotypical statements about them.”

I don’t know.  Maybe I’m crazy.  Maybe I just want something different.  Maybe I’m just sick of it from both “sides.”  At a campus ministers meeting last week we were talking about this and how people want to use their faith to defend why they vote a certain way.  One person told about a t-shirt slogan that she has that says, “Jesus loves all of us, but I’m his favorite.”  Jesus loves each of us, but I’m his favorite.  FYI – beep, beep, beep – Public Service Announcement here – There’s no political party that’s his favorite.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t exercise our right to vote.  That doesn’t mean we don’t educate ourselves.  That doesn’t mean that we don’t advocate and support when we see fit.  But no “side” is his favorite.

So I took my own advice and voted yesterday.  I hope that I can continue to back that up.  That’s part of my reason for writing this.  If I write it down and I put it out there, even if just 2 of you read it, then I have to hold myself accountable to not demonizing folks and to praying for our leaders.  I have to hold myself accountable to trying to do the best I can to bring about change in this world for the kingdom of God whether that is by baby steps along the way or standing up for things even when it’s not popular.  I have to hold myself accountable to being a Christ follower first and foremost and to let my heart and discernment guide me throught the rest.