You are not your grade--Wesley Foundation E-letter

Dear Friends,

 

Make sure you get out sometime and enjoy this beautiful weather!  It is so good to just be outside. Monday night we took a family walk around the neighborhood.  It can be difficult getting places when the two-year old believes every rock (no matter how small) is a treasure that must be picked up.  Even though we didn’t walk fast or far (and had to carry him half of the way home) it was a wonderful reminder of the necessity to enjoy life while living it.  So get outside and do some enjoying!

 

This week Broadway UMC is coming to lead our praise and worship on Thursday at Solid Rock Café.  Remember free food at 6:30pm, worship at 7:30pm.  We’ll be doing something creative and inspiring as we worship, so set aside some time for God.  No matter what is going on in your life, you’ll be glad you did.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

When I was in seminary I had a New Testament professor who used to say to us:  “You are not your grade.”  A part of me believed her because she treated everyone with dignity, no matter what.  But then every year as graduation drew closer, the seminary would spend one of its convocations giving away awards to students who excelled in various areas of study.  Sure enough, there was always a New Testament award.  As much as I wanted to believe that grades did not matter, I lived in the paradox of a training school for pastors who gave away accolades to those who made the best grades.  There was no award for the student who had the best pastor’s heart.

 

We all have to live in that paradox as people of faith because we move in a world whose paradigm is based upon outward appearances to determine inward value.  Yet faith tells us that our lives matter because God created them.   We have to live knowing that our inward value transcends whatever outward appearances say.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of trying to prove our inner value through an outer accumulation or accommodation.  This is especially true on a college campus where we accumulate so much:  GPA’s, clothes, ipods, computers, blackberries, video phones, friends on Facebook, memberships in clubs and organizations, positions in clubs and organizations.  It’s not bad to have these things; it’s just bad to allow them to define you.  Or to look to them to provide you with the one thing only God can give:  a sense of peace about yourself and your life.  And when accumulating doesn’t do it for us, we always seem to turn to accommodation to fill the holes that accumulation leaves behind:  drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, addictions of all kinds.  I believe that true peace about oneself and one’s life comes only through humility.

 

I have been pondering this concept of humility.  What does it mean to be humble?  I believe God is showing me that humility is not the same as humiliation (although humiliation can lead to humility; it certainly has in my life, but that’s another “ramblings”).  Humility is not being totally down on yourself.  Humility is seeing yourself as God sees you.  It is knowing that without all the stuff, your life matters and has value.  It is living as if the content of your heart is more important than the content of your closet, wallet, or GPA.  There is no contempt in humility, for yourself or others.  A humble person doesn’t need outward stuff to validate them.  So they never have to expend energy trying to prove their own worth to themselves or others by accumulating the outward stuff.  And they never have to put someone else down, or look down on others to feel good about themselves.   Jesus was so humble.  He knew who He was no matter who the world told Him He was.  And he was completely free to love others as they were, no matter what the world said about them. 

 

No matter what this world (or campus) says about you, you matter.  Jesus’s love speaks the truth of who you are.  You are a person of immeasurable worth.  You are His.

 

I love you too.  This ministry loves you.  As people who walk with Jesus, we just want you to know His truth.

 

Blessings,

Sami

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

God is Big Enough--Wesley E-letter

Dear Friends,

Hey there! Hope you all survived Spring Break and that you have returned
rested and re-created, ready to take on the challenges of the last few weeks
of school. It sure was quiet around here with everyone gone. Tonight at
Solid Rock Café we'll hear how the group did on their trip to Mississippi to
do hurricane relief. I've heard that they stayed in a house with no walls!
Way to rough it for the Lord, guys (and Kelly too). Feel free to bring your
own Spring Break stories to share. We will also watch "A Night with the
King" and consider the message of how God works in our circumstances to give
our lives purpose. Can you see God's purpose for you unfolding in your
present circumstances?

Also want to give a big shout out to Smiley and the Hot Minute. The
pre-Spring Break concert was awesome. It was so refreshing to hear good
music, dance, sing, laugh, eat gourmet burgers and dogs (yes I am the
grill-master), and be with some really cool people. By the way, the warm
fuzzy hackey sack competition sparked added its own flavor to the evening.
All in all, everyone had a chance to unwind before heading out of town in an
atmosphere of old-fashioned, good, clean silliness. I love you guys! We'll
do it again before the semester is over. Be sure and check out the pictures
(complements of Lauren Davis, she takes the best pictures) on Facebook!

Now for Sami's Ramblings About Jesus:

I wrote this e-letter once before on Monday, before it was eaten by the
internet boogie monster. One mistake click of the keys and all of my heart
that I had poured out on paper (I mean screen) was gone forever. I told Tim
(my wonderful husband with the very nice legs) that it felt like giving
blood and then watching someone pour it out all over the floor. However, I
have had time to continue to think about what I wanted to write even more,
and maybe that's a good thing.

You see, the week before Spring Break I attended the Angela Shelton lecture
on campus. It is one of the events dedicated to raising awareness of sexual
abuse, rape, and violence in our society, as well as trying to help us know
how to prevent, stop, and heal such atrocities. For the last two weeks I
have really been seeking the Lord, trying to find a way to connect God's
healing grace to this kind of trauma. But at the same time I fell into the
trap of focusing too much on what is wrong, beginning to believe that
somehow what is wrong with the world is bigger than Who is right. I
certainly understand more than ever that our lives are the spiritual
battleground where evil tries in subtle and sometimes brutal ways to remove
our human dignity and sacred worth. Hearing and seeing the ravages of those
who have suffered from such abuse breaks my heart; it makes me angry; it
makes me ask questions that are hard to answer. However, in my wrestlings
over this issue I come back to the fundamental belief that healed my own
brokenness and continues to keep me whole each day: God's love heals
anything; God's love heals everything.

I had a profound insight about the power of God's love in all my wrestling.
The pastor at the church I attend said in an Advent message that God is
constantly joining us where we are. While we keep trying to leave our
present space and time to get to heaven, God keeps bringing heaven to us.
Thus the significance of the Christmas manger. Jesus enters into the human
experience by being born in absolute vulnerability and poverty. And yet in
the current liturgical season, Lent, I find a parallel message at work as
well. We try to avoid suffering, ignore suffering, and ultimately pretend
it isn't there. Yet here is Jesus walking right into the middle human
suffering, shame, and misery by trudging to the cross. We shut our eyes to
the pain of our sisters and brothers; Jesus opens Himself to pain in a very
intimate and personal way. And then overcomes it.

I honestly don't know why bad things happen. But in the core of who I am I
believe God's redemption touches every part of our human existence. God
restores every thing the Devil tries to steal, kill, and destroy. What
Satan demolishes, Jesus resurrects. He brings glory out of our ashes. All
we have to do is give our ashes to Him. He can make something beautiful out
of them every time.

No matter who I talk to, no matter what their struggle is, no matter what my
own struggles are, basically the biggest challenge we are all trying to
prevail in is believing our own worth. Each of us has it; it is our
birthright. And no matter who we are, we have an enemy who tries to deceive
us into believing we have lost it or never had it. And the only One who is
able to restore it, restore our belief in it is God. Only God is big enough
to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of our receiving it. Dear
friend (I'm imagining all your faces as I write this), know that you are a
person of sacred worth. God created you in love and deliberate, creative
attention. You are His masterpiece. Your life can never be messed up
beyond His ability to restore your beauty. You are loved. You are
infinitely loved.

Blessings and peace,

Sami

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu