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
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