Wednesday, September 05, 2007

I'm Experiencing Conversion

Dear friends,

It’s that time of year again to begin those weekly meanderings of events and ramblings. Here’s a cheer for the weekly e-letter: YAY!

Tomorrow night is our first worship service of the semester. The theme is “Word of God Speak.” Faith United Methodist Church is coming to provide the music. FREE food is at 6:30pm. Our service will begin around 7:30pm. Come and consider what Word God is giving to you. Call us at 842-2880 if you need a ride.

Saturday we are celebrating 50 Years of ministry on the Hill! Join us at 1pm at the Wesley Foundation for a magnificent time of worship and commemorating God’s work through our campus ministry at Western. Almost all of our former campus ministers are returning to share in the occasion. Rev. Ken Southgate, campus minister of EKU’s Wesley Foundation will be giving the keynote address. Come and see which alumni have changed the most!

Tuesday we will be grilling for the masses on DUC South Lawn from 5pm-8pm. Come and grab a quick burger or dog on your way to class. Free food is a sign of God’s love. We will be giving away free T-shirts while they last.

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

I just read the following words:

“Conversion isn’t, after all, a moment: It’s a process, and it keeps happening, with cycles of acceptance and resistance, epiphany and doubt” (Take This Bread, pg. 97).

The truth of these words settles into the deepest part of me. Wow. I have just seen the thing that has been stirring in my soul these last few weeks written on a page in a book. And I have to stop and really consider what this conversion is that has been taking place inside.

Oddly enough, it is a conversion of hope, a letting go of the anxious to grasp more fully the Transcendent. It is like this Holy Mystery keeps inviting me to reach beyond my self to participate in the life that is alive around me. And I find that I am so hungry to see God in the life all around me, to be fully immersed in what God is doing. I am hungry to be a part of something bigger than myself. However, to live into this desire of my heart, I really have to let go of the things that usually reside there: things like self-doubt and self-sufficiency; worrying and restlessness; business and a compulsion to control. None of these things come from a place of hope. Instead they are born of fear.

Scripture says that perfect love casts out fear. So ultimately conversion to hopefulness is to delve deeply into love, falling in love with all that God loves. It is finding the courage to drink deeply of God’s love for a broken world, and allowing that love to mend everything within and around us.

I guess this is my prayer for this new year, that those deepest yearnings of my heart will find their way to reality as God’s grace works itself out in my life. I want to invite you to join me in this journey of hope. Amid the papers and the projects, the tyranny of deadlines and due dates, to allow Hope to reign in your hearts. The God who loves us, calls us by name, and sends us forth to share His love is so much bigger than the things that keep us up at night. And in working out His agenda for our lives, all the other details fall into place.

Hoping,

Sami

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