Let me introduce you to Saint Karen--Wesley Foundation Weekly E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hey there!  How about this weather?  Isn’t it great?  This morning I got to watch Noah and Isaiah in their costume parade at school.  It was so cool!  Yeah!  So anyone got any cool costumes this year?  I would like to send out a big Wah Hoo! to Dave Vickery and Kelly Ogles for winning our costume contest last week at Wesley.  Gary Ransdell and Mr. Bucket never looked so good!

 

TOMORROW get your FREE CANDY!  We will be handing out candy on South Lawn from 11am till 3pm.  It should be awesome fun.  Come and hang out with me; I’m decorating the mommy van for a little bit of trunk or treat on campus!

 

This Thursday we will have a special All Saints Day service.  We will eat at 6:30pm and at 7:30pm we will have our service in the chapel.  So many times we lose people we love and after the funeral, there is never a time when we get to talk about them.  Well Thursday night we will have some time to celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us, tell their stories, and remember what gifts their living has given to us.  So please join me for this special time.  Come and light a candle for your special loved one.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

This Thursday, November 1^st , is All Saints Day in the Christian calendar.  The New Handbook of the Christian Year describes it this way:

 

In contemporary understanding, it commemorates all Christian people of every time and place.  “The saints” in New Testament usage refers to Christians collectively, and it is with this biblical understanding that celebration of this day has been rapidly spreading among Protestants in recent years.

 

For some reason this special day has lodged itself in my heart.  In other words, it’s taken up residence.  I just can’t help thinking about those “saints” in my life who have loved and inspired me, and who are now cheering me on from the arena of heaven.  I have such a special place in my heart for them; in fact, they live there.  It is as if their earthly life continues in the influence and inspiration that shapes my day to day choices and experiences.  All Saints Day is a time to remember and celebrate God’s goodness to us through those who are now with Him.

 

So I would like to introduce you to “Saint Karen.”  Karen Pelz was a professor in the English department at WKU in the early 90’s.  In 1992, as a sophomore in college I answered an ad she placed in the Herald offering a student room and board in her home for $500 a semester.  Mrs. Diddle had just died (yes, the Mrs. Diddle as in Diddle Arena, but that’s another story), and I needed a new home.  So I called the number and went over to meet Karen and her family.  Now Karen’s family included her elderly mother and five cats.  After that initial meeting, Karen thought I would be an okay boarder, so I moved in.

 

Life had never been so good.  Karen could cook.  And she made my lunch everyday and sent it to school with me in a brown bag with fun pictures drawn on it.  She even did my laundry.  All this for only $500 a semester.  Talk about God’s grace.  But I really had no understanding of how God’s grace would work through Karen to shape me as a human being, and especially as a pastor.

 

When I moved in, Karen had been in remission from cancer of the esophagus for two years.  Shortly after I arrived however, Karen began having bad pain in her back.  The doctors kept telling her that there was nothing there, but Karen knew something was wrong.  Eventually, cancer was discovered in her body.  Over the next three years I watched as the cancer re-emerged into Karen’s life, bringing with it the tyrannical treatment of radiation and chemo, and a slow descent into a morphine induced drowsiness that never seemed to let up.  The pain was just that bad.  In the evenings I would get home from the Wesley Foundation and spend some time watching “Northern Exposure” or “David Letterman” with Karen as I rubbed her swollen feet and her back and prayed.  I just kept praying that God would bring her healing.

 

I always felt that God had brought me to Karen so that I could bring cheerfulness and joy to her home.  Some days were easier than others.  Toward the end of my three years there, there was a particularly difficult day to be cheerful.  Karen’s brother and his family had come in from somewhere up North to spend time with her.  On that particular afternoon when I came in, they had just left.  I remember that moment when I gathered up my courage to put on a happy face to go in to where Karen was resting.  So I headed into her room with my upbeat self and said hello. 

 

Now I must pause in the midst of the story to tell you something about Karen.  She never minced words.  And she just spoke her mind.  In fact, one of her favorite t-shirts read “FUBAR University.”  I’ll leave your imagination to figure out what it meant.  Let’s just say it’s not the kind of thing one would wear in church.  So you have to understand that her next words to me were spoken in love, but were direct none-the-less.

 

So I headed into Karen’s room with my upbeat self to say hello.  And Karen looked up at me and said, “Sami, I don’t mean to be rude, but it is so hard to say goodbye to my family for the last time when you are so damn cheerful!” 

 

I have never forgotten her words to me.  Every time I walk into a hospital room, a place of deep grief, a situation that is full of anguish, I remember her words.  They have taught me well.  Better than any seminary course on pastoral care or CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) experience.  With her courage to speak the truth in love, Karen taught me to walk softly on the holy ground of people’s souls.  Sometimes it is the only holy ground they have.  I remember it every time I pray with someone, every time I encourage someone, every time I listen to someone pour out their story in my hearing. 

 

Shortly after I finished my college work and moved to seminary, Karen died.  Her long battle with cancer was finally over.  Her healing had finally been won. So as I think about All Saints Day, I think about Karen, one of the best teachers I ever had.  I cherish her memory, and often, as I teach now, I will feel her presence over my shoulder, looking on, encouraging, simply being the reminder that I’m not here alone.

 

Friends, I don’t know what your saints stories are, but I encourage you to remember and celebrate them.  And if you have a story you want to share, come and join us on Thursday night for our All Saints Day service.  It will be a blessing to us all.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Seed or Sod--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Tonight is the big night!!!!! The much anticipated, highly celebrated Halloween party!  We will eat a spook dinner, carve pumpkins, sing karaoke, and award fabulous prizes.  The festivities begin at 6:30pm.  I look forward to seeing everyone there! 

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

A few weeks ago my brother-in-law was over at our house, and he and my husband were talking about lawns.  Of course we had been in a terrible drought and most of the grass in our neighborhood was brown.  Bill commented on our lawn that the back was much greener and growing much better than the front.  He said it must have been seeded, while the front had been sodded.  He could tell that the roots of the back yard had gone so much deeper than those in the front; that’s why it looked so much better.

 

I have been sitting with this image and this question for several weeks now:  seed or sod?  In our quick fix society it seems so much easier to transplant someone else’s work into our lives for results that are immediate.  But in life as in lawns, there are no easy buttons.  It is true that sod looks much better in the short run, but it amazes me that after three years the differences in quality are still so apparent.  Seeds build better roots; sod is too shallow.   

 

Things in life have to be deeply rooted to survive.  Anything that is of value must be planted deeply, tended regularly, watched over intentionally.  This is such a slow process because seeds are so small.  And they seem to take forever to grow.  So much of the growth that happens in the beginning is hidden, beneath the earth.  And this is often the way God does things.  God plants His Word in us through seeds which we can choose to nurture or to ignore.  We can cultivate the growth of God things in our lives, but it takes patience.  I love the scripture in Philippians 2:12-13 that says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”   Because God is not into sod, He makes sure that what He is building is “built on rock,” able to withstand whatever circumstances that try to derail His intentions.  And He expects us to work with Him, even though it demands we cannot take the easy way out.

 

It is true that we can manufacture a veneer of okay-ness in the image infatuated society we live in.  And we can do this in all kinds of areas:  academics, jobs, friendships, relationships, organizational involvement, church life, dating, marriage, whatever.  We can make things look great on the outside while being a complete mess or completely shallow underneath.  But heat always reveals the depth of roots.  Without being the real deal, things that look good on the surface soon dry up and blow away because they cannot withstand the elements.  Change and hardship reveal what we are made of; we either crumble or stand tall.  Just like seeded grass that remains green (or greener) in a drought, or shallow sod that burns up easily. 

 

I invite you to take a personal inventory with me:  What parts of your life are you allowing God to plant and grow seeds of strength in?  What parts have you been faking it, trying to make things look better than they really are?  What parts of your life do you recognize as being in the long process of growth, much of which is happening where others can’t really see it?  The good news is that God loves seeding things and bringing forth fruit from that which is seeded.  It doesn’t matter what kind of soil we’ve become, God’s intention is for us to bear much fruit, and He will see that we are properly seeded to bear His fruit.  He is patient and loving and teaches us to wait with Him for those good things He is growing.  And when we finally see progress it will be of the kind that cannot be taken away:  “For as the earth brings for its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations”  (Isaiah 55:11).

 

So rejoice with me friends!  We may be sod (get it? Sad/sod?  J) now, but “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 55:13).

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Have lots of joy! Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

Hey there! I am still so pumped up about last night's big cookout. Wow! It was so cool to sit outside
on the front porch and talk and eat free food. Thanks to everyone who came by!

Tomorrow night (Thursday) we are eating at 6:30pm. State St. UMC is providing food, and Broadway UMC is
coming to lead us in worship (7:30pm). I am so excited! You know how on Sunday mornings the praise band
will only do three songs? I always feel like I'm just getting warmed up when all the music is over.
Well, for worship tomorrow night, we are spending a whole hour in worship! Louis has 13 songs lined up.
Yeah! So come and get lost in praising God. It will be awesome.

Reminder—If you are going on our Fall Retreat (October 19-21) to camp Loucon, you need to get a $25
deposit (total cost $50) to me this week!

NOW FOR SAMI'S RAMBLING ABOUT JESUS:

I think one of the most elusive qualities about life in today's culture is joy. So much of life in so
many different sectors is full of stress, striving, competition, and general anxiety. I see it when I
talk to students, professors, people in the work force, moms who stay at home, church folk, secular folk,
every kind of folk. Everyone seems stretched thin to breaking. And no one seems to have time for joy.
Or real community.

For me the two really go hand in hand. Perhaps that's why last night's cookout on our front porch was so
edifying. There was no agenda. There was no schedule. There was simply food and friendship being
offered to anyone who would take it. And in the laughter and simple community that was shared, my heart
felt light and joyful.

I love just being together without having to accomplish anything, simply appreciating the company of the
person(s) one is with. I often wonder if that is what Jesus experienced as He walked among the throngs
of people gathered to together to taste something of the Kingdom of God that He brought with Him. I
wonder if that is why the disciples stayed with Him morning, noon, and night, forsaking an old way of
life that no longer satisfied. It seems a Christ-like community transforms one's experience of the world
in profound ways. Life together, sharing the Holy Spirit, saturated with God's love, is satisfying in
the deepest ways. And the joy one lives with in that kind of community changes everything. It brings
with it the courage to step out as a new kind of being: a human being who for the sake of Joy runs with
perseverance the race of life, following the example of Christ and trusting in His Holy Spirit to keep
him or her following.

It's why hanging out at the Wesley Foundation is a spiritual exercise, even if we aren't doing
anything "religious." When we are together, and the Spirit of the living God permeates the spaces we
live in, we are transformed. And that transformation changes the world as we step out into it.

So I wish for you my friends joy and community. That you may have the courage to live boldly in a world
that does not understand either one. So that you may have the courage to be transformed and then to
transform every other place you go.

Hoping,

Sami

Rev. Sami Wilson
Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation
1355 College St.
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(270) 842-2880

Courageously Play!--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

Fall break is almost here! Yeah! I'm looking forward to time away with my family.
May each of you get some much needed rest and a chance to renew your energies.

We have some cool things coming up.

FALL RETREAT—This will be October 19-21. The cost is only $50. I need to know by
Thursday October 11th if you plan on attending. $25 is due then. If money is an
issue let me know. I want everyone who wants to go to be able to.

NEXT TUESDAY—we will have a cookout at the Wesley Foundation from 4:30pm till 6:30pm.
Mel Wilhelm, the youth minister from Covenant UMC in LaGrange, is coming up to visit
and bringing food. No program, no catch, just dinner. So come by and enjoy some good
times and good free food.

NEXT THURSDAY—Broadway UMC is providing music for us, for a really awesome time of
worship. This is a time to leave the worries of school, family, friends, etc. behind
as we focus totally on Jesus and praise Him. Of course we will eat first at 6:30pm.

Now For Sami's Ramblings About Jesus:

As we look forward to a Fall Break that begins soon, go forward into that lazy time of
rest and re-creation. It's okay to have fun. God designed you for joy. So take time
to revel in it during this break. Be courageous in resting, really resting.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is take a nap. Don't waste this precious
time doing "important" things. Allow yourself the luxury of loafing. Honestly, this
is part of our best spiritual practices. It is called Sabbath. If you are like me,
it is all too tempting to squander such times catching up. Instead of truly allowing
the body, mind, and spirit to rejuvinate and restore lost resources, we push ourselves
demanding more than we were made for. And then when circumstances and life culminate
in such a way that they absolutely do demand more of us, we have nothing left to give
because we gave our best away to the non-essentials, never giving the best of
ourselves time to be recharged and re-invigorated.

So bravely go into this time of Break, and Break away from the temptation to turn it
into just another long weekend. Instead, be a good steward of the self God has given
you and rest. You just might be surprised just how much more you get done when you
get back!

Hoping,

Sami

Rev. Sami Wilson
Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation
1355 College St.
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(270) 842-2880