Where are you walking?--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Hey folks!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Everyone needs a Valentine.  If you didn’t get one today, come by tonight!  We’ll be sure you have plenty before you walk out the door!  You need to know that you are loveable, and someone cares about what happens to you.  We care, so come by and let us show you.  Free food at 6:30pm, Valentine’s after that!

 

Oh and today we are taking orders for the Angel Food Ministry.  $70 worth of groceries for just $30!  Come by tonight and place your order!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I was just facebooking a friend of mine, continuing a theological conversation on the meaning of life.  Do you ever hear yourself say something, and after you’ve heard it, think, “Wow!  Where did that come from?  It was profound!!!”  I think I just had one of those moments.  One of those times when I’m pretty sure it was God talking because I’m not smart enough to come up with something like that.  So here’s what I said:  “My worst day walking with Him is 100 times better than my best day walking away from Him.”  Gosh!  It staggers me by how true it is.

 

Lent is one of those seasons in the Christian year where we take time to observe our walk.  Kind of like on the movie “Miss Congeniality” where the pageant coach critiques Sandra Bullock’s regular “bull in a china shop” walk and then teaches her how to walk with style and grace.  In the same way Lent is a time to see how one’s faith-walk lives up to what Christ calls it to be.  Jesus says so many times in scripture, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  But how often do we actually do that?  We live in a culture, especially on a college campus, whose motto is “if it feels good, do it.”  And so we spend our days trying to live into the pleasure of the moment and completely avoid what is uncomfortable, or painful, or effortful, anything less than pleasurable. 

 

It always baffles me when I hear people say that Christianity is simply a crutch to help weak people, that it is the opiate of the masses.  Nothing has demanded more of me than my relationship with Jesus Christ.  And just when I begin to get comfortable, He is always asking me to go deeper, stretch further, and believe bigger than I ever thought was possible.  He even asks me to forgive what seems to be unforgivable.  It takes every ounce of courage I have to follow Him.  Because the road is NEVER easy.  Essentially Jesus asks His followers to die to themselves every day.  To totally defy the wisdom of the world and actually delay gratification, stretch beyond one’s comfort zone, think of someone besides oneself, care about people one has never met, give away one’s resources to those who lack them, pray for one’s enemies, to do the right thing in every situation without any guarantees that it will even end well, to be self-less in a world that glorifies selfishness.

 

At this point you may be asking, “how in the world can she say that walking with Jesus is so much better than walking away from Him?”  Especially if what I have said about what Jesus demands is true.  I guess it’s because of what is on the other side of that cross that He asks me to pick up.  Tony Compollo speaks of a sermon he heard an African American preacher give where all the preacher said was, “It’s Friday now but Sunday’s comin’!”  I have walked long enough with Jesus now to see with my own eyes that Sunday always follows Friday.  The promise for every cross is that there is resurrection on the other side, new and eternal life that cannot be defeated, demolished, or stolen.  The promise of the eternal and abundant life He gives is never empty.  The self-denial he calls us to initially always births a greater blessing than anything we can desire.  And it is always so much better than the emptiness we end up with when we do it the world’s way.  The only thing the world can offer is empty promises.  It can offer stuff, but all stuff is transient.  And stuff cannot bring joy, peace, or wholeness.  Only God can do that.

 

So maybe it is time in this season of Lent to do a little soul searching and faith-walk observing.  Maybe the best thing to give up for Lent isn’t necessarily a soda as much as an addiction to immediate gratification.  Maybe even an addiction to the noise that distracts us from the invitation of eternal life.  Maybe Lent is really about turning around and simply taking steps toward the Lord of Life instead of constantly walking away because it feels good for the moment.  Maybe Lent is more about hope than we think.  Because the path ultimately leads to life that is real life.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Fleshing Out the Role God Plays--Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hope everyone came through the storms from last night okay.  There was a slumber party at the Wesley Foundation for those who had no basement to run to.  I love how a time of good, clean fun can happen anytime for any reason. 

 

Tomorrow night we meet for dinner at 6:30pm and program afterwards.  If you want to see us do something in particular this semester, this is a great time to come.  We will be planning some of our events for the Spring.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

When I was in seminary I got a role in the musical “Godspell.”  Originally produced in the 70’s, each character was portrayed as a clown.  In updating the production for our community though, the director asked each of us to come up with a stereotype of different kinds of personalities that young people have.  Everyone decided I should represent the “alternative” crowd.  And so for the first time in my life I donned all black clothing, black lipstick, black fingernail polish, and a “who gives a ___________” attitude.  I stepped out of myself in some amazing ways that semester and discovered God’s grace deep in the places of me that were longing to rebel against my own and everyone else’s expectations.

 

I love that in the incarnation, God steps out of Himself in some amazing ways that blow our expectations of Him out of the water.  During Advent and Christmas we discovered that the God who becomes flesh dwells among us, not as a king surrounded by luxury, but as a baby swaddled in a feeding trough.  How humbly and gently He comes.  This is what we learn from Advent and Christmas.  And during Lent and Easter, we learn something else. 

 

I am astounded that in the incarnation, God chooses to become flesh by being a simple carpenter, who becomes a traveling teacher, who continuously shakes up the status quo, who embraces the outcasts, who calls to repentance the righteous, and who follows a path that leads to the shame and destruction of a cross.  It is as if the roles that God rejected in becoming incarnate reveal as much about the Divine character as who Jesus revealed Him to be through His life and death on earth.  How easily we cast God in the role of judge.  And yet God incarnate chose not to be Pilot.  How easily we cast God in the role of accuser.  And yet God incarnate chose not to be the Sanhedrin.  How easily we cast God in the role of punisher.  And yet God incarnate chose not to be the Roman soldier.

 

In revealing the Divine nature to humanity through His Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, God chooses to be the lamb who was slain.  God chooses to make flesh the words of Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant:

 

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account. . . .  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  By a perversion of justice he was taken away.  Who could have imagined his future?  For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.  They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.  Isaiah 53:2-9

 

It staggers me to consider what exactly it is that God chooses to identify with in the human experience.  He chooses those raw places in the human experience that we’d rather not remember.  He chooses to identify with us when we are despised, rejected, suffering, infirm, treated as if we were of no account, oppressed and afflicted.  The human response to such feelings is to deny them, forget them, discount them, and destroy them.  We render them meaningless in a world that exalts and glorifies prestige, power, and position.  How unbelievable it is then when God incarnate not only honors such experiences by having them, but then transforms them through the power of the cross.  How powerfully God validates the worst kind of suffering any human being could ever go through.  And in our heart of hearts, isn’t that what we are crying out for?  Someone to notice?  Someone to care?  Someone to really see how badly we hurt and how terribly that hurt makes us fear?  What an intimate place of love that God chooses to become real to us, joining us in our very deepest suffering when He as God never had to suffer at all.  And that is the true gift of Lent and Easter.  We serve a God loves so much that He suffers because of it, and the only thing that relieves His own suffering is joining us in ours and lifting us out of it.  Oh my Gosh.  This is so powerful.

 

So today on Ash Wednesday let us wear the ashes that remind us of our own vulnerability, ashes that tell us we are dust and to dust we will return.  And let us celebrate as well the God whose love called Him to become dust with us, and to share also the dust of our own vulnerability.  Thanks be to God.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Love God first, let everything else find its place--Wesley Foundation E-letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

Hey there!  How about this weather?  I never know how to dress from day to day.  I guess that’s one of the blessings of living in Kentucky.  We’ve got some fun things happening this week.  Of course tonight is our meal and program at 6:30pm.  We will be looking at how we can choose goals as a ministry for this semester.  It should be really good.

 

Sunday is the BIG GAME!!!!! Join us at the Wesley Foundation to watch it.  We’ll be eating homemade chili.  Be sure and bring your friends!  We’ll gather about 3:30pm or 4pm.  See you then!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Today when I opened my Bible for quiet time, my eyes fell upon these words:

 

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.  But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.  You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess” (Deuteronomy 30:16-18).

 

These are the parting words of Moses as he addresses Israel before handing over leadership of the people to Joshua.  I am struck by their simplicity as well as their gravity.  It is amazing how simple things are often the most important ones.  If I could leave a word of encouragement, exhortation, advice, or admonishment to anyone who would seek “famous last words” from me, it would be these:  “Love God first, let everything else find its place after that.” 

 

I love the verse in Romans (4:20) that speaks of Abraham this way:  It says, “he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”  The message is that in the loving of God, Abraham himself was transformed.  As we love God first, we are changed; and as we are changed, everything else changes.  For me it is a clarion call.  Love God first, let everything else find its place.  It is why I always ask in the course of conversation, “Have you prayed about it?”  Seeking God’s opinion about the details of our lives tends to reveal quite a bit about us, especially in those areas where we are reluctant to do so.  I am reminded of the quote that says “the devil is in the details.”  Well.

 

But please also hear the lift in the lesson.  Moses does not say follow God’s rules first and then love God.  Relationship values always come before righteousness values with God.  In fact, there is no righteousness outside of relationship with God.  This is why the famous “love” chapter, I Corinthians 13, is so quick to point out that perfect performance in regard to the law is absolutely worthless if it is devoid of love.  So often Christians and non-believers alike get discouraged when it comes to matters of faith because living up to the perfect law of Christ is such an impossibility.  What we all fail to realize is that Christ Jesus calls us to a love relationship with Himself, promising that He Himself is the fulfillment of the law.  As that love for Jesus grows in our hearts, so does Christ-likeness grow in our attitudes and actions.  Love always comes first.  The law of who we are always follows what we love.

 

And Moses speaks to the seriousness of who (or what) it is that we love.  If we seek anyone or anything other than the true God to be our first love, everything else about our lives will follow in that direction.  And if God is ultimately what is highest in all of existence, then anything else is less than.  Anything else will ultimately lead to our destruction.  Anything else will breed a lawlessness within us that will reproduce itself in every area of our lives.  Even loving the law of God before loving the God who gave it has dire consequences.  Such a choice gives birth to the most awful kind of legalism that puts to death the very life that God’s law is intended to produce. The choice really is always between life and prospering versus death and destructing.

 

It takes courage sometimes to love God with everything that we are.  But this is the only choice in life that will truly satisfy the deep hunger of our souls.  We may get everything else in life we ever want, but if we haven’t found that First love, our hearts will still be wanting.  Something.  Anything.  Constantly craving a substitute to cover the hole that is calling out for God.  Conversely, we can be so far away from attaining our actual “goals” and “dreams,” yet knowing the deep love of Jesus in the core of who we are, and in that love be completely content.

 

I invite you to be courageous with me.  For today at least, anyway.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Is "It" in you? Wesley Foundation E-Letter (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends,

 

We begin our Thursday night gatherings once again.  Yay!  Be sure to start your semester off right from the beginning.  We have something very special planned for this Thursday night that you won’t want to miss.  We will get to break things together!  I hope each of you had a wonderful time during the winter break.  I am excited to see each of you again on the Hill.  It’s going to be a great semester, and a great year.

 

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

The great motto that Western Kentucky University lives by is “The spirit makes the master.”  And those of us who relate to the university (whether we are students, faculty, staff, alumni, or simply friends) might benefit from asking ourselves this probing question:  If it is the spirit that makes the master, is it in us?  Is it in us to master the content we are here to learn?  Is it in us to master the circumstances that might make learning difficult?  Is it in us to impact the learning environment in a positive way?  Is it in us to master the challenges and obstacles that will inevitably present themselves?  Is it in us to master our own fears and failings so that we may persevere and succeed?  

 

Earlier this year I felt that gentle nudge to give words of encouragement to the young ladies who play basketball for my husband’s team.  Last year they had a terrible season.  And this year seemed to be headed in the same direction.  But at a basketball tournament in Paris, KY they fought for an important win.  As I pondered the game I thought how much better it would have been if winning had come easily, if there hadn’t been so many obstacles.  Yet the Lord brought to mind that the obstacles they faced and overcame held an important message for them.  And thus came the words I felt nudged to deliver to those young ladies:  It is in you to win.  It is in you to win when the team you face is rough, tough, and even mean.  It is in you to win when the officials make terrible calls.  It is in you to win when you have to play in over-time.  No matter what obstacle you face, it is in you to win.  Whether or not “the spirit” of WKU makes us masters, I believe that as persons of faith, God says something of the same thing to us that I said to those young women:  “Child of God, no matter what obstacles you face, It is in you, and It is much bigger than any obstacle staring you down.”   That “It” is the Holy Spirit.

 

How can God make such a blanket statement about every person who follows Him when there is such an incredible diversity and variety of believers?  It is because when we become believers, Christ’s Holy Spirit takes up residence within us; indeed the Spirit of God makes its home in our hearts.  I love the way the book of Romans describes this mystery: 

 

But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  Romans 8:9-10

 

God knows exactly what the Spirit is able to accomplish because it is intimately a part of His very being.  And God knows exactly what we are able to accomplish through the Holy Spirit, no matter how varied and diverse our gifts, because He intricately created us out of His very being.   As I Corinthians 12:4-7 says, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”   Therefore, “It” is in us, and “It” has the power to enable us to accomplish so much more than we could ever “ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20).  The question will always be, for those young ladies on Tim’s basketball team as it is for every believer, will we live as if “it” is in to live victoriously or will we settle for an existence as if “It” is not?  Will we submit ourselves to the authority of the Holy Spirit in our lives?  Will we have a willing spirit within us that allows, and indeed makes possible, all of the wonderful things God has planned for our lives?

 

The Gatorade advertising campaign that introduced the phrase “Is it in you?” would portray the proof the power drink’s presence through Gatorade-saturated athletes’ sweat.  The evidence would be in the output, not just in sweat but in performance.  This is true for faith as well.  The life of faith is evidenced by output that include our willingness to “sweat,” to work hard in responding to the nudges of God’s Spirit at work within us, as well as the powerful performance of God that our willingness allows.  We cannot have one without the other.  Get this:  God’s power at work in our lives is dependent upon our cooperation with His Holy Spirit that lives within us.  That same Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, but without our cooperation “It” is powerless to do anything!  And we can have all the willingness we want, but if we don’t have a relationship with Christ Jesus, His Spirit will not be given the unhindered capability of working in us and through us that it is meant to have when we have actually made room for the Holy Spirit to live our hearts.

 

Imagine with me for a moment a single semester where the Spirit of God was released to do exactly what it wished.  What would your life look like?  What would our campus look like?  What would God be able to accomplish through you?  What would you be able to accomplish through God?  What obstacles would simply cease to be obstacles anymore?  It’s something to think about at the beginning of another semester and another year. 

 

So join with me and answering the question, “Is It in you?”

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Basketball and Christmas, a unique combination--Wesley Foundation E-Letter

Dear Friends,

 

Finals week!  Arghhhh!  I hope you are all surviving, and even thriving, maybe even surprising yourselves.  It’s been a long road but the semester is almost over.  You did it!  Yay!!!!!!

 

Remember lunch—Our next one is on Tomorrow.  I’m bringing my famous chili.  Yeah!

 

ROAD TRIP!!!  On Friday we will meet at 5pm and travel to Nashville.  We will stop and eat at the Olive Garden at Rivergate, and then head down to see the lights at Opryland.  We’ll have a great time.  E-mail me back if you want to go.

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

For most people we are in the middle of the Advent or Christmas season.  When I say “Tis the season” at my house, it means basketball.  Yesterday as I was running, I kept thinking about basketball.  Probably because the love of my life (Tim, my sweet husband) is a coach.  I was thinking about how a coach is always there for his (or her) players.  There is always that word of guidance that is available from the sidelines.  Sometimes players heed it.  Sometimes not.  As I think about the life of faith, I am so struck by the similarities.  While Tim cannot play the game for his players, he is always actively engaged with what is happening on the court and through that can offer guidance, wisdom, and the perspective of expertise that years of studying the game have given him.  While God cannot come down and live our lives for us, the Lord is always actively engaged in the life we are living, and always has wisdom, encouragement, and guidance for making the life of faith work better.  I don’t understand why players do not listen to their coach.  I also don’t understand why we would try to live our lives without seeking and listening to the God who loves us and longs to give us His best.

 

Now I know that these ramblings don’t seem very seasonal.  It would appear that this week I am lacking the “Christmas spirit.”  But if you consider that Advent is not just the time when we prepare to receive the baby Jesus, but also prepare to receive the returning Jesus, then a rambling about listening to the true Life Coach makes lots of sense.  Jesus is coming again, and often I believe it will be sooner than we think.  Just as basketball players are on the court playing to win, we should be living our lives out in such a way that it gets the world ready to see Jesus face to face.  The question that matters most is this:  will the world recognize the Lord of Life when He comes by the way our lives have introduced Him?  As I understand scripture, the Lord is the good shepherd that seeks every lost sheep.  He wants the world to recognize Him; He wants to draw everyone to Himself; His ultimate desire is not to condemn the world but that through Him the world would be saved.  Ephesians 1:9-10 says this:

 

With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 

What astounds me about this plan for the fullness of time, is that as His children we have a significant role to play in it:  “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10).  We were made to help the good work of Christ to come to pass.  We are a part of His love playing itself out in a world that does not know how to love.  And as this understanding unfolds within us, His love also begins unfolding within the world. 

 

It is so cool how our Life Coach is so committed to helping us.  What I love about Tim as a coach is that he is always ready to help his players play well and live well, advising them from the sidelines of the court, within the walls of the classroom, wherever they may need help the most.  God is the same way, only more so.   As believers we are so blessed to have the best Coach in the world always on our sideline, wherever we are, giving us the instruction we need.  I love that He is absolutely ready to help us understand what our part is in that wonderful plan that sets the world free.  Again in Ephesians it says this:

 

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. . . .

 

As someone once said to me, if we are committed to knowing what God’s will for us is, God is absolutely committed to revealing His will to us. And in my heart I know that God’s will for us always reaches beyond us to a world that does not know Him and is hurting because of it.  Hope for the world becomes real as we live into and then live out the hope to which He has called us.  So I guess the questions we must ponder in this Advent season of preparation are these:  1) how full is the time?  And 2) what is that unique hope to which He has called us?  Knowing changes the world.  Or at least gets it ready to be changed when finally it see Him face to face.  In the spirit of the season I’ll end with this:  “Let earth receive her king!”

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

You are held in Love--WEsley Foundation E-letter (Methodist Student Center)

Dear Friends,

 

It’s almost here!  Our party is tomorrow night!  I’m so excited—can you tell? J  Please invite everyone you know and think would like a warm meal, a touching candlelight service, and a totally fun gift exchange.  Just bring a $10 unisex gift.  And whether you can bring a gift to exchange or not, just come and be with us; no one will leave empty handed because I have gifts for everyone.  (Just let me know you are coming so I can get more if I need to.)  This is just my way of saying you are special to me, and I am so glad you are in my life.

 

Next week we will have free lunches to help alleviate the Exam week stress.  We will eat lunch together on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, from 11am till 1pm.  Just come when you can, and bring friends.  There’s always plenty to go around.

 

Also next week we will be doing some cool “let’s love on campus” projects.  We will give away hot chocolate and popcorn.  It will be so much fun.

 

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

I just want to say to you, you are held in Hands of Love.  This is the time of year when it is so easy to get stressed out and overwhelmed.  It is the time of year that is supposed to be filled with joy, and instead is often filled with dread and an overwhelming sense of oppression and depression.  Hear me when I say, you are held in Love.  Love holds you.  Love knows your name.  Love speaks your name with tenderness and warmth, and Love has given everything so that you will know, taste and see the goodness that comes with being loved.  The name of Love is Jesus.  He is with you.  He never leaves you.  He walks with you, and when you cannot walk, He carries you.  He holds you and consoles you.  And when His suffering, death and resurrection are too much for you, He comes to you as an infant, as vulnerable and safe as the cooing of a baby’s contentedness swaddled in a warm embrace.  You are His.  You belong to Him and nothing eradicates that belonging.  It is etched into His very being, because He gives Himself generously, pouring Himself out into your deepest need.  You might be able to out-need the resources of human beings, but you can never out-need Him.  He is able to speak life into every lost part of your life, every dead part of your heart, every scared part of your soul.  You are irrevocable His.  And His name is Love.  And Love holds you.  Never give up, unless it is in giving yourself into His mighty, loving Hands.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

A Christmas of Ordinary Holiness--Wesley E-letter (United Methodist Campus Ministry)

Dear Friends:

 

Hey there!  I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!  It was so fabulous just to be with family and eat lots of home-made food.  That is such a rare thing in my house that we have to wait for special holidays to get home cooking. 

 

Tomorrow night, John Yonts is coming to share with everyone about how to begin financial planning while still in college.  This is probably one of the most helpful things we can talk about, especially with the reality of college expenses so high.  Come with your questions and come hungry.  Remember dinner is at 6:30pm!

 

Here is info about our Christmas Party!

 

Next week will have a special Advent worship service followed by our annual Christmas party.  After dinner next Thursday night, Broadway UMC’s praise team will lead us in worship and then we will have a fun gift exchange.  Be sure and bring a $10 unisex gift.  We will find some fun way of exchanging them!

 

Also next Wednesday we will be out on South Lawn again giving things away!  Look for us!

 

Now For Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

As I think about the Christmas story, I am always filled with awe at the paradox of God’s most wonderful miracle.  Our neon addicted culture would probably say that the miracle is in the angelic choir lighting up the stark night sky in the country-side.  But no, this isn’t the miracle that changed the world.  This event was merely the herald that announced the true miracle to its first observers.  The real miracle of Christmas is so much more humble:  The almighty, most holy God became flesh and dwelt among us, coming to us through ordinary means; Jesus was born.  I don’t know which is more astounding.  That Jesus was born in a manger, or simply that He was born. 

 

I love it!  Jesus was born!  Jesus, our Savior, was pushed through the birth canal, was nourished from a young woman’s body, and had to be swaddled to stay warm.  Jesus came to this world in the same way as any of us ever do:  through a woman’s womb, and into a make-shift crib.  As a mother of small children I am acutely aware that nothing is more ordinary or humble than trying to get little ones to sleep.  And Jesus was a little one.  In that one moment of unbelievable generosity, the most holy God sanctifies the most ordinary experience of our lives: living.  Our living is so meaning-filled to Him that He dignifies it by living it with us.  How eloquently the scripture captures this ultimate gift:

 

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  Philippians 2:5-7

 

When we look for miracles, we want them to be other-worldly, extraordinary, inexplicable.  You know—spiritual (and visible) fireworks.  We don’t want our miracles wrapped in the ordinariness of an everyday occurrence.  We want them to glow, with neon.  We want lots of lights, lots and lots of lights.  With so much eye-candy in our over-saturated, consumer driven culture, it seems everyone is trying to top everyone else in being noticeable.  And the result is that everything looks flashy while being empty and hollow underneath.  Within our neon addicted culture the Lord of life is inviting us to a quieter and more solid experience of the miraculous.  

 

The Lord chooses to work through that which is ordinary, His hand deftly moving through circumstances that we would call banal at best.  No glitz or glamour, just the Hand of mercy redeeming things that we believed to be beyond hope or help.   Somehow one day leads into another day where the Fingerprints of blessedness appear.  And slowly the passage of time reveals to eyes that seek Him evidence of God’s presence gently weaving itself throughout our daily-ness.  Every moment is Holy to Him because He is in it.  ­He is in it. 

 

In this midst of this Christmas season, I invite and challenge you to train your eyes upon the Holy:  not necessarily the brightest lights, but certainly the truest Light.  Be courageous enough to seek the manger spoken of in the Angel’s songs, and not merely end your seeking when you find the angelic choir.  Search deeper and nearer, looking not for the best glitz, but rather for the most ordinary holiness and the most holy ordinariness.  As much as our Lord seeks us, He also wishes to be found.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

Standing Your Ground--Weekly E-letter for Wesley Foundation (Methodist Campus Ministry)

Now for Sami’s Ramblings About Jesus:

 

Earlier this week I was watching TV and saw a special on the National Geographic Channel about Yellowstone National Park.  This is one of my favorite places on earth, so even though I was dog-tired, I stayed up to watch it.  I’m so glad I did.  Amazing how God can use the most mundane things to bring encouragement.

 

The narrator was talking about how several years back the park service had introduced wolves back into the eco-system of Yellowstone.  He went on to discuss how wolves are at the top of the food chain in that environment and how their hunting skills benefit all of the animals, particularly when they bring down a bison.  Many other animals are able to eat, and thus to survive, as well as the wolf.  In addition, the hunting customs of wolves actually strengthens the bison population by removing those animals that are weak or sick.  It was incredibly interesting to see how everything in that environment fits together.

 

However, what intrigued me was the observation that bison have a much better survival rate when they turn and face their predators instead of fleeing.  Standing their ground helps them to survive the attack intact.  In fact, those bison that stood their ground were able to level some pretty heavy blows to their opponents as opposed to the ones who merely run.  Running presents a greater danger because the wolves jump on the bison’s back and bring it down.  By facing their predators, the bison removed the easy access provided to wolves when they run.

 

How powerfully this metaphor extends to the spiritual life.  Let’s face it.  As persons of faith we are constantly hounded (pardon the pun) by our adversary.  Perhaps it is a lie that we have bought into.  In a recent conversation with my own campus minister I was reminded of the ways I tried to pass myself off in college as unintelligent and helpless.  It worked for getting attention from boys, but as long as I hung on to that image I could not move beyond it into what God had created me for.  It was a lie that I bought into that did more harm than good.  There are other things we face as well:  character flaws, bad habits, personal attacks from others, injustice, grief, prolific discouragement, incessant “bad luck,” distraction, destruction, depression, and so much more.  The temptation is always to give up, give in, and give over our selves and our control to something or someone else.  It is so easy to think that by running away we can simply outrun whatever (or whomever) is trying to bring us down.  I love the scripture that applies so aptly from Ephesians 6:10-13:

 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 

 

What I so love about the Lord is that He equips us not just to survive spiritual attacks, but to overcome them.  As we take up that full armor (Ephesians 6:14-17) and face him full on, our adversary has no weak spots to exploit.  We meet those trials and temptations meant for our defeat and destruction with the hope and promise that we can have victory.  As we belt ourselves with truth, walk in peace, dress in righteousness, wear our salvation, shield ourselves with faith, living and speaking the Word of God, we find that we have everything we need to expose and defeat the spiritual difficulties we face.  Ultimately it is not we who are fighting, but rather we are standing strong in the victory already won for us by the Lord Himself.  We stand strong finally not in our wisdom or power but in God’s.  And that makes all the difference.

 

Whatever we run from, we can never really escape.  Should our troubles pursue us, we simply have exposed rear ends that have no armor to protect.  And even if by running away we can leave behind unpleasantness for the moment, the unfinished business of the past always comes back to haunt us.  Only by standing and facing the adversity of our lives with the strength of God beside us and within us are we able to resolve the difficulties we face.  And in the process our weaknesses are transformed into strength.   Just as the Bison population has been made stronger because of the introduction of the wolf, we too are able to become more than we are when adversity arises.  We simply have to know how to face it.   So what I guess I am trying to say is . . . . don’t run away from the tough stuff, no matter what it is.  Stand up, face it, and expose it to the truth of who God is in you and for you.  You will do more than just survive.  You will ultimately thrive.

 

Hoping,

 

Sami

                                                                                   

 

 

Sami Wilson

Campus Minister/Director

WKU Wesley Foundation

United Methodist Campus Ministry

270-842-2880

sami.wilson@wku.edu

 

 

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