Christian Chronicle Article

Through the last few years, I have talked several times about the prayer sign on campus. It is such a freeing thing in my schedule and has definitely continued to evolve each semester I sit out on campus. I was asked to write a little article in the November 2009 edition of the Christian Chronicle about my experience with the sign.

I can't find a direct link to the article online, but you can download a pdf copy of the Christian Chronicle on the right side of their site. My article is on page thirty five.

Other campus ministry articles in this edition point to how campus ministry is a major mission field often overlooked as a mission. We often think of it as one of the regular ministries of a local body when it is more appropriate to approach campus ministry like a foreign mission effort. It just happens to be in the same town.

Enjoy the reading and send me feedback on my blog.

New Beginnings

Last night marked the official announcement of the hiring of our new minister. Matt Springfield will be joining us here in Huntsville. They are moving in the middle of December with an official start date of January 3, 2010.

So, for one full year we will have been without a full-time preacher. For one year we are experiencing a desert of sorts in our transition. So much has happened during this time. Figuring out who we are as a congregation. Searching through many resumes. Having many conversations, some difficult and some exciting. Learning that I am not in control. Hearing the call to trust God. Finding clarity and confusion at the same time. Loving others. Battling Satan. Searching for God in the midst of it all. It has been a full 2009.

I stand amazed at what 40 years of this might look and feel like. The forty years of Israel's wandering in the desert is hard to comprehend on the edge of our own new beginning. We hardly setup camp and here we are moving on to something new already.

Well, despite our desert's brevity, I'm excited about this new stage in the life of our congregation! Having fresh eyes to see us and what God is doing is a much-needed thing. I'm not sure if this is blasphemous, but we will have a new voice of God in our midst, someone new to speak God's word. God certainly speaks in many ways and in various forms.

Will we have ears to listen? Will we have eyes to see? Will we have hands to serve? Will we have mouths to praise? Will we smell the aroma of Christ in our midst?

I am confident we will! I praise God for this new beginning.

God's Work

I am trying to characterize where I am right now in relation to discerning what God is up to.

More than ever I feel like I am a spectator watching the performance but somehow am still involved in the show itself...if that were possible.

I would say my hands are up. It is like an act of resignation, but not a desperate one without hope. There is peace nearby with a handful of confidence and assurance. I see trust as it approaches to talk about the future. His whisper passes my thoughts as I continue to teach and pour into the lives of others. He points out the close presence of caution and discernment, while pushing us into new areas. All the while I feel study touching my heart and leading this ambiguous, uncontrollable process.

I smell rumblings of newness coupled with an ancient sagacity. A fresh wind of spiritual revival sitting next to a familiar and much-needed tradition. The room feels comfortable, but uneasiness lingers; they constantly talk with each other without compromising each of their qualities.

We sit. We wait. There is peace. God is at work. It's hard to explain.

Brother Lawrence

Practicing the Presence of God is a good read for someone endeavoring to journey closer to God. Brother Lawrence sought to live life with God as a continual inward conversation with God done in humility and out of deep love.

This is an appealing endeavor for me, since I have been known to speak aloud to God as if he were a person in the room. The flies on the wall regularly asked me with whom am I speaking! As I read about my 17th Century Brother, I thank God for the reminder to talk with him and think on him regularly!

What is really cool about Brother Lawrence's admonition is that it is like prayer on speed! You are conversing with the divine, but you cannot stop at the Amen! You keep going. You must continue. It bleeds into your life. You must turn your mind to God as you do everything. It is a sort of OCD obsession with letting God in on doing laundry or homework or grocery shopping or driving or you name it! God is present...waiting to have that talk!

As you read his treatise, you get the sense that an inexpressible joy exudes from every pore! It is an attractive thing for me. To be so content with God...to be so aligned with his will...to be so one with his desires...to be so in his presence that the normal means that we have of accomplishing this oneness (i.e. times of prayer, worship) can be readily set aside. We are already there. We are already tasting the heavenly presence. Attractive isn't it? It is for me.

Well, at the risk of getting many of us checked into a mental hospital, I want to encourage us to spend our day talking aloud with God. Be aware of his presence. Ask him his thoughts. Wonder at his creation. Thank him for his blessings. Inquire what he would have you do. Experience his love.

Let me know how it goes.

Creativity

I am not a very creative person. I have at times tapped into God's creativity by allowing myself to be bored like kids in their creative play. But, generally speaking I have never been known as the most creative person.

This is probably due to a few factors; the last one was made real to me yesterday. One, I watch TV. This stifles any sort of creativity that I might have. It tells me a story that I don't have any say in. It comes to conclusion (sometimes) without my input. It makes connections that I haven't asked for. Creativity is squelched when I imbibe the television.

Two, I don't spend enough time in God's creation...or at least considering the creativity involved with it. I go through my day taking it for granted. The trees are always there. I don't get up close and look at how much creativity is right in front of me. To see how it feeds; to feel how hard and soft it is at the same time; to smell its aroma; to taste its fruit; to hear it move in the wind. How creative it is!

Last, I don't read creative works of fiction enough. There are people gifted toward creativity, masters of language who have for centuries brought out God's creative powers through words. And I don't let them take me on the journey to offer imagination that I never thought possible.

When I think about books I want to read, I think non-fiction. While I understand the importance of reading fiction works, I find it somewhat unproductive, impractical even. I recognize that it will broaden the horizons of teaching, but I don't find time. While I know it points to God's creative nature found in all humans, I let the mundane trump the magnificent.

Two days ago I had a great conversation with my best friend. In that conversation he, yet again, suggested a book for me to read, a fiction book this time. He was not the first to make this suggestion, but I felt compelled to entertain his little admonition. Getting the classic yesterday, I finished it this morning. Creativity throughout this little read. It was amazing.

I must explore other works too. I feel it will enrich my life; it will enrich my God-given creativity. Perhaps I will read my next fiction outdoors, forgetting all three of these creative-stoppers at once.