August 2008

When school supplies went on the shelves at the end of July I must say that I got a bit of that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, the feeling I think many of us had as children when we realized the carefree days of summer were drawing to a close. In July I wasn’t ready to think and write and plan. My head, my heart, and my hands were all still on vacation. However, as the start of school crept closer I found another emotion creeping in, one of anticipation and longing. Soon there would be 600 new students on campus all of them bringing new stories, new gifts, new challenges and new ideas. Soon upper classman whom I have watched grow over the past few years would be back on campus, having learned new things about themselves and this world, they would arrive and give us another shot at working together toward the kingdom. Last week when I sat at my desk for the first time in two months I was almost giddy. Who gets to be as lucky as me? I am about to join a campus in thinking thoughts that have never been thought, casting visions and seeing them come into reality, restoring broken lives and transforming lives that are seeking a new shape. Who gets to be as lucky as me… who gets to work with you as we seek together to dream the dreams of God and then build it together.

The mission of University Ministries is to see students’ lives transformed so that they might impact the world for God. This is not a one semester endeavor, for transformation rarely happens over night, but rather a commitment to a way of living where we are first transformed so that we may then transform the world around us.

 If this goal is to be accomplished we believe each of us will first need to be set free from those things that would hold us back. We will need to let go of biases and stereotypes, equations and easy answers, we will need to let go of our pursuit of possessions and our constant pursuit of approval. We must be set free from the way the world has defined us so that we might be transformed into people who can bring new definition to this world. The good news is that we know the One who has can set us free.

To remind us that we have been set free from something….for something, we at University Ministries have chosen a verse from Galatians 5:13 to direct us. “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.”  MSG

This year our campus has chosen the theme “Is My Life My Own?” to guide our life together. At first it seemed like such an easy question, the answer must be ‘yes’ or ‘no’. But as with so much of the Christian faith the answer requires more than a moment of thought and a quick response. Perhaps like so much of the Christian faith the answer requires living within the tension of two right answers, so perhaps the answer is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’.

As followers of Jesus we have been and are being set free from all those things that used to define us, money, success, past wounds, new hurts, stereotypes, pat answers and old paradigms. We are no longer puppets on the strings of this world but rather individuals able to move freely in the world. And so when posed with the question, “Is My Life My Own?” We can say without reservation, “Yes” I am no longer captive I have been set free.

However, as Christ followers we have been set free from our captivity for something great…. that we may now love and serve God by loving and serving the world. We have been set free so that of our own free will we can enlist ourselves in the work of God, to seek first his kingdom and to commit to love this world in the same way God first loved us, by laying down our lives for it. And so, when posed with the question, “Is My Life My Own?” We say without reservation “No” we belong first to God and then to the world he loves.

We invite you to join us this year as we pursue both the “Yes!” and the “No!”. We invite you to join us as we learn to be free so that we may become the servants the world so desperately needs.