Holden On For Life!

For those of you who may not have heard, the LCMers took a pilgrimage of sorts to Holden Village over spring break. Holden is a Christian retreat center tucked away in the North Cascades in central Washington. The village receives most of its guests in the summer months, but a small community remains year-round to enjoy and maintain the village.

Panorama of Holden
Panorama of Holden

We spent our week at Holden helping out with whatever work needed to be done around the village, which included installing plumbing, doing housekeeping work, cooking, garbage duty, shoveling, peeling logs, etc.

Sorting garbage
Sorting garbage

 

Peeling logs!
Peeling logs!

In our free time, we ate, went hiking and snowshoeing, ate, worshiped, ate, enjoyed the sauna, and ate some more!

Chicken thai curry with bok choy!
Chicken thai curry with bok choy!

Holden's dining hall - every meal is eaten in community
Holden’s dining hall – every meal is eaten in community

Snowshoeing
Snowshoeing

One of the unique aspects of Holden is the emphasis placed on rest, on leisure, on enjoying those basic things in life which are easy to overlook in today’s society. Many of us were reminded of how life-giving it is to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the life God has given each of us.

After a few days of this relaxed, stress-free lifestyle, you can imagine how sad we all were to leave this sanctuary of tranquility. The idea of returning to our hectic lives as students was hard to imagine. How could we possibly leave this calm, restful place and go back to the stress of college life?

After about a week of being back on campus with all the bustle and obligations, I realized that the peace we experienced at Holden wasn’t locked away in the mountains. It wasn’t the physical environment, but rather the intention that allowed us to find rest and enjoy life. We can experience a similar – if not less extreme – life of peace simply by setting aside the time to do so. By intentionally creating a time and space for those life-giving, breathtaking moments, we can all experience life the way God meant us to.

Luke Jerviss

Spring and Lessons from College

This morning, like most Sunday mornings, I went to church at Grace University Lutheran Church, LCM’s home. It was a lovely walk over and a beautiful service. Today, we sang and heard Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd. This morning, one verse in particular stood out to me.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

It seems a little odd, I’ll admit, thinking about the shadow of death on such a lovely and sunny morning. The ice is melting and life seems to be returning. However, if I’ve learned anything at college, it’s that our world is entirely unpredictable. Heart aneurysms happen. Suicides happen. Accidents happen. Life is incredibly fragile and we never know when we’ll be walking through the shadow of death.

But we never walk alone. God is with us through it all, although it’s easy to forget and oftentimes hard to see.

After Psalm 23, 23 read John 9:1-41, the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. Again, one line stood out to me.

“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

I don’t pretend to know why bad things happen. But in every situation, God is present and powerful.

Today, the sun shone and the birds chirped. At Grace, we celebrated Peg’s 100th birthday. God’s love is all around us, even when life is difficult and unexplainable.

 

Meghan Lane

LCM’s Day at the Hill

This Past week, a small group of us from LCM joined the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition for their “Day on the Hill.”  For this event we split into our districts and discussed the JRLC views on some of the hot topics being discussed this session by the MN Legislators. Some of the focused topics were those such as Pay Day Lending, Minimum wage, and housing. It was a very exciting experience to see so many people of different faiths coming together on issues of social justice in our community!

I found this experience to be especially inspiring because of the passion that I saw come alive in people.  One woman from my district was especially passionate about the Pay Day Lending motion, which will close a loop-pole that allows lenders to lend more to clients at time with higher interest.  It also limits the number of loans per year as a way of keeping people out of a debt trap.  This woman that I spent most of my day with was very knowledgable about the topic and was clearly a veteran at talking to her legislators.  She made talking to the legislators easy and was very helpful.  Seeing someone acting out their passions for social justice is truly inspiring.
Coming away from this experience, I feel that my own beliefs on the topics that were addressed became more settled on my faith beliefs.  I am really interested in looking at the bond between faith and justice.  I feel that my passions for social justice are related to what I believe God has called us to do on Earth.  Coming together as a community and interacting with others who believe in that connection as well  is reenergizing.  I had a number of people tell me how excited they were to see young people at the Day on the Hill.  For me it was exciting to see the large turn out for the event.

So That Just Happened

Thirteen years ago, a nine year old version of myself sobbed in an apartment in Paris after visiting Monet’s garden, which was something that I had been looking forward to for two whole years (which in my defense was over 20% of my life at that point). When asked why I was so upset I simply answered, “What do I have to look forward to now?” Because the truth of the matter is realizing your dreams is scary because what comes after that? In the movies there is usually uplifting music as the protagonist smiles to themselves or dances in the streets, the camera pans out and then the credits roll, and you as the viewer walk away also with a smile on your face. But in real life the credits don’t just roll, life goes on, and as the moment you were looking forward to is realized there is no momentous music, instead there is just confusion as you think to yourself, “So that just happened.” And I don’t say this to be a downer or point out the unrealistic expectations given to us by the media. Because we all deserve our momentous music and pan out shot (but you can make it happen, that is what iPods are for).
I say this because never has the confusion of reaching your dreams seemed more real than now, as I am 72 days away from graduating college. Because not long after that nine year old version of me wiped away her tears and returned to Minnesota she learned about college. In sixth grade I had a large book listing over 300 different colleges and their statistics. My goal was do well in middle school, so that I could get into honors classes in high school, and then do well in those classes and graduate from high school after getting into a good college. Do well in college, graduate and get a job. This list was long and had many things to check off and it spanned many years, but I am now 72 days away from completing that checklist.
Along the way I have had some, “so that just happened moments.” I got into college, I graduated from high school, I was fortunate enough at the end of last summer to receive a job offer from my internship, which was another large “so that just happened” moment. And I smiled to myself and imagined a pan out shot but part of me felt empty; because who was I if I wasn’t the person working towards having a full time job after college. The answer to that question was a person who still had two more semesters of college to complete. But as that part of my life comes to an end I am forced to face what comes after. Because according to many people I have consulted with life continues after college, many might say that is when it begins.
Because the things that have made up and that I have sought out in my life so far still will exist. An amazing community amongst friends, many of whom I know because of LCM, who make me feel like one of the luckiest human beings even when I am having a horrible week will still be there. I will still seek out success, it will just no longer come in the form of letter grades, which is a very freeing prospect. I’ve learned so much over the past four years about myself and how I want to live my life and be as a person, and I will continue learning even if I am not in school.  New dreams will be made, and then will hopefully come true to make room for some new ones.
And hopefully I will have a lot more, “so that just happened” moments to come.