2016
How Music Helps Me Worship
By Student Servant Leader Sam Amodeo
Music has always seemed to be the number one way to reach out to people. It exists to communicate, to connect with thoughts and emotions on any level of depth. As a trombonist, perhaps I’m biased, I have spent more time than the average young sprout looking at notes and interpreting them into the toots of a horn. But there’s so much more to music than the playing of it; there’s where you are, who you are with, what emotions and memories exist that can be connected to. Eventually, music becomes a bridge to some of those memories and emotions, which comes in handy when you lose yourself in a stress tornado.
Last year, I walked in to my youth group service with a thousand things on my mind. I was treasurer for two student groups, taking eighteen credits, playing trombone in the marching band and pep bands, organizing Feed My Starving Children volunteers, volunteering at robotics competitions, and trying to perform at the level of the rest of my fellow physics majors. It was a year full of expectations, everyone told me that I had to be at the peak of my intelligence, but what I saw was myself falling behind and everyone else always doing a little bit better.
This state of being in college is what led me to go to church. I was desperate for a place to come back to myself, make sure that I knew what I was doing and why. I still had a hard time accepting my situation, that I was lost in the world I had built around me, so it was admittedly a venture I could only take with some thinking time and an invite from a friend or two (Libby and Allyson, thank you). I came in with the most open mind I could, but my mind still raced, thick with the fog of checklists and sleep deprivation, as it had for weeks. I needed it to end, a way out, a bridge to cross. Suddenly, we were singing, and I found that bridge.
Service at Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) always starts with the band, with voices singing hymns together to the strumming of guitars, a violin, and a banjo. I couldn’t explain it at the time, but singing with them cleared my mind. I found focus in reading the lyrics and matching my vocal chords to the strength and tone of those around me. The chords rang and lyrics held emotion; it was beautiful to be there. I felt that singing connected me with the group, rather it connected us all to the same state of mind, reading the same lyrics, finding similar connections to parts of ourselves. The sermons and discussions afterward were then at that same level, despite the vulnerability felt from putting honest reflections in to words.
To this day, LCM’s services have continued to be meaningful to me because of that atmosphere. The sermon and the discussions teach a new lesson every time, always depending on what part of yourself you have chosen to reflect on. Even if some questions can’t be answered, I have left service always feeling further down the right road, and thankful for having once again been able to put my life on pause. It was through these services that I learned how to once again have meaningful conversations with myself and my peers.
It was a true journey, but I got through that year. I passed everything, more than half were B- or above, and I continue to get better. I found parts of my life I was holding on to solely because of others’ expectations and let go. I now believe more strongly in my future and try to chase my goals every day. It truly helps to have a better sense of myself and trust in those goals because of that. While I can thank the pastor and the other students at worship for helping me more than they probably know, I must always thank the musicians first for the connections they build within us all that allow for such great explorations into ourselves.
2016
Why are Faith and Science still pitted as enemies?
By Student Servant Leader, Libby Witte
I listen to a lot of Christian radio. Last week, though, I heard a monologue on one of my favorite stations about all of the flaws with the theory of evolution. This frustrated me. I am a person of science, and I am also a person of faith. In my mind, the two work together to create an understanding of the world.
When I was in Taize, I heard this great analogy for the relationship between faith and science. One of the monks held up two maps of France, one political and one geographical. He then asked us “so which map is true?” Well, they were both accurate, they just answered different questions.
In our Faith and Leadership conversation about faith and science, we heard from Professor Dave Bernlohr about how being a Christian informs his work in research at the University, and one of my favorite things he said was how he saw no real hardship in being a scientist and a Christian at the same time. It wasn’t a big deal to him, since he didn’t see the two as conflicting. He confessed to not being a biblical literalist, and acknowledged that people sometimes ask him questions about how the two conflict. But that sort of stuff doesn’t bother him anymore.
I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t ever doubted or questioned my faith (I do it all the time!) but I don’t think having strong faith means being without questions or doubts. Diving deeply into these questions about faith and science allows me to pursue an understanding of the world from many different angles. Engaging in these questions, though, does not mean giving in to some contradiction. I don’t believe faith and science are enemies. There are so many people who live in both worlds, and it is great to embrace that. Some of my friends I know through science coursework may not understand my faith, but like Dave, I don’t want to let that bother me. Faith and science are not enemies in my mind.
2016
Approaching The Big “E” Word: Evangelism
By Student Servant Leader, Corey Bergman
Hello Again!
Corey here for another semester of LCM blogging. I am typing this up on an airplane returning from San Francisco where I was visiting PLTS, a seminary I might attend next year. As part of my visit I got to sit in on a class called “Evangelism”.
Before I get into what I actually want to talk about I will go on a (hopefully) brief tangent about what the term Evangelism means in a more basic sense, and what it has come to mean, or at least be associated with, in the modern discourse. Evangelism, like a lot of big church words, has its roots in the ancient Greek language it comes from the word “ϵυ” meaning good, and a form of the verb “αγγέλλω” meaning to bear a message so Evangelism means “to bear a good message”. In the world of today though Evangelism, and the people it is most generally associated with has come to mean something very different than just sharing the good news. I’m sure you’ve all seen the people on campus with the big signs telling you that you’re going to hell, or pacing and reading verses out of the bible. These people are generally known as “Evangelicals” and their way of bearing a good message has become commonly associated with the use of the word “Evangelism”.
Alright back to the class. It was the first day so instead of discussing a reading, the conversation revolved around our own personal experiences with Evangelism. In the group I was put in we had two positive and two negative examples. We started talking about the similarities, and differences between the examples. One thing we noticed is how the person who was doing the Evangelizing treated the person they were trying to evangelize. In the negative cases, we noticed that the person who was trying to do the evangelizing was treating the other person like a blank slate. By a blank slate we meant they weren’t appreciating the ideas and beliefs the person already brought into the situation. They would just try and write the way they expressed their faith onto the other person as if there wasn’t something there already. In one example the person being evangelized tried to enter into a discussion about the differences in their faith but the evangelizer backed away after realizing they couldn’t make them into what they wanted. The other way of approaching the situation was treating them as an actual person and trying to meet them where they are when bringing the “good news” of Jesus. I found this profoundly important for anyone who feels like they need to convert people into God’s Kin(g)dom. If that is your goal, remember that the person you are talking to is a person, and the Savior you are trying to emulate is the best example of meeting people where they are at, whether they are adulterers or tax-collectors he always went to them as they were and didn’t just try and change them into who he wanted them to be.
Peace.