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In the spirit of taking on and not giving up

We often speak of Lenten practices or traditions such as Shrove Tuesday, the imposition of ashes, or the popular question “what are you giving up for lent”? As a kid growing up, I was the Lutheran in a neighborhood where my friends down the street all went to Catholic school and without fail every Lent constantly talked about what they were giving up. It always struck me as odd and it still does. Not that it’s a bad practice, it’s just that I’ve never really understood it.  I think it must be for the same reason I don’t particularly care for Valentine’s day. The thought being, you shouldn’t need a day to tell someone you love them, it should be a daily affirmation. Similarly, these forty days of Lent are an important and powerful time in the liturgical year but we shouldn’t limit ourselves to forty days but instead embrace all 365. Instead of giving up something,  I have found myself thinking “What might I take on for lent”?

I wasn’t really sure what that “taking on” might look like until last night. I had the privilege to join a delegation from Grace, meeting at a church near the state capitol as a part of the larger group ISAIAH, which brings together  people of faith to promote equity and justice during the legislative session. There were many inspiring words from faith leaders of many traditions, including our own Pastor Dan. A fitting way to start Lent it seemed, for then it hit me. Amidst the stories of struggle and calls to action, I was reminded of the story of my freshman year roommate Vang. I would like share with you a bit of his story here.

Vang  grew up in the son of Hmong refugees in the projects on the East side of St. Paul. Not the projects of New York or Harlem or Chicago but right here in  St. Paul, Minnesota. Vang and I were roommates my first year of college and became good friends. I have never met anyone as deeply passionate about the power of education both in his own life but more importantly how that gift can work for good in the lives of others. Vang dedicated his studies to math and education and I watched him put in long hours to help others realize their own potential and work towards success. Through our many conversations, Vang told me that his passion for the power of education came from his childhood. He told me stories of how his parents came to this country, refugees from the secret war, in order that their children might have a better life.

Of how his older brother was involved in a gang and one day some members of another gang pulled up in a car in front of Vang’s house looking for his brother. They asked Vang if he had seen his brother that day and knew where he was. Vang said no. They replied that they would kill him if they saw him or his brother again, flashed a gun and took off. Vang then told me that he loved his older brother but feared that his younger siblings might end up in that lifestyle as well and that is why he worked tirelessly to instill the value of education in them and many others in his community.

Vang is now a successful student teacher in the area, having already given so much to the community he loves and has set himself up to be able to give back even more in the years to come. While his story is one of struggle and perseverance that serves as a shining model, it is also a strong reminder. A reminder that no child should have to grow up among gangs or bullets or threats, living in the projects, having to worry about their safety while trying to get an education. No parent should have to lie awake at night, worrying if their child will make it home from their pickup basketball game with friends down the street.

And so it is Vang and his struggle, and his story that I seek to take on for Lent.

I challenge you in this time of reflection to think about what or whom you might reflect on, or take on if you will, for lent and hopefully turn it into a daily practice.  Naturally, the liturgical calendar does not line up nicely with the school calendar and it is a busy time for all of us, but in the spirit of Luther, it’s not about our actions but our faith. Faith that amidst brokenness, stories can be told and love can be found and grown. Love which lays the foundation these forty days, of the house which in the face of sorrow and strife proclaims from floor to rafter

All are welcome

All are welcome

All are welcome in this place

May the peace that passes all understanding be with you and guide you this Lenten season and always.

-Mark

Success Is A Very Hideous Thing

“…Success is a very hideous thing. Its false resemblance to merit deceives men. For the masses, success has almost the same profile as supremacy.”

Winter Break gives us a chance to spend time with family and friends, it gives us free time and the space to reflect on our lives without the constant pressure that classes put on us, which can greatly alter our perspectives.  I myself have had a fair amount of free time over these past few weeks and one of the things that I have done was start to re-read my favorite novel, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. And while I was reading it a line struck me that never had in my multiple readings of it in the past, “success is a very hideous thing.”

It struck me because now that I am no longer surrounded by the immediate pressure of success, in the form of grades on tests, and finding a job I am able to see what an ugly thing it is. It reminds me that our lives are not, and should not, be measured in quantitative terms (which is difficult for an engineering student to admit) through test scores or salaries, but instead through our passions, and our relationships with people. This is not at all different from the message that Jesus tells in the Bible, treat others as you would like to be treated, don’t focus on numbers but instead on being your genuine self; because success is a very hideous thing.

-Laura Kulm

*Victor Hugo’s explanation of success goes on for a couple paragraphs and is in Book 1, Chapter 12 (the ebook can be easily found online).

A Love Letter for College Students

It’s that time of year again. The end of the semester. Finals week. So stressful. So tantalizingly close to Christmas and winter break. Yet at the same time feeling so far away.

It’s the time of year when everyone I talk to seems to be burnt-out, tired, frustrated, just making it. The time of year when everyone could use a love letter.

I stumbled across this gem last year, and I read it now and then when I need a pick-me-up. It’s incredibly sweet and deserves to be shared. So put down the textbook and read this.

Put down the textbook… and read this: A Love Letter for the College Students

I’ve been there.

Books piled up in a stack beside you. Nodding off to the glow of the computer screen. Neon strips of highlighter scraped across your forehead, leftover not from a raging highlighter party the night before but rather the all-nighter spent spooning Shakespeare term papers and mind-rattling interpretations of Samuel Beckett’s best works.

Some of you are halfway through. Knees sunk deep in the muds of history power points and audio projects. Stammering in the mirror before you give that final speech in class tomorrow. Still muddling through the differences between el & usted. Nosotros & Vosotros.

Some of you are stocking up on caffeine fixes and 5-Hour Energy drinks before the storm hits. A storm of finals worth 60% of your grade. 12-pagers that will have you crawling into the light of the morning, turning your study guide into a white flag to wave and surrender.

You’ll make it.

I know it. I can promise that there are lights & lanterns & the promise of oh, holier nights at the end of your tunnel. Perhaps it won’t be the grace of a love letter but the grace you’ll gain from the sound of the last book shutting. The sound of the last pages shuffling out from the printer and into your professor’s mailbox.

Remember to breathe. To eat. To sleep, if you can. Curl up on the couch in the campus center if that’s what it takes. Blast Carol of the Bells while you sip a pumpkin spice latter that you so deserve. And, on the nights where 1am comes quicker than shoppers to Best Buy on Black Friday, be the one to text your friends, “Diner. 2am. I’ll drive.”

I still keep that memory.

Unearth it as I do the ugly sweaters that get pulled down from the attic this time of year and pulling off the cobwebs of a time that I didn’t know I’d ever miss. A stack of pancakes. An open laptop. Hot chocolate with whipped cream dribbling from the side. All of us laughing, not knowing at the time that yes, yes, we were going to miss it one day soon.

It’s hard to believe that right now as you struggle to swallow every prefix in the dictionary or every literary term you’ll need to dissect that Emily D. poem tomorrow. But the closeness of friends in one place, the justified seeing of the sun coming up before you close a book and allow your bottom and top lids to mingle with one another again after a solid two weeks of Open & Awake, the 24/7 sweatpants apparel for at least two weeks… you’ll miss it when it is gone.

So pick your chin up from the computer. Stand up and stretch. Take a break to call your friend and see how studying is going. If there is someone beside you, smile… propose a coffee break… treat them.

String up holiday lights in your dorm’s lounge and claim that a study executed at 800 universities across the country proved that the ambiance of the teeny tiny bulbs increased final grades by a whopping 73% percent.

Put out a blanket in the middle of your campus center. Fake candles (cause we all know the real ones are not allowed). Make unneccessary references to Elf quotes throughout the night (Santa?! I know him!). Let Beethoven trickle through the iHome. Take a Target break. Buy reindeer ears for no good reason. Drive home the long way and let the lights catch you and hold you for a pocket of peace. Stop the car. Park it. And just sit quiet for a minute– no texts to keep you, no Instagram to push you off from the moment at hand. Forget for a moment that your vocabulary is plumped with Finals & Responsibility & Deadlines & Due Dates. Just laugh & sing & dare to miss the moments that will be gone tomorrow.

Remember: It is a book. It is a test. It is a paper. That’s it. That’s all.

You’ll make it. Myself, this love letter, and anyone who has ever been there before…we are pulling for you.

Happy Finals!

-Hannah Katy

Link to original: http://www.moreloveletters.com/2011/12/07/put-down-the-textbook-and-read-this-a-love-letter-for-the-college-students/

-Meghan

Joy in the midst of it all

As we near the last weeks of the semester, almost all of us are nearing the brink of stressful insanity (and some have leaped clear off the edge). The studying, the essay writing, the reading all quickly build up into a drastic lack of sleep, food, and, most importantly, fun.

It’s all too easy during these busy, stressful times to isolate ourselves from each other and from God. We tend to think we’re alone, that we’re the only ones drowning, and that we are the only ones who can fix it.

On Wednesday night, however, I was reminded that I’m not alone. We have a whole community there looking out for each other and all of us are going through craziness right now.

For our LCM Christmas party, we all hit pause and took time to bake cookies, listen to Christmas music, and hang out. The night started with using coffee pots and glasses as makeshift rolling pins and ended with some of us tap dancing in a circle in the church kitchen. Needless to say, laughter abounded.

It was a wonderful feeling – to just turn it all over to God and rejoice in life. I was reminded that everything becomes a lot easier when we stop trying to hold onto it so tightly. In these next two weeks, the stress will undoubtedly continue, but hopefully we will seek solace in community and remember to laugh through it all.

– Bryna

Puzzle Pieces– thoughts from the Campus Connector

On November 7^th (the day after the election), I was riding the campus connector to St. Paul, still half asleep, checking Facebook on my phone. As I was glancing at random photos and reading my friends’ opinions on the results of the election, I came across a fellow LCM leader, Bryna’s, Facebook status. It read, “Finishing work in a deserted conference center at 2 a.m. man do I love reporting. :)” My first subconscious thought: oh my gosh that sounds absolutely awful.  I kept scrolling through, but found myself scrolling back up to Bryna’s status, re-reading it, noticing the smiley face, and thinking, “That’s actually really awesome that she’s so passionate about what she does. It’s a good thing she loves reporting, otherwise I wouldn’t know what the heck was going on.”

This is going to sound really really cheesy, but that’s okay with me. After re-reading Bryna’s status, I woke up immediately and got really excited about life, realizing that everyone that I would interact with that day has a passion and purpose—discovered or not, it’s there. Then, and here’s where it gets cheesy/BEAUTIFUL, I began to visualize the world as a giant puzzle, and God playing the role of the puzzle-maker. God’s just hanging out at his puzzle table, maybe listening to some Christmas music and eating some Oreos, putting together this puzzle of the world.  We, as humans, are the pieces of the puzzle. So now I’m visualizing myself and everyone around me as puzzle pieces… just running around searching for the place to ‘fit in’ perfectly. I really don’t like the idea of the phrase ‘fitting in’ because, for me, it comes with connotations of conforming to society. Fitting in, in this situation, is more along the lines of discovering your passion and feeling confident and motivated with where you’re at in life at a particular moment.

So, amidst all of this discerning, searching, and discovering our passions, there is often a feeling of loss and helplessness. “Everyone around me seems to have their futures all figured out, and I still have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing with my life.” While I can pretty much guarantee that no one feels 100% confident in what the future holds for them, in this situation, I’m picturing God getting distracted with all of the fun he’s having doing this huge puzzle, that he doesn’t notice the lost pieces that he dropped on the floor. Or maybe he’s an outside-of-the-puzzle-first kind of guy and your place is in the middle of the puzzle… your feeling of being lost and unsure is completely intentional on God’s part here.

In any case, after thinking about and building this idea for a few weeks, I’m comforted over and over again by the idea that God has a plan and a purpose for everyone. Everyone has a place in the great puzzle of the world. And even when we think we’ve found our place in the puzzle–or our passion in life, there’s always the possibility of God starting a new puzzle… rotating, changing, and moving the pieces around to challenge us and show us new possibilities.

So, may this blogpost provide some sort of comfort and relief for you as we continue our journey into not only finals week, but also the season of Advent—a season of waiting and preparation for big things to come 🙂

God’s Peace,

Kalysta Schlitter

Everything that has been done in the world has been done by hope.

I saw this quote, attributed to Martin Luther, on a bookmark when I was in graduate school.  Whether or not Martin Luther said it, I think it’s true.  Advent is approaching, and last night we talked about dreaming and hoping and holding your head up to keep watch for God’s New Day even, or especially, amidst the suffering that so many of us witness or experience.

I asked the students to write down their wildest and craziest hopes for themselves and/or for the world – forgetting any kind of practicalities, or any kind of responsibility they might feel towards actualizing this hope.  Advent, after all, is a time when we wait actively, dreaming, and trusting that God just might be up to something that is beyond our capacity to make happen.

These were some of their hopes, for themselves, their families and the world they will inherit (there were also a number of drawings that I won’t try to explain):

• that my parents will find peace between each other, and my brother realize how great he will be when he succeeds and that the fighting in darfur ends.
• environmental problems solved! eco tech everywhere! responsible people, open minded people, understanding people. global action to help those in need around the world.  willingness, patience to pursue peace – no exceptions. no war. for myself: happiness.
• that each and every individual may know love and peace and that they are loved just as they are.  may each of us know joy and be able to express their inner passions fully and deeply.  may the weary and lost and lonely find rest.  may the still small voice of the Lord resonate in each and every heart as a blessing unto others – friend and stranger.
• that all children of god will know only love – instead of hunger, hopelessness or pain; and that i may be able to use the gifts that God gave me to help meet the world’s need.
• peace. no more wars. people will solve problems by talking and listening.  terrorism will be no more.  the money going to modern warfare will go to the poor, the sick, and the needy.
• to tread lightly on this earth, to not leave a scar on the world, but to better our home through kindness to one another and the planet.  to find a moment of happiness within each day, a simple joy, a reason to smile.  to be less concerned with the idea of self and more concerned with the ideas of another.  for us to all find inner peace. to share our triumphs, hopes and joys.
• my dream for this world is for every single child to have a positive role model in their life…and for every child to have equal access to education.
• that everyone feels love.
• peace, cooperation and understanding between people of different creeds, religions and nationalities
• be content.  live in Jesus’ image.
• when all who hunger are fed
• respect for everyone and everything and through respect, we will have peace.
• to feel adequate.  to feel like i can let down my barriers and be loved.  to know that i won’t always succeed but to be okay with mediocre.
• a world of love and compassion; where life is respected, adored, and cared for; where no one struggles alone.  a live of purpose and above all love.  love of the people and by the people in my life, and love for what i am doing.
• inner peace for everyone.
• i dream that one day everyone in the world will see others, appreciate others, and learn from others.  i dream that one day people will open their eyes to the world around them and will learn that God’s love is constantly spreading.

Being Thankful

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, God has given me a lot to be thankful for.

This past week my mom spent two nights in the hospital.  She had a blood clot causing a lot of pain in her leg.  After going to the emergency room she had it confirmed that it was a clot in her leg.  The doctor also questioned her on her shortness of breath, which she attributed to being nervous about being the hospital.  However, they did an MRI on her chest to find a few smaller blood clots in her lungs. After, she was given blood thinners and was able to be home in two days.  Honestly, I am still overwhelmed, but incredibly thankful that they found the clots in her lungs.

She is a lot better now, I am keep thanking God that they found the clots in her lungs, things could have been much worse.

I am incredibly blessed to be able to be close enough to home that I had the opportunity to spend the day with her in the hospital with my family.

The response of my friends and family to what happen also reminded me of how blessed I am for the people God placed in my life. The concern from close friends meant the world to me.  I really believe that God puts bad or scary things in our life so we will realize how much else we have been given.

These situations also put into perspective what is most important in live and what can be left as it is.  Last week was incredible stressful but also reminded me of what I value and where I need to be grounded.   I have been caught up in so many other things that I feel like I just got distracted, and God can use anything to bring us back to where we belong.  Sadly, it took a visit to a hospital for me to finally feel like I needed to be re-grounded.

But I am thankful that God takes the time to let us back.

-Allison

Do Not Worry

I am a planner.  I love having a schedule planned out in advance, and knowing exactly what is going on.  Last year I had an internship lined up by mid November for the summer, and loved knowing that I had a plan for the summer.  Now here I am, a year later, ready to be done with classes and frequently thinking ahead to next summer and the excitement and uncertainty it is bringing.  If only I knew where I would be working, I could start figuring out where I’ll be living once my lease is up, and I could begin planning my life, right?  It’s so much easier to think about being done with classes and starting “real life” when there’s a stressful week with many tests and homeworks.  There’s just plenty to worry about, and I really start to get stressed out.  It’s times like this that I think about this passage:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? … Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For … indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

It’s hard to know exactly how to apply it to my life, but I tried to teach it to my 6^th and 7^th grade pre-confirmation class this weekend.  I don’t know if they got as much out of it as I did, but I was reminded to stay focused on today.  If I’m constantly planning my next step, I’m never going to take the time to enjoy the fantastic opportunities and experiences I have right in front of me now.  I like to think that once I’m done with college, I will spend more time to enjoy the little things in life, but I’m realizing more and more (especially after a busy summer internship) that it’s something that I have to work harder to achieve, and it’s definitely a goal for the rest of the year: to enjoy the random conversations I have with my roommates, to go out to coffee with an old friend, and to not be constantly thinking about what there is to get done next.

-Sara Sneed