Fourth Monday of Advent: Devotional by Nikki Howard

Advent blessings!

 

It is almost Christmas.  This week in Advent we celebrate God’s love made real on earth.  I am reminded that while Christmas can feel so ordinary, it really is a mystery, love’s greatest surprise.  Fredrick Buechner says, “Once you have seen God in a stable you can never be sure where God will appear or to what ludicrous depths of self-humiliation God will descend in God’s wild pursuit of you” This week as we celebrate Christmas may we have new eyes to see all the unexpected places in our world that God is showing up and surprising us with love.  May  the love of God fill you up and overflow from you today and every day! 

 

Today’s devotional is written by Nikki Howard.  Nikki is a junior speech pathology major at TCU.  Among many other things, she is this year’s Co-President of TCU Catholic Community.  You might have seen Nikki working in the BLUU.  Whenever I see her working there, or anywhere on campus, she is smiling and asking how she can help you!  Nikki and her family bleed purple.  She represents the TCU spirit.  She is a person of deep kindness, intelligence and faith who uses her gifts to make a difference in the world around her.  Today she reminds us that we who have been deeply loved by God are called to love others abundantly.  I pray you hear God whispering love into your life through her words.

An Advent Devotional, by Nikki Howard

 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” – Matthew 22:37-39

 

One summer when I was in high school, I was told to close my eyes and picture God. When I closed my eyes, I saw my family and friends smiling, laughing, and hugging one another. It never really hit me until that moment that I see God through others and through their love for one another.

 

I found this verse to be very applicable to the advent season. Advent is a time of love and service both for God and for others. I think it is very important during the advent season to help those in most need and to be selfless. While many people make lists of many things they want for Christmas, others give their time and money to those in most need. That is what advent is really about. Serving others. God sent his one and only Son to us to serve us. That is what we are celebrating during the advent season. Jesus came to save us from our sins, so now it is our chance to help others in return. When we love others, we love God. We are told that we should love our God and that we should love our neighbors. When we love our neighbors and give to them, we are also giving to God. When I look around, I see God. I see Him through the love and service of others.

 

 

God of Love,

Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us; He is a sign of your love for us.

Help us to share that love with others and serve those in most need during the weeks of Advent.

You showed us what love is, so now help us to show others that same love.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

Amen.

Second Friday & Third Monday of Advent: Devotionals by Varselles Cummings & Sharon Fronk

Advent blessings to you.

I pray peace to you. I pray you can find some time this weekend to rest, even if just for a moment. To sit in the quiet for a while, to know that God is coming and that God is with us now. Some time to rest in the knowledge that we are loved and that we are not alone. I pray we each feel peace this weekend. I also pray that those of us who have known peace can get up from our quiet moments and can help to be the hands and feet of God’s peace for our neighbors.

Today’s devotional comes from Varselles Cummings. Var is the Hall Director for Milton Daniel Hall at TCU. Var has a BA in Mass Media Communication from Wilberforce University and a Master’s in Postsecondary Educational Leadership with a specialization in Student Affairs from San Diego State University. Here at TCU Var also serves as the Advisor for Brothers of a Successful Standard. Faith is so important to Var. You see it in the way he talks, what he posts on social media, but mostly in the way he lives. He cares deeply for students, his family, his friends, and for God’s justice and love for all people. Today he reminds us how we might re-find God’s peace in the anxious times of life

Rev. Allison Lanza

TCU Associate Chaplain

PS-The office of Religious and Spiritual Life at TCU invites you to join us in Robert Carr Chapel on tonight, Monday December 15^th at 7 PM, for Carols by Candlelight . There will beautiful music from Dr. Butler, University organist, Frog Corps, TCU Women’s Choir, TCU Worship Band, a sign language presentation and a student string quartet. We will hear the scriptures, sing the carols, and prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas and Emmanuel! Bring your friends and families and come worship together.

An Advent Devotional, by Varselles L. Cummings

Philippians 4:8-13

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

My favorite passage of scripture is Philippians 4:8-13. Many times we only hear Philippians 4:13 quoted, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me,” a powerful verse in and of itself because it talks about relying on the power of Christ, but to me the most impactful part of this text is the 5 verses that come before it. Paul is explaining to the Philippians how to have a peaceful mindset and the concept of contentment.

Anytime I am anxious or feel myself becoming worried about things I cannot control, I make a conscience effort to think about the blessings that surround me daily. I think on the true things like God’s unconditional love for me, the lovely things like the changing seasons and the beauty of nature, the honest things like my family’s concern and care for me. Those things bring me peace and keep me grounded.

I’ve found that contentment is a learned behavior; it is not a natural propensity of man. One of my daily prayers is for God to teach me to be content in whatever state I’m in. Not settling, but living in the moment, in the right now, enjoying present day blessings and learning from present day trials, all the while understanding that greater things are ahead.

This journey of learning how to be content and the choice I’ve made to keep my mind on the things listed in Philippians 4:8 has brought me peace.

-Varselles L. Cummings

May you hear these words from Wendell Berry’s poem, The Peace of Wild Things, as a prayer today:

God,

“When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

Amen.

 

Advent Blessings to you.

As many of you have your first finals today, I pray that they go well and that you feel confident and smart! I also pray, that no matter how the finals go, that you know that you are a beloved child of God! This week in Advent we celebrate Joy! Finals week might seem like a weird time to reflect on joy. But happiness and joy are different. Happiness comes in times of light and ease. God’s joy springs up in the hard times, like streams in the desert. God’s joy comes from the knowledge that God, Emmanuel, abides with us and will never leave us. This is good news indeed.

Today’s devotional comes from Sharon Fronk. Sharon is a senior Biology major from Pomona California. She is a member of AOPi, Disciples on Campus, and on student staff at TCU Religious and Spiritual Life. If you spend much time with Sharon you will discover that she is passionate about her education, nature, her faith, and sustainability. She loves learning and envisions a future filled with research and discovery that she can use to work to make our planet, God’s creation, more sustainable. She reminds us today that while the happiness of Christmas might be fleeting, the joy of God’s presence with us that is born again each Christmas can go with us throughout the year helping us to bear God’s good fruit in the world around us. May you hear God whispering joy into your life through her words.

Rev. Allison Lanza

TCU Associate Chaplain

An Advent Devotional, by Sharon Fronk

John 15:1-11

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

The word ‘Joy’ is not often found in day-to-day speech. Even the expression of joyousness has become rare in today’s world, that is, until Christmas. But is Christmas the only cause for joy during the year? I’ll concede the birth of Jesus for Christians was a significant event. What is to keep us joyful for the rest of the year though? For some, such as myself, advent is their favorite season of the church and after it’s all said and done you get this sense of: well, now what?

Now is the time to remember we are, as Jesus says, part of the vine. Together we are capable of great things, Christians with non-Christians alike. In this unity we should be joyous. The type of joy you feel as a small child running towards your stocking Christmas morning imagining what Santa brought you this year.

By being part of The Vine of God with Jesus, we become disciples of good, of justice, of joy.

This season is the time to reflect on all the joy our community of faith has brought us and the global community this year and to pray about how we might spread God’s joy in the years to come.

Our joy is full through God; let us continue to bear fruit and be joyous. Not the fleeting joy experienced Christmas morning when all the toys are opened, played with, and forgotten about after 30 minutes, but rather everlasting joy. A type of joy expressed throughout the year because we know God and our faith community is our every lasting joy.

Let us pray this prayer from TCU Alum Zoey Murzyn:

God, let your sustaining joy be interwoven in this season of Advent and stretch through all the rest of the year. Make us disciples of justice, hope, love, joy, compassion, and peace, turning our hearts towards you so that we may know your true Joy and share it with your world. Amen.

First Friday of Advent: Devotional by Dr. Kay Higgins

Advent blessings to you.

I pray that on this Friday you are being held up by hope, the confident trust, that God is with you and that God’s love and change is coming. I pray that that each of us who have been filled with God’s hope can share that hope with those around us. Today and this weekend may we speak hope into the places that seem hopeless and forgotten.

Today’s devotional is written by Dr. Kay Higgins. Kay received her B.A. from Mercer University, an M.A. from TCU, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from UNT. Having previously worked in Housing and Residential Services and as the first Director of the Women’s Resource Center, Kay currently serves as Associate Dean of Student Development and Director of Parent and Family Programs. Kay bleeds purple. She loves TCU and has poured much of her life into sharing hope and love with this university. In her almost 35 years at TCU, she has reveled in the opportunity to share in the lives of TCU students and their families. When not working, Kay is active in her church and in social justice issues within the Fort Worth community. Today she reminds us that hope is more than wishful thinking and she calls us to be active agents of hope through the way we live. May you hear God whispering hope into your life through her words.

Peace to you,

Rev. Allison Lanza

TCU Associate Chaplain

P.S. I have great hope for a big win tomorrow! Go Frogs!

An Advent Devotional, by Dr. Kay Higgins

My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. Psalm 62:5

I have often wished that there were different words for the word, “hope.” There are 4 Greek words for “love” and they mean different things. There is only one Greek word for “hope,” elpis. Since there is only one word in English or Greek, I think about the word “hope” as hope or Hope.

“I hope that I get an A on that paper!” “I hope you are coming to my party!” “I hope that I get that sweater for my birthday!” The little “h” is wishful thinking.

“I Hope that I will be able pay for my child’s medicine.” “I Hope that there is still room in the shelter tonight. It’s 12 degrees out here.” “I Hope that my mother’s cancer will not come back.” Biblically, the capital “H” is confident expectation. In our daily living, “Hope” is also a “yearning prayer” of expectation.

I am a member of University Christian Church in Fort Worth. Our congregation participates in a program called Room in the Inn. It was started in Nashville, TN and it continues to move across the country. There are now 23 congregations in Fort Worth who, once a week, house people who are homeless in the two warmest and three coldest months of the year. They are our guests. We share a meal, engage in conversation, play games, help our guests write resumes and encourage. The men shower, sleep comfortably and safely for the first time in weeks or months. In the morning, they rise, have a big breakfast, take a prepared lunch, and return to the Day Resource Center of Tarrant County by 7:00 AM.

I frequently drive our guests from the Day Resource Center to our church. I am always impressed with the positive conversation in the car. Yesterday, as they were getting into the car for the short trip to the church, Milton, sitting in the front seat asked, “How was your Thanksgiving?” I was somewhat embarrassed to answer. “It was good, how was yours?” I asked. The conversation among the men moved from family to places they had lived to anticipated work in the future. We arrived at the church, they thanked me for the ride, and we said our good-byes.

Room in the Inn has always reminded me of the Christmas story, the “confident expectation” of the impending birth, a warm place to sleep, and the assurance that there is a loving God who cares about each of us. This year, we will be hosting our guests of December 24^th. It will be an awesome night – much like the night that Mary waited in “confident expectation” that her son would be born. She did not know what the future would hold, but she knew that God was a God of love and God would not disappoint.

As we embrace the meaning of HOPE for our lives, may we be reminded of Mary’s confident expectation as she awaited what was to come. In so doing, may we be reminded that we are the hands and feet of God on this earth.

Dear God, as each of us snuggles warmly into our beds this night, may we be reminded that only because you have loved us are we able to love, that only because you have taught us to be your hands and feet in the world are we able to carry out your will in our world. Amen.

First Wednesday of Advent, Devotional by Dr. Harry Parker

Advent blessings to you!

Christmas lights are starting to light up the darkness and warmth is beginning to return.  I pray this morning that hope is beginning to seep into your soul.  May you know the hope of God that promises, that no matter what you are a child of God, deeply loved, and so are they.

Today’s devotional is written by Dr. Harry Parker.  Dr. Parker is the TCU Department of Theater chair and the managing director of the Trinity Shakespeare Festival at TCU.  He received his B.F.A in Theater from TCU and his Masters and PHD at the University of Kansas.  He has directed more than 80 professional, community and academic theatre productions across the country including professionally at the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.); Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston); American Heartland Theatre (Kansas City); and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City). In Fort Worth, he has directed professionally for Amphibian Stage Productions, Jubilee Theatre and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, as well as having directed 9 shows for Circle Theatre. He has served at TCU since 2003.  Harry is incredibly creative, passionate about his students, and deeply faithful.  He reminds us that sometimes all we have is hope, and that is enough.  I pray you hear God whispering hope into your life through his words.

Peace to you,

Rev. Allison Lanza

TCU Associate Chaplain

An Advent Devotional, by Dr. Harry Parker       “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God; and joy in our hope.” Romans 5: 1-2 The older I get, the more my faith relies on hope.  Maybe it’s because several years of living have created in me a backlog of accumulated frustrations and sadness, but I need hope more than ever.  Maybe it’s because my faith in man-made solutions grows dimmer with each gridlocked Congress and Legislature, with each Trayvon Martin and Ferguson, Missouri, with each Middle East conflagration.  Sometimes I feel like hope is all I have left, and then I realize that it may be all I need. I’m a theatre director here at TCU, and I recently directed a Christmas musical theatre revue that included an insightful song called “The Truth About Christmas,” with music and lyrics by David Friedman.  It was sung beautifully in our show by TCU junior Jackie Raye.  In the song, a woman bemoans all of her frustrations about the Christmas season: the shopping, the crowded travel, the disappointing family reunions where “they’ve had too much to drink, and told you what they think…”  Yet as the song winds to its conclusion, the singer realizes that she still embraces the rituals of Christmas because, despite her annual frustrations, she’s not yet ready to give up on it all quite yet.  She sings:                 Here’s the truth about Christmas.                 I want it to be nice, I want it to be fun.                 And as I’ve looked around what I have found, is so does everyone.                 So Christmas makes me see that everyone’s like me.                 The pain I’m going through is pain that they’re all feeling too.                 And it’s so encouraging to know we all want the same thing:                 To be loved, to be happy, to have hope.                 That’s the truth about Christmas: HOPE.                                 David Friedman And that’s what I want for Christmas, and what I want for those close to me: To be loved, to be happy, to have hope.  That’s enough.  That’s plenty.  That’s all I want and all I need for Christmas. Let us pray Creator God, as the storms of turmoil and disappointment swirl around us this Advent, help us see your ever-present hope that creates peace and joy. Amen

Preparation and Presence

I haven’t gotten enough menu selecting and Black Friday shopping planning done yet to even think past Thanksgiving, but I was reminded this weekend that Advent is only a week away. I’m not prepared to start preparing my heart, home, or to-do lists for Christmas!

Students, faculty, and staff are already preparing for the whirwind of the end of the semester before the holiday break. End of semester projects and tests are crammed around and between Thanksgiving break and “reading days,” days of cancelled class to give time for studying in preparation for final exam week. (This was an opportunity of which I took fullest advantage as a student—whether that advantage was lent to my coursework, however, is a different matter.) Then the possibly quite frantic pace of exams, study groups, packing for home, and end-of-semester or Christmas events hosted by student organizations continue the constant movement of rising to-do lists and commitments to fit in the last days of the semester. Some of our students will also be making last minute preparations for studying abroad in the spring, winter term courses at other universities to get ahead in their degree plans, or walking across the stage in December Commencement, beginning an entirely new chapter with new beginnings after they leave campus.

Personally, while I was a student I always found the last weeks of November and the “finals season” of December to be entirely about preparation, about pushing through the sprint just long enough to finish papers and tests, pack for home (or move), and make it onto a plane bound for Denver, Colorado, my parents, and freedom from text books and alarm clocks. I’ve always tried to “just get through” finals and December until I could make it to Christmas and home.

The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, this year, is inviting students, faculty, staff, and all members of the TCU community to a different, interior preparation for this period of the school year, as well as to a deeper presence here. As Advent begins next week, students’ and staff members’ reflections on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love in this season will be shared with our community.* We can learn from each other, gaining insight into the significance of Christmas in our lives today and increased mindfulness of living with Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love individually and collectively. December 15^th will bring the annual Carols by Candlelight university-wide worship service and fellowship for the community. And cookies and hot chocoate. (We aim to nourish both body and soul.)

New traditions starting this year include a prayer station for making ornaments. Students and staff will be invited to write their prayers on strips of paper curled and slipped into glass orb ornaments. Whether these encased prayers adorn trees, garlands, or dorm rooms, they will shine a light of intention, love, and hope.

Advent is by design a time for preparing, and the end of the semester enrapturing. We hope that through these events and opportunities or through their own faith communities, organizations, and families, all Horned Frogs might find encouragement to dwell fully within Advent and these last weeks of the semester rather than looking past them to Christmas and a reprieve from school. Let us plan for tomorrow, but let us not forget the possibilities and beauty that lie in wait in today.

*If you would like to receive Advent Devotionals by email each week, email faith@tcu.edu and you will be added to the direct distribution list!

by Zoey Murzyn

TCU Faith & Spirit Social Media

Do you have a story of your student organization or community that you want our campus and greater TCU community to know? Feel free to email z.a.murzyn@tcu.edu with ideas!

Why Community

This week’s blog post is written by the wonderful Jennifer Bouquet! Jennifer is a senior movement science major and student leader for the TCU Wesley Foundation. We’re excited to share her words on what community means to her and the home she’s found with this particular community here at TCU!

 

In college we strive for close relationships and a place where we belong.  Not just a place we belong, but a place we can call ours that includes deep, meaningful friendships.

After my first semester of college, I had made just a few friends whose relationships broke the surface enough to be considered a deep relationship.  Sure I had other ‘friends’, but I only had those few close, meaningful relationships and certainly not the sort of community of friends I believe is essential for life.

Upon returning from Christmas break, after hearing all the stories from my friends at home that were loving college and their new friends, I realized that I was going to have to make an effort to seek out the sort of setting I longed for.  In February of 2012, I visited the TCU Wesley for the first time and knew that this place, this group of people, this ministry was exactly what I had hoped for.

The TCU Wesley is the United Methodist campus ministry, but is open to all students regardless of their faith background.  A unique aspect of the Wesley is that we have our own building (2750 W. Lowden St. – directly behind Smith Hall), where we hold the majority of our events.  The Wesley’s main gathering is on Wednesday evenings from 7:00-9:00pm and includes a free meal and a worship service.  However, the Wesley never seems to experience a dull moment throughout the week, whether it is students watching Netflix, drinking a soda and eating fruit snacks, playing Super Smash Bros, or even studying.

From the first time to visiting the Wesley through today, the Wesley has been and continues to be a place full of community.  Whether it is a Thursday afternoon, Monday morning, or Friday night, you are almost guaranteed to walk into the Wesley house and be surrounded by friends who support you and encourage you in your school work, the stresses of life, but most importantly in your walk with Christ.

The Wesley believes in the vitality of a community for faith and spiritual development.  We were not intended to traverse life alone.  As Psalm 133:1 proclaims, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” This has been proven to me time and time again; it has been proven through the strong community of the Wesley – the continual support and lasting friendships that the ministry of the TCU Wesley has not only provided me but also to the other students who have walked through the Wesley’s doors.

All are invited tonight and every Wednesday evening to join TCU Wesley for worship and dinner at 7 pm! Visit tcuwesley.org or the Facebook page for more information and other upcoming events!

 

Do you have a story about your student organization or faith group you want the greater TCU community to know? Email z.a.murzyn@tcu.edu with blog ideas you’d like to share!

Hope and Prayer as a Community

Tonight our community’s thoughts and prayers join together as we gather for a candlelight vigil led by the Sigma Kappa sorority alumni and friends of Horned Frog alumna Nina Pham, who is currently struggling against the Ebola virus in Dallas. The Office of Religious & Spiritual Life and the entire TCU community add their heartfelt support, prayers, and love. We will gather tonight in the Robert Carr Chapel at 7:00 pm. For more information on Nina and her story so far, see the recently released TCU 360 article at http://ow.ly/CLvdY.

As we gather tonight on behalf of Nina, her loved ones, and her health care providers, our glimpse peers past the news. We come together to pray and hold tenderly in our hearts one of our own, a fellow Frog, a classmate, sorority sister, and greater TCU family member. It is easy to see her picture and relate her to our world, because she is part of it, and this illness has suddenly brought a drastic and frightening change.

Let us hold in love and in prayer tonight also, then, all individuals whose worlds are changed by illness and disease, by suffering and trial, by caretaking and grief. We remember that each person who has contracted the Ebola virus has parents, family, and friends, health care providers and volunteers and prayer warriors also lifting them up. We bring to mind those struggling with illnesses that are not making international news or the focal points of awareness campaigns. We wrap in prayer and warmth those who care for them: medical professionals, caretakers and family members at home, those who wish they could do more to aleviate their suffering.

As our community gathers around our loved one in hope, prayer, thoughts, and vigil, let us also remember and send all of the same to our brothers and sisters who struggle with illness themselves or for the sake of the patients they selflessly serve.

If you are not able to join us in person this evening, we invite you to enter a moment of silence for prayer and reflection for Nina and every single individual who struggles with illness. We extend our deep hope and prayers to all who are sick, their loved ones, and those who care for them–to all in our TCU family and in our global family.

 

Ending Silence, Speaking Hope

Texas Christian University is a lot of things. This year, we are anything but silent.

On Monday, September 29, the campus commons was filled with over 1000 backpacks, snagging attention to the normally pristine lawn.

This was an exhibit to “Send Silence Packing”–there was one book bag for each of the 1,100 college students who dies in an average year from suicide. Interspersed with the packs were signs reading facts and messages of hope, most importantly that every person is loved and no ones is alone. Students had the opportunity to engage with this exhibit all day, as many stopped in memory and reflection, took pictures, and made time to walk around the commons to read the signs.

This was a moment when the campus community demonstrated its commitment to be advocates for mental health and to share hope with those suffering and struggling. This was an effort to stamp out any stigma that may keep someone from seeking help for himself or a friend. This was another means of making campus resources for mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness known and accessible to all Horned Frogs.

Sending Silence Packing was not the first campus event this year aimed at this goal of addressing self harm and demonstrating the worth of each individual in the community.

On the evening of Wednesday, September 10th, in honor of World Suicide Prevention Day, the TCU Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and TCU Health and Wellness hosted a candlelight vigil at Frog Fountain entitled, “A Light in the Darkness.” Several speakers shared stories of struggle transformed into hope, into light. Senior Emily Ishe addressed the attendants, “No matter what we do, no matter how we feel, we are loved. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded.”

 

Rev. Allison Lanza, one of the coordinators of this event, shared with me later her delight that students lingered after the speakers had finished.

They decorated a banner depicting light with words that would shine light into dark places of internal suffering. They stayed to meet students outside their normal circles of friends. Led by members of the student organization To Write Love on Her Arms, who advocate against self harm and for reaching out to those who are struggling, many did just that–wrote love and messages of encouragement on each others’ arms. Connections formed and community strengthened.

Emily had also encouraged those present, “Your story will have its dark spots. But it will also be full of light. What’s important is that it continues.”

So also will the story of a campus community focused on light, hope, love, and the affirmed and reaffirmed worth of every person. We will be anything but silent.

In the Beginning, God

The following is an excerpt from our Frogs First Worship reflection, written by Rachel Rebagay and Emily Ische. Thank you, ladies, and all our TCU Worship Team for your work and gift of prayer and contemplation to help our campus community begin the new school year!

 

In the beginning, Mary, the Mother of Jesus, wasn’t Mary the mother of Jesus.  She was just Mary.  A young woman who was terrified.  Angels had spoken to her.  She had been told that she was going to have a son and he would be Emmanuel, God with us.  She didn’t know if she had what it takes to be a mother, much less the mother of Jesus.  She thought she knew what her life would look like.  Now her whole future had been turned upside down.  She was terrified, but she wasn’t paralyzed.  Because in the beginning, God.  In the beginning the spirit of the living God was with her, whispering do not be afraid.  Because God was with her she was able to walk into the unknown with trust and with hope and let the world be changed through her…

In the beginning, Paul was terrified.  Before he was the man who dedicated his life to building the early church, he was a young man whose whole world was about to change.  When he went by the name of Saul, he thought he knew everything there was to know about God.  He had studied the scriptures and he believed he was right and that Jesus and those who follow him were very wrong.  He was so committed to this understanding of the world that he was killing people who believed differently than him.  But then, in the beginning of his life as Paul, his whole world changed.  A bright light came from the skies and he went blind.  Jesus spoke to him. In the beginning of his new journey, God was with him.  When his eye sight returned, God gave him new eyes to see with.  The people who helped him come out of his blindness were people he had previously hated.  God gave him eyes to see God at work in people he had once called enemies. In the beginning God did a new thing in Paul.  He could now see God at work in the world in new and bigger ways.  In the beginning Paul listened, learned and let God do a new thing in him. Because he did, the world was changed through him.

In the beginning, I was confused. When you come to college, you can’t help but have this excited and anxious feeling build up inside of you. There are so many new opportunities in a new town, with new people, and a new school. At the same time, you find yourself questioning, “What am I even doing here?” I was away from my family and friends, didn’t know anyone, and was thrown into the chaos of participating in the endless “welcome to college” events at the beginning of the school year. I didn’t know where to start and I didn’t even know where I was going. Sure, I had picked my major in mechanical engineering, but is that what I really wanted to do? Is that something that I would be willing to stick with for the rest of my life? Or would I be swept up in the wave of new opportunities in college and find something completely different to fill my days? It was all so confusing as I tried to keep my head above water. But in the beginning, God was probably just as confused as us. Where do you even start? He had the world at his fingertips…a little more literally than the way we like to think that we do. But he made the most of it and created this beautiful universe out of the chaos. If anything, what came as the most comfort to me during my freshman year was knowing that even if I had all these new possibilities, God would be there. He would be there with the world at his fingertips, capable of making a path for me. Throughout my journey to “find my place” at TCU, I eventually found a community of friends who loved and supported me, upper-classmen who served as big brothers and sisters to me when I needed comfort or advice, and peers who shared the same struggles of freshman year right alongside me. But best of all, I had God to guide me through it all. He was there, in the beginning.

In the beginning, Moses didn’t think he was anyone special.  In fact, he thought he was pretty terrible.  He had committed a crime and he was on the run.  He was young.  He was not a leader.  He could barely manage his own life.  He was not the kind of person who could rally and lead a crowd.  He was not a great speaker.  He got tongue-tied and his words got tangled.  He was sure that he was not the kind of person that would be called to do God’s work in this world.  But, when he approached the burning bush, God called his name.  “Moses, Moses.  I want you to free the slaves. I want you to lead my people to the Promised Land.  I want you to stand up to power and to say that oppression, that treating people like less than my beloved children,  is never ok.  I want you to be my voice and my hands and my feet on this earth.  I will be with you.  I will give you the strength and the words you need.” In the beginning God was with him.  In the beginning Moses decided to use his life and his work to serve God and to serve God’s people. Because of this, the whole world was changed through him.

God is with you in this beginning.  Trust God, serve God, open your eyes and heart to the new things God is doing in you. When you do, God will change the world through you!

Breathe in the New

 

A former history professor at TCU told me that even years after his retirement, seeing campus with its yellow brick buildings, bright tulip beds, and iconic frog statues and fountains during school breaks never felt right. A college campus was supposed to be swarming with students in and out of buildings, heading to class, playing frisbee on the lawn, talking and laughing, reading under a tree, everything that students are wont to do, he said. The campus is supposed to be brimming with activity, full and purposeful. In the summer and over breaks, it’s fairly empty.

Over the past few weeks, however, we’ve been getting there. The last few orientations have come through. Upperclassmen and -women are returning, and first year students are moving into their dorms. Offices are busy and we’re breathing life into our beautiful campus.

What a time to breathe life into ourselves. We, too, are meant to be full; we have purpose.

It would be easy to rush into this year with a purpose of being busy. There’s so much to do: academic, social, and extracurricular opportunities pop up every week. We could fill our calendars and our lives to the brim with hectic to-do lists simply for the sake of accomplishing it all.

But neither this campus nor our lives are fulfilled by sheer busyness for the sake of movement. It’s not the number of students present that makes TCU come alive; it’s their passion, their learning, and their journeys. And what makes us come alive is living fully, deeply, and with purpose. Let this be a year activated by the heart, led by the soul. Come alive with intentionality in seizing moments, cherishing memories, and seeking opportunities to grow mind, body, and soul. Nourish yourself with purposeful conversations, uplifting relationships, and intentional actions.

This is why we’re here. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life is here to promote the faith and cultivate the spirit of the TCU student. Twenty-five student organizations under our umbrella all seek to complement each other in serving the unique needs of this dynamic, gifted, student population that is filled with purpose. Our chaplains, campus ministers, interns, and staff hope to fill this year with service to our TCU community on the individual level.

We are here for you. Our purpose is to connect, to nourish, and to promote fulfillment. We cannot wait to connect with you, to learn from you, and to invite your participation in whatever event or community fulfills you. Visit us in person in Jarvis Hall, online at faith.tcu.edu, on Facebook under TCU Faith and Spirit, on Twitter and Instagram as @TCURSL. RSL offers valuable resources such as community, programming, and pastoral counselling–talking through your faith, your life. We also have links and information to connect you with our student faith and religious organizations.

We welcome all members of the TCU family back to a full campus and into the 2014-2015 academic year. May it be full, purposeful, invigorating, and empowering. May we all breathe in its newness and go forward new ourselves.

 

 

Photo credit: http://goldandbluezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/tcu_campus.jpg