Upcoming Events -- February 27, 2008

I keep hearing how the generation in college right now likes Jesus, but doesn't like religion. There is a sentiment that the institution of Christianity isn't doing the work of Jesus -- that the institution is more concerned with their carpets and sound systems than with loving and caring for their neighbors -- that the institution has become as materialistic and shallow as the rest of the world.


Are we better off stuggling with faith on our own? Can we discern God's will on our own, apart from communities?


Maybe we can....God does work in mysterious ways -- but I don't think we are better off going it alone. I think that communities are essential for those wishing to follow Jesus. Jesus said "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them" (Matthew 18:20). I think Jesus probably is with us when we are alone too, but he emphasized coming together as community.


Do you have a mental image for what you think a Christian community should be like? Let me know if you have ideas, because our community is open to your input -- and we hope that we can enable our combined vision to become reality on this campus.


Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of community. May we continue to support each other, have fun with each other, and accomplish things we never thought possible with your help. AMEN.


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UPCOMING EVENTS:
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(All times, dates, and locations are subject to change. Check for updates at http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran or the "GMU Lutherans" Facebook group.)

Game Night / Simpsons : Friday, 3pm-6pm. We'll meet in Johnson Center meeting room B (3rd floor) to play board games and watch the Simpsons -- laughing and having fun. Whatever peope want to do. I'm tying to line up some free food too! Feel free to bring your favorite game! Bring some friends along -- EVERYONE is welcome! Link to Facebook event.

Sunday Morning Worship: Katie Kane leads the worship carpool If you want to go to worship on a Sunday morning, email her at kkane [at] gmu.edu to work out the details.

Lenten Devotions: Each day during Lent, I plan to provide a scripture-based devotion for you to read and pray with. I will commit to writing them if you commit to reading them. Feel free to share them with any interested friends as well. To get the devotions daily, do any of the following:
1. Join our "Lenten Devotions" Facebook group .
2. Send gmuLutherans@bbuss.com an E-mail message asking to receive the devotions by email.
3. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Survey: Please don't forget to take a few minutes for this survey so that our ministry can work to better serve you!

Service Opportunities:
I'm in the process of scheduling more opportunities with the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, the FACETS/Fairfax County Hypothermia Shelter, and Habitat for Humanity. If you have particular dates or events that you are interested in, please let me know!

Other events of interest hosted by United College Ministries:

• Discussion on life-direction/vocation with Pastor Herb in SUB I outside the Campus Ministry office Fridays 11:45 am. All are welcome.
• Table Talk on Thursdays at 7:00 pm at St. George's United Methodist Church (4910 Ox Rd, Fairfax).
• Mission Trip doing Hurricane Reconstruction in Mississippi during Spring Break (March 8-15) -- 2 spots left that need filled ASAP.

--
Experience the loving grace of God renewing the world through Jesus Christ crucified. Our servant community laughs, questions, worships, hopes, struggles, prays, volunteers, and grows together. GMU Lutherans.
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19907586200
Website: http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Upcoming Events -- February 19, 2008

Read each line emphasizing the underlined word:
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.
There is nothing you can do to make God love you more.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

Think about that. Notice how changing the emphasized word subtly changes the focus of the sentence. To get the meaning we tend to need them all. The point is:
YOU ARE LOVED BY GOD.
GOD LOVES YOU.
Period. Full stop. No "if ...". No "but ..." Right NOW. God made you and God loves you. Let it sink in...

Dear Lord, we thank you for loving us. We acknowledge that our lives and absolutely everything in them come from you. Help us to believe this, and help our faith shape our lives. In Jesus name we pray, AMEN.

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UPCOMING EVENTS:
--------------------------------
(All times, dates, and locations are subject to change. Check for updates at http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran or the "GMU Lutherans" Facebook group.)

Gospel According to the Simpsons: Friday, 3pm-4pm. We'll meet in Johnson Center meeting room B (3rd floor) to watch an episode of the Simpsons, laugh together, & discuss. Bring some friends along -- everyone is welcome! Link to Facebook event.

Sunday Morning Worship at the National Cathedral: Here's the schedule:
8:45am -- meet at the George Mason Statue to carpool to the Washington National Cathedral. Kriss and I can take up to 8 passengers unless someone else wants to drive.
10:00am -- "Sunday Forum" with Jim Wallis (founder of Sojourner's & best-selling author)
11:15am -- Holy Eucharist Worship Service with guest preacher The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston
1:00pm -- back at GMU (unless everyone votes to stop for lunch someplace -- my treat)
This should be a great experience! Link to the Facebook event.


Lenten Devotions: Each day during Lent, I plan to provide a scripture-based devotion for you to read and pray with. I will commit to writing them if you commit to reading them. Feel free to share them with any interested friends as well. To get the devotions daily, do any of the following:
1. Join our "Lenten Devotions" Facebook group.
2. Send gmuLutherans@bbuss.com an E-mail message asking to receive the devotions by email.
3. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Survey: Please don't forget to take a few minutes for this survey so that our ministry can work to better serve you!


Kiosks: I'll be at Kiosk B in the Johnson Center on Friday 2/22/2008 from 10:30am-2:30pm. If anyone would like to come by to help represent Lutheran Campus Ministry or to learn more about Lutheran Campus Ministry, your presence will be appreciated.

Service Opportunities:
I'm in the process of scheduling more opportunities with the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, the FACETS/Fairfax County Hypothermia Shelter, and Habitat for Humanity. If you have particular dates or events that you are interested in, please let me know!

Other events of interest hosted by United College Ministries:

• Discussion on life-direction/vocation with Pastor Herb in SUB I outside the Campus Ministry office Fridays 11:45 am. All are welcome.
• Table Talk on Thursdays at 7:00 pm at St. George's United Methodist Church (4910 Ox Rd, Fairfax).

--
Experience the loving grace of God renewing the world through Jesus Christ crucified. Our servant community laughs, questions, worships, hopes, struggles, prays, volunteers, and grows together. GMU Lutherans.
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19907586200
Website: http://gmulutherans.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Events - Febuary 13, 2008

Hello!

Today is the 7th day of Lent. I've been finding the discipline of sending out daily devotions to be both exciting and exhausting! I hope that this daily devotion experimetn is accomplishing a couple things: (1) that they are helping you to think about scripture either more often, or in a way that you wouldn't normally think; and (2) that we might all remember that we are a community doing things together even when we aren't all in the same room.

I also thought it might be really cool to open the devotion writing up to you. If anyone wants to write one -- just let me know. You can pick a scripture that you love, or a scripture that you really struggle with, or you can pull one off a daily lectionary. Write anywhere from 2 sentences to a few paragraphs to try to engage people in the Word. Then write a short closing prayer & send it off to me.

If writing devotions isn't your thing, maybe you are interested in being part of our student leadership team. Let me know if you are, because I'll be deciding on a meeting time during the next couple weeks. Remember, this isn't my ministry -- it isn't even *our* ministry -- this is God's ministry, and God can work through all of us.

Dear Lord, thank you for all the blessings in our lives, for food, friends, family, and so much more. Help us to grow closer to you this Lent. Help us to notice you working in our lives, and to make more time for your in our days. In Jesus name, Amen.

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UPCOMING EVENTS:
--------------------------

(All times, dates, and locations are subject to change. Check for updates at http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran or the " GMU Lutherans" Facebook group.)

Lenten Devotions: Each day during Lent, I plan to provide a scripture-based devotion for you to read and pray with. I will commit to writing them if you commit to reading them. Feel free to share them with any interested friends as well. To get the devotions daily, do any of the following:
1. Join our " Lenten Devotions" Facebook group.
2. Send gmuLutherans@bbuss.com an E-mail message asking to receive the devotions by email.
3. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Gospel According to the Simpsons: Friday, 3pm-4pm. We'll meet in Johnson Center meeting room B (3rd floor) to watch an episode of the Simpsons, laugh together, & discuss. Bring some friends along -- everyone is welcome! Link to Facebook event. This week, I'll be providing an early dinner as some of us will be leaving to volunteer at the Hypothermia Shelter immediately afterward.

Hypothermia Shelter: ***We still need more people!*** The meeting location has changed to the George Mason Statue. We'll be helping out by providing hospitality for an evening -- assisting with dinner, conversation with the guests, playing cards, making coffee, emptying garbage ... whatever. Join us on Friday, February 15th departing campus at 4:15pm to help prevent hypothermia deaths in Fairfax County this winter. Link to Facebook event.

Sunday Morning Worship: Meet Katie Kane at the Parking Services building by the Sandy Creek Parking Deck at 10:30am to carpool to worship at a local congregation. She'll be creating a Facebook event for this soon.

Survey: Please don't forget to take a few minutes for this survey so that our ministry can work to better serve you!

--
Experience the loving grace of God renewing the world through Jesus Christ crucified. Our servant community laughs, questions, worships, hopes, struggles, prays, volunteers, and grows together. GMU Lutherans.
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19907586200
Website: http://gmulutherans.blogspot.com/

Upcoming Events -- February 4, 2008

Lent starts this Wednesday -- a bit earlier in the year than usual. For once I'm actually a little excited about it. To be perfectly honest, I have spent years thoroughly and passionately disliking Lent. I knew Lent was an ancient liturgical practice that Christians have observed for many centuries, but to me it was bunk. I watched people around me give up what I felt were nonsensical things, like giving up yummy Chocolate and bountiful feasts with friends. I got upset as leaders in the ministry, through well meaning intentions, took all the things I enjoyed out of worship (such as upbeat moods and joyful thoughts). From my perspective, Lent was flat out depressing. On top of that, it was stuck in a season when many of my friends and acquaintances have sometimes struggled with what gets called "seasonal affective disorder" or the "winter blues". Shouldn't the church be a source of joy in a season of sadness?

More recently, I've found communities and friends who have helped me begin to appreciate Lent as a spiritual practice. They've helped me realize that it isn't about randomly giving up things you may or may not really miss. The point is finding things you can do to help yourself return to God -- to help us focus on that relationship rather than spending so much time focused on ourselves -- and to strengthen faith communities so that we may more cohesively and effectively support each other and the world around us.

Lent is a season of the church year in which we focus energy on recognizing where we have strayed from God and make efforts to renew and strengthen our relationship with God. It is a time when we take notice of all the places in our lives where we attempt to live life independently from God, then repent of our failings and seek to follow more closely our Lord Jesus the Christ, the king of all who humbly allowed himself to be abused and executed upon a rugged cross wearing a crown of thorns.

I still can't say Lent is my favorite season of the church year, but I am truly excited this year for this opportunity to grow closer to God as part of this faith community here at George Mason University. Therefore, I'm going to write a DAILY devotion during Lent for all of you -- and it will be completely optional on your end. See more details under Upcoming Events below.

Dear Lord, today we look inward, not with selfish desires, but in an effort to identify and purge ourselves of these desires. We look to you to help us discern what is really important in life. We look to each other, for support and understanding as we struggle to find you in our hearts. We look beyond ourselves and our community while listening for your gentle call to action in this world. Through all of this, we pray that your will be done. In Jesus name, Amen.

================
UPCOMING EVENTS:
--------------------------------

(All times, dates, and locations are subject to change. Check for updates at http://gmu.edu/org/lutheran or the " GMU Lutherans" Facebook group.)

Lenten Devotions: Each day during Lent, I plan to provide a scripture-based devotion for you to read and pray with. I will commit to writing them if you commit to reading them. Feel free to share them with any interested friends as well. To get the devotions daily, do any of the following:
1. Join our "Lenten Devotions" Facebook group.
2. Send gmuLutherans@bbuss.com an E-mail message asking to receive the devotions by email.
3. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Office Hours: I'll be in SUB 1 room 207 on Wednesday, February 6th from 3:30pm-6:30pm. Feel free to come by if you want to chat about anything.

Ash Wednesday Worship: We'll meet at 7:00pm this Wednesday, February 6th at the bus shelter / Parking Services building by the Sandy Creek Parking Deck to carpool to Ash Wednesday worship at Lord of Life Lutheran Church a couple miles from campus. We should be back to campus a little after 8:30pm. Link to Facebook event.

Gospel According to the Simpsons: Friday, 3pm-4pm. We'll meet in Johnson Center meeting room B (3rd floor) to watch an episode of the Simpsons, laugh together, & discuss. Bring some friends along -- everyone is welcome! Link to Facebook event.

Visitor from ELCA Global Missions: We will hopefully have a visitor from ELCA Global Missions at our Friday gathering. If you are interested in this wonderful ministry, please plan to stick around after we discuss the Simpsons to get the info!

Samaritan House Service Project (Day trip): Carpool to Baltimore to spend the day working alongside other Lutheran young adult groups from the region on a house for girls who are run aways and/or have been abused. We'll probably be painting. This event is tentative -- email me or join the Facebook event to stay in the loop...

Sunday Morning Worship: Meet Katie Kane at the Parking Services building by the Sandy Creek Parking Deck at 10:30am to carpool to worship at a local congregation. She'll be creating a Facebook event for this soon.

Hypothermia Shelter: We'll be helping out by providing hospitality for an evening -- assisting with dinner, conversation with the guests, playing cards, making coffee, emptying garbage ... whatever. Join us on Friday, February 15th departing campus at 4:15pm to help prevent hypothermia deaths in Fairfax County this winter. We'll meet at the bus shelter by the Sandy Creek Parking Deck. Link to Facebook event. (They are also looking for people to volunteer for the 5pm-11pm shift or the overnight shift throughout the week. Contact me for more details!)

Survey: Please don't forget to take a few minutes for this survey so that our ministry can work to better serve you!

--
Experience the loving grace of God renewing the world through Jesus Christ crucified. Our servant community laughs, questions, worships, hopes, struggles, prays, volunteers, and grows together. GMU Lutherans.
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19907586200
Website: http://gmulutherans.blogspot.com/