God's love

In response to the recent teen suicides and bullying in connection with homosexuality the Hanover College Chapel Community came together in order to stand against hatred.  I along with a few others wrote a statement to read during our commitment service.  We were asked to write a statement about what God's love is and what that means for this community.  So here is my statement about God's love and how it can and will transform this community.  For all of those who have been bullied, tortured, unloved...God is love, and God does love, and God's people will love.

10/28/2010

God’s love is a gift for all people that tears down the walls hatred has built.  It is in each and every person represented here today for we have all been created in the image of God.  God’s love is exemplified when we as a community refuse to be an exclusive group catering to our own needs. God’s love holds all of us together in perfect unity.  God’s love stands against bullying and hate to say you are worth more than anyone can imagine for you are created in my image and loved by me. God’s love pulls a community together to say that those who hurt others are wrong, and it calls the community to commit to being the voice that pierces the silence, being a light in the darkness, being hope to the hopeless, and a friend to the lonely.  God’s love is not just for me, or just for you, but God’s love is God’s love because it is for all of humankind.

When this community stands together in God’s love to proclaim to our brothers and sisters that hate speech and bullying are unacceptable in this place, on this campus, and in our presence then the world will come to know what God's love really looks like.  When this community refuses to be silent all will feel welcome, all will know they have a place at the table, and all will feel included in the great mysteries of our faith.  When this community says enough is enough to our world and claims itself as God's love in this place we build a bond that cannot be broken by hate. 

God's love does not simply allow us to be silent but instead God’s love calls us to stand up and stand in opposition to hate. God's love puts an end to childish ways of excluding those who are not like us and who do not agree with us.  God's love opens our hearts and our minds to see the world from someone else's perspective.  God's love rejoices here and now as we stand together against hate, against treating human beings with disrespect, and God's love moves the mountains of injustice that we have seen in our world. 

"God works where God's people are gathered"

I just spent 3 days with 14 young preachers ranging in age, sex, and theological backgrounds.  We came from various Christian traditions, educational backgrounds, and preaching styles.  This morning we split up into 3 groups to go to 3 different services in the Louisville area.  The group I was in went to Journey Community of Grace, a new church plant.  I have to be honest that a couple of us were a little worried because we knew that this wasn't going to be our typical worship experience.  We have a love for our hymns, pews, pulpits, and some of us our liturgy and we went into this worship not expecting any of those things and wondering how we would experience worship in a new and different setting.

Now I have been to many different types of churches and most of the time (not all) I leave services that are out of my comfort zone still hungry and longing for worship as I know it.  So my fear was not having that sense of worship this week.

When we walked into the building we were warmly welcomed (not the uncomfortable church welcome to our worship have a seat) by people who wanted to know us, where we were from, what involvement in the Academy of Preachers meant to us and how they could support young people just like us.  They had a breakfast where people ate together, caught up with one another, and welcomed visitors.  

Then we went into worship.  The band played 2 contemporary songs and then Dr. Moody interviewed the four of us from the Young Preachers Leadership Team that were with him.  After he finished his questions he opened the questions to the congregation there and one individual was very curious about how they could be relevant to the younger generation in their midst.  This was very refreshing to hear someone ask us how they could be relevant to us instead of telling us what they had to offer.  

After the panel discussion one of the members of our Leadership Team shared his journey of faith with everyone, partnering that with Paul's letter to Timothy speaking to keeping the faith, finishing the race, and fighting the good fight he challenged the congregation to keep being hospitable to visitors, to keep reaching out to young people, to come to the festival, and to pray for us.  After his sermon he asked that the congregation join around us and lay hands on us to pray for us.  Folks lifted up affirmations, shedding tears of joy for being inspired by those they were inspiring and encouraging.  They prayed for us, for other young preachers who are discerning a call to preach, and we all realized that something my good friend Winterbourne had said during the panel discussion was very true.  Winterbourne had said that something we have learned through the Academy is that God dwells where God's people are gathered.  Here we were four young preachers sitting in a worship service that was unfamiliar to most if not all of us, skeptical and hesitant going in but stepping out in faith, trusting God, and feeding off of one another.  

After they prayed for us we sang the following words: 

Savior, he can move the mountains 
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever, author of salvation 
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave

Shine Your light and let the whole world see
We’re singing
For the glory of the risen King
Shine your light and let the whole world see 
We're singing, for the glory of the risen king

The energy in the room after the prayer and while singing this closing song was amazing.  The encouragement that we received from a community of believers who are committed to serve, encourage, and inspire young people, the welcome and hospitality, the pure love of worship that these people shared with us was amazing.  We left hungry, but it wasn't because the worship service wasn't what we were used to, we left hungry to fulfill our calling as young preachers.  We left inspired, filled, and excited about what God was doing through us and through the Academy.  

As our work continues, as the Academy continues to identify, network, inspire, and encourage young people to discern their call to gospel preaching I pray that more congregations will step up and show genuine hospitality to young people, that they will continue asking what they can do to be relevant and encourage us, that we can continue to work together across generations, genders, denominations, and theological differences to stand on the common ground of Christ.  

I am looking forward to the Festival of Young Preachers in January.  I look forward to meeting new young preachers to network with.  I look forward to opening myself up to listen to brothers and sisters who are very different than I am.  I look forward to meeting up with old friends and catching up with where they are and what they are up to.  I look forward to encouraging fellow young preachers who are discerning a call to preach and have no idea what that looks like or what that means.  I look forward to seeing God at work and being a part of the work.  I look forward to being a part of something as powerful and as transformative as the Academy of Preachers. 

January 6-8 will be here before we know it and 104 young people from all across the nation will gather to celebrate gospel preaching.  It will be exciting, it will be a unique event, and it will be worth attending.

Peace,

Krista

See, Hear, Feel...

Last year I made a statement that has been one that I keep coming back to as I continue to live and learn in this world. The following is the statement that I made:

I see God the most in people, I hear God the loudest in scripture, and I feel God the most in nature.  

With a little guidance I hammered this out a little more today and it was really cool to see the pieces fall in place. 

Feeling...

I feel God the most in nature because I see the detail in God's creation.  I see the different leaves, and barks on trees.  I see the birds of the air and hear the sounds of nature all around me.  But most of all I feel the wind that blows freely, gliding the birds, blowing in the trees, carrying the sounds, and even touching me.  I take in a breath and the wind becomes a part of me, then I exhale and that wind leaves me.  What I realized today was that when I go out into nature it is usually because I am stressed or upset or something is weighing on me, but when I come out I am at peace, I am light and a new creation.  In Genesis 2:7 we find this verse, "then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being."  God breathed life, the wind that surround me and becomes a part of me in nature becomes like a new life and it makes me aware of the life that is around me when I am being in creation.  And so when I am in creation, I feel God's presence not only around me but also in me and through me. When I breathe in this breath I have this tension, stress, and weight built up in me and when I exhale that leaves me.  That breath that is life comes in and the life that isn't really life leaves me and is no longer in me.  So that tension is exhaled and room for new life is made.

Hearing...

I hear God the loudest in scripture.  This has been true for most of my life.  When I see the darkness of the world, when I hear stories of hate, injustice, war, and oppression it is very easy to be discouraged and have little hope.  BUT when I read scripture, when I open my Bible and spend time studying what God has to say, I hear a God of hope and reconciliation and I am filled with hope and become passionate about working for this reconciliation in the world.  So many people I know constantly ask where is God in this world?  Why don't I see evidence of a God of hope and reconciliation? I think the place to start is in scripture.  In order for me to understand how God is working in the world now I have to turn back to scripture and study to understand how God was at work in creation and with God's people.  There I find stories of hope and reconciliation (along with other things).  I hear God speaking to us as a world through scripture, often times crying out for us to be working for reconciliation and bringing hope, light, and life to others.

I see God the most in people.  The imago dei, the image of God is what we were created in.  When I look at Bryley (my just over a month old niece) I see God.  I see the work of a creator in how everything works, in how she is attentive, in how she grabs a hold of her bottle, in how she squeezes my fingers, and even in how she cries to tell me she is hungry.  I see God in how Bryley is continuing to learn as she goes along in this life, just like we are always learning and becoming more aware of the presence of God.  When I look at this child of God and see God, I remember that I too am a precious child, learning to live in the world, and being drawn closer and closer to the one who created me.

So there it is...I hope to continue to have my eyes, mind, and heart opened to where God is leading, what God is teaching me, and what God would have me see in this crazy world.  

Tomorrow I will go and spend time out in nature and I can't wait!

Peace,

KP

Sometimes we just have to LISTEN

Saturday morning I was rudely awaken by two cats and a dog, the cats were standing one on my chest the other on my pillow both with their own noses in my face telling me it was time to eat while the dog stood in front of the sliding glass door with her hair standing on end barking at the 11 turkeys found in my back yard.  I thought "Wow did I oversleep?"...NO it was a little after 6:30am on my Saturday (my Sabbath) and I just wanted to sleep in!  At first I yelled at the dog to stop barking and leave the turkeys alone, pulled the covers over my head and flipped over so the cats would scatter, but no sooner than they darted off the bed they were right back and nudging their way under the covers.  I gave in and climbed out of bed, stumbled into the kitchen, and feed the animals.  At this point I was up and out of bed so I figured I would get myself ready for the day.  

I wound up getting to campus very early to take a walk before stuffing some PantherPacks (we'll get to those later!).  So I walked in the cool morning, noticing how happy the birds were that the sun was out and the weather was beautiful. The Blue Jays were the happiest in general, but walking under a tree I heard a robin, probably the happiest bird I have ever heard (even beating the Prairie Warbler.  This bird was jumping from branch to branch, chirping, and telling the world how happy he was! I smiled, stopped, and looked up, not realizing anyone  was around until an older woman said "He's been that way all morning, I just love it."  She startled me, but I was glad that I got to share the joy of the happy robin with someone else.

As I continued my walk I found myself at the Point (place on campus where you can see 3 bends of the Ohio River).  This is a place where I have spent many hours in dialogue with God, sometimes happy, sometimes not so happy.  But this time was different for me, I went and sat on my rock, and silenced myself.  I leaned back, closed my eyes, and listened to creation.  I heard the birds, the river, the boats, the cars driving by, the folks on their morning runs and walks, and the creatures rummaging in the woods.  But I also heard the silence of my own heart. 

This had been one of those "was that really only ONE week?"  weeks for me, and realizing that I needed to just slow down and just be on this Saturday, the day in which I have made a Sabbath, I went to a familiar place and had a new experience.  When I looked at my phone I realized I had been sitting there for over an hour.  I can promise you that is the quietest/stillest I have ever been for an hour, and it was an hour of letting things go.  An hour of just being in God's creation, an hour of not thinking about homework or school, or the things I needed to do, or the people I was worried about, or the excitement of things to come, I was quiet, I was still, and I was open to the power of the spirit.  I didn't have any big revelations, God didn't speak some huge life changing lesson, and I did not expect anything to happen.  I was simply there, I was aware of creation, I was with the Creator, and I was resting.  

After this time of resting relaxing I headed over to do some service work.  We packed 400 bags with food to feed 100 elementary aged children over the weekends for the next month.  This is a program that Hanover started this year and works to help the children but to also raise awareness on poverty within the campus community as well.  I was humbled to be asked to be a part of the council for this program, and was able to be a part of this particular stuffing session from the arrival of the food all the way to the delivery of the packs to the school.  It was an experience in and of itself to push carts full of these "PantherPacks" down the hallway where the children learn.  It was humbling to see how many folks came to stuff these packs and contribute to the discussion that followed.  I look forward to seeing or hearing about the long term effects this program and others like it have on children in the years to come.  This isn't a permanent solution to poverty in the area, but it is making a difference in the lives of 100 students this year and that is worth praising God for.

I was a lot quieter on Saturday than I usually am.  I took in a lot of what was being said, done, and chirped.  I enjoyed the silence of my own self and I thoroughly enjoyed tuning in to the sounds of the world around me.  I hope to continue this challenge of listening to the world around me, maybe this will become one of my Sabbath practices, who knows...but I challenge each of us to remember that  being rooted in Christ is different for all of us, and each of us have to find our own voice, our own roots, and let them grow deeper.

Peace and silence to you all.

KP

 

I'm an....Aunt??????

Aunt Krista? Sounds kind of weird if you ask me! But as of this time tomorrow evening I will be just that, Aunt Krista.

I have held many titles in my lifetime.  Friend, sister, daughter, co-worker, classmate, roommate, elder, leader, but never aunt.  Each time my life takes a turn, each time I gain another title, I realize that life is precious.  I realize that my life is connected to many lives.  I realize that I have an effect on people and they have an effect on me.  

Tonight I sit, remembering the life of a young woman who died in a car accident one year ago today.  She was an athlete, a smart young lady, a friend to everyone, a daughter, and her life was just beginning.  She made 1 mistake, getting in the car with a young man who was intoxicated, and they both lost their lives that night.  I remember my friend today and tomorrow I will welcome Briley Rae, my niece, into the world.  

I am excited to be part of a new life.  I welcome the responsibility of helping raise a child in this world.  I look forward to working with my entire family to provide love and care for this precious life that is joining us on this road of life.

Tomorrow opens a new chapter in my life, a new chapter for my entire family, and we are all looking forward to the joy of a new child.

Peace,

KP

Guilty of digging out cracked cisterns?

I am.

My sermon text yesterday morning was Jeremiah 2:4-13 and verse 13 says this,

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living water, and dug out for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water."

Here are some highlights from my sermon which I hope would challenge us all to turn with our hearts towards God instead of the world.

We live in a very broken world, one of suffering, racism, war, injustice, and loneliness.  We also contribute to this brokenness by placing a demand on products made in sweatshops and picked by slaves, by gossiping about and alienating our neighbors, by demanding a reaction to initial acts of violence, and by refusing to put others before ourselves.  When we and those around us experience this brokenness we turn away from God and create for ourselves cisterns that are cracked and hold no water.  We create for ourselves quick fixes and ideas or places to go when we feel the world weighing down on us, and we feel trapped like there is nowhere to go.  We turn to things like work, or money.  We turn to television shows or we commit ourselves to our children's activities like ball teams or extracurricular activities or even their hobbies and interests. We may even over commit ourselves to the work of the church.  We may turn to drugs or alcohol. We may even escape to the sounds of music.  There are many things that we do, many things we turn to, in order to “escape” from the world.

These escapes are our cracked cisterns.  These cisterns may hold water for a short time or a long time but eventually the crack, spring a leak, and dry out.  Leaving us in the same position we were in before, lonely, broken, and weighed down.

When we reflect on the reality of a broken world I can understand the cry of the heart begging for a just and loving God to intercede and make everything better. That does not always happen and then we are there, feeling alone, and questioning if this God even exists. Elizabeth Johnson in Quest for the Living God makes a powerful statement when she says:

Seeing God as the liberating God of life is a most practical insight, for it enlists the power of the Most High in opposition to whatever mars the divine image in women and men.   Wherever persons are caught in the grip of unjust suffering, where the life of multitudes is throttled, gagged, slain, or starved, there the Holy one is to be found, in gracious solidarity with the poor, calling the oppressors to conversion, giving birth to courage for protests, struggling to bring life out of death.

When we as God's people view God as a liberating God w   who is working and struggling to bring life out of death, light out of darkness, and hope out of brokenness then we can learn what it is to drink from living water.   When our view of God shifts from that of an absent or self-seeking God to one of hope and life, we become hope and life to the world. 

Drinking from the fountain of living water means that we as God's children turn to God instead of to the world.  It means that we no longer seek our happiness in the materialistic or socially constructed ideals of true happiness.  We humble ourselves, turning to God and scripture, crying out from our heart and saying here I am Lord, I am here to serve your people by walking alongside the poor, calling out against those who contribute to oppression locally and globally, encouraging others to stand up for justice, and struggling with brothers and sisters around the world to bring light into darkness, to bring life out of death.

It is my prayer that we can hold one another accountable, lift one another up, and accept the call to take up our crosses and follow Christ.  I pray that we as Christ's church are willing to drink deeply from the fountain of living water so that we may carry this water to brothers and sisters around the world who just like us are seeking because they are thirsty.  

Peace,

KP

Crazy day...

Today was crazy...today was scary...today was real.
I got one of those unexpected and scary phone calls that flips your world upside down and puts life on hold. My mom is in the hospital...maybe a stroke...maybe brain tumors...we will know more in the morning. But what I did notice today was how awesome my friends and family are. So many prayers and thoughts lifted up for my mom and all out of love.

God is good, even in the midst of chaos when the world is turned upside down GOD IS GOD...and for that I am thankful. Even if we were to get "bad news" tomorrow, I know that God is still God and God is still with me and my family through it all. Nothing can take that away from me and nothing will make my trust in God go away. Would I be upset, angry, frustrated...sure...that's my mother and I love her and I hate seeing her scared and in pain. But she is not alone...there are hundreds of people praying for her, there are people calling to check in on her, and there are lots of us loving on her.

I might be a little shaken, but my roots are still strong...nothing in this world is strong enough to uproot me and that is the hope that I cling to.

Praying for mom,
Peace,
KP