Bible Study: Who Are You Called To Be?

We began our Campus Bible Study last night with some fun, creative games of Ping Pong! We're grateful to be a community who finds so many wonderful ways to play.

And we also had a meaningful time of reading and discussing scripture. This semester we are thinking about concrete ways to put our faith into action. We're discussing the many ways we are all called to ministry, both as individuals and as a community of faith.

Last night Merrit lead us through a meaningful discussion of Jeremiah 31. And we asked ourselves and one another, "What gifts do we see in our community, and how might God use us to restore others to healing and wholeness?"

We passed around sheets of paper with our names on them. And we each wrote words of affirmation for one another. What gifts do we see in each other? Our time together was very meaningful.

Renee and Merrit are co-leaders of our Bible Study for the first part of this semester. Merrit is a junior at the University of Texas. She is studying Spanish and Religious Studies. She recently completed a semester of studying abroad in Argentina, and she has also been elected to serve as our Campus Deacon for the 2010-2011 academic year. We are so grateful for her leadership with us!

Our Campus Super Bowl Party!

On Sunday night, Austin Agape gathered upstairs in the Youth Room for a night of Super Bowl watching! Colts fans and Saints fans collided! Actually none of us ran into each other, and we simply enjoyed the game!



Thanks to Marco for his technological skills, and thanks to Barbara for the delicious food!




And thanks to Kathleen for this stunning cake!









We enjoyed some ping pong. .










Some other games. . .










Some music. . .










And some general silliness. . .








We also gathered together to worship. We heard a reflection and had a meaningful discussion about living in the present moment and seeking God's presence and call for our lives. Thanks to everyone for your meaningful words!


Reflection: But What About Now?
Luke 5:1-11
Isaiah 6:1-8

The Future. Oh. . .the future. When you’re a college student – when you’re a young adult – it seems to be the air you breathe. The Future. Why? It’s constantly surrounding you – bombarding you -and even if you want a break from the future, it’s definitely hard to get one. People are constantly telling you, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways: “You’re the future! We’re counting on you! Future, Future, Future. . .”

But it’s not just that you embody the future in the eyes of other adults. It’s also that as far back as when you were “knee-high to a grasshopper” you’ve been prepped for the future. Kindergarten getting you ready for elementary school, elementary school getting you ready for middle school, middle school making sure you’re prepped for high school, high school getting you ready for college, and yes, college getting you ready for your future. Tests, tests, tests. Preparation for the future. The TAKS test (Ian and I had the ISTEP – Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Process) the SAT, perhaps the ACT. And now, some of you are thinking about other tests these days. There’s the LSAT and the MCAT. It all seems to be preparing you for the future – the day when your star will rise, the day when at last, you will be the future people who have come to present day, fully formed, fully ready, fully prepared to lead and make waves in this world.

But maybe we’ve missed something here. Aren’t you future people, well, alive now?

Oh yeah. . .maybe we’ve all forgotten that – not just the middle agers who make us out to be the “Future people” – but maybe we’ve forgotten too. We get wrapped up in the future, and maybe we forget that we are living, breathing people who are alive now, alive to discover the world right in front of us, just the way it is in this moment, alive to allow this moment to make us who we are so that we might go into the future shaped by the now.

The now is connected to the future, isn’t it? That is so ‘duh’, but I don’t we think about it as often as we should. Why? Because we’re rushing around trying to make our future a good one, and we’ll sacrifice anything in the present moment to get there. Maybe we’ll be workaholics, sacrificing the joy of our relationships. Maybe we’ll think so intensely about that upcoming test that we’ll forget to notice how gorgeous it is outside. Maybe we’ll sacrifice our sleep. Maybe we’ll forget to eat. And who knows what else? Maybe we’ll do this because we value our future, and we want it to be a good one.

And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with the future. I hope it doesn’t sound like picking on it too much. The future is a wonderful thing to plan for! A wonderful thing to dream about! It’s just that we have a problem in our planning. . . By the time, we get to that future, by the time the future we’ve been planning for becomes the present, we’re on to the next thing, planning for the future again. Do we lose the now, totally in service to the future?

What I mean, is that there was a period of time when many of you were planning and dreaming about college. Wouldn’t it be sad if you missed those glorious moments, the small things, the beautiful moments of right now?

Tonight we have two call stories before us – the story of Jesus calling his disciples by the Sea of Galilee and the story of the prophet Isaiah, encountering God’s holiness in the temple. Call stories. Hmm. . .our calling. Now that’s about the future too, isn’t it? Or wait. . .is it?

You would think so, and certainly the answer is at least partially, yes. As young people, you’re often asking, “What is it that I should do with my life? How can I make a difference? What can I add to the world? What’s my calling?” Yes. “What’s my calling, and how can I find out what it is?”

Good questions. We ask them all the time, and we shouldn’t tire of asking them. But here’s a thing to remember: Our calling – that thing we want to do in this world for this world – is not just about the future. It’s not simply this thing we’re waiting to get to. Our calling involves the present. The calling involves now.

The disciples were living a pretty run-of-the-mill day. Of course, they weren’t disciples yet. They were fishermen. They were doing what fishermen do: Fish. But this run-of-the-mill day wasn’t going so well, not yet. They hadn’t caught any fish. And this story of calling is obviously a miracle story, perhaps and odd one. Jesus tells Peter to go back into the deep water and throw the nets out again. And all of the sudden, their nets are full with more fish than they can count! More than they can imagine! And Jesus says to these fishermen who will be disciples, “From now on you will be catching people.” From now on you will be inviting others to move from a shallow life out into deep seas, seas that call human beings to love, peace, justice, healing, wholeness. That call is a miracle, isn’t it? It certainly involves their future, doesn’t it?

But you know what else is a miracle? It’s easy to miss it. Before Jesus tells Peter to cast his nets, he asks Peter to take him out in the boat so that he can speak to the people. The text says, “Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.” That language about sitting down is important. Sitting down? Pretty mundane, right? Not quite a miracle, right? Well, in this text, it’s significant. It’s a clue to us. Luke is telling us that Jesus was taking the stance of a rabbi. And all of the sudden, a pretty mundane, everyday scene becomes infinitely holy in the present moment. Jesus creates a synagogue, right there on the Lake of Gennesaret, speaking to people and teaching them what it means to live deeply. If those people were running around like crazy thinking about the future, they would have missed that present day miracle right in front of them.[1]

And then we have this very odd, intriguing story from Isaiah. Isaiah went into the temple on what may have been a mundane, run-of-the-mill day. Sure, the temple is a sacred, holy place. But was he expecting the deep sense of transcendence he would encounter there? I don’t know, but something so holy and transcendent happened that it must have been hard to put into words. And so he writes it in a holy vision. Isaiah finds himself in the presence of God, and God’s holiness is so profound that Isaiah is called to a confessional moment, “‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’” (By the way, it’s interesting that Peter says something similar, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”) But God’s presence shows up in the mundane to say in effect: “I am calling you – you, the fullest you of this present moment, quirks and all – to use your gifts right now to follow me and act in this world.”

So that brings us back to the question of the hour (the question of so many hours as we live our young adult lives) – What is my calling, and how do I know what it is?

Wouldn’t it be convenient to have an obvious answer for that, a little formula to figure it out? I don’t, and none of us do. But instead of associating that calling solely with the future, let’s start associating it with the now. Isn’t it true that we’re called – not only to some future vocation but to this very day? Who are you called to be today? Tonight? In the next hour?

If we live fully in this moment and in all the present moments we have, who knows where we’ll find God? And so here are two questions for our discussion tonight: Where have you seen God recently? And how is God calling you through that? I’m going to sit down here too. Where have you seen God at work?

- Renee Roederer, Campus Minister, and the Austin Agape Community

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[1] Idea borrowed from a sermon given at UPC by Ben Johnston-Krase in 2007.

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Souper Bowl Sunday!

On Sunday, UPC gathered and shared meaningful worship together. And it was a special Sunday on our calendar. Super Bowl Sunday? Yes. But more importantly for Sunday morning, it was Souper Bowl Sunday!

Each year, the youth from UPC take a special offering. It's called the Souper Bowl of Caring. This offering has been taken annually across the country since 1990, and it all began with a simple prayer one day as the youth group from Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina met. The prayer was this: "Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat." And an idea came from that prayer! What if members of churches and individuals around the country gave a few dollars on Super Bowl Sunday to be used locally to fight hunger?


This year, our youth raised a record amount, and the money will be distributed to the Micah 6 Food Pantry and the Manos de Cristo Food Pantry. Byron is excited as he unveils the offering: $988.38!!!



Our church also enjoyed a lovely potluck lunch after worship as we met together for our Annual Congregational Meeting. The food was lovely. Thanks to everyone who brought dishes and desserts, and a special thank you to Peggy Budd who helped organize this event.


At our meeting, we elected church officers, elders and deacons who will serve us for the next few years. Guess who we elected to be our Campus Deacon? Our very own Merrit Martin! We are grateful for all the ways she will serve us and the wider church.

All in all, it was a GREAT Souper Bowl Sunday!

Scott McNulty Hits the Airwaves!

Guess what?

On Sunday night, our very own organist, Scott McNulty will be featured on KMFA radio. At 8pm, Chris Teel, the host of Pipeworks, will play most of Scott's Master's Recital, which includes some newer works that are rarely heard.

If you enjoy what you hear or just want to support an 24 hour all classical station, would you send a note of thanks to Chris Teel or General Manager Joan Kobayashi? Chris will be playing other parts of the recital on future programs, including the improvisation, and Scott would like to encourage KMFA to keep supporting organ music.

Way to go, Scott! We are thankful for all the ways God has gifted you for music!

Interfaith Hospitality Network

Last Sunday, some of our students participated in an important opportunity for Mission. They worked with a family at through the Interfaith Hospitality Network. IHN provides shelter for families that are homeless or on the verge of experiencing homelessness. Members of local faith communities in Austin spend the night with them, providing hospitality and shelter.

The Mission of IHN can be found on the Foundation for the Homeless website. "Host churches, synagogues, and support congregations work in collaboration to provide year round shelter, meals, and support to families as they work toward achieving goals of permanent housing and self-sufficiency."

Our students spent the evening at University Methodist Church. IHN is one important ministry that UPC supports with time and resources. If you would like to learn more, visit this page.

Interfaith Dialogue - Tonight!

The Islamic Student Dialogue Association is hosting an Interfaith Dialogue on Campus tonight. The speakers will be Dr. Steve Friesen and Dr. Yetkin Yilderim, each respectively presenting perspectives of Christianity and Islam on Interfaith Dialogue. The event sounds like it will be informational and thought provoking.

It begins at 6:30 in room 2.312 in Welch Hall. After Dr. Friesen and Dr. Yilderim address the gathering, there will be time for questions and further conversation. There will also be refreshments, wonderful Turkish treats donated by the Turkish American Women Association.

Come hear some interesting discussion and join together in fellowship and friendship!

Run, Austin Agape, Run!

Did you know. . .

that our very own Byron French is running a mini-marathon?






And that our very own Shane Webb is running a full marathon?

On February 14th, bright and early in the morning, Byron and Shane are running to raise money for Manos de Cristo. Manos is a ministry that does tremendous work in Austin. UPC has many connections there: Kate Norman, one of our elders, serves on the Board, and our church holds an annual Back to School drive every August, collecting school supplies for Manos to distribute to children who need them.

Manos de Cristo assists the Austin community with food and clothing services and ESL classes. The ministry also operates a dental clinic, assisting clients who cannot afford the expenses of dental care.

Did you know. . . that you can contribute to the marathon?

Support Byron with a Donation
Support Shane with a Donation