Strange Ponderings

So Ian and I have had a stick-bug outside of our door for the entire day. (It's still there!)

Have you ever seen one? These strange insects are also called walking sticks. They pretty much look like their name. They are very twig-like.

Ian and I named our little friend "Twiggy." (Yes, we're weird).

Stick-bugs are a wonderful example of six-legged camouflage!


Here are some random, hypothetical questions, which will once again prove our weirdness: Do you think that stick-bugs are aware that they look like sticks? And if they are, do you think they like it, or are they somehow saddened to look so commonplace?

Do you think they ever approach real sticks in the hope of obtaining some companionship -- only to realize that their newfound friends are completely inanimate? How sad! What if this happens several times a day, every day?

I realized today that I had not seen a stick-bug in over a decade. That is, unless I mistook it for. . . a stick. But how do they find each other? I don't see them often!

I hope Twiggy finds another bug friend. I'm fascinated by him. (But he creeps me out too).

- Renee

Torture?

Yesterday Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary hosted the Presidential Colloquium asking this question: Is Torture Ever Acceptable?

The speakers were engaging and very informational. One of the speakers was David Wofford, a member of UPC.

I would encourage you to visit the website of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

How do you think your faith intersects with the practice of state sponsored torture?

Where They Are Wednesday: Rachael!

Hey all! It’s me, Rachael calling on you from the Sunshine State (Florida for the completely oblivious). Most of you know me because I just left Austin in July. I had the privilege to be a part of Austin Agape (though it wasn’t always known as that name). Now I am Young Adult Volunteer or a Mission Volunteer or a Dweller. I have many names and personalities ( I am a Gemini). Anyways, here is what I am up to in this part of the world.

I get to work with youth and children. There is also a ton of paperwork. Grants require a lot of information and paperwork to show that you are accomplishing and documenting everything you do. I also help out with the homeless program on Sunday Mornings. Eventually I will be setting up bank accounts for the homeless to help them save up. Many have jobs they just are trying to get enough to get their own place where they will be able to afford the rent. I will also be doing taxes for them and for people in the Overtown community. Which leads me to where I work.

The area where I work is not the safest place. I had to sign all of these things about safety. I am also required to carry around pepper spray. My first impression of Overtown (the area I work) was that of a lot of black men calling out to me and a fire dept ambulance pulling over to ask me if I knew where I was. They kept saying “are you sure?” At work I found out that white employees get asked that a lot by police and fire officials. Interesting twist on the classic pullover. A 17 year in Overtown was killed recently. The upsetting part was how the high schoolers acted as if it were totally normal. Two years ago a body was discovered in the vacant lot behind our building. Dumped in the high grass area to conceal it. This is America. Aren’t we told this doesn’t happen here? If so, only on TV.

I live near Little Havana. Everybody in my subdivision speaks Spanish. They all assume because of where I am living that I speak Spanish. In Miami, people actually talk to strangers on the bus. In Austin, I only had conversations with homeless people. Here I have had so many conversations. Most of them being the person talking in Spanish to me while I listen trying to hear the few words I know and speaking like one year old back at them in Spanish. People here are more event oriented like most of Latin America. I like my watch so that is a problem. Some churches here don’t have start or stopping times which is more than a little different.

I love y’all! I miss y’all! They make fun of me here when I say y’all. I wish y’all well on your spiritual journeys. Peace and conflict be with you. For out of conflict is learning and understanding.
Rachael

Connectedness

So often, we Americans think that we are self-made. I know that I do not remember often enough how connected I am to the world and how dependent I am upon it. I wonder how that should change our sense of gratitude and impact our desire for all people to have just and healthy ways of living.

Here are two quotes from Martin Luther King Jr.:

"Maybe you haven’t ever thought about it, but you can’t leave home in the morning without being dependent on most of the world. You get up in the morning, and you go to the bathroom and you reach over for a sponge, and that’s even given to you by a Pacific Islander. You reach over for a towel, and that’s given to you by a Turk. You reach down to pick up your soap, and that’s given to you by a Frenchman. Then after dressing, you rush to the kitchen and you decide this morning that you want to drink a little coffee; that’s poured in your cup by a South American. Or maybe this morning you prefer tea; that’s poured in your cup by a Chinese. Or maybe you want cocoa this morning; that’s poured in your cup by a West African. Then you reach over to get your toast, and that’s given to you at the hands of an English-speaking farmer, not to mention the baker. Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning you are dependent on more than half of the world."

"We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you out to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured."

-Renee

Sermon: Sabbath

So what is the Sabbath, anyway? It’s a day of rest, right? But what about it, what’s the big deal? Genesis 2:3:

“And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all [the] work of creating that he had done.”

The first thing that God made holy in all of creation, was a day—the Sabbath. Everything else is good, but the seventh day, that’s holy. The word ‘Sabbath’ comes from the Hebrew root word Shavat meaning “to cease.” Therefore, our contemporary translation can be understood as “to stop with everything and just relax.” In Spanish, the word for Saturday is Sabado, which is also the Spanish translation for Sabbath. Many of us are familiar with the word Sabado from the acclaimed Spanish language game show entitled “Sabado Gigante” which literally means, Giant Saturday (Sabbath). But I digress. In many cultures and languages, the Sabbath is highly recognized and celebrated with great zeal. The holy days of the Sabbath is the root from where we derive several words in our English language like “holiday” and “sabbatical”.

The Sabbath is understood as a covenant between God and Israel, and there are two basic reasons given in the Bible to keep the Sabbath holy. “To commemorate it as the culmination of creation,”1 and “to offer an opportunity for servants to rest.”1 If we commemorate the Sabbath as the culmination of creation, then one understanding of this is as a “means by which man’s living pattern imitates God’s…work is followed by rest.”2 It is purposely marked as a time where we can show appreciation to God and to the life of the Holy Spirit. It is one way in which we can celebrate the belief that we were created in God’s image specifically to be in relationship with God.
We also commemorate this holy time as a moment of rest for all servants. Humans need time to recover physically, emotionally and spiritually. It is physically impossible for people to continually work without rest; we’re just not designed like that, that’s why we sleep—to rest. We rest in commemoration of the Sabbath by taking that time “to think about and enjoy what God has accomplished.”

We can further expand this idea of rest to encompass salvation. The Israelites were in grueling servitude, bondage, to the Pharaoh but God delivered them through Moses from the oppressive shackles of slavery. We, as believers, as Christians, are sinners but God sent Jesus to redeem us of our sinfulness. One of the many theological implications of the Sabbath is that as believers we will all one day rejoice in celebration with God in Heaven. The Sabbath is also a covenant between God and us.

Even though both Jews and Christians celebrate the Sabbath, we have very distinctive ways of observing it. In the Jewish tradition, “observance is characterized by joy rather than avoidance of anything pleasurable.” “The Sabbath is to be a day of joy: relaxation, spiritual harmony, and a change of pace from workdays. In the home, this is expressed by festive meals with choice dishes…time is to be devoted to study… [and] rest.” Many of us know about the Sabbath in the Jewish tradition by the countless stories in the Bible about the laws that govern its observance. For instance in Matthew 12:1-3:

“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath’.”

From these accounts, and others just like it, we can see how it is easy to draw the conclusion that the Jewish faith has been traditionally legalistic to the point of missing the intent of the laws. However, for the Jewish faith, to uphold the law is to worship God. There are also many situations in which the general rule of “anything to save a life” is fervently practiced and consequently supersedes Jewish law.

To the Jewish people, the weekly Sabbath is the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar. The Jews have popular dictum that says “The Sabbath is given to you, not you to the Sabbath” which can be seen as a similar understanding of Mark 2:27. This saying appears frequently in midrash and talmud, which are commentaries and explanatory notes on the Scriptures produced by rabbis.

The Sabbath is celebrated in the Jewish calendar from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall. “The most important observance of the Jewish Sabbath is in the home. Every home is perceived as a small sanctuary.” The practice of observing the Sabbath often entails lighting candles, eating good food, wearing one’s best clothes, worshiping, studying, and demonstrating love for family and friends. Susannah Heschel recounts of her childhood:

“Friday evenings in my home were the climax of the week, as they are for every religious Jewish family. My mother and I kindled the lights for the Sabbath, and all of a sudden I felt transformed, emotionally and even physically. After lighting the candles in the dining room, we would walk into the living room, which had windows overlooking the Hudson river, facing west, and we would marvel at the sunset that soon arrived.”

Her father was a Rabbi and preeminent Jewish theologian named Abraham Joshua Heschel. In his book The Sabbath he describes the Jewish sentiment towards keeping the Sabbath:

“The art of keeping the seventh day is the art of painting on the canvas of time the mysterious grandeur of the climax of creation: as He sanctified the seventh day, so shall we. The love of the Sabbath is the love of man for what he and God have in common…The seventh day is like a palace in time with a kingdom for all. It is not a date but an atmosphere…It is a day that ennobles the soul and makes the body wise.”

He goes on to describe the Sabbath in many beautiful and poetic forms; one such is in the imagery of the bridegroom. Christians are familiar with this metaphor as the church is known as the bridegroom of Jesus. Let’s think about that for a moment, each week one day is celebrated as the partner of the faith! It is held in the same regard we think of the church, as partners with God. It isn’t celebrated just one day a year like we celebrate Christmas or Easter, but every week, as a bride. They celebrate the Sabbath as a weekly relationship with God, one that requires communication and feedback. They celebrate it as a covenant.

We as Christians could stand to learn a lot from our Jewish friends. Christians share a lot of similarities how we observe the Sabbath, but there are several key differences. We “observe Sunday, the first day of the week, as the Christian Sabbath. [We] note that Christ arose on the first day of the week…this day on which Jesus arose [is] call[ed] the Lord’s Day.” In our view it is more of a celebration of the resurrection and the redemption of our sinfulness. In the Presbyterian Book of Order, the Directory for Worship tells us:

“It is the beginning of the believer’s week and gives shape to the life of discipleship. Disciplined observance of this day includes preparation of one’s self for (1) participation in public worship, (2) engagement in ministries of witness, service, and compassion, [and finally] (3) activities that contribute to spiritual re-creation and rest from daily occupation.”

For us, the Sabbath is our powering-up that sustains us through the week. We are rejuvenated on this day to continue in ministry throughout the week in the midst of our ministries. In our version of the celebration, we dress up, go to church, eat a big meal, and spend time with our family and friends. But how often do we follow through with the ritual blindly, so tired from the busyness of the week, that we coast through Sunday only to start the week on what always seems to be “too short of a weekend?” Few of us actually practice both parts of the foundation of the Sabbath. We commemorate, but we don’t really rest. We don’t really keep the Sabbath in its fullness.

But who’s to blame us? We have so many responsibilities during the week that they inevitably spill over to the weekend. The things we couldn’t get to in during the week we end up trying to catch up on, on the weekend. So what happens to us? We don’t rest; we don’t take the time to recover, to revamp, to breathe. We don’t take the time to sit in solitude and marvel at God’s Glory. For so many of us in this room, the closest thing we have to the restful part of the Sabbath is the Taize service. That is an amazing resource to us yet that only lasts an hour. I think it’s a safe assumption to say that we all struggle with this solitude more than we should.

This past summer I was fortunate enough to participate in a “spirituality and wilderness” course offered at the seminary. We began by visiting some caves out in west Texas in the small town of Sonora. From there we moved on to New Mexico, where we had fun rock-climbing and repelling, and even doing some high-ropes work. The pinnacle of the trip, however, was an eight day excursion into the mountains of southern Colorado. Each one of us carried fifty pound packs into the wilderness where we were isolated from all forms of distractions. We weren’t allowed to take cell phones, i-pods, not even watches! The culmination of the hiking adventure ended with a one day, two night “solo”. For those of you who have never gone camping on this level, as I hadn’t, a “solo” is where they basically send you out into the wilderness with nothing but a tarp for shelter, a little bit of food, and the clothes you carried in. You’re separated from the other people in the group and you aren’t supposed to wander around alone in the mountains. The idea of this exercise was to provide an opportunity to confront God in solitude. We were to spend time just listening and resting, basically keeping the Sabbath. I, however, spent that time in sheer anxiety. I had never done anything like this trip before and I was completely out of my element. Instead of spending that time in quiet, contemplative reflection, I spent it in anxious boredom.

I spent hours thinking of a myriad of other things, responsibilities I had when I got back, what food I was going to eat when I got back, I even sang random songs in my head, most of which I could only remember one verse or just the chorus. I couldn’t wait to get back to Austin! So now after months of being back, weeks of being under the stress of school and responsibility, I wonder about what could have been. If I had more experience with solitude, with rest, could I have gotten more out of it? If I had had a different mindset, could I have rejoiced in that moment of rest and reveled in the glory of God’s creation? So how can we observe our next Sabbath and engage in spiritual re-creation and not recreation?

-- Jose Lopez, Campus Ministry Intern

Scriptures for Sunday

What do these scriptures tell us about rest and the spiritual practice of Sabbath?

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Mark 2:23-27

One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Howdy! My name is Jose Lopez and like Scott -- I too am a seminary intern. It sounds like a disease or something, geez. Well, I've been blessed to be in seminary for a year now and I am incredibly excited about the prospect of this second year but I am most excited about working with the Austin Agape Campus Ministry group this year!

I am originally from Arlington, Tx. but have lived here in Austin for over 3 years now, after graduating with a degree in BioEnvironmental Science from Texas A&M University. Let me just say, that I have a lot of respect for UT, specifically for the students and alumni. Everyone that I have ever met that has actually gone to UT has been a joy and pleasure to hang-out with and talk to. While here in Austin, I worked for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and I can say that I have a reasonable understanding of environmentallly conscious topics, so if you want to talk "green", we can talk.

Anyway, I enjoy sports, funny shows, and whistles. That's right whistles. I am also blessed to be in a relationship with a fellow seminarian named Melissa, who has a wonderful heart and a tremendous desire to serve the Lord. I will be proposing to her at the end of this semester, most likely in Colorado where she is originally from! But Shhh! Don't tell her! She is the beauty in the picture with me to the right. :)

I hope and pray that this time spent at UPC will be fruitful for us and my goals are to get to know the group and the group to know me. I believe this is an incredible ministry and I hope that I can play some part in enriching the life of this dynamic community. I pray that this time in the life of the community will be one filled with faithful affirmation, personal development, and most importantly spiritual growth. I look forward to learning and growing with this group and ultimately in our relationships with the Lord. God bless each and every one of you. Holla.

- Jose

Surprise!

Enjoy this.

An Introduction: Megan!

Hi, I am Megan!

I have recently joined the church in July and am very excited to be here at University Presbyterian and Austin Agape! I am originally from Eureka, CA, where I did most of my growing up and some of my college years. Currently I am a philosophy major at Texas State and hope to be graduating sometime within my lifetime. (Two years is perhaps not that long. :) )

I started playing the guitar with Patrick at our College Night services Sunday nights for the new school year, and really enjoy music in general, as well as anything else creative that I can get my hands on.

If everything goes according to plan, I will be marrying the very distinguished and sometimes distracting Caleb Braley next summer. We hope to be attending the Presbyterian Seminary in Austin pending graduation(s) and perhaps a year abroad roughing it somewhere.

God has been subtle but nonetheless here and a definite support and guiding presence in my life. I am excited for the future and in that he brought me here for the rest of my college years! Folks are gorgeous and lovely, not just on the outside, but on the inside most especially, where it is most advantageous for an authentic environment with God. I feel wholeheartedly supported as God wants to develop me into my most effective and best educated version of myself! It is very gratifying!

Prayer Concerns

Jess's Dad was taken to the emergency room this morning for high blood pressure. Jess and her family are very concerned for him. Please be prayerful for them.

Also, please continue to remember those who were affected by hurricane Ike. In addition to the damage in Texas, Ike pummeled some of the Midwest as well. Jess, Renee, and Ian all have family and friends who received 70 mile per hour winds in Indiana and Kentucky yesterday. The wind damage is great there.

Thank you for your prayers.

Sermon: Being and Becoming Proclaimers

Matthew 25:31-46

Oh, parables. . .

This parable about the sheep and goats is one many of us have probably heard before. And we may have heard it many times. Parables, these teachings of Jesus, are all challenging. But there’s something about this one that catches our attention and shakes us in our boots, so to speak. It convicts us in ways that are more challenging than we might have bargained for when we decided to come here tonight.

And perhaps that’s what we need.

You know, maybe when we say “Thanks be to God” at the end of this scripture, we’re doing something deeper than spouting off some empty, liturgical phrase. Maybe we’re thanking God for conviction. Maybe we’re thanking God for who we’ll be as a result. Maybe we’re thanking God for the opportunity to remember who we are, Whose we are, and who we are ultimately called to live toward in this world. Thank you, God for this challenging parable. Thanks be to God.

Who might we be as a result of this parable? And how will we practice it – how will we live it out as a community, a family of faith? How will we practice our faith? – This question is one we’re being intentional about these days. For the first part of our semester, we’re thinking out loud about spiritual practices together. We’re thinking about the ways that spiritual practices might help us truly live – truly live in light of our relationship to God, and truly live in light of our relationship to other people.

So who and how will we be now that we’ve heard this parable on September 14th, 2008?

I had an interesting experience this week. A very interesting experience, an eye opening one to be honest. On Tuesday afternoon, I walked over to the bank on Guadalupe, and something caught my attention. There was a big black and yellow banner which spoke loudly with warning: ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, JESUS WILL CAST SINNERS INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. (Those might not be the exact words, but they’re pretty close.) And also loud with warning was a young man – a street preacher. Later, I learned that his name was Jesse. “The Bible says – The Bible says – the Bible says.” This was the refrain, loud and with warning.

So after this banner and these words got my attention, I decided to go across the street and check out what Jesse had to say. There were about fifty people gathered on Tuesday to listen to him. It was interesting to hear his message and watch the students respond.

Nearly everything Jesse said was to serve one purpose: His ultimate goal was to convince the students who gathered on the West Mall that they were bad enough to need a Savior. He went through a litany of actions that he proclaimed to be sinful. The obvious ones were listed – don’t steal, for instance. It seemed that his goal was to get us to agree that stealing was wrong and condemned in the Bible. Then he would convince everyone that they were all thieves and in obvious need of Jesus Christ, the remedy to our wrongdoings.

But some of the sinful actions were not obvious cases of what we might label as “wrongdoing.” Jesse singled out a young woman for what she was wearing. She had claimed to be a Christian, and Jesse said that Christians don’t dress like that. After all she was giving Jesus a "bad name." As a result, Jesse got a ticket on the street for sexual harassment. He also singled out a young man who was carrying a pink backpack. Jesse said that was too "effeminate," a sin he believed to be condemned in 1st Corinthians. (By the way, he made a big leap in translation to get to a word like “effeminate.” A big stretch theologically too.) Jesse said that he himself had not sinned on that particular day, and in fact, he hadn’t sinned that entire week.

As you can imagine, lots of people were offended by Jesse’s message. He stood out there every day this week – Monday through Friday -- and spoke the same message loudly and with warning. And many people got pretty upset about it. But to be fair to Jesse, I really believe that he believed this was the loving thing to do. Many times, he told us that he was out there because he loved us. “Love does not tolerate sin,” he claimed and repeated and repeated.

But perhaps what was most interesting to me was this: Even though his message was offensive and divisive, I watched a host of students – students who were completely diverse --come together have conversations they probably never would have had with each other. I watched one young woman burst into tears and say to Jesse, “I feel like you’re trashing my faith. I feel like you’re completely misrepresenting what I believe in.” People who had no faith affiliation or formal belief system really felt for her. I watched them. I saw her talk with two strangers about it, two people who may have had no faith community at all.

And it was strange and beautiful to watch people who would normally sharply disagree, come together to talk about what really matters to them. Maybe Jesse’s offensive speech helped them speak and listen to one another in ways that were caring. Maybe his proclamation set an example they didn’t want to follow. Monologue somehow turned into dialog. People learned the names of those around them, and they all talked about what was ultimately true to them.

It was something I was energized an honored to be a part of. And on Wednesday, Caleb, Patrick, Seena, and I went back over, and we took some cookies over there, handed them out, and had conversation. If people asked, we told them we were a part of Austin Agape, but most of the time, we just struck up conversation and learned from a bunch of people. It was very moving.

And you know, it would be easy to brush Jesse aside completely, but I have to admit that I learned from him too. Last week, we talked about the spiritual practice of prayer, and I challenged us all – myself included – with this: When we’re praying for people, we’re ultimately pledging ourselves toward them. Often our prayers lead us to encounters – even uncomfortable encounters. I asked this: “What if someone with a completely different theology has something to say to you?” Well, I got what I prayed for. I may disagree with how Jesse uses and interprets the Bible. I may strongly disagree, but I had to ask myself, “What’s my relationship to the Bible these days? Am I challenging myself with it? Am I reading it? Am I taking it seriously?” Jesse had something to say to me too.

And Jesse made me think about proclamation, a spiritual practice we would all do well to consider. He certainly had a message to proclaim. And I may have disagreed with that message, but what am I proclaiming these days? What am I proclaiming with my words and with my actions? And what does it mean to proclaim? How might our community practice the spiritual discipline of proclamation?

Well, for starters we have this parable. We have this difficult, challenging parable. It isn’t necessarily difficult because it challenges our belief system. I think we all would agree that we should feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and visit those who are sick and in prison. But what’s convicting is that we have to say to ourselves: I agree with this, but am I living this? And even more challenging is that Jesus says when we practice these ministries of compassion among the least of these, we’re practicing them to him! And when we don’t practice these ministries among the least of these, we’re not practicing them – to him! This parable certainly proclaims a message to us – a difficult, challenging message.

So here’s one sermon we could preach tonight: We could say, “Well, we don’t want our proclamation to be like Jesse’s, so we won’t proclaim with words. We’ll proclaim with deeds! We’ll do all of these things listed in the parable, easy as pie, and when it comes to words about faith – especially when it comes to words about Jesus -- we’ll keep quiet like good little, blessed-of-the-Father sheep.”

Easy enough? Well maybe not. If we did that, we would just be doing something similar to what we reviled against. We would be splitting up our understanding into “Us and Them” thinking. There’s “Us Christians” and “Them Christians.” “Doer Christians” and “Talker Christians.” “Justice Christians” and “Bible-Thumping Christians.” Well, maybe proclamation is deeper than keeping quiet when other people are loud. Maybe it’s deeper than trying to be the polar opposite of people who proclaim a message we might be uncomfortable with.

Instead, maybe it’s about adding our voice to the dialogue. Maybe it’s bringing our deepest questions and our best insights into conversation. Maybe it’s about listening. Maybe we need to be proclaimed to. Maybe it’s about listening to people we would disagree with. Maybe it’s about listening to the scriptures. After all, don’t they proclaim a message to us and give us a message to proclaim?

So what does this scripture proclaim to us? It proclaims a life of orientation. We are called to live toward those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, and in prison. And Jesus certainly lives toward them – so much so that he says they are the “least of these who are members of my family.” Jesus lives toward them so much that when we do the same, we are living and loving the Son of Man ourselves. What if we made them members of our family?

Well, if we did that, we would be entering the spiritual practice of proclamation. Our lives would be a sermon of inclusion. We, Austin Agape, would preach a message to this church, and we would proclaim a message to Austin, Texas.

And a family shouldn’t involve “us and them” language either. It’s not simply that we have a message of hope to proclaim to the hungry, thirsty, naked, and sick by offering our food, drink, clothing, and visitation. We do have that message, and that is a message we ought to proclaim. But the least of these have a message to proclaim too. They have a claim on us. There are experiences we haven’t been able to imagine. There are ways of knowing God’s love that we might too often ignore. If we practice the proclamation of this scripture – if we live toward the least of these – we’re pledging to listen and to add their voice to the conversation. We’re proclaiming God’s love in dialogue to one another. We need the least of these, and sometimes, we might even be the least of these to someone else. We are called to proclaim a life of living toward one another.

And so here’s something interesting. When the sheep of this parable lived this way – lived their orientation toward the least of these -- they weren’t doing it to check off a list of do-good actions. They also weren’t holding up banners of warning and checking off a list of sinful actions to avoid. When the Son of Man told them they had practiced these ministries of compassion toward him, they were surprised. “When did we do any of these things for you?” They had entered a life of this orientation so fully that it wasn’t to gain laurels for themselves. It wasn’t to be saved or to get some kind of fire insurance. It’s just a part of who they were.

And how can we do something similar? We can become proclaimers by practicing. We can put these ministries into practice. If we do, we will proclaim a beautiful message. We may just end up having conversations we would never have otherwise.

Every Sunday night, we come into this worship space, and we experience a sermon together. That’s certainly a form of proclamation. And I say we experience a sermon because it’s an event, and often, it’s the impetus that sets a string of events into motion. The sermon isn’t confined to the words that are said. And it certainly isn’t about the preacher. The sermon includes the scripture and words that the preacher says, but it also includes the thoughts, emotions, and actions that emerge in the community as a result. You are not only part of the sermon. You are the sermon. You are preachers – proclaimers – every time you put this scripture into action.

So how will we do it this week? Will we talk to someone on the street? Will we listen? Will we call someone who’s struggling? Will we have conversation with some of the 90 some-odd people who gather in this room every Tuesday morning at a food pantry? How will we put our faith into practice?

Who and how will we be now that we’ve heard this parable on September 14th, 2008?

- Renée Roederer, Campus Minister

Scripture for Sunday

How does this scripture speak to you about the spiritual practice of proclamation?

Matthew 25:31-26

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."

Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it when we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick and in prison and visited you?"

And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me."

Then they will also answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?"

Then he will answer them, "Truly, I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The Proclamation of Our Community: Amanda

Austin Agape is focusing on spiritual disciplines during the months of September and October. This week, we are considering the spiritual discipline of proclamation.

In light of this, we are asking a question: How has the message of God been proclaimed to you at Austin Agape?

"For me, the answer to this question is another question - in what way has Austin Agape NOT proclaimed the message of God to me?

When I came to UT in 2004, I did not believe in God. I was disillusioned with His church and with his followers and I did not want any part of a belief system that I perceived to be so hypocritical and flippant. Believe me when I tell you that my church up in Fort Worth has only gotten worse in the time since I've been gone, even though they are probably one of the most superficially healthy congregations in the entire Presbyterian Church. The way that God's message was treated in that church turned me away from any real experience of God.

I held out until November of my freshman year. But God followed me. He told me to go to church, that something was definitely missing in my life and that I needed to go seek and find. Having been the recipient of a small barrage of emails from UPC since I'd signed up at the table at orientation, I decided to go check out evening worship. I don't remember that first night, or the next Sunday I came or the next. They all kind of run together in my head... because I stayed. I loved UPC and the message that Ben was preaching Sunday after Sunday. Everyone in the group was not only speaking the message of God in such a heartfelt and honest way, but they were following up on the words they said with action and sincere thought. I kept coming back for more.

Austin Agape, as the group has come to be called, knows how to practice the faith that God taught us through his son Jesus. Jesus had two commandments, which he said were the ones to practice above all others, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and to "Love your neighbor as yourself". Through ministry with the food pantry, involvement in the University Interfaith Council,awareness of fair trade practices, honest and earnest worship of God, and a wholehearted love of everyone we meet, Austin Agape practices those two commandments.

UPC proclaimed the word of God to me, a nonbeliever, and led me back to the love that I cherish above all others. I owe Austin Agape my faith and all the love in my heart."

-Amanda

The Proclamation of Our Community: Tiana

How has the message of God been proclaimed to you at Austin Agape?

"I think the message of God has been proclaimed to me at UPC by the relationships that are encouraged. I remember Ben(at least I'm pretty sure it was Ben) did a sermon once where he mentioned that we were all supposed to love each other like brothers and sisters in faith, and on the whole I think that that's really how our relationships are. Our common acceptance of God's love for us allows us to have a bond and interest in each other that isn't found in just any group setting. The selflessness of each individual person also reminds me to also try to live with the focus of loving and serving the people around me."

-Tiana

Purpose as Children of God

I have been thinking about what it means to be a Christian and what I am called to do, who I am called to be, in light of my belief that I am a child of God. Actually, I’ve been thinking about this in different ways quite a bit…for awhile now. And after all my thinking and questioning, and pondering, for the most part, I can only “live the questions” as I persist with an awareness of far fewer “answers.” I thought I might pass along some of the questions I’ve stumbled upon so far:

If God is our creator and life-giver, to truly give us “life,” wouldn’t He give us some purpose as well? Isn’t having some purpose a necessary component of what it means to “live?” Moreover, as children of God, wouldn’t you think our lives would be even more closely related to some purpose? He wouldn’t just make us and say, “Well, sorry kids, batteries ‘not included,’ figure it out and come up with some purpose on your own.” Would he? I really don’t know. Maybe to some extent, we are supposed to figure things out on our own, including our purpose, or some “personalized” portion of our purpose at least.

Now, there is Genesis, where God gives us dominion over all other life on earth, but if that is to be interpreted as purpose for us, is it our only purpose? Do we have purpose beyond this call? Should we, perhaps instead, ask what all is entailed in the great call to be stewards of earth and its other inhabitants? What about our role in the context of each other and community? What about our purpose not just as individuals, but as a society, a people?

Some of you may be recalling the words of Micah 6—thoughts on what this means?

Any other thoughts?

- Patrick Garvin

Where They Are Wednesday: Jason!

T+1 Year

Well, it's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since I said goodbye to the community (y'all) that nurtured, laughed, challenged, supported and encouraged me for five years in Austin. In many ways, it doesn't seem like that long. In some ways, it seems longer.

For those of you that don't know me, I'm Jason. Before Renee and Scott were, I was. OK, that sounded hokey, but I was the first seminary intern to work with Ben, and had the joy of working with Renee and Scott when they first started at Austin Seminary, UPC and Agape. Just over a year ago, I took a call as a solo pastor for a small, rural church in Western New York, about an hour south of Buffalo, and a little more than that from Niagara Falls, where Canada is as well. It's beautiful country up here, and I've felt very comfortable becoming part of this community.

Through it all, though, I've pulled on the memories, and continued friendships, of everyone in the Agape community - you know who you are. In case you're new to the group, or wondering, the community of Austin Agape is one of the greatest gifts there is - the friendship and fellowship, worship and music, challenge and support are aspects you won't always easily find out in the world. And yet they all exist in one group of people...really kind of amazing! And it shows in me, in the way I relate with people up here, in the stories I tell, and the experiences I have to draw on. I wouldn't be who or where I am now if not for all of you! In fact, you can see evidence of that in the picture - that stole I'm wearing? Yeah, you all gave it to me. And as it's green, that means I wear it for Ordinary Time, the longest season in the church year, so every time I wear it, I'm wearing the presence of all of you with me. It's a great feeling.

I hope you're all having a great time, immersing yourselves in worship, study, laughter and vigorous four-square. I look forward to the next time I can come down to visit! Although, if you're ever in my neck of the woods, I have a house that's several times too big for me - just ask Jonathan, Amanda, Patrick H. or Rachael!

Peace and Laughter, Jason

Roller Skating! Woooo!

Seriously, when is the last time you went Roller Skating? We're going tonight. It's going to be fun and hilarious.

We're going to Playland Skate Center. Please come join us! We'll meet at the church at 6:30 to carpool over there. It's going to be a blast. If you need to meet up with us later, you can click on the link and get directions, okay?

The cost is $7. Skates are included in that price.

This is going to be GREAT!

Sermon: Prayer as Pledge

Acts 10:1-36, 44-48

This semester, as consider who we’ve been, where we’re going, and who we’re called to be now, we’re going to take a couple of months to focus on spiritual practices. What are our spiritual practices – as a community? As individuals? And what do they mean for us? How do our actions of worship and service identify this community? How do spiritual practices shape us? How can we enter into new disciplines this semester that might take us in directions we’ve never dreamed or give us insights we would have never imagined?

Well tonight, we’re going to consider what it means to be a praying community. What do you pray for? Who do you pray for? How do you pray? When? These are all simple questions, but they’re good ones. And here’s another one: What is prayer anyway? What are we doing when we pray?

On one hand, that seems like a question that should be easy to answer. I mean, if we were all going to make a big mega list of spiritual practices, certainly prayer would make it onto the list. That’s a just given, right? It’s just a part of Christian life?

Well, yeah. But maybe it’s not such an easy question. What are we doing when we pray? Maybe that’s a good question to ponder for a while. And maybe it could be answered in a lot of ways.

When you were a kid, what were your prayers like? I imagine they took a lot of forms. But did you ever find your prayers shifting a bit around Christmas time? Mine did. I used to pray that certain things might emerge under the Christmas tree covered in green and red wrapping paper.

I must have seemed so desperate praying for the newest form of technological wonder – that brand new, state of the art invention, the visual wonder that would solidify my development of hand-eye coordination – that glorious 1989 Nintendo. I loved everything about it. “God, if you can clinch this deal for me, I promise – oh, I promise! – I’ll be very good. I’ll help my Mom clean up after dinner. And if you throw in that Duck Hunt gun, I’ll even eat my vegetables. My vegetables! Aren’t you impressed with me, God? I’ll do that for you. I really will. It’s a deal I’m sure you wouldn’t want to refuse. I’ll do all that for you, if you just do this one thing for me.”

I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves in that situation. You can plug in other toys – other bells and whistles. I’m sure we’ve all been there. When we’ve prayed like this, we’ve been bargaining. Bargaining? Is that ultimately what we do when we pray?

Or maybe prayer is something different altogether. Maybe we pray to get answers to our requests. Do some of you remember the scene about prayer from Bruce Almighty? In the movie, God has given Bruce, a local newscaster, a host of divine powers and challenged him to use them wisely. Bruce thinks he can handle the challenge, but sometimes, he’s absolutely clueless. Bruce’s inbox begins to be filled with e-mail after e-mail after e-mail. They all contain prayer requests. Bruce soon recognizes that he can’t possibly answer them all. Every time he tries, his inbox just gets flooded with new ones. So what does he do? He comes up with a catch all answer: “Yes!” Everything is “yes.” He says “yes” in response to every request. Of course, this leads to disaster on a global scale. Not every request needs to be “yes,” and sometimes a “yes” to one request means a “no” to someone else’s. It’s not so easy.

But do we sometimes pray this way? Maybe sometimes we unfortunately view God as a cosmic, Magic 8-Ball. Remember those? (That’s probably another toy I used to pray for). You ask a question, shake the ball, and get your answer. Will I get an A on my chem test? Shake it up, and see. Answer: Outlook not so good. Well, is that how we think of God sometimes? Is that what we do when we pray – asking God to check “yes” or “no” to our desires?

Well, that may be a trite way to pray, though we’ve certainly fallen into it many times, I’m sure. But what about more serious forms of prayer? What happens when we’re desperate?

When I was a kid, I was absolutely enamored with a popular televangelist that made an appearance on my tv pretty regularly when I was growing up. He and his co-hosts would often sit in a circle toward the end of the show, and they would pray in an interesting way. They would claim to receive a “word of knowledge” about certain individuals who were watching their program. They would say things like, “There’s a man out there who can’t hear out of his left ear. Well, God is just opening that ear right now! Just claim it in faith! You’re going to feel a burning sensation in the name of Jesus!”

Just claim it in faith. I say I was enamored because people would frequently write into this show and say, “When you said God was healing my ear, that was me!” And this happened with more serious ailments: heart conditions, cancer, paralysis. I began to believe the message the televangelist was conveying. If you just have enough faith, you can have what you want! You can have what you need! If you only have enough faith! It’s up to you. Just claim it for yourself!

But you know, prayer doesn’t always work that way. And if we accept this, are we willing to also accept the implication it shouts loud and clear? If you have a heart condition, cancer, paralysis, or something else, it’s your fault. Clearly, if you had enough faith, you’d be healed of what’s ailing you. Are we willing to accept that? Is this what we’re doing when we pray?

Bargaining prayers. Check “yes” or “no” prayers. Anything-you-want-if-you-have-enough-faith prayers. Is this what prayer is all about?

Well, maybe there’s no catch all answer that can sum up what prayer is about. But if we consider our scripture passage from tonight, we can gain a few insights that might inform how we can enter into prayer as spiritual discipline for this community.

The 10th chapter of Acts: What a weird story! I mean, a sheet of animals coming down on top of someone’s roof? That’s odd. When I was little, I had a Bible Story book that contained a picture of this vision. I thought it was so strange. It is kind of strange.

Cornelius, a God-fearing Gentile, has a prayer with a vision, and Peter, a Jewish disciple turned apostle, has a prayer with a vision. And they have an encounter that neither of them will ever forget. And for that matter, the church won’t forget. Here we are listening to it tonight.

Jews and Gentiles – They just didn’t mix. It was forbidden for them to eat together or even visit with each other. And how is it that in two prayers, two forbidden people are brought together – and in a way that would continue to bring Jews and Gentiles under one church? Pretty astounding, isn’t it?

Here is something I’ve found to be true: When you pray for someone or for a group of someones, it’s pretty hard to pretend you’re not connected to them. Have you found this to be true too? I can’t pray for the homeless in our neighborhood and then act like they have nothing to do with me. I can’t. Now, I can shirk the implications of my prayer. I can choose to walk right by the people I find on the street without noticing them. But if I do that, I’ll be sinning against the connection I know I have with them. And if I pray more and more, it’s going to get harder and harder to walk on by never noticing that connection.

And what happens when we pray more specifically – not just for homeless people in general or people in poverty in general or people in any situation in general? (We do need to pray these types of prayers, of course). But what happens when we pray for someone we know personally – or someone we don’t personally know but have noticed? It seems that often, we end up having an encounter. It seems that we’re often called to an encounter.

I think we’ve probably all had this type of experience. When we start praying for an individual, don’t we often feel called toward that individual? Maybe that’s one way the Spirit of God works in prayer. Maybe God is constantly giving us little nudges when we pray. “Do this.” “Ask this question.” “Listen to this.” When we pray for someone, we’re ultimately pledging ourselves toward that person. So beware of what you pray for!

But seriously, beware of what you pray for. What kind of amazing things – uncomfortable things -- happen when we pray as a pledge? Like those men who traveled with Peter, we might be astounded and that the Spirit of God would be poured out on people we could have never imagined! Here’s a question to ask: Who would that be for you? Who would that be for us? Sure, we know that the Spirit of God might be found in anyone. Well, hypothetically.

We tend to believe this hypothetically, don’t we? But in actuality? Could it be that a person with a totally different theology might have something to say to you? You could pray for the opportunity to change them with your theology, but could it be possible that they have a claim on you too? What if they’re praying for the same thing – to change you? Do you think it’s possible that God might be forming an encounter for you both?

Could it be that a person with a totally different view on politics might have something to say to you? Someone from a different race? Someone from a different economic bracket? Someone with a disability? Someone with a different outlook on life?

And maybe God is calling you toward them as well. And how is God calling us – Austin Agape – collectively? Who do we need? Who needs us? I have a feeling that it doesn’t work just one way or the other. I have a feeling that when we pray, we are pledging ourselves toward an encounter.

I wonder if intercessory prayer works this way. When two people pray for one another, whether they’re aware of it or not, they pledge to be in relationship. And it seems that God speaks to us by nudging us toward others and nudging others toward us. Well, what would happen this semester if we acted on the inklings and hunches we get when we pray? Would it lead to new ways of seeing the world? New ways of doing mission? New ways of providing and receiving hospitality?

So what if we took up a collective challenge tonight? What if we all pledged to pray for two people in this group every day this week? We can tell them we’re praying for them or we can keep it to ourselves. And what if we committed to ourselves that we will act on the nudges we receive? Maybe we’ll feel called to write a nice note, visit someone, or ask a question we’ve never asked before. I wonder what will happen.

And what if we also pledged to pray for someone we could never imagine learning from? Who are the Gentiles that are forbidden from our church or our personal ideology? What if we commit to act on the nudges we receive?

Let’s try it and tell each other what happens. Let’s see where it goes. Maybe strange and meaningful encounters are just around the corner. May our semester be full of them. Amen.

- Renée Roederer, Campus Minister

Jess Is A Silly Jokester

What do you call four bowls in quicksand?


Quatro Cinco!


What do you call cheese that isn't yours?


Nacho cheese!


How do you make a tissue dance?


You put a little boogie in it.

Scripture for Sunday

How does this story inform the ways we might think about prayer?

Acts 10:1-36, 44-48

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius." He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" He answered, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the grond by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean." The voice said to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." This happened three times and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon's house and were standing by the gate. They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them." So Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?" They answered, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him. The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and called together his relatives and close friends. On Peter's arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshiped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, "Stand up, I am only a mortal." And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; and he said to them, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?"

Cornelius replied, "Four days ago at this very hour, at three o'clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. He said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea." Therefore, I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now, all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say."

Then Peter began to speak to them, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ -- he is Lord of all."

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcized believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. They invited him to stay for several days.

Prayer Concern

Caleb asked us to post a prayer concern for his family. His grandfather died this morning. Caleb and his family are very saddened by this news.

Please remain prayerful for Caleb and his family, particularly as they begin to make preparations for the funeral. Caleb would welcome notes of support.

Thanks.

Plug Into a Bible Study!

One of the most formative things we do around Austin Agape is study scripture together. Our Bible Studies tend to provoke deep questions and silly ponderings all at the same time. Come check it out! We'd love to have you.

We think together and pray together. But we also play together! Our Bible Study time generally starts off with a fiery game of foursquare every week! How long has it been since you've played that?

Our times for Bible Study are full of fellowship, and they provide opportunities to articulate what faith means to us. Please come join us!

1. Luke

This semester, our weekly Bible Study will be exploring the Gospel of Luke. THIS WEEK, we'll meet upstairs in room 212 on WEDNESDAY at 7:00. In the following weeks, we'll meet on Mondays at 7:00. At our first meeting, we'll play a lot, get to know each other, and talk about summer updates.

2. Lectio Divina

Also this semester, we're going to try something new. On TUESDAYS from 12:00-12:45, we're going to meet to explore the scripture for the upcoming sermon together. Lectio Divina is an ancient way to read scripture which draws upon the reflections we discover when we think through words and images of scripture.

You are part of the sermon! Come and explore our sermon texts with us. For the next two months, our sermons are going to be focused on spiritual practices. Come check out our texts.

And we can brown bag it! Bring a lunch and join us in the Fellowship Hall.