A Celtic Blessing

May the light of your soul guide you.
May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and renewal to those who work with you and those who see and hear your work.
May your work never weary you.
May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in bland absence.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected.
May your soul calm, console, and renew you.

Eid tradition unites community

Article by our very own Audrey White, published in today's Daily Texan!

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/eid-tradition-unites-community

Austin Agape's upcoming events and activities!

Good afternoon, all!

I hope everyones' week is off to a great start.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for Food for Thought last night! We had a great turn out and the meal was delectable! Our next gathering of this kind will probably be sometime around the holidays, so look forward to that.

Also, I am pleased to announce that we have a date and venue for the Fall Retreat! Our retreat will be held Oct. 16-17 at the Stark's Sports Ranch in Dripping Springs! I know that some of you had planned to travel to Nebraska (Godspeed) that weekend for the UT/Nebraska game :( I wish we could have had our retreat during the by week (Oct. 11-12) but neither John Knox nor the Starks' Ranch was available that weekend. I can't wait for the opportunity to really spend some time with everyone! Please EMAIL me if you're interested in attending!

We have a lot going on this week! Here's a look at some of our events and opportunities for fellowship:

Monday - Bible Study at 7 pm in the youth room upstairs at UPC. Last night I told you that we'd be watching "The Apostle" but I was unable to get my hands on it, so we're watching "Up in the Air" instead. Come, even if you've seen it. We'll be discussing the ways in which time is meaningful to our lives. (Fear not, popcorn will be on hand!)

Wednesday - Wednesday at Wendy's from 11 - 1 on the patio (weather permitting) outside the UT Commons.

Also on Wednesdays, look for us at the Plucker's on Rio Grande for trivia night! We'll try to beat last week's score of 16 correct answers (out of 50)! We need all the brainpower we can muster, so join us if you can!

Friday - Lunch at Kirby Lane at 1 pm. We had an excellent turn out last week! And I think meeting at 1 helps us get seated faster.

**This is very important** If you were at Evening Worship last night then you heard Beth Vivio speak about how our students can contribute to our church's capital campaign. We need volunteers to help set up, serve, and clean up our Fiesta Lunch on Sunday, September 19. That's this Sunday! PLEASE come if you are able! We need 5 - 10 volunteers to help with our lunch. Email me and let me know if you can be there.

I will be out of town this weekend. I'm leaving Thursday afternoon and won't be back until Sunday afternoon, so I'll miss lunch at Kirby and the Fiesta Lunch :( Fortunately, Shane and Sarah Webb have stepped up and agreed to be point persons for our Student Volunteer Operation on Sunday!

I will be keynoting at the East Texas Youth Connection this weekend; a conference for Presbyterian youth who are forced to live in East Texas ;) Just kidding. But hopefully some of them will want to join us next year if they come to UT!!

In other news, Taize is coming! Our first Taize service of the year is September 26th at 7 pm. We need musicians and an opportunity to practice before our first service. Judy, unfortunately, is not able to play the piano for us this month :( If you are interested in singing, playing the piano, or another instrument, please let me know!

I know that was a lot of information! Thanks for bearing with me! Please join us this week for some fun (even if you can only stop by for a moment or two); we can't wait to see you!

Grace and peace,

kaci

ORANGE you coming to Campus Dinner this Sunday?!

Well folks, this is it… School is (almost) in session!!! The Drag has been completely overrun with students and their parents; needless to say, it’s been a bustling place around west campus these last few days!

If you’re wondering how to spend your last night of freedom, then wonder no further and wander over to Spider House this evening (8/24) at 8 pm! We’d love to see you there!!!

If you can’t make it to Spider House tonight then join us for lunch tomorrow between 11 am and 1 pm in the food court. Meet us on the patio (unless it’s WAY too hot, then we’ll move inside).

Thank you to everyone who joined us for dinner and worship on Sunday night. We had a nice crowd for our first week and we’re hoping for even more new and familiar faces to join us this Sunday! I’m not sure what Barbara’s cookin’ up, but one thing’s a given: it will be hot, tasty, and delicious!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come, welcome our newcomers, and catch up with friends you haven’t seen in a while!!!

AND… This is important… WEAR ORANGE ON SUNDAY EVENING!!!! Let’s kick off the school year in style and spirit! Wear your UT gear. All of it. A PRIZE WILL BE AWARDED TO THE PERSON SPORTING THE MOST BURNT ORANGE!!!! I can’t wait to see what all of you come up with!

Remember: dinner starts at 6 pm; followed by worship at 7 pm.

ALSO, our campus bible study - which, I am pleased to announce!, will be facilitated by Josh Gahr - will begin Monday, August 30^th at 7 pm in the youth room upstairs at UPC. We are so grateful to Josh for his leadership and for the gifts and graces he will share with us this semester. Josh is a graduate of Austin Seminary where he was President of the Student Body his senior year; he’s currently an English teacher and the editor of a wonderful publication called “The Common Voice.” Come, join the conversation, and allow your faith to be deepened with new ventures and challenges! Our study will begin Monday, August 30, 7 – 8:30 pm.

Have a fabulous week, everyone! I can’t wait to hear about the blunders and unexpected surprises (that’s kinda redundant, forgive me) that the week will hold J

See you soon!

Grace & peace,

kaci

Google Calendar Link - UPC Campus Ministry

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=upccampus%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago

FIRST CAMPUS DINNER & EVENING WORSHIP OF THE FALL SEMESTER!!!!!

Hello, Barcodes and friends of campus ministry!

Good news! Our first campus dinner and evening worship service is almost upon us!

This Sunday, August 22, we will meet in the Fellowship Hall at 6 pm (if you are able to come earlier to help set up, that would be wonderful!) to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by Barbara (rumor has it she’s making spaghetti with meatballs!) and to worship together as a community.

After dinner, we’ll spend time getting to know a little more about each other and welcome new guests! We’ll also talk a bit about some of the exciting opportunities on the campus ministry horizon for the coming semester! Plus, we’ll be giving away a dorm-size refrigerator!!! (fine print: You must be present to win, of course!)

I am SO excited about meeting all of you!!! Please join us this week if you are able!!!

Other upcoming events and dates to keep in mind…

Sunday, August 22:
- Morning Worship, 11 am, UPC Sanctuary.
- Overnight @ IHN. 8:30 pm – 6:30 am at the United Methodist Church.

Tuesday, August 24:
- Possible ‘Mystery Science Theatre 3000’ Watch Party at Marco’s (TBD)

Wednesday, August 25:
- First day of school! University of Texas.
- Wednesdays @ Wendy’s, campus food court and patio.

Saturday, August 28:
- FREE Becker Concert featuring Sarah Hickman!!! 7 pm. (Please arrive early to grab a seat.)

**Also, don’t forget to check out our new Google calendar!!!**

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=upccampus%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Chicago

See you this Sunday evening!!!!

Blessings on the beginning of what I hope will be a tremendous semester,

kaci

--

Kaci M. Porter

Director of Campus & Young Adult Ministries
University Presbyterian Church
Austin, Texas

upccampus@upcaustin.org

Sermon: Too Small!

Isaiah 49:1-7

'It is too light a thing that you should by my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.'

Too small. If there’s anything that the people of Judah felt – the people of Judah from the Southern Kingdom of Israel – I’m sure it involved a day-to-day reality of feeling ‘too small. We’re distanced in time from the people who are addressed in this passage, distant in culture, distant in experience, so it’s hard to wrap our minds around the suffering these people were enduring. Too small: It would have been easy for the people of Judah to feel like the nobodies of their world.

And it’s all connected to 587 BC. To us, that’s just a number, but to the people of Judah, that year was the watershed moment. It wasn’t the beginning of their conflict with the Babylonians, but 587 was the year that solidified Judah’s defeat. The Kingdom of Babylon was a force to be reckoned with, not only in Judah but in the entire region of the near-east. With Babylon on the prowl as an ever-expanding empire, the other kingdoms of that region were terrified, fearing that their own destruction was imminent.

So that brings us to a quick history lesson: In 597, ten years before the final defeat of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of Babylon, led an army to Jerusalem and put the city under siege, cutting the people off from food and safe access in and outside the city. The Babylonians weakened the city to the point that they eventually broke through the walls, and when they did, they wreaked havoc on Jerusalem. They plundered the city and the temple, the most sacred place of worship and self-identity for the people of Judah, and they deported the King of Judah along with 10,000 others, prominent leaders in the government and the religious establishment. The people of Judah were left with a sweeping void of leadership. And as difficult as that was, it was only a taste, only the beginning of the end concerning the life that the people knew in Judah.

And then ten years later, in 587 BC – the watershed moment – Babylon left nothing untouched. For two years – Two years! Can you imagine it?– the Babylonians put Jerusalem under another siege, cutting the people off from the outside world, and in 587, they broke through the walls, destroyed the city for a second round – homes, fields, lives - and made captives of nearly all the survivors. But before they moved the captives of Judah into the foreign land of Babylon, the Babylonians gave them a searing, final, ghastly image to take with them. The Babylonian army burned the temple to the ground – made dust of it, destroying the most sacred place of these people – destroying the house where they believed their God dwelt with them. Can you imagine the sorrow of that moment? Can you imagine the fear? The confusion?

And so the people of Judah were taken to live in a foreign land – a place they had never lived with foreign customs, a different language, a worldview not their own, and ways of worshipping gods that weren’t their own. They were a disenfranchised, defeated, second-class group of captive exiles. And they were put into theological confusion too: Where was their God? Had God abandoned them? Is it any wonder that the people of Judah believed they were too small in their world? They had lost almost everything. Too small. Too small for this world to care. And perhaps, they wondered, too small for their God to care.

But God had something to say about that. In the Book of Isaiah, a prophet arrives with a Word for the people, a Word of Hope from their God, a Word of Identity. In effect, these prophetic words are flying in the face of all the heartache that the Judeans are witnessing in their lives. The words seem to say, “Don’t you know Whose you are? And since you belong to a God who loves, a God who saves, and a God who claims, don’t you know who you are called to be? Don’t you know Whose you are?” The words from our passage today seem to rise up out of the ashes, creating an alternative vision for the future of Judah, for the future of the Jewish people, and the future of all those who put their faith, trust, and hope in God.

Too small for this world? Nope. Through the words of the prophet, God has something to say about that self-understanding. In these words, God turns that self-understanding on its head. “Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother’s womb he named me. . . And he said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’

Too small an identity? No! Here’s what’s too small: And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him. . . he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” It is too light a thing – too small a thing – for you Judah, people of Israel, to gather up your own tribes and restore your survivors. That’s huge, but it’s too small. You are a light to the nations, that salvation may reach everywhere! Do you know Whose you are?

What a message. The prophet’s message seems to rise out of the ashes. Babylonian dust will not be the last word. And it wasn’t. Without God’s pledge of love toward the people of Judah, we wouldn’t even have a Hebrew Bible to hear these words this morning – to know about the heartache of exile and the eventual return to the homeland. Nearly 70 years later, people or Judah did leave Babylon and return to their homeland, and our identity is connected to theirs. Our faith is sustained upon the convictions of faithful Jewish people. Apart from their testimony, we would not be who we are. A disenfranchised, defeated, second-class group of captive exiles articulated a faith that sustains people in every corner in our world. It was too small a thing to restore the tribes of Israel. Too light a thing. The people of Judah spoke salvation to the entire world.

Sometimes it takes going to a different place to see home with new eyes. Some of you know that two weeks ago Ian and I came home from ten-day trip to Germany. It was an incredible trip, filled with gorgeous views, and interesting history. And while we were on our journey, we took an impromptu day- trip to France. We crossed the border between Germany and France and stayed one night in Strasbourg. There were many points of interest in Strasbourg – including a church where John Calvin was pastor for three years, and we just unexpectedly stumbled upon it when we turned a corner on a Sunday morning. Wow. There was much to see, but without a doubt, the most awe-inspiring place we visited was the Strasbourg Cathedral. And I’m just curious: Have any of you ever been to that cathedral? Okay, a few of you know what I mean when I say awe-inspiring. It’s really an understatement. The Strasbourg Cathedral is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Construction for the building began in the 1100s. The 1100s! Now that’s old! And it was completed in the 1400s. For three hundred years, eight generations of people created a monument to God’s holiness which is more intricate than anything I’ve ever seen. Everywhere you look, there’s a carving here, a statue there, stained-glass windows towering everywhere. It’s as if everything has significance in this cathedral – all the details -- and as I stood in awe of it, all the intricate parts seemed to point in a unified direction toward what’s ultimate – toward God, who is holy beyond comprehension.

And I’m enough of a realist to know that when a city spends three hundred years building a cathedral, part of the reasoning behind it is to flex a muscle toward other cities. Yes, I’m a realist. But that being said, the vision for this cathedral seemed to be large, and I would even say cosmic. The structure is built in the shape of a huge cross, and signs in the cathedral said that it was created to represent a ship to bring all of humanity to God. All humanity. There’s nothing ‘too small’ about that.

But even if this cathedral was built in part to flex a very large muscle, I have to say that as I looked around, I found myself in complete awe, reflecting upon how much faith it must have taken to build this structure, this cathedral for all of humanity. After all, only a strong faith in God’s holiness would be worth this much time, and this much effort, and this much money. They must have believed God was infinitely worth this display of holiness. Perhaps the builders of the Strasbourg Cathedral felt connected to Whose they are.

And it must have taken so much faith in one another as well. It would have been difficult to put that much wealth, and time, and talent, and sweat into such an endeavor, only to know that you wouldn’t see it completed in your lifetime. That’s amazing. Eight generations of lives, of individuals and communities, created this beautiful church. I wonder, did the innumerable people who contributed to this work feel that their part – no matter how small – was infinitely larger than themselves? I wonder, were they in any way aware that they were not too small for this world, that they were part of something larger than they could imagine? Today that Cathedral speaks to innumerable tourists who visit the city of Strasbourg. Nine hundred years later, a structure which was begun in a very different time period, acts as a witness, pointing toward God’s holiness for the benefit of the entire world. Anything less would be too small.

And here we are together on an ordinary, run-of-the-mill Sunday morning, but if our vision for this moment is mundane, we’re playing our faith too small. Much too small. University Presbyterian Church hasn’t experienced a Babylonian exile – though I’m sure if we reflected deeply enough, we might all discover that we’ve felt exiled in one form or another throughout our lives. And though we’re grateful for this structure where we worship, University Presbyterian Church isn’t housed in a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. But we would be missing something on this ordinary Sunday morning if we forgot to remind ourselves in this moment Whose we are. And we would be missing something if we forgot who we are, who we are in light of the amazing pledge and claim of God in our lives.

And so I turn the question to this church today– this holy, beloved community of God. Do you know Whose you are? Do you know how you’ve been claimed? Do you know who you’re called to be? Do you know that it would be too small a thing if we viewed ourselves as simple pew dwellers this morning? No, it would be too small a thing for us to sit in a pew and miss the mystery of God’s Spirit in this place. You are surrounded by a holy community – brothers, sisters, neighbors, and friends. And they contain worlds – yes, actual worlds within themselves! Have you ever thought about how every person is a community of worlds – how they represent people, and places, and memories, and experiences? Do you know that you represent people, and places, and memories, and experiences? Because of Whose you are, bring all of that to this place. Bring all the worlds you carry within you – yes, to this moment!

And as we do it, we too are creating a monument pointing to God’s holiness. We bring our worlds – our people, and places, and memories, and experiences – and we share them with one another. It would be too small a thing for them to serve our own salvation and healing. Friends, let University Presbyterian Church be a place, a monument, and a holy community created for the salvation of all! May all our worlds serve this unified world of ours.

I have seen the world in this place. I moved to Austin, Texas five years ago this very day. And my world is infinitely larger and richer because of it. Today I depart in an official capacity, but we’re not going to be unconnected in the days ahead. Not at all. It would be too small a thing for me to leave the worlds I’ve gained behind here in Austin and too small a thing for them to serve me only. I take all of you – your people, your places, your memories, and your experiences – into new worlds. Even before I know so many of the details of what our experience will be like in Pasadena, I know that your world will enrich other worlds. I am sure of it! I am different as I leave this place. I know a deeper love, I know a deeper service, I know a deeper commission. That’s because of you. University Presbyterian Church is a place for the whole world! Thank you.

Nothing you do is insignificant because of Whose you are! Nothing is insignificant!

Belong.

Serve.

Envision.

Dream.

Be Whose you are.

Amen.

-Renée Roederer, Campus Minister, and the Community at University Presbyterian Church