The Wesley Foundation at UVA

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the first week in October!  This semester is flying by so far, at least for me.  If you haven’t come by a Wesley event, it’s not too late yet, all are welcome any time.

Faces of Faith, the small group for first years will be meeting at the Foundation on Tuesday at 8 this week.  If you didn’t come the past two weeks but want to this week, I would like to encourage you to come.  Contact me or Melissa (mlh9j@virginia.edu) if you want a ride.

Soccer this week will be Monday night at 6.  Since it’s the tournament, if we win this game we’ll play again at 9 on Thursday (after Forum, don’t worry).

Also, we have a Fellowship event this weekend.  Meet at the Foundation at 6 for dinner on the town and mini golf.  Bring money for dinner.

Here’s what we’ve got going on this week:

Sunday
6pm Informal worship at the Wesley Foundation
7pm Gospel of John Bible Study at Wesley Memorial next door

Monday
5:30pm Intramural soccer - bring your cleats or tennis shoes and student ID.  We’ll meet at the Foundation at 5:30 to go over to the field.  Game at 6.  All are welcome, no skills required.

Tuesday
12:15pm Lunch at the Pav - an informal, social lunch in the back room of the Pavilion in Newcomb.  Bring your PlusDollars or bag lunch.  Look for the tables pushed together.
8pm Faces of Faith first-year small group.  Meet at the Foundation.

Wednesday
5pm Yoga class in Foundation living room.  Mats are provided or you can bring your own if you have one.  Wear loose fitting clothes.

Thursday
6pm Free Thursday Night Dinner in the dining room
7pm Forum - Study abroad with Krasna and Ashley
8:30pm (only if we win the previous game) Intramural soccer - bring your cleats or tennis shoes and student ID.  We’ll meet at the Foundation at 8:30 to go over to the field.  Game at 9.  All are welcome, no skills required.  You can just stay and hang out at the Foundation if you want.

Friday
1:30pm Prayer Group in the Wesley Foundation chapel - all welcome
6pm Dinner on the town and mini-golf.  Bring $ for dinner.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or issues.

I hope to see you some time this week.

- David Lessard (dal5r)
Wesley Foundation President

Thirst

Exodus 17: 1-7

How did I get here?  It’s 2am after a night of arguing and a month of hurt feelings and your girlfriend or boyfriend has just left for good.  Alone, hurt, confused, tired, angry – maybe all these at once – you say to yourself, How did I get here?

You remember when you first met.  You flip through the months together and think about kissing, sharing secrets, making plans, laughing.  It doesn’t add up.  Things were so good for a while.  You seemed so right for each other.  You had even wondered if this one might be the one.  How did I get here?

Maybe you have been watching the news reports and the stock market and wondering if you’ll ever have a job or a retirement fund and you’re worrying about taking care of your folks because you’ve heard them worrying about their retirement funds.  How did I get here?

Maybe it’s about college.  You applied, got in, packed all your belongings, unpacked all your belongings, had to throw out some of your belongings once confronted with the size of your dorm room…It was ok for a while.  But now you’ve started to wonder what you’re doing and where you’re heading.  Maybe you have started talking to yourself like this:  Should I switch majors?  How do I decide on a major?  I’ve switched majors four times and it still doesn’t seem like a good fit.  How did I get here?  Am I cut out for college?  Am I the only one who feels overwhelmed like this?  Why did God give me intelligence and drive and hope about my future, just to leave me here in all this uncertainty?  How did I get here?

Well, it’s good to know it runs in the family.  Our Israelite ancestors were prone to the same questions (minus the dorm room).  Like us, they looked up and realized they had no idea where they were or how to get to someplace they knew.  After being spared 10 miraculous plagues in Egypt…after being led through a dry path in the middle of the Red Sea…after journeying together a ways through the wilderness, here they are.  We might think they’d be praying prayers of thanksgiving and praise, grateful and trusting of the God who’s provided so much and seen them this far along the way.

But that’s not how the story goes, is it?  Though they’ve been journeying through the wilderness in stages and are now camped at a spot named Rephidim – meaning “refresh” or “support” – here they are bellowing to the heavens, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (Exodus 17: 1 & 3; NIB Bible p. 111).

An interesting thing about this question is the grammar.  In the New Revised Standard Version it reads just like that, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”  But the original grammar reads like this, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, with my children and my herds to let me die of thirst?” (Storyteller’s Companion, pp. 73-4).

What begins as a lament on behalf of one’s people, devolves within a few words into a personal plea.  Why are you doing this to my people – heck, look what you’ve done to me!  When things haven’t turned out as you planned and now the plans seem irrelevant altogether and all the lines have gotten fuzzy and you’re not even sure God is with you,  it’s hard to focus on anything outside of your immediate and overwhelming feelings of need.  Who cares about the rest of the Israelites!  God, are you going to leave me here to die like this?

There’s a great scene in the Neil Simon movie, The Goodbye Girl.  Marsha Mason plays a woman who’s been left too many times by men who made promises they didn’t keep.  After the last one skips town she’s left in his apartment, which he has sublet to another friend without telling her.

It just so happens that Marsha Mason’s character has a thing for actors.  The most recent failed relationship was one in a series of relationships with actors and the sublettee is an actor as well.  She’s come to think of herself as cursed by actors and it’s only because she is broke that she agrees to share the apartment with the new actor, played by Richard Dreyfuss.

In an attempt at friendship between roommates they are grocery shopping together and just as Marsha Mason lets her guard down the slightest millimeter, a purse snatcher comes by and makes off with hers.  She irrationally insists that Richard Dreyfuss go after the guy in the speeding car, which, for some unknown reason, he does.  He doesn’t get her purse back, though, and as they walk home together, Marsha Mason says, “Why do I have such lousy luck, every time an actor comes into my life?”

To which, Richard Dreyfuss says, “I really don’t think they robbed you because I’m an actor.”

Uncertainty and fear can make us lose our perspective.  Marsha Mason’s been so hurt that all she knows to do is blame every bad event on the nearest actor.  Of course this is not a fair or accurate accounting of what’s happening but at this point she can’t even see that.

Kind of like the lament in the wilderness.  God has more than once made a way out of no way and yet here they are, forgetting about God and even forgetting about each other – me, me, me! – begging for something more.  What more could they want?

Water, apparently.

They say that once you know you are thirsty you have already begun to dehydrate.  What if this is the first time the Israelites have ever known they were thirsty?    The desert is a harsh place and I have no doubt that this story is about real water coming, improbably, from a real rock, gushing forth onto the cracked, dry, ground for God’s very thirsty people.

But, as with many things in life, thirst is both physical and spiritual.  Harriet Tubman once said that she could have freed a lot more people if she could have convinced them that they were slaves (wikiquote.org cites Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Gates and Appiah, p. 299).  Try telling someone he’s dehydrating when he doesn’t feel thirsty yet.  It’s interesting that the Israelites aren’t afraid to complain, but they complain to Moses rather than to God.  They’ve been having a hard time communicating with God since the beginning of the book of Exodus.  In their slavery way back in chapter two, they groan and cry out (2: 23) but they don’t direct their cries to anyone in particular.  They are estranged from God.  They’ve been in Egypt so long that the glory days of Joseph are well in the past and almost forgotten.  They are from Egypt now; they know no other home.  And it seems that they don’t know their own enslavement.  Sure, they groaned as Pharaoh piled on more work but they were toughing it out with no plans to leave.

It isn’t a mass uprising that brings them out of Egypt but God, through the leadership of Moses.  Even before they knew the extent of their enslavement, God was acting to free them.  I’m not sure the Israelites see it this way because here they are now in the wilderness, many miles and miracles behind them, asking Moses for water instead of asking God.  Even Moses comments on this when he says, “Why do you quarrel with me?  Why do you test the LORD?” (Ex. 7: 2).

Maybe this people so long lost have started to see Moses as their savior.  One of the things about thirst is that once you are dehydrated anything can start to look like water.  Tragic stories abound of people lost at sea who, against all better judgment, start drinking seawater when they can’t abide their thirst one minute longer.  It’s sure death and you and I can see that sitting here, though it’s anything but clear to them.

Uncertainty and fear can make us lose our perspective.  But sometimes that’s just what we need most.  Lost at sea, wandering in the wilderness, uncertain about your course in life, fearful about the future, hurt and scared after a break-up…They may all be times that cause us to cry out How did I get here?  Surroundings once familiar start to look strange, our focus shifts, we realize we might be lost.

And that’s the saving moment!  Loss of perspective can be uncomfortably, even painfully, disorienting.  But it can be a disorienting gift, too.

Sometimes our truest thirst only becomes apparent when we realize we can’t quench it ourselves.

Sometimes all it takes is a break-up or a train wreck or a question you can’t find an answer for.  Sometimes this is all it takes to shift the light and change our view of the surroundings.  Or of ourselves.  When we look around and see no water and no way…when we understand that the thirst we feel goes much deeper and we have no means to quench it on our own…and when we see that thinking we could is its on sort of slavery…when we get to this spot in the wilderness we are ready to let God be God.

We’re used to finding our own water.  Not just the ubiquitous plastic bottles we carry everywhere, but also in relationships and careers and most every corner of life.  We mouth the words about God providing for us.  We profess belief in a God who creates and saves and journeys with us…a God who is more powerful than anything, including death.  But sometimes, around the edges, we can start to think that just maybe we’re the ones who are in control.

We detest uncertainty.  We call it “lack of direction.”  We hate fear.  We call it “weakness.”  We avoid vulnerability.  We call it “dependency.”  We mistrust mystery.  We call it “unknown.”

Just our luck that God comes to us in these places we fear.  Just our luck that God’s medium is mystery.  Just our luck that we are God’s wandering people, waiting on God for the next day’s manna and the next unlikely rock to crack open and quench our deepest thirst.  We’ve only just realized how soulfully thirsty we are – how close to dehydration and craziness!  Thank God we became disoriented just in time.

Fear not the uncertainty!  Fear not the wilderness – nor the wildness of God!  Don’t be afraid for your life, because this fear is the beginning of life.  When you don’t know where you are or how you can get anywhere else, God knows (Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible, Vol. II, p. 75).

When things haven’t turned out as you planned and now the plans seem irrelevant altogether and all the lines have gotten fuzzy and you’re not even sure God is with you…  When you lose your way and are surrounded by dry streambeds and outcroppings of rock – even in a place like that God can bring forth water.

In the midst of death, God always brings abundant life.

How’s your grammar been lately?  Any actors done you wrong this month?  Has your vision been focused in on yourself and your plight?  Give thanks for the moment when you stop and realize you don’t know where you are:  How did I get here?  Give thanks for the shifting light and the presence and providence of God way out here in this wilderness.  Give thanks when, by God’s grace, the question turns and you say, with awe:  How did I get here?

Thanks be to God!

© Deborah E. Lewis 2008

Hi Everyone,

I really enjoyed the gleaning retreat this weekend, I think it was a rousing success.  It’s inspiring to see so many people turn out for service.  If you weren’t able to make it this time, don’t worry, there will be plenty of opportunities coming up.  It’s easy to jump in, you are always welcome.

While everyone at the service project got a free t-shit, we’ll have them available to purchase if you didn’t get one or want another color.  They’ll be at most Foundation functions, price $5 or less (TBD).

We have a normal week coming up.  Faces of Faith, the small group for first years will be meeting at the Foundation on Tuesday at 8 this week.  If you didn’t come last week but want to this week, I would like to encourage you to come.  Contact me or Melissa (mlh9j)  if you want a ride.

Here’s what we’ve got going on this week:

Sunday

6pm                       Informal worship at the Wesley Foundation

7pm                       Gospel of John Bible Study at Wesley Memorial next door

Tuesday

12:15pm              Lunch at the Pav - an informal, social lunch in the back room of the Pavilion in Newcomb.  Bring your PlusDollars or bag lunch.  Look for the tables pushed together.

8pm                       Faces of Faith first-year small group.  Meet at the Foundation.

Wednesday

5pm                       Yoga class in Foundation living room.  Mats are provided or you can bring your own if you have one.  Wear loose fitting clothes.

7:30                       Intramural soccer - bring your cleats or tennis shoes and student ID.  We’ll meet at the Foundation at 7:30 to go over to the field.  Game at 8.  All are welcome, no skills required.

Thursday

6pm                       Free Thursday Night Dinner in the dining room

7pm                       Forum - Study abroad with Krasna and Ashley

8pm                 IMPACT (Affordable Housing political action group) meeting after Forum

Friday

1:30pm                 Prayer Group in the Wesley Foundation chapel - all welcome

Feel free to contact me with any questions or issues.  I hope to see you some time this week.

- David Lessard (dal5r)

Wesley Foundation President

5 o’clock People

Matthew 20: 1-16

John Wesley and the early Methodists were inspired by this parable (www.gbod.org/worship/).  A lot of people – especially a lot of middle- and upper-middle-class Americans – are annoyed by this parable.  What do you mean, they’re all getting paid the same thing?  Something about this smacks of being unfair and we democracy-loving Americans, we hard-working-earn-the-grade college students, we sinners… get irked.

But Wesley liked it and, obviously, Jesus liked it, so that’s enough reason for us to at least do more than give into automatic rejections of it as illogical, unfair, backwards, or whatever other things it may be.

I’ll say from the outset that it is illogical and unfair and backwards and probably a few other things, too.  But isn’t that what we know the kingdom of God to be like?

With the first verse, Jesus sets it all up for us:  “For the kingdom of God is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” (Matthew 20: 1).  We have to move away from trying to play a match-up game with parables, trying to equate characters with God or Jesus and sticking so close to our analogy that we miss the big picture.  There are some obvious analogies we can make but tonight I’m going to stick with how Jesus frames it.  He doesn’t start out saying Here’s what God’s like or Here’s how you get into heaven or Here’s how to respond to God’s grace.  Jesus starts out by saying that the kingdom of God is like…The kingdom of God is like the whole story, everything else that follows in this parable.

What follows?  Well, there’s a landowner who heads out early to hire workers for his vineyard.  He offers the usual daily wage and sends them out to work.  Around 9 o’clock he sees some other workers still waiting in the marketplace and sends them out to work, offering to pay them what’s right.  The landowner goes back at noon and at 3 o’clock and does the same thing with the people waiting for work at those times.  He even goes back at 5 o’clock – almost quitting time – and sees some folks waiting around.  He asks them why they’ve been idle there and they answer, “Because no one has hired us.”  He sends them on out into the vineyard to work, too.

In the evening, the landowner has his manager pay everyone who has worked that day, starting with those hired last.  When the 5 o’clock people come up for their pay, he gives them the usual daily wage.  When they see this, the early morning folks – let’s call them the 7 o’clock people – think to themselves, Well, if he’s giving those latecomers what he originally promised us, we must really be getting some decent pay today!  Wonder how much it will be!  When the 7 o’clocks get up to the pay line and they are handed the usual daily wage – exactly what they were promised that morning – they grumble.

Why do they grumble?  They say, These 5 o’clocks only worked for one measly hour and you have made them equal to us – we who’ve been here all day and worked the hardest.  The landowner says I gave you what we agreed upon and did you no wrong.  Take what belongs to you and go.  I choose to give the last ones here the same thing – aren’t I allowed to choose what I do with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?  And if that’s not harsh enough for you, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible notes that this last verse (v.15) should really read like this:  “Is your eye evil because I am good?” (Mt. 20: 1-15; NIB Bible, p. 1782).

So what does the parable tell us about the kingdom of God?  What is the kingdom of God like?  The kingdom of God is a reality in which all day long, all life long, there are continual invitations to participate.  The kingdom of God has work and a place for everyone.  In the kingdom of God what is promised is fulfilled; promises are kept.  The kingdom of God is an experience of generosity.  Expectations are upturned in the kingdom of God.  In the kingdom of God, there are choices to be made about giving and receiving.

That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?  How can we be annoyed by generosity and fulfilled promises and invitations?  But when we hear it told in the story, we start to expect certain conclusions and we identify with certain characters and we recognize “the way things work” in the marketplace.

I think most of us identify with the 7 o’clock people.  Besides gleaning apples yesterday, most of us probably haven’t done a lot of harvest work.  But we’ve all had to start early and work hard to get paid or to get into UVA or to maintain a GPA.  We know what it’s like to work in the vineyard all day long in the heat.  I happen to think the 7 o’clocks are the most interesting folks in the parable because they show us so clearly how we trap ourselves.

Bill Mallard, a clergyperson in our Conference and one of my favorite seminary professors, preached a sermon once about how we are all “5 o’clock people.”  No matter your experience of hard work, generosity, jealously, or unexpected gifts, we are all 5 o’clock people.  We all sin and fall short and we are all invited into the kingdom on a par with everyone else anyway.  We all arrive late and we are all welcome.  But it’s hard to keep that mindset, isn’t it?

Imagine if you had applied and been accepted to UVA, planning your whole previous year around getting in here.  Then, on the first day of class, that day you’ve been planning for and preparing for most of your high school career, you walk to class.  And on the Lawn President Casteen is meeting with a bunch of 18 year olds who are milling around, looking longingly at Cabell Hall and telling him they want to learn.  And then, instead of sending them away and telling them to apply next year like everyone else or try to transfer in from a Community College, he says, “Go on in and find a seat.  You can look on with someone else today until we get your books sorted out.”  Imagine!  Some of them barely graduated from high school and now Casteen thinks you’re going to sit next to them in class – after all that struggling and scraping and resume-building you did to get yourself here on your own merit?!

Well.  What would that be like?  Would you think Good for them! or would you feel cheated out of your accomplishment somehow?  In observing how they “didn’t deserve it” would you be able to clearly see how you have prospered when you didn’t deserve it either?  Would their presence in class next to you, on a par with you, change anything?  Would it change everything?

I find it most interesting that the 7 o’clock workers are not upset with the landowner for hiring other people or for paying them well.  They are upset because they want to preserve a social ranking that benefits them.  This is not even a case of Robin Hood “generosity” – the landowner doesn’t lower everyone’s wages in order to have enough to go around.  The 7 o’clocks are upset because, even though they agreed on a daily wage and they get exactly that, once they see the 5 o’clock latecomers getting it, they think their wage will increase accordingly.  They aren’t interested in the fulfillment of the original promise but in the preservation of a system that keeps them on top.  Is your eye evil because I am good?

If new faces showed up on the first day of class and, without “deserving” or working for it, they sat right next to you as students of equal standing in the class, would you allow that to alter what it meant for you to have made it to that class?  If, without changing anything about your admission status or course requirements or dorm assignments – without any changes to your own life as a student – Casteen had found a way to include some 5 o’clock students, would you have seen it that way?

Last week we talked about Jonah and about the parable of the slave who, after receiving forgiveness, does not reciprocate and forgive the debt of his fellow slave.  We are all forgiven and the recipients of such extravagant grace that there is no way we could ever employ a Protestant work ethic enough to earn such wonders.  We are all 5 o’clock people.  Whether we started working at 7am or 5 pm, we are all 5 o’clock people when it comes to God.  Thank God we don’t get what we deserve.  Thank God that God is God.

The evil eye is in comparing ourselves to others.  It is massively hard not to do.  Our culture is replete with comparisons from before we even leave the womb.  We measure how fetuses develop and compare one pregnancy to another.  We measure babies and toddlers against each other and standard growth charts.  Parents display bumper stickers on their cars – either the version that crows about their honor roll student or the other version avowing that their kid can beat up the honor students.  We strive and suffer through SATs and class rankings and GPAs.  We check out what other people are driving and wonder, unkindly, how they can afford that car.  We wonder who in the world would want to date that person.  We are raised up in a toxic mix of comparison and then here’s Jesus telling us that there isn’t room for that in the kingdom of God.

I grew up with my brother, David, who’s two years younger.  I have the best brother a sister could have but there were a lot of times growing up that he annoyed me.  Actually, there were a lot of times growing up that my eye was evil.  I had a little tally of all the things David got to do at an age earlier than I had gotten to do.  Once I had the privilege David usually had it too.  I used to complain that – if it were legal – my parents would let David drive at 14 and vote at 16.   And I was jealous.  We had the same allowance and the same bed times and I had a sense that, because I was older, I should have some extra privileges.  I liked the sound of a system that would keep me on the top of the sibling heap.  But my parents were generous with both of us and, even though it didn’t take anything away from the bed time or the allowance or the other privileges I got, there were a lot of times I wanted my brother to have less.

That evil-eye, uncharitable comparison is how the world is much of the time.  But that’s not what the kingdom of God is like.  And that’s the place we are called to live, right now.  The thing is, the kingdom of God is not just another phrase for “heaven.”  The kingdom of God is the “already-not yet” reality of the reign of God.  It’s the way in which God calls us to life in all its fullness.  The kingdom of God is the feast we are invited to taste each week in this meal and which we will enjoy at God’s heavenly banquet.

This meal is our weekly invitation – early in the morning, at 9, at noon, at 3, and at 5 – to taste and see, to follow, to give up comparison and jealousy.    We are not called to become expert players in the games of the world while praying that “by and by” we’ll be in the kingdom of God.  We are called – right here and right now, right here in the middle of life at college – to live out of the “already” of the kingdom of God, to live now as if that is our only reality.

God is keeping the extravagant promises God made to you – rejoice!  Stop looking around to see what kind of deal anyone else has.  Stop checking the clock to see who shows up at 5.  And rejoice that all of us 5 o’clock people are called in from the fields, paid along with everyone else, forgiven our unspeakable evil-eye jealousies, called to abundant life, and welcomed to the table!

Thanks be to God!

© Deborah E. Lewis 2008

Hi Everyone,

It’s been good seeing friendly faces at Foundation events this week.   If you haven’t stopped by the Foundation yet, there’s something going on almost every day of the week.  Come check us out, you’re always welcome.

This week we’re starting two new weekly activities and have our fall service retreat.  Tuesday at 8 is our Faces of Faith first year small group.  Meet at the Foundation at 8 for a surprise field trip.  Even if you can’t make it this week, you can still come later.

Starting this Wednesday at 5 is a free Yoga class.  It will meet in the Foundation living room with a professional instructor.  All are welcome.

Wesley’s first service project will be gleaning on Saturday, September 20.  Gleaning is the act of harvesting less profitable farmland and donating the food to the poor.  We will be picking apples so come celebrate fall with Wesley by meeting others and serving Christ!  Email Nina (nwr2e) if you’re interested or RSVP to the facebook invite (http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=24491182414) by Wednesday, September 17. Don’t forget that the service trip will secure you a FREE Wesley Foundation t-shirt!  Meet at the Foundation at 7:15am.

Here’s what we’ve got going on this week:

Tuesday
12:15pm Lunch at the Pav - an informal, social lunch in the back room of the Pavilion in Newcomb.  Bring your PlusDollars or bag lunch.  Look for the tables pushed together.
8pm Faces of Faith first-year small group.  Meet at the Foundation.  Plan on a field trip this week.

Wednesday
5pm Yoga class in Foundation living room.  Mats are provided or you can bring your own if you have one.  Wear loose fitting clothes.
7:30 Intramural soccer - bring your cleats and student ID.  Or tennis shoes.  We’ll meet at the Foundation at 7:30 to go over to the field.  Game at 8.  All are welcome, no skills required.

Thursday
6pm Free Thursday Night Dinner in the dining room
7pm Forum - Gleaning/the story of Ruth with Nina and Annie

Friday
1:30pm Prayer Group in the Wesley Foundation chapel - all welcome

Saturday
7:15am Gleaning service retreat.  Breakfast, lunch, and a free t-shirt are provided.  Wear work clothes.  Email Nina (nwr2e@virginia.edu) for more details.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or issues.

I hope to see you some time this week.

- David Lessard
Wesley Foundation President

Who Do You Want to Be?

Matthew 18: 12-35

We are stubborn people.  We hear God calling and we look behind us to see who God’s talking to.  We receive a clear message from God and then try to work out ways for it to cost us less.  We are stubborn people who come from a long line of stubborn people.

Our reading from Matthew picks up right where last week’s left off.  Last week we heard Jesus give simple, direct, explicit instructions for how to reconcile with others in the Christian community.  First you go alone to speak to the person who has sinned against you.  If he doesn’t listen, take a couple of other church members with you.  If he still doesn’t listen, tell the whole church.  And if he still doesn’t listen, treat this person as someone worthy of further outreach and mission.  (Matthew 18: 15-17)

As soon as Jesus finished giving these instructions Peter pipes up and that’s where our reading for this week begins.  I guess we could give Peter the benefit of the doubt and say that he is just trying to make sure he’s gotten the whole message.  But Peter is one of those stubborn grandfathers in our long family line and it’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As soon as Jesus finishes up this easy-to-follow plain-talking list of instructions, instead of saying what’s really on his mind, Peter jumps in with a legalistic question.  He says, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times?” (Mt. 18: 21)  Ok, I’ll give you that forgiveness has its place, Lord, but just how long am I supposed to engage in this ridiculous and unreasonable behavior?

 I think what’s really on Peter’s mind is how hard this is going to be, how much it will require of him, and how mind-boggling it is to even begin thinking like this.  When someone has sinned against him and he’s hurt and angry, how in the world is he going to muster the courage and faithfulness to engage in this sort of truthful reconciling community?  How can he do it just once – much less, 77 times? (Mt. 18: 22)

Jesus often speaks in parables to illustrate a point to the disciples and it’s at this point in our reading that he turns to the familiar form of the parable.  He says that “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a [master] who wished to settle accounts with his slaves” (Mt. 18: 23).  The master calls forth a slave who owes him 10,000 talents that he can not repay so the master orders that the slave and his family and everything they own be sold off and that the slave be put in jail until he can pay the rest.  The slave drops to his knees and says “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything” (v.26).  The king has pity on him and forgives the entire debt.

Following this extravagant generosity, the slave encounters a fellow slave who owes him 100 denarii.  The first slave manhandles the second one and demands payment immediately.  But when the second slave begs for mercy – in almost exactly the same words as the first slave used with the master – the first slave refuses to offer mercy and throws the other man in prison.

Their fellow slaves see all this and report it to the master, who calls the first slave back in again, and says, “You wicked slave!  I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?”  Then he hands the slave over to be tortured until he can pay up on the debt he originally owed the master.  (Mt. 18: 21-34)

Now, biblical scholars have some disagreements about exactly where this parable ends.  Many think that the original parable told by Jesus ends with the question in verse 33:  “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?”  Some think it stopped at the next verse with the master handing the slave over to torture.  But they all seem to agree that the final verse, 35, is an addition to the original material, added by Matthew to allegorize the parable and make the larger theological points of the gospel he was writing (The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol.VIII, p. 382).

Whatever the case, it seems clear that the literary and dramatic weight of the parable falls on the question in verse 33:  “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?”  It’s a question with a familiar ring to our stubborn ears.

It sounds a lot like something God says to Jonah.  In the story of Jonah from the Hebrew scriptures God calls Jonah to go and preach to the city of Nineveh, at which point Jonah jumps aboard the next ship heading for Tarshish – about as far from Nineveh as he could get.  Through a lot of twists and turns, including a turn inside the belly of a whale, Jonah eventually relents and heads for Nineveh.

But when he preaches and the people turn from their evil ways to worship God, instead of Jonah feeling a sense of satisfaction and job-well-done, he gets steaming mad.  At God.  He tells God that this is why he never wanted to come in the first place, because God is full of mercy and would end up forgiving everyone anyway, so what was the point?  And then, like a self-righteous 3-year-old, Jonah stomps back out of the city, makes a little hut for himself at the gates to the city, sits down in it, and begins to pout.

When Jonah and God finally have a come-to-Jesus moment (so to speak), it is in the very last verse of the whole book.  Reprimanding Jonah for his inappropriate anger at God’s mercy, God says, “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4: 11)

We are a stubborn and stiff-necked people.  And we surely come by it honestly.  Just look at this family tree full of Jonahs and Peters!  Stupid Nineveh people who You love anyway!  Stupid person I already forgave 76 times!  Stupid slave who owes me money!  Stupid, unreasonable, ever-loving God!  We are stubborn and selfish.

Nevertheless, Jesus calls us to more.

I was watching the 80s movie “City Slickers” a few months ago.  There’s a scene with a couple of city slickers out west riding horses through the desert.  They’re friends from back east and they are escaping their lives and trying to find some solace in a week of playing at being cowboys.  While they are riding along together and talking one of them asks the other a hypothetical question:  If you knew you wouldn’t get caught, would you cheat on your wife?

It’s an interesting question because it assumes that getting caught is what is undesirable.  It assumes that the man’s behavior isn’t important in and of itself, that only the consequences matter.  It assumes that betraying his wife is only about her anger and feelings and not also about what kind of a person he is.

What kind of a person do you want to be?  Do you want to try practicing forgiveness – even when it’s incredible and unreasonable, and the 77^th time you’ve done it?  Are you up for that kind of life?  Do the sinful actions and punishment of all the people around you matter more to you than your own soul?

My seminary professor, Luther Smith, was the first person I ever heard give an adequate definition of forgiveness.  He said that forgiving someone does not mean that what they did was right, acceptable, or OK with you.  It does not mean that you will ever let them do it again.  It does not mean that you forget what happened.  It may not mean that you can continue on in any kind of personal relationship with the other person.  But it does mean that you no longer see that person only in light of their action.  It means that you refuse to let the thing or things she did define her.  It means that, despite what he has done, you choose to see him as a child of God.

This kind of forgiveness is what Sister Helen Prejean practices on the death rows of our country.  She is the famed nun of the book and movie Dead Man Walking and though she knows exactly what they’ve done to land them on death row, she chooses to see more to them than their crimes.  She chooses to try to seem them as God sees them.  She wants to be the kind of person God calls us to be, accepting of God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness in our own lives and full of forgiveness and mercy for those she meets – even the ones who have done things that are unspeakable.

I recently became a step mom to Blair.  Blair is 19, sweet, a charmer, loves to watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and struggles with autism.  Though we have a lot of fun together and some things in common we part ways when it comes to chocolate.  I looooooove chocolate and Blair doesn’t think much of it.  He likes cookies and cakes but he’s an oatmeal and raisin kind of guy.  So when his birthday came around this summer I, the chocoholic, was in a bind as to what type of treat to make him to celebrate.  All of my favorite desserts involve significant amounts of chocolate.

I have to admit that I considered not making anything.  Blair spends time with his mom and step dad and with Woody and me.  He happened to be at his other home for his actual birthday and because of his disability rituals and ceremonies like birthdays don’t have the same meaning for him.  He loves a good dessert but he may not distinguish between the oatmeal cookies he has every time he comes to our house and the cake he has once a year.  As far as he seems to be concerned, people he loves are giving him yummy things and that’s cause for celebration.

So I am not proud to say it but I did consider not making him a special birthday dessert.  It probably wouldn’t make a difference to him.  He already had one celebration at his mom’s.  It wasn’t the actual day anymore so it might be confusing….I considered it but I couldn’t not make something. I realized that it did not matter one bit whether Blair recognized in the same ways I would expect one of you to recognize what was happening.  I knew what was happening and I wanted to be the kind of person who went out of her way to try to give her stepson something he would enjoy.   As it turns out, I tried lemon pudding custardy things and he obligingly took one bite and said “No!”  The dessert failed but I succeeded – that day – in being the kind of person I wanted to be.

Who do you want to be?  Listen to what Jesus is telling us in the parable.  All the forgiveness and mercy and grace and love you could ever imagine is already yours.  Your debts are erased and the only thing God asks is that you live like someone who has experienced this kind of unreasonable, ridiculous, over-the-top generosity.  Go and do likewise.  May we all know in our stubborn hearts that these words are for us.

Thanks be to God!

© Deborah E. Lewis 2008

Hi Everyone,

I’ve enjoyed meeting all the new people these past few weeks and look forward to seeing you again. If you haven’t stopped by the Foundation yet, there’s something going on every day of the week. Come check us out, you’re always welcome.

Starting this week (or early next) will be the Faces of Faith small group for First Years, led by me and Melissa Holmes. It’s a small group about life and being Christian in college and is going to be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to bond with a small group of close-knit people. Dates and times for meeting are flexible depending on who’s interested; we want to be as accommodating as possible for everyone who wants to participate. E-mail me or Melissa (mlh9j) if you’re interested or want more information.

Here’s what we’ve got this week:

Sunday

6pm Informal worship at the Wesley Foundation

7pm Gospel of John Bible Study at Welsey Memorial next door

Tuesday

12:15pm Lunch at the Pav - an informal, social lunch in the back room of the Pavilion in Newcomb. Bring your PlusDollars or bag lunch. Look for the tables pushed together.

Wednesday

7:30 Intramural soccer - bring your cleats. Or tennis shoes. We’ll meet at the Foundation at 7:30 to go over to the field. Game at 8. All are welcome, no skills required.

Thursday

6pm Free Thursday Night Dinner in the dining room

7pm Forum - Bible story skits - no acting skills required

Friday

1:30pm Prayer Group in the Wesley Foundation chapel - all welcome

Saturday

2:00pm Kickball on the Lawn. Weather permitting.

Other upcoming events include a free Wed. drop-in Yoga class (starting 9/17), prayer partners, and Restless Hearts small group with Deborah. Don’t forget about the service retreat on 9/20 (contact Nina at nwr2e for details).

Feel free to contact me with any questions or issues. Most of this info should also be on our website: wesleyuva.org

I hope to see you some time this week.

- David Lessard (dal5r)

Wesley Foundation President

Communal Living

Matthew 18: 15-20

I have two stories about dating.  Names and some facts have been changed to protect the innocent.

There was once a woman who was set up by a colleague on a blind date.  After the date, which was not particularly amusing or spark-worthy, she wondered what the colleague had seen in each of them that had caused her to think they might be a good match.  The woman found nothing in common with the man and mused that her colleague might as well have said when introducing them, “He breathes.  And so do you!”

This particular dating woman hated conflict and uncomfortable conversation so much that she was afraid each time her phone rang after that date – afraid it might be the man asking for another date and that she would have to “be mean” and say “no.”  A friend of hers noted this conflict aversion and decided to help the woman out by role-playing the potential phone call from the man.  They sat together holding their hands up with imaginary telephones in them, practicing how to compassionately but firmly tell the man that she was not interested in any further contact.

You may find this funny – the people whose identities are protected do – but you may find it surprising that this was not an inexperienced young adult or high school student just beginning to date.  This was a woman in her 30s.

Similar situation, different people:  There was once a man in his 20s who had been on a couple of dates with a woman in his graduate program.  The woman was perfectly nice and they had had some fun on the dates but he knew he wasn’t interested and wanted to stop seeing her.  He had some anxiety about The Talk but knew it was the right thing to do.  He didn’t need to practice with a friend but he did decide to think carefully about what he wanted to say.

Well this guy happened to be in seminary at the time and he was studying all about pastoral care and how to use “I” statements when you are expressing how you feel.  You know, instead of saying “You make me feel like a fat, lazy slob” you say, “When you look at me in disgust, I feel like a fat, lazy, slob.”

So one night as this man was talking with his roommate about the upcoming Talk and the two of them were joking a bit about the situation, he decided to concoct the perfect I-statement way of breaking up with the woman.  After a lot of laughter and a beer or two and some trial and error – it can be hard to speak entirely in “I” statements – he had it.  The completely I-statement break-up line.  Here it is:  “I like the way my body feels when you’re not touching it.”

Well, he didn’t actually end up using that well-crafted line but I think you can see some common ground in these tales from the dating world.  It is hard to express difficult, uncomfortable, potentially unflattering feelings or thoughts to another person.  It is hard to say something in a forthright and compassionate way when we assume that the one we’re saying it to may be hurt or mad or surprised by what we say.

In our culture we hate direct, “clean” conflict – but we love lurid details!  Ooooh, how some of us twittered as the various news reports about Sarah Palin and her family came out during the last week.  No matter your political persuasion it’s easy to see how the country gave itself over to titillation and speculation with only the scantest bits of information and well before Palin’s acceptance speech.  What if, instead of turning one family’s issues into national fodder for conversation those with the most to say had turned to their own families?  What if, when confronted with joining in the fray, spouting opinions, and escalating misunderstanding and gossip, we had taken the occasion to talk to those in our own lives and to pray for the difficulties the Palin family faces?  What if?

What if we had chosen another road after the attacks of September 11^th, 2001?  That horrible anniversary comes around again this week.  After our initial period of shock, what if we had kept praying for those attacked and also included those we now feared?  What if, instead of going overseas with guns we had gone over to talk and to listen?  What if?

I do understand that acting and reacting as a group or a country is a different thing than acting or reacting as an individual.  And I do think that the scripture we read tonight from Matthew has valuable information for individuals.  But I also notice that Jesus is very clearly giving instructions about how individuals behave in community, how the members of the body of Christ are to go about actually being and behaving like the body of Christ we are called to be.  It’s clear that the way individuals behave changes the whole body.

What does Jesus instruct us to do as individuals living in Christian community?  For something that gets talked about so seldom in our church, it’s astoundingly simple, direct, and easy-to-follow.  If someone in the church sins against you, go to that person and point out the problem.  If she hears you, great.  But if she doesn’t, then go back again and this time take two or three other church members along so that they can witness the conversation and make sure both of you are listening and not misrepresenting the other.  If this doesn’t work either, then take the matter to the whole congregation.  And if even that doesn’t work, “let [that] one be [like] a Gentile and a tax collector [to you]” (Matthew 18: 15-17).   How could we possibly be confused about this process?  But when’s the last time you witnessed this in any faith community you have been a part of?  Why do you think we don’t do this?  Surely it’s not because there are no grievances and no church members sinning against one another.

A few years back there was a tiff between a couple of folks here at Wesley.  This was in the heyday of blogging and before Facebook was widely used and the way I found out about the tiff was that the involved parties (along with several others) were blogging about it.  It was quite clear from the blog entries that there had been no face-to-face conversations and that the “sinned against” party had never gone alone to the other party to bring up the offense.  Instead, both parties and everyone else who ended up reading their blogs joined in the fray, anonymously badmouthing one another.  I say “anonymously” because even if you knew whose blog you were reading, the other party’s name was never mentioned directly – though everyone in the community knew exactly who was who and what was what.  It was hurtful and cowardly because they were willing to spout off in a public forum but were unwilling to come face-to-face within the community.  And, in light of our passage from Matthew, we can see it is also not the way Christians are to behave.

I suppose you could make a case for using technology to help you confront a brother or sister of the faith but this episode was not even that.  They just skipped right over the direct, clean confrontation of their conflict and went right for the jugular of public opinion and rumors and gossip.  It is hard to come face-to-face with someone who’s wronged you, especially if you are feeling vulnerable.  It’s hard to stand there and tell him what he did and how it hurt you.  It’s hard but Jesus doesn’t give us any other options in the matter.

One of the things I find most interesting about these instructions is the two different ways the church has read verse 17 over the centuries.  This is the point, after you have tried the one-on-one conversation and after you have brought witnesses and after you have brought him to the gathered church when, if he’s still not listening to you, then “let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”  The New Interpreter’s Study Bible has this comment about verse 17:  “Treating someone ‘as a Gentile and a tax collector’ is often interpreted as exclusion and shunning.  But in the Gospel they are objects of mission.  Disciples are to include them in the assembly” (NIB Bible, p. 1779).

The church has used this passage as its instruction sheet for excommunicating members and you can see how we could reach that conclusion.  But we’ve also read it differently and it seems to be that if we’re paying attention to Jesus then we have to read it as a challenge to our boundaries and our desire to circle the wagons.

Who are Gentiles and tax collectors to Jesus?  Who did Jesus eat and travel and hang out with?  Who did Jesus get in trouble for befriending?  Who does Jesus go out of his way to seek out?  Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and tax collector.  Hmmm.  Do you think that instead of this being an instruction to abandon that one it might be the opposite?  Do you think Jesus might be instructing us to keep at it and to make that one the object of our mission?

In a culture ready to strike back when we’re hurt and ready to speak unkindly about someone else’s mistakes, we are called to be a church that lives together differently.  We are meant to treat each other not just as church members but as brothers and sisters.  We are called to live as family, “to be bound together in community [where] to pray is to say ‘our Father,’ even in the privacy of our own room” (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, p. 379).

In a few minutes we will share our family meal around God’s table and as part of our prayers we will offer up the Lord’s Prayer, starting with “Our Father….”  It’s a reminder each time we gather for this feast that our faith is not about each one of us “getting right with God” but about a way of living in community as the children and family of God.  There is no such thing as a solo Christian.

We don’t get the option of “getting right” and then going on about our business and looking just like the rest of the culture.  We get to live in a quirky community and follow a difficult savior.  We get to chase after even those who have wronged us, always looking out for our family — the one God has created for us.

Another way we get to practice this is in how we approach the Table, our family meal.  Earlier in Matthew Jesus says that when we are making our offerings in worship, if we have not tried to reconcile with someone we are to put down the offerings, leave worship to go and see that person before we come back to give our gifts to God.  “First be reconciled to your brother [or sister] and then come and offer your gift” (Mt. 5: 23-24).  God is not pleased with our worship for an hour a week in church only.  God wants our whole lives and God has some specifics about how we are to live them out.

John Wesley wrote some specifics about this same text in one of his sermons.  They are a good elaboration on Jesus’ instructions for reconciliation.  Our churches, our relationships, our political races, and maybe even our adventures in dating will be entirely different experiences if we take them to heart.  Here’s what he said:

“But see that the manner also wherein you speak be according to the Gospel of Christ. Avoid everything in look, gesture, word, and tone of voice, that savors of pride or self-sufficiency. Studiously avoid everything magisterial or dogmatical, everything that looks like arrogance or assuming. Beware of the most distant approach to disdain, overbearing, or contempt. With equal care avoid all appearance of anger; and though you use great plainness of speech, yet let there be no reproach, no railing accusation, no token of any warmth but that of love. Above all, let there be no shadow of hate or ill-will, no bitterness or sourness of expression; but use the air and language of sweetness, as well as gentleness, that all may appear to flow from love in the heart. And yet this sweetness need not hinder your speaking in the most serious and solemn manner; as far as may be, in the very words of the oracles of God (for there are none like them,) and as under the eye of Him who is coming to judge the quick and dead” (John Wesley’s Sermons, “The Cure of Evil Speaking,” cited from: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/49/ ).

Thanks be to God!

© Deborah E. Lewis 2008

Hi Everyone,

It was great seeing some new faces at the barbecue on Thursday,

despite the rain.  If you didn’t come, don’t worry, it’s not too late

to get involved.  We have a lot of opportunities this week and even

more starting up in the next few weeks.  I’ll be sending out weekly e-

mails with what’s going on.  Mark your calendars now.

Sunday

6pm                 Informal worship at the Wesley Foundation

7pm                 Gospel of John Bible Study at Welsey Memorial next door

Tuesday

12:15pm           Lunch at the Pav - an informal, social lunch in the back room

of the Pavilion in Newcomb.  Bring your PlusDollars or bag lunch.

Thursday

6pm                 Free Thursday Night Dinner in the dining room

7pm                 Forum - Melissa and David (me) will be leading a discussion on

being a Christian in college

Friday

1:30pm             Prayer Group in the Wesley Foundation chapel - all welcome

7:30pm             Photo Scavenger Hunt - our first Fellowship event!  Brought

back by popular demand. (bring a digital camera if you have one)

Other upcoming events include a free Wed. drop-in Yoga class

(starting 9/17), Intramural Soccer (starting Wed 9/10 @8pm),  prayer

partners, Restless Hearts small group with Deborah, and Faces of

Faith, a first-year small group about transitioning to college as a

Christian.  Don’t forget about the service retreat on 9/20 (contact

Nina at nwr2e@Virginia.EDU for details).

Feel free to contact me with any questions or issues.  Most of this

info should also be on our website: wesleyuva.org

I hope to see you some time this week.

- David Lessard (dal5r)

Wesley Foundation President

“Losing and Saving”

Matthew 16: 21-28

This is what the back of the guy’s T-shirt said: “How much do you really know about yourself if you haven’t made a film?”

I was walking back here from Central Grounds the other day and I ended up behind a group of first year students walking together to their next scheduled event. One of their guides was wearing his Miniseries Productions shirt with that question on the back: “How much do you really know about yourself if you haven’t made a film?”

The film lover in me was intrigued. What kinds of films do students make about themselves and what is it that they find out in the process? What would I find out about myself if I made a film? What about that format for expression would encourage insight? And how would it be different than what one might discover by writing a book or a song?

The theologian in me was on alert. The shirt question is a challenge: We have some insight you couldn’t really have if you haven’t also made a film. Come on, delve into film and find out even more – find out who you really are. What is it about our own lives that would make us think “really knowing” ourselves is the point? And, though I am a film lover and I like the idea of making a film and engaging in some self-discovery in the process, I wonder how much Miniseries Productions can actually deliver on this promise.

God definitely calls us to self-awareness and self-knowledge but it seems God has bigger plans for that knowing than a personal discovery or a film. Doesn’t Jesus invite most folks out of their comfort zones and into deeper community (rather than into a private self-discovery enterprise)? Jesus is much more likely to admonish people to lose their lives than to make a film so we can know and be myopically fascinated with ourselves better. Jesus seems to think getting lost is how to find answers, ourselves, and God.

So I walked along behind the crowd and the guy wearing this shirt, thinking about the question and film and theology and today’s gospel reading from Matthew.

It’s a strange little interlude, this story in Matthew. Jesus and his disciples are headed for Jerusalem and for all that is about to happen there, the death and the resurrection. Jesus is trying to get his followers ready for all that. But almost as soon as he starts talking about it, Peter pulls him aside. The Greek actually reads that Peter grabs Jesus (The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, p. 349). Peter is alarmed and steps in to intervene. Forcefully he grabs hold to stop what seems to him like crazy talk: “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” (Mt. 16: 22). It’s part rebuke but also part prayer – God forbid this should happen. God, don’t let this be so (The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, p. 349). Peter does it out of concern and alarm.

“Get behind me, Satan!” is what Jesus says in response. This remark gets quoted a lot, usually to convey that the person or thing we want behind us is bad for us. We want those things – and Satan – back behind us and not on the road ahead. When Jesus says it to Peter he says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things” (Mt. 16: 23). The “stumbling block” language works with the idea of getting around and ahead of something or someone bad for us.

What I find more interesting and even more helpful for Christian life is that the language Jesus uses with Peter is discipleship language (New Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 1776). “Get behind me” is reminiscent of “follow me.” Disciples are followers of Christ, meant to go where he leads and not meant to get out ahead of Christ himself. Disciples do not decide on a direction; they go in the direction of the one whom they’re following. Disciples don’t set the course; they follow.

Jesus tells Peter that the problem with what he has said is that Peter is “setting [his] mind not on divine things but on human things” (v. 23). In his dismay over the direction Jesus says they are all headed, Peter balks and tries to get out in front of Christ. He’s not exactly Satan but he is misguided and he’s forgotten his place. He’s lost sight of the primary function of a disciple, which is to follow.

This is one of those stories that gets quoted out of context a lot. Just like the Satan remark, I often hear Jesus’ next words as a stand-alone quote. After this encounter with Peter Jesus turns to the rest of the disciples and continues, saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” (vv.24-26).

More discipleship language. I find it interesting that I most often hear this quoted as an invitation to seekers or non-believers to join “the rest of us.” But who is Jesus talking to? Peter and the other disciples, the inner circle – the very folks who are closest to him and started following him first. This may be an invitation that rings true to other ears, but these words are said for the benefit for those who are already following Jesus – or trying to follow Jesus – these words are for the disciples. And for us.

What does it mean to set your mind on divine things, rather than human things? How do you go about losing your life? Does denying yourself mean valuing other people more than you do yourself? What does it looks like to save your life only to end up losing it?

There are a lot of people and things you can follow and you can end up being anybody’s disciple. Jesus knows this. Jesus knows that even in his inner circle, among those he calls disciples, there are wandering eyes and hearts and minds. Jesus knows how easy it is to say you’re going God’s way and then set out on a path leading in another direction, following along behind someone other than God. Jesus knows disciples need reminders and it’s them – it’s us – he’s talking to.

A lot of people like to talk about how Jesus saves but in this story Jesus talks about the futility of us trying to save our own lives. One of the biblical commentaries I read this week describes “saving one’s life” as “not confronting the injustice of the present, but settling for safe self-interest” (New Interpreter’s Study Bible, pp.1776-7). What will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit our lives? (v. 26).

It would be easy at a place like UVA to try to save your own life. It would be easy to cocoon ourselves in “safe self-interest” while still praying and going to church and being nice to people. It would be easy to pick your school or your major solely on the basis of money and prestige and to take jobs simply because they are offered and the salary is impressive. It would be easy to spend four or more years of your life waiting for your real life to begin, repeating the mantra, “I’m just a college student right now.” It would be easy to drown out the nudges of the Spirit and refuse to take the life-defining call from God. It would be easy to save your own life and leave Jesus out of it.

It’s an easy choice and an easy way, to choose safe self-interest.

It’s much harder to let yourself get lost. Set your mind and your sights on God and then lose your life for the sake of God. It’s much harder to let the Wind, the Spirit of God blow through your life and mess up your plans. It’s much hard to follow where God leads, especially when it’s an unknown place, or a seemingly useless degree, or a long-shot career, or a relationship with someone the world wants to discount. It’s much harder and it’s the hardest, best, least safe, most life-saving thing you can do.

Set your mind and your sights on God and then lose your life for the sake of God.

You probably didn’t come to UVA to get lost. You want to find your place, your major, your school, your sweetheart, your goal, your job. You probably won’t hear many faculty members or dean’s office staff or parents telling you to get lost. A lot about the academic world these days is geared towards finding – answers, jobs, status, degrees. A lot of people here and in the rest of the world think that getting lost is a waste of time. A lot of people will tell you a lot of things while you’re a student here. You’ve already heard some of them.

I’m here to tell you that if you really want to know yourself and God and your purpose…if you really want to find your place at school, in your field, in the world…if you really mean to be a Christian, then you have to get lost. And you have to know that God is here…now…at UVA…with you…calling you. This time is not practice for real life. This is your real, God-given life and every moment counts. And whatever gets in the way of your faithful and lived commitment to God and God’s Kingdom, is a stumbling block in your way.

What are you following? Are you busy trying to be saved or are you freeing yourself up to get lost? You are in college right now. You are “just” a student… And you are just a child of God and a disciple. You are called to follow in the life-giving way of Christ, wherever it leads. You are a disciple following in a way of truth and life and boundary-breaking community and it is your job to follow. Right now.

So if you’ve forgotten, here’s your reminder. And if you are still new here I have some suggestions for keeping your mind set on human things. This is what disciples do. They love God and love their neighbors as themselves, read the Bible, pray, encourage and challenge one another with discipleship language, serve God in the world, and live by a vision of God’s Kingdom — that feast we taste a glimpse of in meals like this one.

All this is part of why you are here now, too. It’s not all about the books and the grades and the classes and the job out there someday. And the biggest waste of time would be to think that, would be to listen to the myriad siren calls instead of to that still, small voice of the One who saves our mysterious, beautiful, grace-filled lives by helping us lose them.

I’m not sure how much you know about yourself if you haven’t made a film. But how much do you really know about yourself if you haven’t been a disciple?

Come get lost with us at Wesley! We’re the ones Jesus is talking to, the disciples in his midst who have a tendency to wander off in our own directions.

What are you setting your mind on? What will you give in return for your life?

Thanks be to God!

© Deborah E. Lewis 2008