I've moved!

Well, as I've written my blog post announcing my return to blogging, I've also decided to move over to my Wordpress site.  You can find new posts (and all of my old ones, too) here:  (ashleealley.wordpress.com)

Back to Blogging

When I started my blog in 2006, I was planning on blogging 4-6 times a month.  Unfortunately, over the last two years, I’ve been largely dormant on the blogging front.  I won’t bore you with what’s taken precedence, but I’ve decided that in 2013, it’s time to fire up my blog and get it started again.

In the coming year, here’s what you can expect to see:

•   Periodic articles delving into an aspect of ministry with emerging adults
•  Some brief posts with suggestions of resources in the areas of campus ministry and ministry with young adults, leadership, and Christian living
• Personal musings from life in ministry at a small college in Kansas
• Occasional snippets from sermons or devotions that I’ve written
• Reposting some articles that I’ve written for another blog but never published here

As I’m getting my mind around blogging again, I’m reminded how much social media has changed the practice of blogging since blogging first appeared in the early 2000’s.  When I started this blog in 2006, I just wanted to share a few thoughts about ministry and practice my writing skills.   I expected few readers and even fewer comments from friends.  However, as time went on, I found that readers that I didn’t know were finding my blog from various United Methodist blog lists or other random avenues.  It was a paradigm shift for me to think that anyone, anywhere could read my blog (duh…it is the worldwide web, after all).  Now, I didn’t really have that many page views, but I knew that I could and that affected the frequency with which I wrote.

 

Then came Twitter.  Twitter was a gamechanger for blogging in a couple of ways.  First of all, it was originally touted as “microblogging.”  This is to say that it allowed people to write in miniature what they had previously said in a whole blog post.  Thus, where I would have previously written a post about a conference, I could now “live tweet” the conference, sharing thoughts throughout, or, summarize it at the end.  A whole article on my blog could be summed up on Twitter like this: 

#Conference was great! @famouspastor inspired, amazing worship, great colleagues, #city was beautiful!  See you next year! #lovemyjob

But, if I did write that extended summary as a blog post, I could now tweet the link to my expanded reflection and send people to my blog.  Add linking on Twitter to sharing on Facebook or Google+ and you’ve got blogging reaching more and more demographics. 

So, while there are many incredible voices out there on the intewebs, I’m going to be more intentional about adding my own.  Blogging as a discipline helps me to be more reflective, more honest, and more disciplined as I consider the work to which I feel called.  If anyone wants to read and join in the conversation, please do! 

PS  The image is courtesy of Kromkrathog/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

A Word to Grads of 2012: Letting God and Remaining Connected

Graduation is upon us and we've just today sent off the graduating class of 2012 from Southwestern College.  I had an opportunity to give a short "charge" to the seniors and their families at the Baccalaureate service this morning.  Here is a portion of the words that I shared.

While the journey of education and preparation for a career has been different for each person with whom we celebrate today, I think that we could find some similarities in the stories of everyone.  Each graduate, and even their loved ones, have learned many lessons.  You have certainly learned more about psychology, or education, or business, or religion.  But I would speculate that you have also learned some practical lesson, such as how long you can wait before laundry becomes a critical need.  Or, how to buckle down and do work that you don’t really want to do.  And I hope that you’ve learned to get along with people who have a different background than you.  And you may have, without even knowing it, learned a basic lesson about horticulture.  If not, I hope to teach it now.

Our scripture tells us this basic word about horticulture, and it is this:  simply put, a branch that doesn’t bear fruit should be cut off, and that which does bear fruit should be pruned, so as to be even more fruitful.  While this may not initially seem terribly profound, it is a lesson that while you maybe didn’t learn it in class, you will need to learn in life.

In order to be fruitful in life, we must learn to prune, to let go of some things.  We are usually pretty willing to let go of things that are hard (like reading a challenging book, or staying up late to work on a paper), but the kind of pruning that Jesus is referring to in this passage goes beyond simply letting go of things that we didn’t want anyway.  He is referring to branches that don’t bear fruit.  Things like: small ideas, preconceived plans, grievances toward one another.  We must let go of things that tie us down to the ways of the world in order to be freed up for higher things like commitment to our mission, service to our world, and following after God’s purposes. 

The pruning doesn’t always involve simply lopping off the unfruitful things in our lives.  It also involves pruning that which is good, in order to grow that which is great.  Just after college, I read an article that brought the truth of this idea to life.  The author was talking about priorities.  He told the story of a wine company that advertized their product by saying “We cut off some of the good fruit, so that you can have only the very best.”   Their point was that they were less interested in producing a higher quantity yield than they were in producing a higher quality yield.  As I translated this into my own ordering of priorities, if I wanted to produce the very best in my life, I would need to cut off some things that were simply “good.”  Committing to too many good things prevented me from saying yes to that which would enable me to do the hard work that would lead to greatness later on. 

Pruning is painful—it requires discernment to know what to let go of, but pruning is purposeful.  It reminds us that what may seem like a sacrifice in the short-term, will yield long term benefits.

Learning how to prioritize by pruning is not the only word that John 15 has for us this morning.  The trajectory of this text is not about the letting go process, but actually about the remaining connected process.  Jesus’ words identify that in order to bear any fruit, a branch must remain connected to the vine.  The flower bouquet that you may give to your loved one as you celebrate today is beautiful, but the flower will not continue to grow.  In order for that beauty to continue to grow, the flowers must stay planted.

Graduate, you are beautiful today with your diploma and your cap and gown and the glow of accomplishment.  But, unless you remain connected to the life-giving vine, the beauty will fade, the vibrancy will diminish, the growth will cease.  So, stay planted.  A fruitful life is one that continues to bloom, season after season, year after year.  Remain connected to God, the Life-Giver.  Surround yourself with others whose lives show the fruitfulness that is a result of rootedness.  Allow yourself to be nurtured, even as you nurture others.  While pruning is about letting go, remaining in God is about staying connected. 

So graduate, it is time to prune.  Cut off those things that prevent you from living out the higher purposes to which you’ve been called.  And be willing to give up some of the good things so that you might be able to harvest the truly great things.  You’ll do this by remaining connected to the true Life-Giver.  You think that you’re beautiful now?  Just wait. May your life show the evidence of a plentiful harvest that is beautiful beyond all comparison.  And in that harvest, may you find the fullness of life.  Amen.

I'm so excited....and I just can't hide it! (#Explo11)

I’m excited.  Yeah…if you know me, you know that it doesn’t actually take a whole lot for me to be excited!  I tend to run pretty optimistic about things, but today my excitement is warranted, I’m sure of it!  J  I am in Saint Louis preparing for Exploration2011, an event that the General Board for Higher Education and Ministry directs for young people to explore a call to ministry, specifically ordained ministry, in the United Methodist Church.  The Design Team has reassembled for the event, after starting work on it a year and a half ago, and as we met tonight and shared our prayer requests and expectations for the weekend, I was awash with excitement about all that God has done, is doing, and will do in the lives of the people who will be here and those whom they will serve.  We talk so frequently about the challenges in the church and in the world and hypothesize on how we are going to see our way forward.  I’m convinced that what we will see this weekend is a glimpse of the way forward.  We have young people who are gifted, called, and have a passion to serve in the world.  Hundreds of them have committed to being available to God this weekend to spend time in intentional discernment.  I’m praying, and asking for the prayers of anyone who reads this, that God will continue to draw them deeper into relationship and that out of the overflow of that vital relationship would result a passion to serve God in making disciples for the transformation of the world. 

So forgive me if I’m pretty excited!  I don’t think that it gets better than this!

PS  You can follow the Twitter feed of #Explo11 here.

Praying for Exploration 2011

A year and a half ago, I was asked to serve on a Design Team for Exploration 2011.  I quickly said yes, as I was excited to be a part of an experience that will be a “spiritual marker” for some who attend.  Exploration is an “event” (though it seems shallow to call it that—it is more than an “event,” it is potentially an encounter with the Living God in discerning what may be a call to ministry) for people aged 18-26 to explore what it means to be called to ministry, specially related to ordination as a deacon or elder in the United Methodist Church.  Representatives from the 13 United Methodist Seminaries will be there, along with leaders who can articulate various important aspects of ministry. 

I attended Exploration 1996, which seems like a lifetime ago.  It was the first time that I understood what ordination was and was particularly interested in the new order of the deacon (which I would be ordained as in 2010).  I honestly don’t remember many of the details that happened at the event, but I do know that I left that “event” being confident that God had called me to something, even if I didn’t know all of the details.  I look back on that time and realize that it truly was a “spiritual marker” of sorts, as much for setting aside the time to go, but also for verbalizing to others that I had a call to ministry.  (I wrote more in detail about that here). 

Exploration is a time to set aside the other things on the schedule to listen:  to others who are sensing a call to ministry, to the equipping opportunities for ministry, but most importantly to listen to God.  This fall, on 11/11/11, hundreds will gather in St. Louis, and even as the final preparations are approaching, I would love to invite you to pray with me.  The things that I’m praying for in the days ahead are:

• People registering—that God would bring people who are open to the work that God may want to do in their lives
• Speakers and workshop leaders—that they would articulate what it means to live out one’s call to ministry
• Churches and Campus Ministries who are “sending” people—that they would nurture the call of ministry well before Exploration and upon return home

The theme for this year is “Passion and Possibilities” and we are eagerly anticipating all that God will do in the lives of those in attendance.  I work with college students in campus ministry, in fact, 8 of my students will be joining me in St. Louis this year.  They are full of both passion and possibilities.  I am excited for all that God has in store in the days ahead.  And I’m grateful for your prayers joining in for this “event.”

Google+ and College Students

I have been on Google+ for almost a week now and it's been fascinating for me to watch how it is evolving in my "circles," namely the United Methodist Church online world, campus ministry people, and my college students. I scored an invite first from a recent grad, but couldn't figure out how to accept the invite and then a fellow young UMC clergy sent me an invite which I did figure out how to accept! Within a day, I found people that I knew (in real life and in the digital world) and other people found me. It was fascinating to watch how quickly people popped up on Google+. I was actually an early adopter of Facebook (when I started, it was before it was public, as some Southwestern students lobbyed the FB folks for a network. I believe we got one in early 2006.) and a fairly early Twitter adopter. I got pulled in to Facebook by my students and I got pulled into Twitter by UMC young clergy colleagues, and I got pulled into Google+ from people that I followed on Twitter. We'll see how things take off with G+, but here are a few observations that I've made:

• I have been surprised at how many of my college students have already gotten on G+. It seems that with the exception of a couple, most of my students did not jump on board with Twitter. In the last year, a dozen or so (that are in my world) have begun tweeting, but I already have that many students that have signed up for G+. This gives me great hope that all of the collaborative potential that I see for G+ might actually be able to be used!
• I think that people really are gravitating toward the idea of selective disclosure of themselves, ie., the various ways that that they can reveal their online selves by posts going to particular circles. Facebook certainly has that ability, but one must be pretty savvy and disciplined to sort people, add to lists, etc., etc., in order for it to live up to it's potential.
• I'm hoping that G+ stays away from the online games and such that has been the legacy of Facebook. I know that there is a certain kind of community in online gaming, but I don't want another Farmville request! I'm not interested! :-)
• I "follow" many of the same people in FB, Twitter, and G+ and right now, everyone seems to be posting all three places. I'm wondering if that will change with time..if we will figure out where the best audience is for which type of communication and connect there. I'm sure that this will evolve as we figure it out, and I'm curious how it will develop.
• I'm not a Mac devotee and I was pleasantly surprised that the G+ app was on Android first! It is awesome! I can definitely see how I would use G+ different on my phone and I like what I see!

Anyway...almost a week in and I'm encouraged that Google+ could actually do what FB and email haven't been able to do in my ministry: make communication with my students a little easier (they don't get on FB to "communicate"--it is for entertainment, and many don't read email at all or very frequently!). That remains to be seen...it could just be that it's the shiny new thing, but it looks promising!

Not Alone

It seems, at times, that we are alone. The situations in our lives have played out and we think we know the ending. I'm assuming that's how Mary Magdalene felt as she stood weeping outside the tomb. Alone and disappointed. And then...he was there. Jesus appeared...looking somewhat different than she remembered, or expected. And likewise, the disciples felt abandoned and alone inside their locked doors and self-induced seclusion. And yet, Jesus appeared, twice, to his beloved disciples to remind them that they are not alone. Slowly, at least some of the disciples begin to emerge from their seclusion and they return to their pre-Jesus lives as fishermen.

READ: John 21:1-13

Finally…Simon Peter worked up the courage, either out of confidence, hope, or boredom to go fishing! But even as that first day back on the water drew to a close, they yielded no catch. A long, probably uncomfortable, questioning night that thankfully came to an end with daybreak. They heard a fatherly voice from the shore: “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They didn’t know who it was, but it was a voice that seemed to understand something about them. Then, the voice gave them advice…the advice that they didn’t even know that they needed. The voice told them to put their nets out to the right side of the boat. They were in the right waters, but were approaching it the wrong way. When they obeyed and saw how much fish they caught, the Person behind the voice was revealed. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved knew it first! It was Jesus! And true to form, the impulsive Peter jumped into the water to get to his Lord first of all!

Jesus was there…on the shore all along. I even wonder if he was there the day before in their frustration of a day without a catch. Was he there waiting and hoping that they would notice him? Was he there ready to offer advice, if only they would ask? And then, that second morning, he spoke, only they didn’t know it was him. It was after they obeyed his voice, and saw that it was trustworthy, did they see that he was actually there all along.

Are there times when you are discouraged? Do you think that you’re fishing in the right waters, but things aren’t yielding the result that you’re expecting, that you’re praying for, that you know should happen? Is it possible that Jesus is there, all along?

Mission Accomplished!

In the last several years, we have started making a “time capsule” of sorts in the “mascot” of our mission trips, Al Buho (a.k.a. our plastic owl decoy that is a coveted White Elephant gift at our Christmas parties). This year our note from our trip to the Dominican Republic sums it up well:

Mission Field: Anywhere from Kansas to the DR

Mission: To Be the Hands and Feet of God, Serving His People

We assembled at Wichita airport, packed and ready to begin our journey. Each of us had our own concerns, excitements, expectations, but only one goal—to let God’s will be done. For most of the team, the language barrier was a huge challenge we’ve overcome. Though we were plagued with sickness and injury, we never lost sight of our mission. We taught lessons in schools, sang songs, did crafts, played with the kids, loved the kids, visited people in their homes, lead youth group, were a part of church services, and shared God’s love with all whom we met. It didn’t matter what happened before or after, we gave our all to put a smile on every face we came across. We had come to be a blessing, but in return, have been blessed by leaps and bounds. As individuals, we’ve grown in our own different ways. As a team, we have grown to become a family, striving for excellence in all that we do. Our mission in the mission field has been completed, but our mission for God never ends. Armed with our own stories, as testimonies of God’s goodness, we are ready to further God’s kingdom, by being His hands and feet, wherever we go from here.

Our mission trip reminded us of the power of God at work in the world around us…not that we were bringing God’s power…the Holy Spirit had already done that, but we became aware of the work that is being done in a part of the world far from us, in many ways. We experienced significant ministry within our group, as one of our members was hospitalized with Dengue Fever. We witnessed God’s healing in his life as he was released in time to travel home with us, and we experienced the power of prayer, as we kept vigil for him during a particularly dangerous time for him. And we came away with a reminder that God calls us to be in mission wherever we are. Thanks be to God...and mission accomplished!

Campus Ministry Blog-a-thon

My friend, Guy Chmieleski, the campus pastor at Belmont in Nashville, is hosting a blog-a-thon at his blog, faithoncampus.com. He has a series of posts from various people related to campus ministry from around the nation that he is posting between today and Thursday, June 9. He even asked me to write one of the articles. The series is called "Soul Care for the College Pastor" and has a great line up. Read the articles, chime in and pass them on. Hope to see you there!

Imagine No Malaria

I was listening to NPR yesterday and heard a snippet from a story that they were doing about polio and how it is nearly eradicated. Now, don’t forget “nearly eradicated” fits pretty well along the lines that “close is only good in horseshoes and hand-grenades.” Nearly eradicated means that the world is not done yet with the disease and until every case is gone, the disease still rages. I’m thankful that polio will “soon” be eradicated, but I soberly realize that there are many other preventable diseases that are also on our list. Take malaria for example.

The website for Imagine No Malaria puts it this way

This is a Fight We Must Win, Because…

…every 45 seconds, a child in Africa dies of malaria.

…malaria claims more than 1 million lives each year.

…infants, children and pregnant women are at greatest risk.

…90 percent of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

And…did I mention that Malaria can be eradicated and thus, is preventable? I am so proud that the United Methodist Church has joined with other organizations and people who are working to eliminate malaria by 2015. Something that has caught my eye is the Imagine No Malaria initiative and the House Party idea. They suggest having a get-together that is aimed at educating people in our circle of friends about malaria and giving them an opportunity to donate toward the cause of education, prevention and treatment of malaria. This is a great opportunity for Campus Ministries or Sunday School classes to be involved with! There are lots of ideas, resources, and other help on the www.imaginenomalaria.org/houseparty website. I’m going to talk to some students soon and see how we can participate. I hope that you’ll join me.

When Normal is Exhilirating

I wrote this yesterday about my day. I've been thinking a lot about recognizing God's presence in the midst of life, rather than seeing God's presence after the fact. Yesterday was a good day.

There are many days in ministry that are difficult: institutions are cumbersome, resistance is inevitable, and people are messy. And there are days when ministry is exhilarating: systems work well, creativity is abundant and people use their gifts to God’s glory. Today has been one of the later. It is exciting to watch the college students with whom I’ve been blessed to work discover and live out their faith. Here is a snippet from my day:

• I woke up feeling rather cranky. In fact, I said out loud (to myself) before I left my house: “Ashlee, why are you so grumpy? Get over whatever your problem is.” (I hope that others have similar habits of talking to themselves. I don’t usually say things out loud to myself, but I was in a foul mood this morning for absolutely no good reason.)
• I got an email first thing this morning from a student who was so excited to tell me some things that God had been doing in her life that she wanted to meet with me. I sought her out this morning soon after I got in my office. She shared with me some experiences that she and some other students had over the weekend in worship and prayer together. She spoke about some things that I've prayed about over the last several years for my campus and I began to see in her testimony of God’s faithfulness in answering prayer. She’s facilitating a prayer forum online for our campus and I’m excited to see where it goes.
• I actually got some work done in my office! Go figure!
• I went to our monthly “Family Meeting” for Discipleship and continue to be blown away by the gifts that my students have. I felt absolutely irrelevant and it was wonderful! Oh sure, I've spent the time with them and they all know what their jobs are. God has matured them in ways that they are powerful leaders and it was incredibly freeing to see the maturity that was exhibited in this group of 13 leaders to the team of 40 others. A visiting religious studies fellow who is in his second year even commented on the maturity that he had witnessed in one of the students in the year and a half that he has been here.

And that was all before noon! The rest of the day, I went to meetings, met with students, and answered emails and my work seemed more connected to God’s mission in the world than usual. It’s easy, especially this time of year, for us to get focused on challenges, problems, and messes that we have to clean up. But let’s not forget that when our work is focused on the Kingdom of God, even our challenges have a new meaning. Today was a day when the veil was thin...when I saw the Kingdom of God in front of my very eyes. The reason it was so notable for me was because while I'm good at seeing God's presence in the "big" days/moments/experiences, it's much harder in the "normal" days. (I wrote about this at the beginning of January.) Thankfully, I think that today was one of those "best days" that I was hoping for more of! Our lives as Christians include many "big" days, but mostly they're just "normal" days when we learn to tune our hearts and minds to God's voice. I can't believe it, but today I'm thankful for "normal."

Keeping it Simple

Last summer I invested in a touch screen cell phone that made viewing the internet on my phone significantly faster to navigate, not to mention the internet looked much better than on my previous smart phone. I knew that with a touch screen, I would be giving up the ability to text as quickly, but it wasn’t so bad when I turned my phone “landscape” instead of its normal “portrait.” However, about two months ago, my phone stopped automatically turning “landscape” when I turned it sideways. I supposed that some internal sensor was somehow malfunctioning and then made a mental note to stop by the Sprint store next time I was near one. It was a major inconvenience at first, as texting was significantly easier when the letters were bigger as they were when it was turned sideways, but eventually I just got used to it being different. I accommodated pretty quickly to the inconvenience and soon forgot that my phone was even broken. I would remember every now and then, especially when I wanted to view a picture or video, as the viewing size was about half as big in the standard viewing position. But most of the time, I…managed.

I finally made it into the Sprint store and prepared myself for the wait while they fixed the mystery problem. I was just taking a look at the Samsung Tablet, when the tech came up to me and told me that it was fixed. All they had to do was turn the auto-rotate setting back on in the Settings menu, as somehow, I must have inadvertently turned it off. So, for the last two months, while I had been too busy to go to a store, and then too forgetful to ask anyone else who might know more about phones, and then too accustomed to it not working like it should, the solution to the problem was only three clicks on my phone screen.

Isn’t this how things often are for us? The simplest solution is usually the correct one (like when your computer won’t turn on, plug it in and let it charge—it’s probably just a dead battery). I was prepared for them to open up my phone and replace “the internal sensor” (I’m assuming that there is such a thing?!). But, that would have been both a waste of time and supplies AND more than what needed to be done (and it wouldn’t have fixed the problem, anyway). But isn’t this what we do sometimes? We are experiencing a difficulty so we say that God’s leading us in a different direction, when sometimes it’s not that complicated…we just need to be patient or learn the lesson that we experience when we encounter challenges. We dream up all of these explanations like God is probably calling us to do something else, or giving us a test, but the answer may just be that we need to be patient, or faithful to what we know at this point, or simply, to love others.

And even if we do remember that the simplest answer might be the correct one, sometimes we never quite get around to trying out that simple answer. Instead, we get used to limping along in life. We have a vague recollection every now and then that something isn’t quite like it should be, or like we’d like it to be, or like we know that God wants it to be in our life. Instead, we’ve figured out how to just get along and maybe even learned some good lessons about perseverance in the meantime. But, the reality is that we often allow stuff to get in the way of living a life of abundance that Jesus talks about! Sometimes that “stuff” is busyness, sometimes fear, sometimes it is doubt or insecurity, but sometimes it is just that we’ve become so acclimated to our concessions in life. We see glimpses of a desire that God has placed in our lives, but we know that doing something different will “rock the boat.” The “merry-go-round” is in motion and slowing it down to do something different could result in us being able to do something else that is more in keeping with what God is calling us to do, or, it could result in some scraped knees, or worse—some broken bones! But oh, when we jump…when we give up our grasp on safety, or predictability, or even preference, we open ourselves up to God showing us new ways to trust, new levels of spiritual maturity, and even new gifts to explore. May we have the courage to break out of our ruts and live the abundant life to which God has called us. May we know that sometimes it's best to not know how things are going to end, and may we trust God to be there no matter what the end result is.

Best Days

Each January, I spend a little time looking back to the year behind and ahead to what is on the horizon. Last year I wrote about my desire to grow in patience this year. I believe that indeed, patience did grow in me this year. I remember hearing someone say once, “Don’t pray for patience—that’s one prayer that God always answers. He tests you and you’ll need patience.” Well, in many ways, this year was full of many challenging days and was a year that was hard for a variety of reasons. In fact, I’m sorta glad to see it go. Nothing major, just a period of challenge on which I was acutely focused.

Yesterday I was listening to Garrison Keillor question his guests on his radio program, “Prairie Home Companion.” He asked them, “What was your best day of 2010.” His guests had all be selected, presumably for having a wonderful year and were really quick to answer the question. But as I was thinking about my own answer to the question, I struggled a bit, presumably due to the challenges of this year. I sometimes feel like I live life so “fast” that I often miss out on the sacramental moments like being able to recognize a “best day” while it’s happening. Part of it is probably my personality—I see “trees” instead of the “forest” most of the time. I get stuck in details—starting this, finishing that, anticipating problems so as to subvert them, etc. I have a hard time pulling away from the perspective of the tree in order to see the beauty of the landscape that lies both behind me and ahead. I know this about myself, so most days I practice the Daily Examen of reflecting back to where I experienced Christ most keenly in my day and where I felt most distant from God. But even still, last year felt like a blur. In my Garrison Keillor-inspired extraction from the trees, I am able to see the landscape and see some of the best days of my 2010.

I had several “best days” as I took a couple of vacations with friends last summer. We laughed, told stories of the “good old days” and encouraged one another through current struggles. Relationships are absolutely priceless. They are what matters most. And my best days are days that remember that.

Another “best day” for me involves my family. Also last summer, my niece, who is more like a sister (or even a daughter to me) got married! It was an incredible day, as the man she married is a kind and wise partner for her, but also because our family (under the leadership of Megan) and many friends of Megan and Brian, “threw” the wedding for them, from decorations, to food, to flowers. It was an inspiring time of bearing witness to their vows they made to one another as we supported them as they covenanted with God in marriage. I still get a little teary.

I had other days that fell into the “best day” category, but they were much more about the daily-ness of life. They were days when I knew contentment, when I felt love and belonging, when I had assurance that the work that I am doing with college students makes a difference in the Kingdom. It’s these days, without the splash of big events, that I actually desire more of in the coming year.

In July, I was sitting in a Chinese Restaurant in Nashville, eating dinner with a friend who I’ve known my entire life and I got a fortune cookie: “Your fondest dream will come true within the year.” Well, obviously I don’t usually put much stock into fortune cookies, but this one was one of those rare times when I thought there actually might be a little bit of a sacramental moment in the fortune cookie. I don’t honestly know what my “fondest dream” is, but as I look ahead to 2011, I want to live in the sense of hope and expectation that I experienced during the season of Advent. I lean forward into a year where I am living in the abundance of God’s grace, not thinking about the next problem to solve or item to remove from my to-do list.

So, this fortune that I got that day last summer has reminded me to dream. Sadly, in my seeing the trees, I forget that. I’ve seen lots of evidence of God’s faithfulness through the last year, and I’m excited to see what happens in the coming year. Here’s to 2011, a year full of “best days!”

More Than Meets the Eye at Christmas

Recently I was asked to share a favorite tradition of mine at Christmas at a campus tree-lighting ceremony and I couldn’t get one particular snapshot of my head. It’s an ornament. It’s not much to look at, as it’s a Styrofoam sphere with cutouts of some of the Strawberry Shortcake gang on it, covered in shiny snow-like flakes, complete with a paper clip hook. But it’s mine, and it represents one of the first memories that I have of Christmas. It was purchased in 1981—it says so on the back of the ornament! Before I saw the date, I didn’t remember when it was purchased, but I definitely remember where it was purchased. It was purchased in the high school gym in my hometown where each year while I was growing up, we attended the craft fair the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I remember my mom bribing my twin sister and me with selecting our very own hand-crafted ornament if we would behave during the sometimes monotonous hour or two of looking at carved Santas, homemade jam, and handcrafted clocks. That year (apparently 1981), I found my ornament about halfway through the zig-zag of booths, displayed on a table top Christmas tree and nestled with other cartoon plastered characters on various forms of ornaments. I was five, so Blueberry Muffin, and her friends Apple Dumplin’ and Strawberry Shortcake were just my speed! I distinctly remember picking out the ornament and carrying it around so carefully, thinking that my favorite cartoon friends were the absolute best thing in that whole craft fair! Each year as I grew up, I remember placing the ornament on the tree. I silently enjoyed the walk down memory lane and probably smiled at myself for thinking that this ornament was so exquisite as a child.

One year when I was in college and I was home to decorate the Christmas tree, I discovered several broken ornaments in the trash can, put there by my mother. Lo and behold, there was the Strawberry Shortcake Gang, tossed away beside reindeer with broken antlers and a smashed glass bulb. Frantically, I called my mother to account and asked her why it was in the trashcan. She replied that it was missing its hook and that it wasn’t anything nice enough to continue to be displayed on our burgeoning tree (she probably didn’t say burgeoning, but that’s what she meant, I’m sure!). I set her straight and reminded her that while it may only look like the bauble of a kid, it represented so much more to me! It was one of the first decisions that I remembered making, and it was mine (not shared with my sister)! It had been specially handled all those year by me (apparently without notice by anyone in my family)! And it was my favorite ornament on the whole tree!

The ornament reminds me that with Christmas, there is more than meets the eye. What appeared to be a young, unwed mom, was a miracle. What seemed to only be a routine census was fulfillment of prophecy. What looked like only a baby, was God incarnate. There was much more to this seemingly mundane occurrence than what even his parents could have imagined. They certainly couldn’t have conceived that this child would be changing the fate of human history. But that’s what the birth of Jesus was. Jesus’ birth was the single most important thing that had happened up to that time. I would suggest that his death and resurrection is the only thing that tops it. So how could his humble parents know that they were getting ready to raise the Savior of the World?

My silly little ornament isn’t sacred. It isn’t magical. It isn’t even really that artistic. But it is a seasonal reminder to me that with Christmas, there is more than meets the eye.

A Life-Giving Christmas

Advent is not a time in Campus Ministry when we are able to do much programming (or at least I am able to do much). Most folks that I know in Campus Ministry have to wrap up most of our small groups/worship services during the first week of December due to finals and end of the semester stresses. A couple of weeks ago, though, I got a copy of the Rethink Church Advent Resources. I’ve decided that I’m going to use the introductory video for the only Chapel service that I have during Advent.

Hope. Peace. Joy. Love. These are the words that are shaping the program developed by UM Communications. I am planning on using the great little introductory video in my very last chapel, but that is our only chapel during the whole season of Advent due to wrapping up of our semester. I tell you what, both me and my campus are ready for more hope, more peace, more joy, and more love! It seems that despite the busyness of all that the is ahead of us as we approach the Christmas season, we need to focus on what is at the center of the season. And that is hope, peace, joy, and love. I wish that I had more time to devote specifically to the reminding my students about what it is to live in the reality of the Prince of Peace especially during the season of Advent, but I am grateful for the change to get the season started, at least. I hope that you will too!

Campus Ministry Summer Happenings

This summer, my blog has been fairly silent, but I've been really busy. Here are two things that are happening in the upcoming weeks in the world of campus ministry. I hope that you'll be able to join in the ministry.

1. I've written several times about my involvement with a prayer campaign for campus ministry in the United Methodist Church. Well...we're counting down. Read this article from The United Methodist Reporter and then click on over to our website. It will launch on August 2 and the prayers will be available in time for our August 23 start date for prayer.


2. My former Asbury colleague, Dr. Guy Chmieleski, has organized an online conference blog--a-thon for next week, August 3-5, on his blog, Faith On Campus. He writes about his blog here. He's got an incredible lineup of campus ministry types from all over the country who are going to be writing and weighing in on other posts during the three days. If you can, check in (and chime in!) during between Tuesday and Thursday. I've even written a blog for one of the days.

So...between preparing for the new school year and getting a little bit of rest, there is much going on! I hope that you'll join.

PS The picture is one painted by a SC student in our campus prayer room. It has been my prayer this summer.

To be continued...

On Friday, April 30, a group of campus ministers, college students, and ministry and church leaders joined together for a day of teaching about prayer, praying and preparing for an upcoming season of prayer. The season of prayer is twofold: we are calling the United Methodist Church to pray for college campuses and we are calling college students to enter into a life of prayer. The prayer faculty for the day represented people who have demonstrated a life of prayer. Vance Ross of the General Board of Discipleship, Margaret Therkelson of Lexington, KY, Tom Albin of the Upper Room, and Dana Hernandez and David Blackwell from Campus America shared various perspectives on prayer. Their sessions were recorded and will be available for free at a later date. The day represented partnerships by The Foundation for Evangelism, The Upper Room, The General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, and UM Communications.

One of the themes that arose from the day of teaching and prayer was that God is stirring in the hearts of the Church for the people of our college campuses. It is our intention to remind the people of God to be intentionally prayerful on behalf of college students. The intentional season of prayer that we are calling for will last first for 40 days—August 23-October 1—but really is to usher us into a life of prayer. We’re asking campus ministers to demonstrate a life of prayer on their own, but also to prepare their students for the Holy Spirit to teach them to pray on their own. The life of prayer is not one for the faint of heart. Rather it is one that requires sacrifice—of time, of personal agendas, of self-interest. But it is a life that we are called to as Christians, and as Methodists, as we seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

There is more to come, but if you're a person who prays, would you add this prayer effort to your intercession? Would you pray for our campuses, for our campus ministry leaders, for college students whom you know? Pray for God's Spirit to capture this generation of students to live lives for God's glory, reaching out in ministry to all the world. And pray that the Church might come alongside the millions of young leaders who are heading to the college campus this fall to be a witness of Christ's transformative power. To God be the Glory!

To be continued...

Listen to this

My friend Wendy is a student at Princeton Theological Seminary and has enjoyed working with some fellow students in an independant study with Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean in the area of Youth Ministry. They just released a podcast that they recorded about their project on "Rites of Passage." You should listen to it.

Adrenaline Junkie

Hi, I’m Ashlee, and I’m an adrenaline addict. Not the adventure-seeking-bungee-jumping kind of addict, but the let’s-see-if-I-can-squeeze-in-one-more-thing kind of addict. I came to this realization about myself a little over a month ago when I felt my pulse quicken as I turned toward my bank, despite the fact that I had an appointment in 5 minutes and I was 3 minutes away. I wondered if I could get my errand done and still make it on time. I did, for the record.

That pulse-quickening, highly-efficient, no-margin-of-error kind of living is the lifestyle that I renounced last year, but this experience that day at the end of April brought home to me the fact that my high need for efficiency is pretty ingrained. Usually one would say that efficiency is great. However, I’ve recognized that for me, efficiency is actually reliance on myself, rather than on God. It’s also pride and hubris, as I act as if the normal boundaries for healthy people somehow don’t apply to me.

So I must confess my sins of self-dependence and pride and admit that even though I’m not hurting another person in my adrenaline-addictive ways, I’m also not living the sort of life when I can truly understand what the Psalmist means when he says, “Be still and know that I am God.”

In order to break my addictions, I’ve done three things, and I have to say, I’m feeling more and more freed from this nasty habit.

1. I’m leaving five minutes earlier to get where I need to get. I have realized that I love the rush of wondering if I’m going to get somewhere on time. I don’t like to waste one minute of being “early,” preferring to be “right on time.” But usually that means I’m about 2 minutes late since I saw someone on the way across campus or got held up by a stoplight. I don’t like being disrespectful to people and being late is one of the common discourtesies, so I’m trying, I really am, to be a few minutes early. And I’m learning to enjoy sitting for a few minutes if I am early. Huh, whowouldathought?!
2. Secondly, I’m growing a tomato plant. I’m only taking partial credit for thinking this up as a way of breaking out of my adrenaline addiction, as part of it actually goes to one of my students. I have a student who apparently has a burgeoning green thumb. He managed to convince a staff person here on campus to let him take over a lapsed garden and he tells me that he is growing quite a few veggies. He gave me a tomato plant in a planter so that I could make some fresh salsa later this summer and he continues to ask me how the plant is doing. I can’t tell him that I’ve let it die, so I water it. And I check on the little developing tomatoes and I do my best to will this little plant into abundance. I really have no ability to make this plant grow and that’s where I’ve seen that the plant is a long term investment of my time. Since my adrenaline-addictive habits like to see immediate success, this plant is exactly what I need to remind me of a sustained, steady, slow, progress that isn’t even guaranteed. My travels preventing me from watering it, the birds, or even a bad storm could completely demolish the potential of my summer salsa plans. But I water it anyway.
3. Finally, my third (and most important) intervention to breaking the adrenaline habit is to linger longer in my morning (and afternoon, and evening) prayers. Instead of hurrying to get to work, I stay just a few more precious moments longer in studying scripture or praying. From the worldly perspective, I’m wasting time (and lots of it!), but from the spiritual perspective, I’m doing the most important work of the day. My head is clearer, my heart is more emboldened, and I’m far less inclined to be anxious about the things that I can’t control.

So, I suppose that I’m a recovering adrenaline addict, or on the road to it at least. I might just have to start investigating bungee jumping after all…

Praying for Campus Ministry

If you've read my blog for very long, you've noticed that I have blogged about a series of prayer efforts over the last several years, both personal prayer and group efforts. I would say that prayer has been an area of growth for me in my personal life. I've often felt a sense of guilt over times when my prayer life has waned. And yet, other times, I've known the fuel for life and ministry that an active prayer life provides. And so, as I've worked out some of my own thoughts and experiences in prayer, I've shared a bit about it on my blog.

I wrote last fall about a prayer effort that my colleague in the world of Campus Ministry, Creighton Alexander, and I were leading. It was 40 days of prayer to coincide with the start of school for college campuses around the country. We had some good encouragement in the prayer effort last fall and felt a sense of calling to once again, invite others to join us in prayer for the fall of 2010. This time, we've partnered with The Upper Room in the effort leading up to the 40 Days of Prayer and they are hosting a group of people to spend a day in prayer in anticipation of initiating a prayer effort for August 23-October 1, 2010. We will be meeting in Nashville at the United Methodist Communications Building, from 9:30 a.m.-7 p.m., being led in prayer by several teachers of prayer. Our "prayer faculty" are:

• Vance Ross - GBOD


• Tom Albin - The Upper Room


• Margaret Therkelsen - Lexington, KY


• David Blackwell - Campus America


• Dana Hernandez - Campus America

We know that there are some who would like to join us in the prayer conference that day, but who will be unable to do so physically. So, we'll have a live webstreaming of the conference in which anyone who is interested can participate. The link will be available here. You can also find information about our Prayer Gathering in Nashville at that link, too.

Twelve years ago, I read Bill Hybels book Too Busy Not to Pray. One of the things that has stuck with me was based off his general premise--the "busier" one gets being involved in ministry, the more one must rely on the intentional guidance of the Holy Spirit in prayer. You could say that I've been doing a lot of relying on the Holy Spirit lately. Each day, I eagerly anticipate the work that God is doing (and will continue to do) as we faithfully work out our calling in ministry through prayer. Please, seriously consider joining our little group of pray-ers next week. I really believe that God's Spirit has been weaving together a beautiful message for us through the people who will be teaching us about prayer.

If you are interested in prayer, ministry with college students, and are available to join us in the event next week, we still have a few spots left. Please RSVP to Ashlee.Alley@sckans.edu.