Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Having returned from Ski Safari, the Spring Semester is now well under way—we are now in our fourth week of classes. Our students, true to form, have begun the Spring Semester with both intensity and excitement. This same intensity and excitement has been on display in our students’ spiritual lives—the Melrose Center has been bustling with students studying Scripture and praying with one another. This Spring our students are studying different material in Bible Course, based on their class year. Our seniors will be doing vocational preparation, as they look to enter the workforce; our juniors and sophomores are studying one of the most influential books in the Scripture—Paul’s letter to the Romans; and our frosh, in turn, are completing two studies—one on the Seeking-God Lifestyle, which lies at the heart of Christian Union, and another on Christian sexual ethics. The Spring semester is always an exciting time for students of seeing how God’s word applies to many aspects of their lives.
The rhythm of the semester has commenced, with mid-terms, clubs, and activities now in full force. One of the challenges for our students this semester is to “seek first the kingdom,” in the sense of taking 2 set times per day of prayer, Scripture reading, and worship. We’ve noticed that students are looking for structure, not in the rote sense of going through the motions, but in developing habits. As a few of our students prepare to participate in the Broad Street Run (a 10-mile race here in Philly), they have to set aside times for training. Our running the race of faith requires time set apart for training as well. Would you pray…
Dear Prayer Partners,
As always, we give thanks to God for your ongoing support. As I write this, we are looking forward to an outreach event this afternoon: a screening of the film Emanuel and conversation with producer Dimas Salaberrios, a long-time friend of Christian Union. While the event will already have taken place by the time you are reading this, please pray that the conversation would continue and that hearts would continue to be stirred and drawn to the Lord by the film's powerful witness to the Spirit of forgiveness.
“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
-- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
The above quote from Lewis’ remarkable sermon, given in Oxford in 1941, is part of the argument to raise our understanding and practice of what it means to live out the job description God gave us in Genesis 1 and 2: to honor God, steward creation, and bless others. It's not always obvious to us that we’re made in the very image of God, and we certainly struggle with seeing others in that way.
I pray that you are having a blessed start to the new year.
Christian Union at Columbia started 2020 with a new Ministry Director and some faculty transitions. The students recently returned from vacation after Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and we are truly excited for this upcoming semester.
We have begun our second semester at Cornell as students have come back from winter break. After a period of transition, we now have a new director on our staff. Greg Ray has come from Madrid, Spain, where he was doing missionary work to lead our team. As we move into this new stage, we look forward to seeing how God is going to work through the team on this campus.
Greetings from Cambridge!
As I was recently reading Nehemiah, I was struck by how single-minded and focused he was on the task the Lord had called him to do, rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah chapter 6 some of his opponents try to distract him away from his mission, but his response is quite remarkable: “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.” There was no taking Nehemiah away from what God had called him to do.
It has been a spiritually rich month here in Princeton as our students have returned from break with a desire to seek the Lord. As you may know, Princeton’s usual academic calendar means that January is the month of final papers and assignments for the students. During this time, we have developed a tradition of hosting our daily prayer meetings at the Melrose Center. In the midst of exams and assignments, our students have been faithful to pray. Over this month, we regularly had groups of well over a dozen students praying together. Overall, we sense our students are showing an increased desire to seek the Lord and we praise God for this.
This week is our first full week with the students after winter break, and it is starting with a bang. This weekend we are heading to Refreshing Mountain near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for a weekend retreat. Nearly 50 students will be seeking the Lord’s presence and renewal, and we are hopeful for a filling of His Spirit as we worship, pray, and fellowship.
One of my perennial resolutions in every new year is to read more deeply and profoundly about both faith and the world around me. However, given my suggestion in an earlier letter, I am moving from resolutions to building habits - they tend to be much more permanent.
College students often share a common blind spot that we all fall prey to: the tendency to think of life through a very narrow and individual filter. I don’t blame the students—the schools cultivate that brand of individualism, and we as a society certainly model it as well. So even as we draft our own personal goals and resolutions for the new year, allow me to offer some perspective from C.S. Lewis:
"The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 4:6-7
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:14)
Blessings to you during this season of Advent! At this time, we and our students are reflecting on Christ’s incarnation that we might become like him and have eternal life. We trust that during this season you will also be able to reflect on this profound truth that God dwelled among us in the person of Christ.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I just listened to a sermon by the late, great pastor Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He summed up Paul’s epistle to the Romans as “Soli Deo Gloria!” The summum bonum of the cosmos and all of redemptive history is the glory of God in Jesus Christ. As we near the completion of this fall semester, God’s glory is particularly evident on the campus of Penn.
Dear Prayer Partners,
I deeply appreciate you and all the prayers that you have offered to the Lord on our behalf in 2019!
As you may know, every Christian Union Bible Course on every campus studied Colossians this fall. The theme of Thanksgiving resounds throughout Paul’s letter. As this holiday season can easily be filled with unchecked expectations and the strangest of insecurities, I encourage all of you who know and love God to enter into the Christmas season “already full”. Full of joy with the good news that God has lifted the crushing burden of sin off our shoulders. Full of the abundant life Christ has given us in exchange. Full of many good moments with family, friends, and members of Christ’s body. Fully assured in all the will of God — that he is working out holiness in you and bringing to more maturity in Him.
Psalm 2 is a majestic description of Christ’s coming and rule. God gives the Psalmist the ability to look beyond earthly constraints and context to see a place of transcendent and righteous rule - whose kingdom reaches to the very ends of the earth. This vision of a righteous kingdom runs through the narratives of both old and new testaments, and motivates the events and initiatives we do in New York.
