November 5, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
Every community of Christians is called to pursue humility. In our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians this semester, students at CU Lux learned that early Christians incorporated a hymn about Christ’s humility in their worship (Phil. 2:5-11). The hymn celebrates Christ’s life of selflessness, from his divine preexistence to his undeserved death and exaltation. The one who enjoyed equality with God emptied himself. Instead of clinging to the advantages of that equality, Christ set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, becoming human. He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death—a crucifixion.
Every community of Christians is called to pursue humility. In our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians this semester, students at CU Lux learned that early Christians incorporated a hymn about Christ’s humility in their worship (Phil. 2:5-11). The hymn celebrates Christ’s life of selflessness, from his divine preexistence to his undeserved death and exaltation. The one who enjoyed equality with God emptied himself. Instead of clinging to the advantages of that equality, Christ set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, becoming human. He lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death—a crucifixion.
October 1, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
God is at Yale. The Bible calls them signs; our students call them God sightings—everyday moments that remind us of God’s character. We think of them as events that cause us to give praise to God. Some are “wow” moments, and others are small in nature.
At CU Lux, we practice sharing God sightings during weekly gatherings in small and large groups or in one-on-one meetings. There’s never an awkward silence. God is seen in action all the time. Students testify that He is the I AM, the one who is present with his people at Yale:
God is at Yale. The Bible calls them signs; our students call them God sightings—everyday moments that remind us of God’s character. We think of them as events that cause us to give praise to God. Some are “wow” moments, and others are small in nature.
At CU Lux, we practice sharing God sightings during weekly gatherings in small and large groups or in one-on-one meetings. There’s never an awkward silence. God is seen in action all the time. Students testify that He is the I AM, the one who is present with his people at Yale:
September 3, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
We are excited to congratulate and welcome the class of 2025 on their admission and arrival at Yale. Our upper-class students have spent the past few weeks preparing activities and creating a supportive atmosphere to welcome the incoming first-year students into our Christian community. A group of students met in the Pennington Center every day last week, writing 500 hand-written notes, which will be distributed across the campus to the freshman class alongside a selection of sweets and a copy of Luke’s gospel.
We are excited to congratulate and welcome the class of 2025 on their admission and arrival at Yale. Our upper-class students have spent the past few weeks preparing activities and creating a supportive atmosphere to welcome the incoming first-year students into our Christian community. A group of students met in the Pennington Center every day last week, writing 500 hand-written notes, which will be distributed across the campus to the freshman class alongside a selection of sweets and a copy of Luke’s gospel.
August 5, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
We are blessed by the opportunity to update you on our ministry at Yale. God has been blessing and continues to bless our faith community through a new initiative started a few weeks ago. While diving deep into our summer Bible study of John’s Gospel, we encountered the glorious signs that Jesus performed to manifest God’s glory before and in the lives of his contemporaries. We were in awe of Jesus, amazed at how he embodied the truth and grace of God and inspired us to “do the works” that he did (John 14:12).
With Jesus as a foundation and guide, each member of our community committed to prayerfully memorize one passage of Scripture per week, internalize it every evening, use the morning devotional time to find practical ways to externalize it, and be a living testimony of that passage in every human interaction throughout the day.
We are blessed by the opportunity to update you on our ministry at Yale. God has been blessing and continues to bless our faith community through a new initiative started a few weeks ago. While diving deep into our summer Bible study of John’s Gospel, we encountered the glorious signs that Jesus performed to manifest God’s glory before and in the lives of his contemporaries. We were in awe of Jesus, amazed at how he embodied the truth and grace of God and inspired us to “do the works” that he did (John 14:12).
With Jesus as a foundation and guide, each member of our community committed to prayerfully memorize one passage of Scripture per week, internalize it every evening, use the morning devotional time to find practical ways to externalize it, and be a living testimony of that passage in every human interaction throughout the day.
July 1, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
His resurrection power is alive in our CU Lux community as our students are using the summer months to strengthen their relationship to God and each other. God is to be praised. Our summer Bible study on the gospel of John has been well attended, the students’ new initiative to memorize Scripture is catching on, and our student executive team is faithfully invested in planning for the 2021-2022 academic year.
His resurrection power is alive in our CU Lux community as our students are using the summer months to strengthen their relationship to God and each other. God is to be praised. Our summer Bible study on the gospel of John has been well attended, the students’ new initiative to memorize Scripture is catching on, and our student executive team is faithfully invested in planning for the 2021-2022 academic year.
June 10, 2021
Christian Fellowship
Christian Union Lux, Christian Union's ministry at Yale, hosted a virtual reunion on June 6 from 3:00 - 4:00pm EST. Christian Union Lux invited participants from all classes, all denominations, and all Christian ministries to this annual event. Thanks for joining us!June 3, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
We are blessed by the opportunity to update you on our ministry at Yale. Through God’s extraordinary grace, we concluded this academic year with a senior banquet, a celebratory event honoring the work of God in the lives of our graduates. We sent them into the world with gifts: a Yale mug, a book on Christian discipleship, congratulatory cards signed by beloved peers, and the charge to shine like stars in the universe by holding fast to the word of truth (Philippians 2:14-16). Our new mentorship program, which connects graduates with CU alumni and Christian professionals, will provide vocational support and keep graduates centered on Jesus, our bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).
We are blessed by the opportunity to update you on our ministry at Yale. Through God’s extraordinary grace, we concluded this academic year with a senior banquet, a celebratory event honoring the work of God in the lives of our graduates. We sent them into the world with gifts: a Yale mug, a book on Christian discipleship, congratulatory cards signed by beloved peers, and the charge to shine like stars in the universe by holding fast to the word of truth (Philippians 2:14-16). Our new mentorship program, which connects graduates with CU alumni and Christian professionals, will provide vocational support and keep graduates centered on Jesus, our bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).
May 6, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
Signs surround us—whether it’s emojis in digital communication, traffic signs that help us navigate the roads, or business logos that mark brand identity. A sign is a visible representation of an idea, something standing for something other than itself. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as signifying something. In John’s gospel, Jesus performs seven signs as visible symbols of God’s presence on earth. Each of the seven solicits a response: Do you believe that Jesus is the embodiment of God’s presence?
Signs surround us—whether it’s emojis in digital communication, traffic signs that help us navigate the roads, or business logos that mark brand identity. A sign is a visible representation of an idea, something standing for something other than itself. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as signifying something. In John’s gospel, Jesus performs seven signs as visible symbols of God’s presence on earth. Each of the seven solicits a response: Do you believe that Jesus is the embodiment of God’s presence?
April 1, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
A student asked me two weeks ago, “How should I read the Bible?” “Read it as a story,” I said, “read it as the story of God becoming the story of God’s people.”
As Christians, the story of God changes everything. Jesus has a way of shifting our life-script and changing the way our story reads. Joy, hope, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and love act as subjects of newly formed sentences. Page after page, we find ourselves in paragraphs of new life. It is Jesus, the Author of Life, rewriting our story and empowering us to deal with the other subjects– sadness, anxiety, distress, and evil– that seek to override our script.
A student asked me two weeks ago, “How should I read the Bible?” “Read it as a story,” I said, “read it as the story of God becoming the story of God’s people.”
As Christians, the story of God changes everything. Jesus has a way of shifting our life-script and changing the way our story reads. Joy, hope, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and love act as subjects of newly formed sentences. Page after page, we find ourselves in paragraphs of new life. It is Jesus, the Author of Life, rewriting our story and empowering us to deal with the other subjects– sadness, anxiety, distress, and evil– that seek to override our script.
March 4, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). Life during COVID-19 becomes much easier, more meaningful, and beautiful when we bring the goodness of God to others. For this esteemed reason, our students at CU Lux selected Galatians 6:9 to guide all our endeavors this semester.
God has already told us what is good: to pursue justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). Doing good, of course, is the work of God in us and through us. We not only hold fast to what is good (Romans 12:9), we are also called to embody every perfect gift that comes from above in word and deed (James 1:17).
Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9). Life during COVID-19 becomes much easier, more meaningful, and beautiful when we bring the goodness of God to others. For this esteemed reason, our students at CU Lux selected Galatians 6:9 to guide all our endeavors this semester.
God has already told us what is good: to pursue justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). Doing good, of course, is the work of God in us and through us. We not only hold fast to what is good (Romans 12:9), we are also called to embody every perfect gift that comes from above in word and deed (James 1:17).
February 4, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
Our Biblical faith is the affirmation that God’s presence changes our lives in transformative ways. Once we were no people, but now we are God’s people; once we had not received mercy, but we have now received mercy. Once we were nothing, now we are something (1 Peter 2:10).
With Yale University students back on campus for the spring semester, CU Lux organized a retreat that invited students to unite for conversations about God’s transformative power and presence in their lives. The virtual retreat began with icebreakers that warmed up the conversation and continued with a heart-opening time of worship. Students experienced the liveliness of God’s presence in small group Bible study, silent moments of reflection, one-on-one prayer, and large group testimony sharing.
Our Biblical faith is the affirmation that God’s presence changes our lives in transformative ways. Once we were no people, but now we are God’s people; once we had not received mercy, but we have now received mercy. Once we were nothing, now we are something (1 Peter 2:10).
With Yale University students back on campus for the spring semester, CU Lux organized a retreat that invited students to unite for conversations about God’s transformative power and presence in their lives. The virtual retreat began with icebreakers that warmed up the conversation and continued with a heart-opening time of worship. Students experienced the liveliness of God’s presence in small group Bible study, silent moments of reflection, one-on-one prayer, and large group testimony sharing.
January 7, 2021
Dear Cornerstone Partners and friends of CU Lux,
All of us are prone to forget the things God has done for us. We need reminders. When Joshua led God’s people towards their new home, they had to cross the Jordan River ( Joshua 3:15-16). God parted the waters, and His people walked through on dry land (v. 17). To create a memorial of this miracle, they took twelve stones from the middle of the riverbed and stacked them on the other side (4:3, 6–7). When others asked what the stones meant, God’s people would tell the story of what God had done that day.
All of us are prone to forget the things God has done for us. We need reminders. When Joshua led God’s people towards their new home, they had to cross the Jordan River ( Joshua 3:15-16). God parted the waters, and His people walked through on dry land (v. 17). To create a memorial of this miracle, they took twelve stones from the middle of the riverbed and stacked them on the other side (4:3, 6–7). When others asked what the stones meant, God’s people would tell the story of what God had done that day.
December 3, 2020
Dear CU Lux Cornerstone Partners and friends of the Ministry,
As we stand at the close of 2020, we at CU Lux are continuing to reflect on how we’ve needed to cope, adapt, and endure as many familiar landmarks of doing ministry have been drastically shifted during this time. We’ve been learning to grow in our faith in the Lord, but are amazed to experience the goodness of the Lord as we’ve tried to lean on Him.
As we stand at the close of 2020, we at CU Lux are continuing to reflect on how we’ve needed to cope, adapt, and endure as many familiar landmarks of doing ministry have been drastically shifted during this time. We’ve been learning to grow in our faith in the Lord, but are amazed to experience the goodness of the Lord as we’ve tried to lean on Him.
November 5, 2020
I Thessalonians 5:17, 23,25
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you… Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it…. pray for us.
Dear CU Lux Cornerstone Partners and other friends of the ministry,
CU Lux deeply values your love, prayers, and support through the many changing seasons this year has brought. One thing we do know is that God who calls us is faithful through it all!
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you… Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it…. pray for us.
Dear CU Lux Cornerstone Partners and other friends of the ministry,
CU Lux deeply values your love, prayers, and support through the many changing seasons this year has brought. One thing we do know is that God who calls us is faithful through it all!
October 1, 2020
Dear CU Lux Cornerstone Partners and other friends of the ministry,
In these challenging times, I hope that you have been able to guard and keep your joy in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is a wonderful source of strength, and I have been noticing recently how easy it can be for a past problem or future uncertainty to steal the fullness of joy that God has for us in the present moment. Remember Jesus’s desire that His joy may be in us and our joy may be full (John 15:11)!
In these challenging times, I hope that you have been able to guard and keep your joy in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is a wonderful source of strength, and I have been noticing recently how easy it can be for a past problem or future uncertainty to steal the fullness of joy that God has for us in the present moment. Remember Jesus’s desire that His joy may be in us and our joy may be full (John 15:11)!
September 3, 2020
Dear CU Lux Cornerstone Partners and other friends of the ministry,
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you this afternoon.
Facing difficult COVID-related financial shortfalls from donors unable to sustain their normal giving this upcoming year, CU made the difficult decision to lay off over 30 people across our organization last month. This has affected every campus where CU ministers, including Yale. Therefore, we are saying goodbye to Jane Hendrickson and Michael Racine right on the cusp of what was already shaping up to be a challenging semester for ministry. As I have expressed to our CU Lux community, these 2 servant-leaders have glorified God so well in their work. Jane, a 6-year veteran has been a highly-competent, faithful, loving, servant-hearted leader helping this ministry continue on true to its mission over many, many seasons. She has gone above and beyond to serve each of our individual students, the ministry at Yale, and the broader CU organization. Michael, with 3 years on our team, has brought academic excellence, theological depth, and a compassionate heart to our campus and organization. He as inculcated in others a real heart for seeking God with his well-measured and God-centered words in teaching and everyday conversation. Blessings to you, Michael, as you transition to another role in Christian Union.
It is with a heavy heart that I write to you this afternoon.
Facing difficult COVID-related financial shortfalls from donors unable to sustain their normal giving this upcoming year, CU made the difficult decision to lay off over 30 people across our organization last month. This has affected every campus where CU ministers, including Yale. Therefore, we are saying goodbye to Jane Hendrickson and Michael Racine right on the cusp of what was already shaping up to be a challenging semester for ministry. As I have expressed to our CU Lux community, these 2 servant-leaders have glorified God so well in their work. Jane, a 6-year veteran has been a highly-competent, faithful, loving, servant-hearted leader helping this ministry continue on true to its mission over many, many seasons. She has gone above and beyond to serve each of our individual students, the ministry at Yale, and the broader CU organization. Michael, with 3 years on our team, has brought academic excellence, theological depth, and a compassionate heart to our campus and organization. He as inculcated in others a real heart for seeking God with his well-measured and God-centered words in teaching and everyday conversation. Blessings to you, Michael, as you transition to another role in Christian Union.
July 30, 2020
The One Who Is, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loyalty and faithfulness, maintaining loyalty for a thousand generations, bearing iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will not leave them unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on their children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation. —Exodus 34:6–7
This spring and summer, many Americans have been made increasingly aware of the reality that, whether we like it or not, the iniquity of past generations does weigh on us. To be sure, there's much more we have yet to attend to—both in terms of disarming the spiritual and cultural forces that militate against true racial reconciliation, and in terms of the many other sins that have been allowed to fester for too long. And yet, we thank our God, who is, and was, and is to come, for His unfailing covenant loyalty and faithfulness.
June 25, 2020
“We will not neglect the house of our God.” Nehemiah 10:39
After returning from exile in Babylon, Ezra and the priests gather the Israelites together in a great corporate assembly to renew their covenant with God. In his prayer, Ezra carefully pronounces how each offering, tithe, and “first fruit” of dough, oil, wine, etc. is to be brought accordingly into the house of God. As Ezra prays summarizing the Levitical instructions the Israelites have had for years, his recasting is so clear that you can practically “see” the disorder of their sinful ways atrophying and the good, pleasing order of flourishing provision, celebration, and thankfulness materializing before their eyes.
May 28, 2020
Greetings Friends,
I love the long New England spring and earliest glimpses of summer, complete with vivid green grass and blue skies. These annual transformations flood our senses and happen right on cue per God’s decree each May. This year, however, we missed seeing one of the most satisfying transformations of all—the procession of graduates flowing through Phelps Gate into old campus on Monday, May 18th. We know they celebrated uniquely in each of their homes, but the caps, gowns, and sweet smiles of victory and triumph are always a joy to see!
I love the long New England spring and earliest glimpses of summer, complete with vivid green grass and blue skies. These annual transformations flood our senses and happen right on cue per God’s decree each May. This year, however, we missed seeing one of the most satisfying transformations of all—the procession of graduates flowing through Phelps Gate into old campus on Monday, May 18th. We know they celebrated uniquely in each of their homes, but the caps, gowns, and sweet smiles of victory and triumph are always a joy to see!
May 20, 2020
May 30, 2020 and May 31, 2020
Christian Union Lux, Christian Union's ministry at Yale, hosted a virtual reunion for the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2015 on May 30, 2020 from 4:00 - 5:00pm EST.
Christian Union Lux hosted a virtual reunion for all alumni on Sunday, May 31, 2020 from 4:00 - 5:00pm. Christian Union Lux invited participants from all classes, all denominations, and all Christian ministries to this annual event. Thanks for joining us!
Learn More
For questions about how to get involved with alumni groups or Christian Union Lux on campus, contact Christian Union's VP of Alumni Engagement Christine Foster: christine.foster@christianunion.org.
