Prayer

And now we come to the end... It's been quite the semester. I have learned quite a lot about our society, and have formed relationships with some of its newest members. I am now about to step out of the bubble of my private Christian liberal arts school, and into the world of the rich and the poor, the homeless and the mansion-dwellers, the hungry and the over-fed, the successful, the hopeful, the well-established... and the failures, the hopeless, and the immigrants. I will graduate from a hugely expensive university with little but a tiny scrap of paper to show for it (which society tells me that I need), and the learning which that paper represents (which is of much more value. Priceless, in fact).
America, to me, means consumerism, a house in the suburbs, and a life in the rat race. It also means exploitation of the 3rd world, atrocities carried out in the name of democracy, and a military force larger than that of the rest of the world combined. Sorry for the judgment and cynicism. I realize that other countries would probably be no better if they had as much power as we... All of that to say; I think the best way to end this series of blogs is with a prayer.

May God lead us away from arrogance and hypocrisy and towards humility. May God give us the strength to give up our greed and spread the wealth to those who truly need it. May America give up the idolatry of Nationalism and instead seek the God of Truth who shows up in the faces of our brothers and sisters all over the world. May we move away from individualism and toward community, building relationships of love with those we used to ignore or despise. May we pull away from our television sets long enough to recognize and respond to the ill-effects of the non-committal sex and mindless violence with which our culture is unhealthily saturated. May we be a people who seek justice for the poor and helpless. May we learn to love laughter and peace. May we lead the way in laying down our weapons (or turning them into farm equipment). May my skepticism be proven wrong.
Amen.

A love for art

by: Robert

Each of us like art in one form or another. My guess is that most of us find that love at first sight. It's not like wine or sushi, where it takes a slow introduction. My mind is still buzzing, I feel like I have just walked out of my first KISS concert. Except this time my chest didn't get thumped on by all the bass and my ears aren't still ringing. This was a real treat.

I have always liked theatre. I never pursued it, because I can't remember enough lines to save my life. And I'm too shy to stand up in front of a crowd and share a story. I did however manage to recite a piece about a boy who "had a little momento". A homerun ball hit by Lou Gehrig. Another scene from "Love in the Afternoon," "...eyes are thighs and lips are hips...". That was embarrassing in high school. Despite my own limits, I love theatre, and after tonight, I have found another love- the opera.

It impressed upon me so much that the Director actually came out to our group and explained the collective process of pulling three stories into one. Nicholas Muni shared his vision and explained each step in the unfolding story of Cupid, Love and even a piece of Christianity.

I should have gone to the cast party. Fear gets the better of me sometimes.

To each of you that had a hand in my evening, thank you.

Robert

Facebook, Church and 83

by Sarah

Yesterday I sat in a pew at North Valley Friends Church, and my pastor begin his sermon by talking about Facebook. He talked about how you can have different causes, be connected to so many different people, and even have fan pages! How often do you hear about social networks in sermons?

After church I went to Jerry's 83rd birthday party. His wife, Connie, was talking to me about (can you guess?) Facebook! She said she read this person's status and saw that note. Actually she had managed to get quite a bit of information on the people in her life.

The message of my pastor's sermon was about community, and how today in our post-modern world, our deepest longing is for community. So deep is that desire that any new idea that has even a resemblance of community is jumped on and immediately has a group of followers. Facebook is one of the largest social networks of today, with thousands and thousands of users. So what's the draw?

People are in search of community. Even though you may never see some of your Facebook friends in real life, they are still friends and there is some sort of connection there. You can be accepted no matter what your race, age, sexual orientation, beliefs, location, etc...All are welcome. And if you happen to find someone who disagrees with you, there are a hundred more to choose from.

My pastor talked about the need for Churches to be those communities that our world is searching for. He spoke of being the body of Christ and what it means to love one another. Then he challenged us to be a community that is welcoming, loving, and Christlike.

Where are you communities? How are you loving the people in them?