Lutheran Campus Ministry @ UC

Lutheran Campus Ministry @ UC

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• Announcements [A] (23)
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Announcements [A]

• 30 Days

  This past Saturday, I watched a show called 30 Days on FX. It's a reality television show/documentary series created by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me fame). The show explores what happens when people spend a month (walk a mile) in another person's shoes. The episode I watched was about Minimum Wage and debuted in June, 2005. Spurlock and his fiancee lived in Columbus, Ohio for 30 days trying to make ends meet by working minimum wage jobs. The episode followed their daily life: finding a cheap apartment, eating rice and beans, walking to work in order to save bus fare money, paying a $200 dollar deposit in order to get heat, furnishing the apartment with items from a free store (thank God, for the free store), and visiting the emergency room when injured. I thought emergency room care was free. Turns out I was wrong. They still had to a pay $500 fee each for emergency room visits. Morgan ended up working two jobs and still at the end of the show, they barely got by. I was simply appalled by it all.

  
• Acts of Kindness

  Thank you to everyone who made a card for a hospitalized child during Welcome Week! Our cards were sent to the Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock where they are putting some smiles on little patients there.

  
• Arun Gandhi

  Last evening I attended a lecture, given by Arun Gandhi, like his grandfather, Mohandas K. Gandhi, an advocate for nonviolence and understanding. "Nonviolence or Nonexistence" was the topic of the lecture. Much of what he said, I have heard before, however the new way he said it, made me think.

  In answer to a question, Gandhi used this statistic: 4% of the world's people, you and I, use 45% of the world's resources. So only 4% more of the world's people can expect to live the kind of lifestyle that you and I live, using up 45% more of the world's resources. So what are we saying to the other 90% of the world's people? You must live only on 10% of the world's resources.

  Arun Gandhi said, in our over consumption, our throw away society, we participate in violence, violence against humanity and against creation. He called this kind of violence, passive. Passive violence, he said, causes anger in the rest of the world's people, who are without even the basics of life: enough food, clean water, safe shelter, access to health care, and an opportunity for school and that their anger often becomes actively violent.

  Gandhi encouraged us all to make a violence tree for one day. Violence at the top of the tree, active and passive violence, the two branches of the tree; then write down all the ways in a day that violence is committed against us and that we participate in violence against others and against creation.

  How do I participate in passive violence? That's something to definitely think about and to change.

  
• Ash Wednesday

  Today is Ash Wednesday, a day when we Christians receive ash in the form of a cross on our foreheads. "Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return" is said as the cross is placed on us. The ashes are a sign of our mortality. When we die and we all will die; we will be returned to the ground. The cross form we receive is a sign of hope, of new life, new beginnings, eternal life.

  Ash Wednesday begins Lent by reminding me and other Christians of our deaths and our sin, our self-centered living. Lent means spring and is a time of renewal, a 40 day period for followers of Jesus, to struggle against those things that lead us away from love of God and love for neighbor. Lent concludes with Easter, a celebration of Jesus' resurrection and our resurrection too.

  
• CFCA

  "Madrina", godmother in Spanish, is what Maria calls me. Maria is my beautiful 11 year old god-child, whom I've been sponsoring for five years through Christian Foundation for Children & Aging (www.cfcausa.org) and I have visited her and her family twice in Costa Rica. I've seen firsthand the life-enhancing benefits of my sponsorship. Maria and her family receive food, clothing, medical care and she and her sisters attend school. We also encourage and pray for one another through letters. I love her dearly.

  CFCA sponsorship is a one-to-one relationship based on mutual respect, recognition of every person's dignity, and is a unique opportunity to respond to the Gospel call to serve the poor.

  
• Communities

  As I reflect on the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I am thankful for my communities: family and friends, who support me, love me as I love them, and pray for me. And in the midst of a situation that I cannot fully understand, I am thankful for and rely on God's presence and God's love.

  If I can be a friend, a support for you, let me know at (513) 861-5444 or pastor@lcm-ucin.org.

  
• Favorite Places

  Over the weekend, I thought about my favorite places. Last year, when I lived in Washington DC, my favorite places were all art museums: the National Gallery and the Phillips Collection. This year my favorite places are those close to where I live, Farbach-Warner Nature Preserve where I walk and get away from city noises and the Half Price bookstore where I spend many an hour browsing and buying books.

  I have also been blessed the last two years to find churches that I love and am warmly welcomed into by the people who worship there. In both DC and Cincinnati, I find myself drawn to small congregations, diverse, welcoming, with rich and varied music, good preaching, and an overall mission and ministry of serving the poor and the needy.

  What are your favorite places? And if you attend church, what do you love about it? And if you don't attend church, what sort of community are you looking for?

  
• Free Spring Break in Slidell, LA!

  Are you interested in doing something different for Spring Break?

  Lutheran Campus Ministry in partnership with Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (Kenwood) is offering a FREE MISSION TRIP to Slidell, Louisiana to help build homes for people displaced by hurricane Katrina.

  When: Monday, March 24-Saturday, March 29.

  Transportation, meals and lodging are free! Contact me to reserve a space at pastor@lcm-ucin.org or 513-861-5444.

  
• Freedom Writers

  I saw an inspiring movie last night called "Freedom Writers". It's a true story of a California high school teacher, Erin Gruwell and her students, inner-city youth raised on drive-by shootings, gang life, and racism. The students have been written off by the educational system as unteachable, below average, and delinquents. Ms. Gruwell helps the students to see the similarities between themselves. She teaches them tolerance. And she helps them find their voice as they write in journals about their lives and as they read stories of people like them, Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic's diaries. On the website, www.freedomwritersfoundation.org, the students write, "we felt like Anne Frank, trapped in a cage and identified with the violence in Zlata Filipovic's life." They also talk about how Room 203 becomes a safe haven for them where they can share their stories without being judged. In their own diaries, the students discover that writing is a powerful form of self-expression and that their writing can help them deal with the past and move forward into the future.

  
• Harry Potter

  I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book on Saturday, July 21. Last week I watched and thoroughly enjoyed The Order of the Phoenix movie and I reread over the weekend book 6, The Half-Blood Prince. I am wondering as many are what will happen to Harry Potter? Who will die in this last book? How will Voldemort be defeated?

  
• International Women's Day

  Since 1908, International Women's Day has been celebrated as a day to recognize the achievements of women around the world regardless of nationality, ethnic background, culture, economic status, or political beliefs.

  You are invited to our International Women's Day Observance on Wednesday, March 12 from 10 am- 12 pm at the Women's Center, 571 Steger Student Life Center. Our theme is "Women's Art: Women's Vision". Come and celebrate the progress women are making around the world! Come and enjoy lively debate and meet new people over fair trade coffee and treats!

  
• LCM @ UC Debut Blog!

  Henri Nouwen, spiritual author and pastor writes, “I very much believe that the core moment of Jesus’ public life was the baptism in the Jordan, when Jesus heard the affirmation, “You are my beloved on whom my favor rests.” That is the core experience of Jesus. He is reminded in a deep, deep way of who he is.”

  So who am I?

  My name is Amy and I am God’s beloved child too. I am also a daughter, sister, grand-daughter, aunt, god-mother, friend, and pastor. I love to read and I love art especially the Impressionists. I like to travel and am passionate about global ministry, justice, and peacemaking.

  I became involved in campus ministry when I was a college student at Randolph-Macon in Virginia. Then as pastor in Virginia, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the college students who attended my congregations. Now I am at University of Cincinnati to get to know you! So welcome to Lutheran Campus Ministry at the corner of Clifton and Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr.! All are welcome!

  Feel free to contact me at 513-861-5444 or at pastor@lcm-ucin.org. I would love to meet you!

  
• Lunch

  Lunch with the Lutheran Campus Pastor: Let me buy you lunch! Really! I want to get to know you and to talk with you about your life, movies, God, how weird your parents are, what you want be when you grow up, and anything else you want to talk to me about. So call me at 513-861-5444 or email me at pastor@lcm-ucin.org.

  Peace, Amy

  
• Lutheran Volunteer Corps

  "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" --Micah 6:8

  Last year, I was in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps (LVC) which is a really neat domestic program that provides people with the opportunity to work for social justice in our nation's inner cities, while living in community with other volunteers and exploring a simplified lifestyle.

  Every volunteer is placed at a nonprofit agency dedicated to social justice. Agencies offer the opportunity for either hands-on, direct service with people in need or in-direct service through advocacy, coordination of volunteers, or project development. I was an Advocacy Outreach Associate with Lutheran World Relief, Office of Public Policy. I spoke with and on behalf of internally displaced persons from the Sudan and Colombia with constituents and Congress. It was a great year for me. One thing I learned is the importance of raising my voice so that the voices of my most vulnerable global neighbors would be heard.

  May 1st is the deadline for 07/08 applications to LVC. Check it out at
  www.lutheranvolunteercorps.org.

  
• Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr!

  Martin Luther King Jr. was a prophet of justice among races and nations, a Christian whose faith propelled his advocacy of vigorous yet nonviolent action for racial equality. A pastor of churches in Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia, his witness took him to places like Birmingham, Alabama where he was arrested and jailed while protesting against segregation. He preached nonviolence and demanded that love be returned for hate. Awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1964, he was killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968.

  Watch his "I Have a Dream" speech on You Tube and let us catch his dream of dignity, justice, and peace for all people.

  
• Minimum Wage

  So the 30 Days episode on Minimum Wage encouraged me to do some research. Here is what I found.

  The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. In 1997, the amendments to the act increased minimum wage to $5.15 an hour. And this wage stayed at $5.15 an hour, from 1997 to 7/24/2007. 10 YEARS! FINALLY, the 2007 amendments increased minimum wage to not less than $5.85 per hour effective 7/24/07; $6.55 per hour effective 7/24/08; and $7.25 per hour effective 7/29/09. Overtime pay at a rate of not less than one and one-half times their regular rates of pay is required after 40 hours of work in a workweek.

  So from 1997 to 7/24/07, a person working a minimum wage job for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year made $10,712. Now a person working a minimum wage job for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year makes $12,168.

  I am still appalled. How about you?

  
• Nickel and Dimed

  The 30 Days show: "Minimum Wage" also encouraged me to read Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Enrenreich. The book is somewhat dated since it was published in 2001. Still it reminded me very much of the 30 Days show I saw. Both painted a stark picture of life for the working poor. And Barbara's book showed me what a crisis affordable housing is for the working poor.

  In her final evaluation of the distance between poor and nonpoor, she writes, "It is common among the nonpoor, to think of poverty as a sustainable condition-austere, perhaps, but they get by somehow, don't they? They are "always with us." What is harder for the nonpoor to see is poverty as acute distress: The lunch that consists of Doritos or hot dog rolls, leading to faintness before the end of the shift. The "home" that is also a car or a van. The illness or injury that must be "worked through", with gritted teeth, because there is no sick pay or health insurance and the loss of one day's pay will mean no groceries for the next. These experiences are not part of a sustainable lifestyle, even a lifestyle of chronic deprivation and relentless low-level punishment. They are, by almost any standard of subsistence, emergency situations. And that is how we should see the poverty of so many millions of low-wage Americans-as a state of emergency."

  
• Peace

  This past Saturday, I was involved in a Peace Walk in Clifton. About 30 people walked from St. Monica-St. George down Clifton Ave, stopping at various places along the way, and ending at the Peace mosque. We stopped at the Wesley and Lutheran houses, Hebrew Union College, the Firehouse, and the park to hear readings by noted peacemakers, to pray, and to thank the firefighters in remembrance of firefighters' courage on Sept. 11 and bravery every time they respond to an emergency. For me, the most significant part of the walk was not the stops, but the people who walked, Jews, Christians of many denominations, Muslims, and Buddhists. As we walked, we talked. I was moved by our interfaith conversation about peace.

  Peace! What is peace? How do we define it? How do we live it? Who are we in conversation with about peace? What does it mean to be a peacemaker? How do we as many faith communities and individuals create a nonviolent and peaceful world?

  I hope you will join the conversation about peace. God's peace be with you!

  
• Prayers

  Pray with me for the family and friends of the students who were killed at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

  Pray for the recovery of those injured in the shooting.

  
• Soul Cafe

  Wednesday mornings are the highlight of my week, when I gather with women students, UC Women's Center staff, and campus ministers for coffee and conversation at Soul Cafe. I delight in the women who gather and in their open, honest sharing of themselves: both their ideas and their personal experiences. No topic is off-limits and differing viewpoints are welcomed. I appreciate deeply the acceptance, indeed, the grace that these women offer to all who drop by and that they offer to me. We laugh; deep belly laughs; we compliment one another; and we speak from the heart with one another. This summer, I am going to miss this place and people of grace, Soul Cafe.

  

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