A couple of
weeks ago, we kicked off another Bible study for college students! The students
chose to meet at 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning! Great! A 9:00 a.m. bible
study seems like a perfectly good reason to have waffles!
As our team
has been cleaning and reorganizing the cupboards, cabinets, and assorted
storage spaces in the Wesley Center, we discovered not one, but two waffle
makers! So, naturally, we had to put at least one of them to the test.
I
underestimated just how much work it would take to clean up one of those waffle
makers! As you can see, the waffles turned out beautifully! In the future, I
will be better prepared—and I may even stock the refrigerator with some
intentional waffle toppings that college students actually like.
Here’s the
best part, the Bible study was even better than the waffles!
Last year,
when I first started writing Bible studies for the Wesley Center. I created
eight different series, each with eight lessons. The intention was the lessons would
build on one another, so do them in order. I learned that if we continue to
engage with these studies, students connect with central Christian ideas and
values. Any order still works!
For this
first Saturday morning, the students chose “When Faith Meets Culture,”
beginning with Lesson One: In the World but Not of It.
We looked at
four different passages: John 17:14–18, Romans 12:1–2, 1 John 2:15–17, and
Philippians 2:14–16. One of the things that struck us was how familiar these
ancient words felt. These passages were written a very long time ago, yet they
speak to situations that could have been written yesterday.
In our
studies, we read the passages in different translations. Sometimes a different
translation opens up a word or phrase in a way we would not have noticed
before. Hearing several translations can broaden our understanding and give us a
more well-rounded understanding of the text.
In a
nutshell, here’s some of what I heard:
Jesus is
praying for God to protect God’s followers from evil and to make them holy.
Paul tells us not to simply copy the behaviors and customs of the world around
us, but to allow God to transform the way we think. John reminds us that the
things the world tells us to chase after don’t last forever. And Philippians
tells us to live in the world without constant grumbling and complaining—to
shine like lights in the darkness.
Then we moved
into the questions. This is the part that always blows me away.
I can prepare
questions, choose scripture, organize the lesson and make sure there are
waffles and toppings available. But I cannot prepare what the students will
share. The students bring their own experiences, worldviews, questions,
feelings and insights. And when they start talking, I start listening.
We talked
about the differences between the values our culture often promotes and the
values we see in God’s kingdom. The biblical world was filled with conquering
kings, power struggles and a very real “dog-eat-dog” mentality. And yet Jesus
continually points us toward something different: humility, service, love and
caring for one another.
So, what does
it mean to bring our faith into the culture around us?
One student
made a connection to the people they encounter every day in our classes. They
may sit beside someone for an entire semester without ever really getting to
know them. They know their name—or maybe they don’t even know that much—but they
have never listened to their story.
What if we
asked?
Where are you
from?
What is your
hometown like?
What are you
interested in?
What do you
like to do?
What matters
to you?
Do you have a
faith community?
What’s your journey
been like?
What do you
believe?
And then,
perhaps most importantly: Would you like to join us?
Who doesn’t
like a hot waffle?
Okay, maybe
there are a few people. But you get the idea.
The
conversation kept going. We talked about how easy it is to think that being
kind and positive is enough. Those things certainly matter. But our faith also
calls us into relationship with one another. We aren’t simply called to be nice
people moving through the world independently. We are called to create
communities of love, belonging and care—and to make room for people who aren’t
part of those communities yet.
We talked
about social media, too. There is plenty of tension and division in our
culture, and we have choices about what we add to it. We can add to the anger,
or we can add encouragement. We can feed the hate, or we can feed the love.
And sometimes
living out our faith may be as simple—and as difficult—as paying more attention
to the people around us.
We also
talked about our friend groups. It’s easy to find a few people we click with
and then settle comfortably into that circle. But when someone graduates or
moves away, the group gets smaller. We might travel more to meet up with them,
but that becomes challenging as new schedules and priorities take shape. Maybe
part of being “in the world but not of it” means continuing to make room for
new people?
Not because
we need to collect people. Not because we need to make our group bigger.
But because
every person we encounter is a person God loves. That distinction matters deeply
to me and now these students are coming to that same understanding for
themselves!
At the Wesley
Center, we don’t want to simply collect students. We want to connect with them.
We want students to know that they are welcomed, loved and safe. And sometimes
that begins with something as ordinary as sitting down together on a Saturday
morning, opening the Bible, asking honest questions—and eating a waffle.
This. This is
why I love what I do. Because the students aren’t just learning what the Bible
says. They are wrestling with what it means to live it.
They are
asking how their faith can shape the way they treat people in their classrooms,
their residence halls, their workplaces, their friendships and their social
media feeds.
They are
realizing that if we want to see a difference in the world, we have to
participate in making that difference and in being different.
Sometimes
that means choosing kindness.
Sometimes it
means asking a question instead of making an assumption.
Sometimes it
means noticing the person sitting alone.
Sometimes it
means stepping outside our comfortable circle and making room for someone new.
And sometimes
it means inviting someone to breakfast.
Blessings
abound!
Pastor Jena
