preaching the good news about campus ministry: a sermon for st. mark's, los olivos
I found myself making an unexpected house call last week. I needed a second signature on the church checks and so I rang my nearest church neighbor who is a check signer and dropped in on her and her husband. While Diana signed away, Jim and I struck up a conversation. It wasn't just any conversation. Jim, a retired geologist at UCSB, has made an extraordinary discovery that will probably be debated within the scientific community for the next 15 to 20 years. The basic premise of the discovery is that 13,000 years ago a large comet or asteroid exploded over North America and may have wiped out one of America's first Stone Age cultures, along with all the big mammals AND may have caused major climatic cooling, possibly affecting human cultures emerging in Europe and Asia. Part of the evidence to support Jim's theory comes from a thin foundation of black ash that he has found blanketing the earth where the surface would have stood 13,000 years ago.
So you begin to see the significance of this hypothesis. One day the Stone Age people were walking about along with the sloths and mammoths and the next day – bam – everything was wiped out. Immediate landscape and climate change.
Jim's discovery provides an extreme backdrop to today's readings from the lectionary and to today's world. The readings we've just heard are like one big earthquake – it's not the ground that's shaking, however. The ground is still – but the people are being shaken by God. They are being shaken so intensely that what emerges at the end of their quaking is but their core. The excess is shed – the superficiality is shed – everything that doesn't make up their pure core falls by the wayside. And when the quaking is all over – some are able continue and others aren't.
Now today, wild fires aside, we're not experiencing that same sudden change that Jim's hypothesis purports. But we are being shaken, shaped and formed by many factors, influences and experiences. We live in a very fast paced world. Television, cell phones, the internet, email, all of these mediums have allowed communication to occur at unprecedented speeds. And as Jim reminded me as our conversation evolved from the explanation of his recent discovery to his reflection on the changes he has seen in the world during his lifetime – we're now living in a sound bite culture: there are fewer and fewer spaces in our culture allow us to sit in individual or communal silence, to share a leisurely meal with friends and family, to read or study for extended periods of time, to explore and discern in community God's call to each of us. And amidst the positive and negative shifts we experience in our world, many of us seek an anchor – we seek to be grounded in a sure foundation and a tested stone, to use the language of first Isaiah.
Enter campus ministry. Episcopal campus ministry is on the front line of these emerging culture shifts. We engage young adults at a critical time in their development – they are often in the midst of their own earthquake moments. These students have left the protective nest of life at home and are on a continuing quest to discover who they are and who they will become in the world. It's a sacred journey of growth and discernment. New identities are tried on, new ideas explored; they are building a system of ethics that will carry them through life – their core is taking shape. University life can be daunting with its cerebral exercises, social pressures, demanding courses and life away from home. Amidst all this, campus ministry is there to welcome the whole person and to provide a safe space for students to talk about what they think, feel, believe and doubt. Campus ministry is also a place where the leaders of the church and the world are formed, encouraged to take risks and supported.
It is because of all this – and because I believe that so much is at stake in the way our church engages young adults – that I love being a campus chaplain. It is also because of my personal experience in campus ministry as a college student that I stand before you as a priest in the Episcopal Church.
Chuck invited me today to share with you a bit about campus ministry at St. Michael's. In these next few minutes I hope to give you taste of life in Isla Vista and I hope that your interest might be piqued to visit us sometime and better yet, to join in the network of support we are building for this exciting ministry!
At the end of this December, I began my work at St. Michael's University Church and Episcopal Campus Ministry. Our small mission church is located within easy walking distance of the UCSB campus. If you visit on a Sunday morning, you'll be greeted by an oasis of green, lush gardens and a funky a-frame chapel that houses our small congregation made up of students, faculty, staff and area residents. Our service is casual and contemplative. A choir of a few voices leads us in song and students regularly serve as acolytes, readers, Eucharistic ministers and altar guild members. Our set up at St. Michael's is fairly atypical in that we are both a residential church and a campus ministry. One of the blessings of this configuration is that we are able to provide students with an opportunity to be leaders within traditional church structures – students, for example, are elected to serve as diocesan convention delegates – and this year, we welcome four students on our nine member Bishop's Advisory Committee, the equivalent of your vestry.
I wouldn't want to leave you with the impression, however, that the Campus Ministry at St. Michael's ends with church on Sunday mornings. We are so much more expansive than that. During the week, our Episcopal student group "College Crew" gathers for a simple supper and conversation on various topics. Sometimes we take a mini field trip to such places as Mt. Calvary Retreat House or to our sister Campus Ministry at Cal-State University Channel Islands. College Crew allows our students to take a break out from their busy lives for a home cooked meal and conversation about their faith. Afterwards, they often stay in our newly renovated student lounge space to study or watch a movie. There's a gas fireplace to keep them warm, wireless internet to help them stay connected and a well stocked kitchen for their midnight snack.
As chaplain, I am of service to the entire university (that means students, faculty and staff!) and to university students in the region. This role takes me to campus frequently, where I meet with students (churched and un-churched) who have been referred to me by others, student leaders and faculty and staff. This winter, we began an exciting tradition of gathering Episcopal faculty, staff and graduate students for quarterly luncheons at the Faculty Club. Every month I discover more people on campus who identify as Episcopalian. (If you know of any folks I should add to my list – make sure to let me know!) This luncheon allows the faculty, staff and graduate students a chance to get to better know one another and to share in conversation about the intersection of their faith and academic work, whatever relationship those two might hold for each.
In the eight months since I've arrived at St. Michael's, we've covered a lot of ground. Just to give you a taste of what that ground and landscape has looked like:
~A new student group "Progressive Christian Students" that draws across Christian denomination is in formation;
~This spring we hosted a retreat for over seventy students and chaplains from the West Coast that included an immersion experience in migrant farm worker culture, student led worship and workshops on topics ranging from contemplative prayer to the Millennium Development Goals;
~The Province VIII retreat ended in a lively Palm Sunday service and ushered our students into Holy Week energized about their faith – and it was certainly touching to baptize one active student in our chapel garden during the Easter morning service.
~Shortly after Easter, we hosted campus lecture and forum in our chapel by the Rev. Naim Ateek, noted Palestinian Anglican priest and founder of the ecumenical Sabeel Center for Liberation Theology;
~And over the past few months, we have engaged in conversation with our Episcopal neighbors at Trinity and All Saints to see how these and other area congregations might deepen their support of campus ministry at St. Michael's. This short term Task Force conversation picked up where the Task Force conversation of several years ago – in which St. Mark's participated – left off. Our meetings this spring and summer have led us to begin forming a Standing Committee on Campus Ministry at St. Michael's – which will be served by representatives from area parishes. The idea is that this group will help the campus ministry develop programs, fundraise and raise the profile of St. Mike's as a center for campus and young adult ministry in the region. I hope that St. Mark's might consider joining this coalition in the future!
It is my belief that St. Michael's University Chapel is uniquely positioned to marry social justice and young adult ministry in fresh, new ways. Isla Vista, with its sizable student population and economically disadvantaged Spanish speaking population, is a community with many diverse needs. This is my vision for St. Mike's: a place where students, faculty and staff from the region gather for spiritual sustenance – a place where some of the most economically disadvantaged are able to find wholeness through a variety of programming – a place where the ivory tower collides with the reality of the world where we are strengthened by transformative partnerships that draw each of us closer to the Kingdom God envisions.
I have often been known to say that the Gospel doesn't matter a rat's tail if it doesn't touch and transform lives. The challenge ahead for us – and all those folks who will lend a hand to this ministry -- is to continue transforming ourselves and touching other lives so that we stay connected to that precious cornerstone – that sure foundation. The formation of the Standing Committee on Campus Ministry is a step in this direction. Chuck's inviting me to be here with you today to share my excitement and vision for St. Mike's is a step in this direction. Your contemplating how you might be called to be of service in this endeavor, is a step in this direction. Daring to voice out loud our wildest dreams for this mission church and campus ministry center in our region, is a step in this direction.
One of the things students and faculty at St. Mike's often tell me, is that they so value being able to be part of a community that, though connected to their academic community, does not reinforce the hierarchies of academic life. In church, professors and students come together as people bound by their faith in God. This is the power of being in Christian community, is it not? We seek to be ONE, like the people we read about in the Gospel, gathering from east and west, from north and south, to eat in the kingdom of God and to touch that foundation that grounds us in our journey--amidst the transitions and chaos--to be all that God calls us to be in this world.
Thank you so much for your kind welcome here today. I promise to continue being in touch and look forward to the collaborations that will emerge between St. Mike's and St. Mark's in the future!
Amen.
The Rev. Nicole Janelle
St. Mark's, Los Olivos
Year C, Proper 16
26 August 2007
Isaiah 28:14-22
Psalm 46
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-29
Luke 13:22-30
