A small group of students from GVSU, MSU and GRCC were able to meet with Shane before his public appearance to talk about life at the Simple Way, restorative justice, and how, in light of all the difficult and sad situations in the world, to keep hope alive.

We had a full sanctuary to hear Shane speak on “Reconciliation: Tearing Down the Walls”.

True North partnered with the Spiritual Life and Learning Committee of Westminster Presbyterian Church to bring Shane to Grand Rapids. Thanks to Westminster for being a great collaborative partner! And thanks to my colleagues in campus ministry for coming and bringing your students. And thanks to Shane Claiborne for the great talk.

SCIENCE vs. CHRISTIANITY?

Feb. 1: Science, Faith and the Universe

Feb. 8: Facts and Faith

Feb. 15: Creation vs. Evolution?

Feb. 22: Christian Environmentalism?

Feb. 29: Are we more than our Brains?

This series begins February 1  from 3-4:30 p.m.,  On the GRCC campus, Room 20 (inside Student Life) SC

Beginning in January, along  the GRCC Christian Fellowship will host  group discussions of  ”The True Story of the Whole World” which will encourage you to see the grand narrative of God’s story as told in the Bible and how to find your place in God’s true story for the whole world.

In February we’ll host, along with the GRCC Christian Fellowship, a science and Christianity discussion group at GRCC,

At Kendall, there’s a student art show the Kendall Christian Fellowship is organizing. There are several churches on board to show student art and hear from student artists about their art and faith. If you are a Kendall student, it’s not too late to submit your art!

Nancy will be visiting an MBA class for conversation about Christian business ethics and speaking at Westminster Presbyterian Church about campus ministry, why it matters and what True North is about.

Check  back here or on our Facebook page for details!

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Advent is the beginning of the church year and the weeks of preparation for Christmas. If you would like to know more about the church year, click here, and more about Advent, click here.

Advent is the season of the church year when we prepare for the coming of Jesus. It can be a rich time of spiritual growth. What follows are links to various Advent resources. True North Campus Ministry hopes these resources are a blessing to you this Advent. We also invite you to add your own favorite sites, song or other resources by making a comment. You can also share them on our Face Book page.

Rob Bell on Advent

Advent Conspiracy

There are some very fine Advent devotional materials for your use. Here are a few.

Following the Star

daily Bible readings for Advent “Swords into Plowshares” :  from the Presbyterian Church (USA)

downloadable readings and prayers from the Presbyterian Church (USA)

Ready Steady Slow from the Church of England, begins with Dec. 1

Jesse Tree Advent Devotional from “Holy Experience” blogger Ann Voskamp

Praying Advent From the Creighton University Campus Ministry

Buy Nothing Christmas  From Canadian Mennonites

http://rogerlovette.blogspot.com/

Sacred Space http://sacredspace.ie/  This site is good all year but has some special resources for Advent.

By Nancy

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Today’s question.  What does Jesus have to say about work?

What’s your response?

Jesus talks about various kinds of work in his parables, but of course the parables aren’t really about work.

Jesus warns us about the dangers of loving wealth (Matt 6:24 among other places).

Jesus calls us to live a holistic life centered on loving God and loving neighbor.

What we’re not given are a lot of specific instructions about appropriate jobs for Christians or how to discern the correct job for us.

But I think the story of Zacchaeus offers us some clues. It is important to remember that taxes and tax collection were very different in first century Rome than they are in the United States in our time.

At the height of the Republic‘s era of provincial expansion (roughly the 1st and 2nd centuries BC until the end of the Republic) the Roman tax farming system was very profitable for the publicani. The right to collect taxes for a particular region would be auctioned every few years for a value that (in theory) approximated the tax available for collection in that region. The payment to Rome was treated as a loan and the publicani would receive interest on their payment at the end of the collection period. In addition, any excess (over their bid) tax collected would be pure profit for the publicani. The principal risk to the publicani was that the tax collected would be less than the sum bid.  from Wikipedia

Tax collection was a for profit enterprise in ancient Rome. Jews who were tax collectors were considered collaborators with the occupying Roman government by their fellow Jews. Tax collectors were well off, but not well loved.  Tax collecting was not considered a reputable job. It was not good work for a Jew.

Like other passages in the Bible there are many things to explore and think about in Zacchaeus’ story, but today we want to focus on work.

What happens when Jesus comes to Zacchaeus’ house?

What is Zacchaeus’ response to Jesus?

How will Zacchaeus’ way of doing his work be different now?

What does this story suggest about the way we do our work, even if society doesn’t approve of or respect our work?

Jesus doesn’t tell Zacchaeus to change jobs. Actually in the parable Jesus doesn’t tell Zacchaeus to do anything. Zacchaeus after encountering Jesus changes the way he does his job. He stops being a tax collector by society’s standards and becomes a tax collector by Jesus’ standards- fairly and honestly, making restitution where it is due.

While we don’t typically think of jobs as needing salvation, we might use the language of redemption.In this story, not only is Zacchaeus saved, but his job is redeemed. The job of tax collector isn’t abandoned to those without ethics. It is not dismissed as beneath or unworthy of a follower of Jesus. The job of tax collector becomes a vehicle for the glory of God. The kingdom of God enters into the kingdom of Rome and changes it. One tax collector at a time.

Can you think of jobs in our society that might particularly need redemption?  On one hand we can say all jobs need redemption, but some perhaps more so than others.

Are there aspects of you current job that need redemption?  How might redemption be accomplished? Is it the result of an individuals efforts? Or the company’s efforts? Or both? How might an individual’s efforts affect a companies ethics? And vise versa?

 

cross posted at Conversation in Faith

 

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After the last installment you may be saying, that’s very interesting about Deuteronomy and Leviticus but what does the New Testament have to say about work? Well, that’s today’s topic. Once again, we won’t be able to look at everything that might be relevant, but let’s look at  some passages in Acts and 1 Corinthians.

One of the reasons people work, is to make money to support themselves. For the vast majority of us it takes money to have a place to live, get food to eat and so on. For generations people have worked to survive. Survival was the reason to work.  In modern times, many of us work to thrive. We work to find fulfillment. We work to impress others. We work to find our self-worth. We think differently about work and we need to continue to keep that in mind. The Biblical writers thought differently about work than we do. But interestingly enough, in spite of their different understanding of work, the Biblical writers still have useful and helpful things to tell us.

Read these passages in Acts,  2:44, 4:32 -5:11.

It may help to know that in the ancient world the phrase “all things in common” was a phrase from Greek philosophy used to describe a deep and serious friendship, and not as we might assume, a statement about an economic system. Having all things in common was a statement about the willingness to share, to be concerned for each others spiritual and physical state.

What do these  passages from Acts assume about work? Perhaps better said, what do they assume about the results (money,property, etc.) of work?

What do they say about possessions? Do they extol possessions?  Are they critical of possessions? Or do they offer a third way of thinking about possessions?

Now read 1 Cor 12:4-7 and Romans 12:4.  It is always good, when someone asks you to read a single verse or two, to read several verses before and after the single verse or even the entire chapter where the single verse is found. Context matters. So read more than I asked but  pay particular attention to 1Cor 12:4-7 and Romans 12:4.

What do these discussions of spiritual gifts have to do with work?

Are spiritual gifts distinct from or separate from the “regular” world of work?

Are the spiritual gifts Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 only to be used in the church?

How might these spiritual gifts be used in one’s work?

What might Paul mean when he writes about the common good?

People in ancient times and today work to survive. We also work to survive. But we also work to make a statement about who we are. We work to feel good about who we are. For many of us, when we think about work, we think about it in terms of what work can “do” for us.  The Scripture passages we looked at today suggest that work has to do more with others and their wellbeing. Would this perspective on work change the way you do your job? In what ways?

I’d like to know, what do you think?

Cross posted at Conversation in Faith

August 12 10 am-3pm  Nancy will be at the Raider Rally at GRCC with the GRCC Christian Fellowship.  Stop by and say hello. More importantly find out how you can be involved with our Caring for Creation Conference at GRCC Sept 28-29. We need folks to do all sorts of things, large and small. Our keynote speaker is Calvin DeWitt from the University of Wisconsin.

September 6 Nancy will be at Campus Life Night at GVSU. Find out what’s happening with True North on the Pew Campus!

Sept 28-29  Caring for Creation Conference

                               at GRCC, open to all students.

Our Keynote speaker is Calvin DeWitt from the University of Wisconsin.

Calvin DeWitt represents one of the best, most thoughtful evangelical Christian perspectives on environmental ethics. This perspective emphasizes the primacy of scripture as formative for Christian environmental ethics. Yet, DeWitt is also a serious environmental scientist, with a unique ability to bridge the gap between religion and science. DeWitt’s emphasis on the physical and chemical provisions of life exemplify his commitment to a vibrant science and religion dialogue that includes both biblical wisdom and also the discoveries of modern science.

from Counterbalance.net

 

We are planning lectures, nature walks, service project, and Bible study. We want student involvement in planning this event. We need folks to do “big picture” planning and also we need people to help with the details. If you are interested, we’ll have something you can do that fits your abilities and time commitments. Contact Nancy 616 821-0351, nancy@truenorthonline.org or on Facebook to talk about how you can be involved.

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So far we have looked at what we can discover about God’s original intention for work and also at what work might be like in the kingdom of God. Now we will begin thinking about what the Bible has to say about work in our present times.

Oddly enough, we’ll begin thinking about our times by looking at the Old Testament, specifically Exodus,and Leviticus.

Christians often have a difficult time with Leviticus and Exodus, we don’t exactly know what to “do” with significant parts of these books. While Christians are not bound to follow the Torah commands, we can find some helpful guidance. God’s intention is for all aspects of our lives to reflect God’s holiness, God’s love, and God’s values. Leviticus and Exodus (along with the rest of Torah) were given to ancient Israel to help them reflect God’s holiness, love and values as a particular people in a particular time and place.

As modern people we are not called to return to ancient times or follow ancient rules. But we are still called to be God’s holy people. Our challenge today is to think about how these ancient rules might help us discern how to live today; not as legalistic rule followers but as people trying to live and participate in society as faithful people.

Much of what we find in Leviticus are instructions for priests. But we want to look at part of what is sometimes called the “Holiness Code” (Chapter 17-26) . Israel, as God’s people, are to be holy because God is holy. Leviticus contains instructions that help Israel do this.

We will focus our attention on Leviticus 19:1-18,33-37.

Does this chapter help you understand holiness? You might find it helpful to consult a Bible dictionary. What does it mean to be holy?

What does our work have to do with being a holy people?

What instructions in chapter 19 have to do with work?

Did you know that Jesus’ statement, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” comes from Leviticus?

How do the instructions in this chapter “fit” with the message and life of Jesus?

Exodus 20:22-23:19 is called the “Covenant Code” or the “Book of the Covenant” . Scholars think this may be the oldest legal material in the Old Testament. Just before this section, Israel has arrived at Mt Sinai and Moses has received the Ten Commandments. The Covenant Code is where Israel discovers what it means to be in covenant with God, how should God’s people act, toward God and toward each other in light of their covenant relationship? Israel believed that every part of life belonged to God. As you read these passages, look for the ideas and values that give rise to these particular instructions.

Exodus 21:28-22:6

Exodus 22:21-27

Exodus 23:1-12

We may not have to worry about our neighbor’s ox or donkey, but what possessions of our “neighbor” (or business associate, or competitor, or another student) do we need to be mindful of? Remember this was written for an agricultural society where oxen and donkeys were valuable ”equipment” for one’s work and survival.

Do these passages have anything to do with workplace responsibility and ethics?

What are the underlying principles and values of these passages? How would you restate them in modern terms?

Thinking about all the passages we have looked at today, what are some words or phrases that encapsulate the ideas and values you discovered today?

Thinking about where you work or go to school, what are some specific ways you might live these ideas and values?

****** cross posted at Conversation in Faith

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