Campus Ministry loves John Prine

This week’s schedule:

Monday: meet on the Plaza at 11:30 am, and:
∑ Invite students to join us at our events
∑ Pass out new UCMHE campus ministry cards
∑ Interview students about the 10 things they’d like to know
∑ Admire the fall event poster and schedule

Tuesday: meet at the Firepit for lunch and discussion about schedule for the fall.

Courses include:
Bible 101: ten great themes
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism
Community (led by Liz Polivka)
God Within (led by Barb Catterton)
Islam (A teleconference introduce by me and taught by Dr. Paul Williams, beginning in October

We’ll also look for specific ways to encourage our friends to be part of our lifestyle and develop their own faithful journey.

Wednesday
Ideas on movie selection for Thursdays are due. More details on Second Saturdays of Service will be discussed.

Thursday
meet on the Plaza from 11:00 am to 1, and:
∑ Invite students to join us at our events
∑ Pass out new UCMHE campus ministry cards
∑ Interview students about the 10 things they’d like to know
∑ Admire the fall event poster and schedule

The Blog:

John Prine offered an album a number of years ago. He named it, “Jesus, the Missing Years.” One of the memorable concepts concerned Jesus as a child, a teen and a man. In these circumstances, Prine openly wondered, “what really happened in Jesus’ family?” These songs never made it on the pop charts. Why?

First, they made no sense unless the listener had a good understanding of the Gospels. Most of America does not. In fact, more than half of us can’t name the four gospels, much less get the order right, not even mentioning their contents, differences and similarities. Strike one.

Second, the listener has to have a sense of humor about God and creation. John Prine calls this globe, “a big old goofy world.” Indeed, events in Lebanon, Uzbekistan, North Korea, Iran and Omaha might lead us to the same conclusion. Even allowing that God created something goofy is offensive to many. Strike two.

But John Prine also made war, Jesus, the missing years, and this goofy world the arena of our lives. It’s up to us to claim our adulthood and make a trek through this stuff that makes meaning: making a difference through their own lifestyles and choices. Our lives count for something. The word on the street is that we count for nothing. That’s easier to believe because it’s hard to see the benefit of being holy. Strike three for Prine’s general popularity.

Making our lives on campus count for something is perhaps our greatest life task. John Prine thinks we can do it. In fact, we have to do it. It’s called being adult, being Christian, and being sane.

I hope you will join us in our campus ministry lifestyle: community building, studying with integrity, offering service to others, and promoting justice.

We’ll look for you and make room.

--Fred