Sunday, November 27, 2005
Millions of people are content leading ordinary lives. What makes you different?
This has been one of our slogans for the better part of a year now. Let's face it, life on campus (and perhaps in America at large) is staked on being ordinary: wake up, go to class, grab lunch, more class, study, hang out, party, get wasted/inebriated, [escape], sleep (in no particular order). A premium is placed on conformity to college subcultural standards and norms, and this cycle exists on campi all over America every single day. Even with the diversity of people and the different genres people take on to supposedly express individuality, the core of the matter doesn't change: people take on similiarities with other people to hide the reality of a person's existence. We hurt, we are incomplete, we are flawed.
Millions of people have become content leading ordinary lives, because the one place that can be the best to find out what makes us tick and what we stand for has become the last stop for fun times en route to a 9-5 existence as a faceless employee for the next 40-plus years. Ordinary people lead ordinary lives with an ordinary, potentially tragic future. It's all too common.
What makes you different? For us in Chi Alpha, the difference is in the fact that we are not content with an ordinary existence or an ordinary brand of Christianity. We believe in an honest gospel, one that allows us the ability to be transparent with our lives, fears, hurts and dreams. Only in our honesty can we find the source for healing and completion: in spirit and truth, we serve a real God and live our lives in extraordinary ways. The difference is that we refuse to accept conformity to anything other than becoming more like Jesus: compassionate, yet firm; authentic, yet mystical; wise, yet risk-taking and bold with well-entrenched humility. Ordinary college life is ultimately dissatisfying, walking with Christ in a no-frills, honest, real and dynamic way will leave us with only a greater desire to love God and people beyond what we ever could in and of ourselves. And there do we find that life is an adventure, and that we never have to feel alone in a crowd.
Chi Alpha is not about serving the needs of our own. We are about serving the campus, living as examples of the dynamic Christ and the work God can do in hearts. Our community will grow as we naturally and intentionally grow closer to Christ and continue to be sensitive to the Spirit's leading. If we aren't growing, we aren't truly different--the Spirit of life does not rest with one changed heart. Take some time this week to evaluate how the difference is evident in your life, and ask God to create opportunities to show your world.
Millions too many are content leading ordinary lives. What makes us different?
This has been one of our slogans for the better part of a year now. Let's face it, life on campus (and perhaps in America at large) is staked on being ordinary: wake up, go to class, grab lunch, more class, study, hang out, party, get wasted/inebriated, [escape], sleep (in no particular order). A premium is placed on conformity to college subcultural standards and norms, and this cycle exists on campi all over America every single day. Even with the diversity of people and the different genres people take on to supposedly express individuality, the core of the matter doesn't change: people take on similiarities with other people to hide the reality of a person's existence. We hurt, we are incomplete, we are flawed.
Millions of people have become content leading ordinary lives, because the one place that can be the best to find out what makes us tick and what we stand for has become the last stop for fun times en route to a 9-5 existence as a faceless employee for the next 40-plus years. Ordinary people lead ordinary lives with an ordinary, potentially tragic future. It's all too common.
What makes you different? For us in Chi Alpha, the difference is in the fact that we are not content with an ordinary existence or an ordinary brand of Christianity. We believe in an honest gospel, one that allows us the ability to be transparent with our lives, fears, hurts and dreams. Only in our honesty can we find the source for healing and completion: in spirit and truth, we serve a real God and live our lives in extraordinary ways. The difference is that we refuse to accept conformity to anything other than becoming more like Jesus: compassionate, yet firm; authentic, yet mystical; wise, yet risk-taking and bold with well-entrenched humility. Ordinary college life is ultimately dissatisfying, walking with Christ in a no-frills, honest, real and dynamic way will leave us with only a greater desire to love God and people beyond what we ever could in and of ourselves. And there do we find that life is an adventure, and that we never have to feel alone in a crowd.
Chi Alpha is not about serving the needs of our own. We are about serving the campus, living as examples of the dynamic Christ and the work God can do in hearts. Our community will grow as we naturally and intentionally grow closer to Christ and continue to be sensitive to the Spirit's leading. If we aren't growing, we aren't truly different--the Spirit of life does not rest with one changed heart. Take some time this week to evaluate how the difference is evident in your life, and ask God to create opportunities to show your world.
Millions too many are content leading ordinary lives. What makes us different?
# posted by 8rent @ 9:44 AM 
