There is a poem vivid in my imagination. It awakes memories of the colorful people that define so many of my experiences. This poem is a celebration of what it is to be living, breathing, a flesh and blood human. This poem is “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman. Whitman writes not about the abstract term “humanity”. He writes instead about the real, raw experience of being in the presence of people. In his words is an appreciation of all people and the image of God in each of their bodies and souls, whether he knew it or not. Whitman also didn’t know it but he wrote this poem about my family.
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Tags: Life
In November, we launched this website to provide a forum for discussion of spiritual issues. Since then, we have published 22 new pieces (approximately one every three days). The site has been visited about 1,000 times. Not a bad start.
Our goal is to provide a place where students can engage in open discussion about spiritual issues that matter to them. We welcome non-students and want them to join in the discussion. The world is a diverse place, and people of different ages and backgrounds need to learn how to listen to one another. We need each other, more than ever before. Because we are an undergraduate student organization, we need to focus on issues relevant to students and campus life. Yet we recognize that there is a huge world out there beyond the boundaries of the campus, and that world — some would call it “the real world” — matters to us as well.
Tags: Seed
Ira came to campus and episode 396 of This American Life, “#1 Party School,” will air this weekend on WPSU 91.5. The episode will also be available streaming online at www.thisamericanlife.org.
The sypnosis from http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=396:
This year, The Princeton Review named Penn State the #1 Party School in America. It’s a rotating crown—last year it was University of Florida, before that it was West Virginia University. So we wondered: What is it like to be at the country’s top party school? This American Life producers spent a recent football weekend at Penn State to figure this out. There, we learned the definition of “fracket” (think frat plus jacket); the best way to clean up beer cans after a big party (snow shovel); and how hard it is to get college kids to drink less (really hard).
I’ll be listening.
Keller on the Gospel
May 28, 2010 in Commentary, Personal Experience by Ruthie | No comments
Earlier this month, another Seed contributor, Andrew, and I attended Chapter Camp with Intervarsity. It was an awesome time for many reasons, but really it was all about the bible study. That consumed our time and minds and energy. We studied the first half of Mark, aka “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” We’ll study the second half next summer. It’s not that I’ve never studied any Mark before, but this time I saw God as huge and mysterious, the way he really is. I had so many questions, and so did everyone else. I am so glad that we weren’t satisfied leaving the pieces of Mark at what we’d heard that this or that was supposed to mean for us but kept digging. The great thing is that we prayerfully approached what we didn’t understand, began to understand, and were moved by it. We all came to the table leaving behind what we thought we already knew and just read what Mark had to say. God worked in that. I saw Jesus as love and a man and I was moved to tears when he cured Legion. We let Jesus be Jesus and he met me there. Too often, I don’t experience the reality and magnitude of Jesus when approaching the bible. This time was entirely refreshing.
Just today, thinking about all of this, I found an article by Tim Keller, “Preaching in a Post Modern City.” He gives an interesting perspective on how we live and fail to live gospel centered lives. He talks about how we become the changed people that we desire to be and are supposed to be. Speaking about virtue he says,” it particularly grows by a faith-sight of the glory of Christ and his salvation.” I believe that to be true, that seeing Jesus is powerful and causes us to move. He also says, “Is [the gospel] basically about what I must do, or basically about what he has done?”