A little more than 2 weeks left before the semester ends. As I reflect on how I tumbled through this semester and look forward to where we're headed, it's good to remember that God is in control, not me...IV is HIS ministry and not mine. These are His students, His campus, His City. Phew. What a relief.  

The NYC IV staff and I are heading to upstate NY tomorrow for a spiritual formation retreat to connect with God, refocus, and recharge our batteries so that we can finish out the semester strongly and kick butt over 3 weeks of Basileia in May!

I share with you tonight, the wise words of Archbishop Oscar Romero that brings such peace to my soul: 

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
John 15:13

Back on Xanga--committed to capturing how God is working in and through my life in the city. Joshua had his stones of remembrance to attest to God's faithfulness as he crossed through River Jordan. I have xanga. Gotta roll with the current times, and work with the current trends.  

I'm excited for this week as the students and I prepare for a series of outreach events on campus in the upcoming month. We're engaging the university in spiritual conversations by looking at faith through the lens of poverty/homelessness in NYC.  Found these heartbreaking images that we're running with:

We want to be a part of a faith movement that renews this city out of an overflow of our heart transformation. We want to live our lives as a people marked by a call from God to love and serve.  

This Thursday, we're setting ourselves up in the center of campus to initiate spiritual conversations during club hours. We're also selling cupcakes to raise money to tangibly bless a service organization that is assisting the homeless in NYC. Next week at large group, Jose Humphreys, pastor of an awesome church in Harlem called Metro Hope, will take us a level deeper in our exploration of the intersection of faith, poverty, and justice. And over Spring Break, students will work with All Angels Church, specifically with their homeless outreach program. Pray for us! That God would use these humble events to reveal a glimpse of Himself...that students at City College would be intrigued by a God who calls us to love Him and agape our neighbors.