Doodling in the Dust

Last Friday evening, the full moon was beautiful. I stared at it the entire way to church for Bible study. Some notes on what we read that night, John 8:1-11:

This passage is known for being one of those stories with a disclaimer slipped in before it- in the "earliest and most reliable" manuscripts, it is not included. Why? Well, maybe it was made up and slipped in later. Or maybe it was part of the original but taken out early, and put back in after. Or maybe the "most reliable" manuscripts aren't that reliable! Whatever the case, it's certain that the story puts a somewhat different spin on the Jesus we know.

This is the story of the adulterous woman who was caught red-handed in the act of adultery (how embarrassing) during or right after the important Jewish holiday, the Feast of Tabernacles. The Pharisees, all in a rage (and simultaneously plotting against Jesus), drag her to the temple courts where Jesus is calmly teaching a crowd and ask him, point-blank, "Well, what do you think, Jesus? The law says that we should stone her. What's your opinion?"

Think about it for a second. Here's Jesus, not the most popular guy with the head honchos but doing nothing to rile them up for once, sitting peaceably in his Father's house, where people come to learn and to worship. To be holy. And then here come the Pharisees, in all their anger and ultra-righteousness, utterly desecrating the sanctity of the place because they have no intent to worship, only to trap Jesus with an admittedly sticky situation. If he orders them not to stone the woman, he is defying the law (in God's temple!), but if he goes with the law, he will shatter his image as a compassionate teacher.

So what is his answer? "But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger." Uh... what? Did he even hear them? Come on, Jesus, pull out some witty response or a shocking, I-didn't-think-of-that truth. You're God. You're smart! What are you doodling in the dust for?

Nobody knows what Jesus was writing. Scholars speculate that he may have been 1) buying time to think about what to do and/or pray, 2) just passing time to annoy the Pharisees, or 3) actually writing down the names of every sinner present in the audience, including the accusers. The last one is a particularly juicy hypothesis, the favorite of many. And to think, as the Pharisees continue to pester him, he then gets up and looks them straight in the eye, saying, "If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ZING!

Jesus could have written down their names and then humiliated them all by exposing them for their hypocrisy. But a sadistic Jesus does not seem as likely to me as a patient, matter-of-fact, and maybe quirky Jesus. I like to think that he was just doodling, or taking the time to pray to ask God what he should do. And that serves as an example to us all: when confronted with difficult situations with only difficult decisions to make, the first thing we should do is pray. Jesus and the apostles prayed in every circumstance, and Paul encouraged us to never cease to pray.

And in the resolution of the story, we see the accusers silently leaving the scene (the eldest first, who are probably the wisest), convicted because they realize none of them has the authority of condemn anyone else, least of all in the presence of Jesus. Eventually, Jesus is alone with the adulterous woman, who is probably bewildered and thanking her lucky stars. Jesus is the only one who hasn't left, because he is the only one without sin. In fact, Jesus could have picked up a pebble and tossed it in her direction at that moment. But he doesn't. He pulls the guilt card, but his preferred method of chastisement is full of grace. "Oh, they all decided to bounce? That's cool; I drop all charges, too. Go now and leave your life of sin," he tells her.

Only Jesus can judge the sinners, but when he does the sentence always has a caveat: If you repent and believe in me, you will be free- forever. At least, this is how it will work until the end of days, after everyone has had a chance at grace. But a more present-oriented point is that we, as Christians, cannot possibly have the gall to lord our righteousness over anyone else and think we're doing them good. All of us are sinners, and thank God all of us can be forgiven of it.

- - -

Hey all,

A prayer request! I'm leaving for Taiwan tomorrow (early Thursday morning). I will be there for six weeks, the first four to take Chinese classes, and the last two for a missions-oriented English camp at a Taiwanese university. Rebekah and I both did this camp last year. If you'd like me to send you a prayer letter, let me know! Or maybe I'll send one to all of you regardless. But please pray for me for these six weeks. I have had... some tough times so far this summer spiritually, and I don't want any of it to carry over to Taiwan. Or, if it does, then may it be that God shows me something great as a result of the struggle. The shadow proves the sunshine, after all.

Thanks!
Peace,
Andrew

Speaking of Prayer……

You know, God, I’d really like that job, if it’s your will.

Whatever.

Lord, if it’s your will, please just show me the way.

And what if it’s not? Lo que será, será?

All right, so maybe our excuse is that we got the “if it’s your will” thing from the Lord’s Prayer. It does say “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

It’s right to want to do things God’s way. And it’s very logical to want to have that be the subject of our prayers- after all, whatever is God’s will is probably most likely to happen. But here is where we see a mysterious trend in the Bible. Instead of just voicing their wishes and hoping that it was God’s will, the prayer warriors of the Bible presented God with a picture of himself, from what he had told them. They asked based on what they knew about God.

Daniel- Repeated life and death situations doesn’t make him stop praying. He knows he’s innocent when thrown in the lion’s den, and he knows God to be his shield.

Moses (Ex. 32:11-14) - The barganing in Exodus isn’t some sort of “let’s test God and try to change his mind” game. Instead, he has trusted in what God has told him so firmly that he can use to the salvation of the Israelites.

And Abraham (Gen 18:23-33)- In the end, whether Sodom and Gomorrah is saved becomes secondary to Abraham’s realization of the greatness of God’s mercy in the granting of all of his requests.

So what’s my point? Simple. We want God on campus next year, in hearts and minds of Swatties. So right now, instead of saying

Oh Lord, if it’s your will, please save some people next year

…..pray as if you are expecting Him at the door of Kohlberg 115. Practically, pick two Swat friends and start asking for specific changes in their lives- that they will want to know Him, that they will come to the first large group, that something that happens this summer that will cause them to start wondering…….

What else might be His will? Well, ask Him. But be prepared for some answers.

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I know you all have mountains of summer reading, but if you want read more about expectant prayer from a much better author, get Daring To Draw Near by John White (Intervarsity Press)……

~Theresa

Prayer Requests

Hi people!

I hope everyone is doing well! I miss your bright and beautiful faces :-) I've been meaning to tell everyone that I had such an amazing time at Chapter Camp with you guys and I'm super glad that I went even though I really didn't think I was going to. God knows what he's doing!

So, I have two things that I would be super grateful if you guys prayed about. 1) I am working at an outreach camp this summer and the kids come tomorrow! I am super excited and happy, but also a bit anxious! I'm not feeling too good, plus our training period has been exhausting and emotional, so I'm just hoping I can still give it my all! Please just keep the kids coming in prayer if you could!

2) At chapter camp God really started some serious uprooting of emotions in me. It's been both necessary and difficult for the past couple weeks. Although I know it's ultimately making me stronger and edifying me, it's just a bit heavy right now, especially with all the work stuff I have to deal with simultaneously. So, if you could keep me in prayer as well, that would be AWESOME :-)

Thank you guys and I'm praying for all of y'all as well :-)

best,

Celestina

P.S. Psalm 126 has been a big blessing to me this week. Check it out, perhaps it will be for you too! It's pretty amazing how even when everything seems crazy and you have NO idea what you're doing anymore, you can still find faith and strength in scripture. *happy sigh*

Questions from a Spec! Answer as you please.

Andrew,

Thank you so much! It's so great to hear all your insight about Christianity at Swarthmore. Of course you can post everything on the Fellowship blog, and I'd love to see what everyone else says too if you'd share the website with me. If I'm ever out in PA again this year, I will be sure to contact you so I can drop by a meeting or something. Thanks again for everything, and I look forward to applying to Swarthmore soon!

Sincerely,

Tori

---

From: Andrew Cheng

To: Tori Greaves
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 2:30:33 AM
Subject: Re: Questions about Faith at Swarthmore

Hi Tori!

Thanks for emailing me about this. I'm happy to tell you that yes, there are several thriving Christian groups on campus! The largest is Swarthmore Christian Fellowship, which is a branch of InterVarsity USA. I'm a small group leader for SCF, and a member of SPC the Swarthmore Progressive Christians. SPC used to stand for Swarthmore Protestant Community, but they changed that a while back. SPC is an independent group run by one of our religious advisors, Joyce Tompkins. A third group is the Catholic Newman group, run by religious advisor Father Ed.

WIthin these three groups, there is a lot of overlap in membership and participation; however, even together they do not at represent the total number of believers on campus. A lot of Swatties consider their faith to be personal, and will go to church on their own but never feel the need to join a community such as SCF, SPC, or Newman.

SCF plug time! We definitely strive to build a community on campus. We find that our strengths lie in the small groups we form for weekly Bible study (the freshmen get their own special small group each year). Besides weekly small group meetings, we also have a large group meeting, when everyone in the fellowship (somewhere between 20-40 people) gathers to listen to a message from an alumnus or local pastor, and have communal worship, games, and fun stuff like that. There are also weekly prayer meetings, a few weekend retreats each year, and lots of hang-out time outside of our scheduled events. SCF members get very close, though we are a very diverse group of people both on the spectrum of Christianity as well as in personality, lifestyle, etc. So it's always lots of fun to be around them, and a great learning experience, too.

Most SCF members go to church or mass regularly. On campus or very close by, we have Catholic services, a Presbyterian church, an Episcopalian church, and a Methodist church. We also provide van shuttles to go to BlueRoute Vineyard in Media, Renewal Presbyterian in Philly, and Grace Covenant Church located at UPenn, every Sunday.

As for what it's like to be a Christian at Swarthmore... well, no one can really say. Everyone's experience is so different. I have seen friends who were very active in the faith when they came decide that they'd really rather not spend their time in college chained to all the "burdens" of religion they had to face growing up. Others might be interested in exploring Christianity more deeply but don't find what they really need, perhaps a strong mentor such as an on-campus pastor, or a community more like the one they were used to at home. For some of us, it's very hard to be in an intensely liberal and non-religious campus. However, I personally did not have too hard a time adjusting to the environment. I find that Swarthmore is not anti-religious, but simply passive, in a way, about religious life, to the extent that most people will grant you the freedom to worship however you please and never question it or care any further. That can be frustrating, because it means that religion is rarely brought up in conversation, unless, of course, you are taking a course in the Religion department. But there's never any reason to feel lonely in your faith, because SCF is always there, and lately we have been gaining more "attention", if you will, and are seeking to grow both in number and influence on campus next year.

Please keep in touch! It would be wonderful if you came to visit again and visited SCF during a small group or large group meeting.

Also, with your permission, may I post your question and my answer on the Swarthmore Christian Fellowship blog? I think it'd be great if the other members could answer the "What's it like for a Christian at Swat?" answer with their own stories.

Cheers,
Andrew

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On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 1:44 PM, Tori Greaves wrote:

Dear Andrew,

My name is Tori Greaves and I am a rising senior in high school looking to apply to Swarthmore. I went on a tour a couple days ago, and I really enjoyed the school and the campus. However, I have been looking into a lot of Christian schools because I'd like to have the opportunity to really grow my faith during my college experience. Holly Kinnamont talked with me and gave me your email because she said you are part of the Christian fellowship at Swarthmore. And I just wanted to connect with you to find out whether or not Swarthmore, as a secular school, had an active and thriving Christian group on campus. Are there a large number of believers on campus? Do those who are there form close relationships with each other and are you all able to actively serve God on and off campus? Are there groups that go to church together off campus on the weekends? What does it look like to be a Christian at Swarthmore? And are those who aren't believers at Swarthmore respectful of the Christian viewpoint? I found the school to be incredible, but I'd really like to know whether or not it would meet my goals for my college experience. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Tori Greaves

Free Positive Thoughts

I came across this photo in the wonderful world of tumblr and thought it'd be a cute/good idea to put up Free Positive Thoughts (or Bible verses, words of godly encouragement, etc.) around campus during NSO. And perhaps also during finals periods, the mental illness awareness week, Religion and Spirituality Week, and others. At least during the first two weeks of school we know people will actually be looking at posters! ;P

P.S. For those of you who might be reading this via blogger or RSS feed, I apologize that all the posts I write for my other blog (swatsnapshot) keep ending up being posted here. It's because I linked my blogger account to my formspring account, but formspring thinks that my primary blog is scfblog, instead of swatsnapshot. So I have to remove the posts it makes here automatically and repost them in my other blog. Thanks for understanding!

Corners

I’ve been thinking about a passage we talked about in Leading Witness:

“Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.’” (Exodus 14:2)

There are two things worth noting here: first, after all that trouble of escaping from slavery in Egypt, they’re turning around; and, second, that God is backing them into a corner here, so that they’re vulnerable to attack.

I came across this passage in Luke the other day, and it’s kind of similar:

“One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let's go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.” (Luke 8:22)

Backed into a corner again: the disciples in a boat, in a storm, in the middle of the lake.

Corners keep coming up in our lives, don’t they? About a month ago, a girl from my high school was hit by a car. Her head suffered nearly all of the impact. Ambulances rushed to the scene—she was alive, but only barely. Another corner.

But this is where the story gets good, because God uses those corners to reveal His glory. The Israelites are backed against the Red Sea—so what does God do? He has Moses separate the waters so they can escape. A great storm is flooding the boat, making the disciples fear for their lives? Not a problem. Jesus tells off the wind and rain, and the storm ceases.

And a car hits a girl and causes brain swelling? She came home yesterday and continues recover remarkably well. There’s God’s glory! He is faithful.

Of course, we know very well that the story doesn’t always end quite like that. Usually, people in such serious accidents die. The cornerest corner of all.

But we’ve seen that corner before too, haven’t we? A man hanging on the cross, a gash in his side, breathing his final breath in anguish.

There could have been no Resurrection if Jesus hadn’t died first. God’s greatest glory comes out of corners.

Fun Quality Family Time? Hmmm... not exactly

Hey there,

I just have a short prayer request. Basically, the atmosphere in my household is incredibly tense especially between the four eldest members (parents, my brother, and I). The stress stems from finances, busyness (lack of substantial family time), and lack of sabbath. A lot of the responsibility for the monetary worries comes from my expensive college choice. We're going to be having a "family meeting" soon to discuss the changes that need to happen including other college options (which would suck, *crossing all of my fingers and toes*). Recently these discussions have been heated and emotional which isn't really helpful to communication. If you guys could just keep us in your prayers this week that would be greatly appreciated.

I miss you all! I love you :)

Hana

Like a tree planted by streams of water

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith
Where there is despair, hope
Where there is darkness, light
Where there is sadness, joy

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console
To be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love

For it is in giving that we receive
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life
Amen

- St. Francis of Assisi

I'm a big fan of this guy. I memorized this prayer years ago, and I frequently come back to it, whether when praying with others or just on my own. Or whenever I try to do that "pray continuously" thing. I chew on this prayer (as the Message's version of Psalm 1 would have it). Turn it over in my mind. Try it on. Try it out. Remember it. Show others.

Are there prayers or passages of scripture that have stuck with you? That carry you through the day? That kick out your feet and lay you down in God's arms? That challenge you to action? That challenge you to find the divine in every situation? That remind you of the reality in Christ towards which we run? That you've taken the trouble of memorizing?

Last night, a bunch of us here at Swat over the summer had a bible study/GIG in ML. We read Psalm 1. (A few non-SCF people came. Yay!) We talked a lot about the importance of being planted/rooted in scripture. And as we all learned in sunday school as grade school young 'uns, a great way to stay rooted throughout the day is memorization. So let me know which passages you've memorized (and still remember) which have kept you rooted and bearing fruit. I know a prayer isn't the same thing as scripture... but this is a great prayer.

Wes