AU is closed tomorrow, but TNW is still on!

Snowcation 2010 continues--I'm sure you already know that AU cancelled classes for the 4th day in a row, but that won't effect our plans for tomorrow.  If you can make it to Kay by 8:15 Thursday night we'll be there ready to worship.  Matt will be leading our awesome student worship team and Jon Rice from Georgetown XA will be sharing about a Faith that Cares. Invite a friend to join you--they're probably looking for something to do.

See you there!

Working together

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

Stefanie Chappell, our guest speaker @ this week's TNW touched on this verse as she spoke on living our lives openly before God and each other. When the message was over she invited us to move into the light by making a private confession to the masks we wear to hide our true selves. Anonymously we wrote down our inadequacies, our failings, and our sins and symbolically released them to God as we dropped them in the front of the chapel. It was a powerful act of choosing to walk in the light. For some of you, it was the probably the first time you've ever confessed to the things you wrote--maybe even to yourself. When the service ended the words a friend and mentor, Harvey Herman, wrote came to mind.

"For Jesus to bring freedom into our lives, we need both deliverance and discipline. Deliverance is an encounter with Christ by the Spirit. These are moments when Jesus comes strongly into our lives and breaks the power that has enslaved us in some way. God has intervened and we will be different from that time on. Discipline, on the other hand, is not instantaneous. It is by nature experienced over time. Discipline is repentance lived out. Spiritual disciplines in our lives are ways we continue to express repentance and turn our lives to the Lord."

It's easy to allow our personalities to move us to one side or the other. For those who are in the deliverance camp, this past Thursday night could mark a significant moment with God that can carry us along in our journey with Him for a little while, but if it's not followed up soon by another "God moment" we can find ourselves losing spiritual momentum. For those in the discipline camp, it's easy to discount what happened on Thursday as purely emotionalism or the power of suggestion and set about to focus our efforts on how to manage our relationship with God. What my friend Harvey is pointing out in the above paragraphs is both of these mindsets are lacking. We need those "God moments" to remind us of His love toward us and his desire to work on our behalf, but we also need to actively pursue Christ and the transformation He has promised by continually and consistently placing ourselves in a position to receive his freely given grace. My prayer this Thursday and always is that you would recognize the light our God lovingly shines on us and that you would choose to walk in it every day.

A Change of Plans - A Great Opportunity

Unless you've been locked in a closet for the past week, you already know that AU's playing in the NCAA tourney tonight. The start time is @ 7:20 pm which puts the game smack dab in the middle of our regular TNW start time. I really believe God has given us an incredible opportunity to be salt and light!

With the hectic pace of life in Washington, DC, it is very rare that the campus gathers for anything. Last year I watched our tournament game from the Tavern and I saw AU come together as never before. It was amazing! As part of the AU community, I think we should be there cheering right along. Here's where the opportunity part comes in: when lots of people gather together in one place we have the chance to make connections where we never could before. We can also show AU how loving, welcoming, and fun the body of Christ can be up close and personal.

In order to make this possible, we'll shifting around our TNW schedule. We'll be starting @ 9:15 pm and we'll be delaying our spring break reports to next week. But I think we should gather far before the TNW start time. I suggest we get together to grab dinner and seats in the Tavern by 6:30 pm. Let's show up to the Tavern in our Chi Alpha t-shirts carrying signs and cheering like crazy! Whatever we do, we need to be present in the crowd doing what we're called to do: be Christ's ambassadors to American University. We've got some poster paper and makers so you can come by the office now to make signs. I think it's going to be a blast!

The Whole World

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it

Psalm 24:1

What a night we had last Thursday! It wasn't a regular TNW, but as I listened to Dr. Ross' lecture I couldn't help but worship the God who created our world so perfectly. We'll stay on a global scale this week as we focus on God's plan to redeem it's inhabitants. Our speaker is a missionary in the Middle East, AU alum Jeremy Talyor will join us to talk about giving Jesus a year in Japan, and we'll unveil our Spring Break Mission Trips (oh yeah, they'll be worship too). It's our desire that every student who's a part of Chi Alpha have an opportunity to pray, give, and go on a short term trip to be a part of God's work around the world. This Thursday you'll get a chance to learn how. It's a TNW you won't want to miss!

What Do You Love?

Join us for the first Thursday Night Worship of the year! We're getting together tomorrow @ 8:15 pm in the Kay Spiritual Life Center for worship through music, prayer and teaching from the Bible. Come check out what Chi Alpha is all about.

Don't forget...

Remember this week we've moved TNW to Friday night for our 10 year birthday celebration. Come join us in Kay to look back on what God has done through Chi Alpha over the last decade. So have a Happy Valentine's Day and I'll see you tomorrow @ the party!

Past the Surface

There is a part of us that wants to stay on the surface of difficult issues. We can see there's a problem, but we're hesitant to do anything about it. We're not completely sure what we'll find. Pick at it too much, it might blow up in our faces.

This week @ TNW we're going to pull the cover off an issue that has plagued the world since it's beginning. We're going to look @ race. I've invited my friend and fellow Chi Alpha minister from Howard, Mark Briley to lead us in exploring our thoughts on race. How do we love those who are different from us? Join us tomorrow @ 8:15 pm in Kay and get ready to go deeper.