Well, my friends, it is that time of year—time for finals and for graduation. I’ve enjoyed my three-year freedom from the tyranny of final exams, but alas, my reprieve will end next fall when I go back to grad school. I’m not really looking forward to that. I love reading and classroom discussion, I like writing papers, but exams were never my favorite part of the deal.

I have no tips for finals except to eat and get lots of sleep. Think of it this way—even if you bomb the exam, you’ll be in a much better frame of mind to handle it with a good night’s rest!

For those of you graduating or applying for summer jobs, however, I am going to return to a topic I covered last year and give advice about job hunting. As someone who has sat on both sides of the interview table, I can at least give you some insight into what goes over well and what doesn’t from a hiring perspective. So here are some random thoughts about the job search for today….

First of all, it makes a distinctly BAD impression if your cover letter names another organization on it. At least go to the trouble of changing the name, if nothing else.

Regarding the resume—I can’t stress enough how important it is to actually RESEARCH THE POSITION!! This will prevent you from boring the hiring manager with superfluous info that distracts from what you’d actually bring to their job.

For example, you’re applying to write press releases for an educational policy institute in Washington, DC. If you worked for your college campus newspaper and took some public relations classes, you’ll want to highlight those. You won’t want to tell them you were a checker at Target for a year in high school, unless you got promoted and started writing press releases at corporate headquarters, or coordinated your store’s outreach to local schools.

Moreover, tailoring your resume to the job will make you stand out. In hiring, I like people who make it easy on me, who connect the dots between their experience and my needs so that I don’t have to. Because if you don’t do it for me and someone else does, guess who I’m going to look more seriously at?

And don’t be shy in your resume. While you never want to exaggerate what you’ve done on a job, you definitely, definitely, definitely should prominently mention your accomplishments. The best applicants are those who don’t hesitate to bring out the great things they’ve contributed in previous positions, and to tie that to things they could do for the prospective employer.

If you’ve gotten to the interview stage, you must have done something right on your resume. Good job! If you did the research at the beginning and know something about the position, then you’re halfway there for the interviews. Because like the application, you want to show the interviewers that you know something about what they’re looking for and that you have the right skills and abilities to fit their needs.

In the interview, know how to relate your qualifications to the questions they’re asking. For instance, if you’re applying to be a camp counselor and the director asks a question about conflict mediation, you need to be able to pull up an EXAMPLE of where you’ve used conflict mediation if at all possible. Describe what you did, even if it wasn’t the best way to handle it, and then elaborate on what you learned. You can talk about how you feel about conflict mediation or what you would do all you want, but it doesn’t have the same impact as an experience you can relate to the question.

One small tip—always ask a question at the end of the interview, preferably about some project they’re working on or on the vision/mission of the organization. It is a tangible example that you’ve done your homework and have paid attention, and it also helps YOU discern whether you really want to work for these people.

Finally, remember that God is with you, regardless of what happens. If I don’t get a job, I don’t think it was because they didn’t like me or I sneezed right before I shook their hand. Generally, I know it is because my gifts and abilities didn’t happen to match their needs at that time. This fact doesn’t lessen a bit the reality that I have abilities. It just means that in the spiritual sense, I wasn’t called to that position. You’re still the wonderful, talented woman you always were, and the people who love you know that.

Good luck job hunting!

“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” --Philippians 1:6

Kelsey

Perhaps the reason I’ve been so uninspired of late in my blogging (besides the fact that I’m just generally ill and exhausted) is because I haven’t received any interesting articles from the FWD circuit. Well, the drought is over.

I read an op-ed piece from the Los Angeles Times this morning about that nebulous term, globalization, and its relationship to radical Islam. We talk about globalization a lot in terms of American multinational corporations—the insidious spread of Starbucks and McDonalds around the world, the exploitation of cheap labor by Wal-Mart and others, all those things. But as this piece points out, there are other forms of globalization out there.

Religious and cultural fundamentalisms strive just as hard to dominate the global scene these days. And such movements particularly appeal to those who have no power in the American form of globalization, or those who feel power slipping out of their grasp. Who signs up to be a suicide bomber? Kids who have grown up in refugee camps, with no stake in the current structure or hope for a better future. Who are Jerry Falwell’s biggest fans? Those men who feel increasingly threatened by a changing country, in which white Protestant men must compete with Latina Catholic women, black Muslim men, Indian Hindu computer programmers, and a host of other diverse people for authority in our increasingly multicultural society.

Marx talked about it in terms of class struggle, but the struggle really is about power rather than money (power just happens to be often tied to money). There is a reason that our Presbyterian ancestors, whose church polity influenced the framers of the American Constitution, were so keen on checks and balances. Even communists, proclaiming equality for the exploited, were too often seduced by power once they had it.

I often hear the complaint (and misconception, at least from my perspective) that feminism is all about women being better than men, women subordinating men. At its best, feminism isn’t about that at all—that’s why it actually meshes so well with the Christian message that we are all beloved creations of God, equally called to live into God’s purpose. Yet feminism and other justice movements aren’t 100% immune to that struggle for dominance, either. Nor is the church, to be honest.

Throughout history, power relations and the struggle for power have defined human existence. It is almost instinctual for us to claim as much power as we can, and to fiercely resist when someone else tries to take that away.

But aren’t we Christians called to something different? Jesus was all about relinquishing his power and authority for others, whether that was in washing his disciples’ feet or dying on the cross. In the endless power struggles between humans, what does it mean to boldly claim our equality as beloved children of God while eschewing control and dominance in the way Jesus did?

The powerless turn to physical violence to attain power. The powerful use other forms of violence—economic exploitation, violence of words, doctrinal violence—to maintain their power. As Christians who are in the world but not of the world, how are we called to resist? How do we speak up with Jesus’ voice, demand respect and equality for the marginalized, but not be seduced by the world’s ongoing power plays in the process?

All I can say is that we pray, worship, and listen for that still, small voice as we seek to live into the Gospel message—that God loves each and every one of us enough to relinquish all power, so that we might be free.

“Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.”’” --Luke 4:5-8

Kelsey

The Beatles’ “Let It Be” floats out of the little CD player in the corner this morning, Paul McCartney crooning out:

When I find myself in times of trouble,
Mother Mary comes to me,
Speaking words of wisdom,
Let it be.

And in my hour of darkness,
She is standing right in front of me,
Speaking words of wisdom,
Let it be.

It took me many years to become aware that not everyone grew up with as much respect for the Beatles as I did. For indeed, among the defining characteristics that made us Rices Rices was a love for the music of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Only a Beatles song on the radio station could end the incessant fighting between my sister and myself for dominion of the radio dial. My dad and I spent hours together making Beatles mix tapes for my friends, tailoring the selections to their personality traits (more bubbly types would like “Eight Days a Week,” while your introverts might have a taste for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”).

And the John Lennon track “Grow Old With Me” will make an appearance in my otherwise thoroughly religious and classical wedding.

I’ve heard various things about the song “Let It Be,” from the 1970 album of the same name—that it is an ode to the Virgin Mary (according to Wikipedia, songwriter McCartney was baptized Catholic), that it has something to do with McCartney’s mom, etc. You can argue both—officially, the song was written as a tribute to McCartney’s mother Mary, who died when he was 14 years old. The chorus, however, does seem to allude to Luke 1:38: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Perhaps the reason this song struck me this morning related to its words of peace—the peace that the Virgin Mary expresses in her answer to the Angel Gabriel, the peace that Christ speaks as he appears among the disciples after the Resurrection. It is this peace, this consoling wisdom, which touched me.

As Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for everything under heaven—a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to keep silent and a time to speak. In NNPCW, we often focus on speaking out, on acting, on standing up. And yet, wisdom sometimes calls us to let it be, to watch silently, to wait, to hold our tongues for a time instead of lashing out in anger.

We’re still waiting, here at the Center. The General Assembly Council arrives in town today to approve the final mission budget. We all know that for many of our friends and colleagues, this will be their last week in PresbyLand.

Some of you might have the same sense of dread and anticipation, whether that regards impending final exams or something more serious.

None of us know what the future will bring.

So we return to Mother Mary’s words in the song and let it be, desperately trusting that the God who loves us unconditionally will walk beside us to the end. Or perhaps we return to an older source for our words of wisdom.

“A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’” --Mark 4:37-40

Kelsey

Yesterday’s illness finally vanquished me, so I stayed home this morning, slept until about 10:45 am, watched an hour of the BBC’s Vanity Fair from my couch, and finally drug myself into work after taking the requisite Dayquil. I’m not very good at staying home from work—I have some sort of guilt complex going on, I guess, like I have to be immobile before I can justify spending a whole day away from my desk. But I’m not very useful here, either, if all I want to do is sleep.

But here I am now, on what is a rainy and cloudy day here in Louisville. I’ve devoted the afternoon’s activities to the Leadership Event, mainly in the realm of getting people to come. I’ve heard from some quarters that it is a bit harder to generate interest around this event than in past years. I’m not exactly sure why that is—perhaps the prospect of “intergenerational dialogue” doesn’t hold the same pizzazz as, say “racism and pop culture,” or “prejudice,” the themes of the last two events.

Yet if you think “intergenerational dialogue” means we’re going to dump you off at the nursing home to play Parcheesi, let me tell you right now that you’re wrong. In dealing with ageism this year, in fact, I think we’re perhaps taking on one of the most unrecognized forms of prejudice that exists—a prejudice, moreover, that cuts across generational lines.

What is ageism, anyway? Well, according to Merriam-Webster, it is “prejudice or discrimination against a particular age group and especially the elderly.” Our understanding of ageism, however, is expanded to include the ageism the church often perpetuates against young people. That’s what this event hopes to get at the heart of—how do our institutions, and our own attitudes toward our sisters in Christ, devalue others’ contributions based on age?

A couple of examples of what I mean: how often have you heard the phrase, “You’re the future of the church” uttered to a 20-something? I don’t know about you, but I want to say, “Actually, I’m the NOW of the church, thank you very much.” But by the same token, how often have we as young adults whined and complained about all the older people of the church who won’t let us do what we want, without really stepping over to engage them in dialogue?

This event will bring younger women together with older women to engage one another, to help older women see that we want our contributions valued and to help younger women stop talking and start reaching out. For a multicultural church is an intergenerational church, too.

Click here to visit the Leadership Event homepage.

“I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.” --Psalm 101:2

Kelsey

I held off on writing this morning, simply because my emerging head cold was at the forefront of my mind and I couldn’t think of anything else to write about. Unfortunately, now it is 4 pm, my head cold is still bad, and I still don’t have a whole lot of inspiration regarding what to write about. If it weren’t so late in the day, I think I’d call it quits. But why waste sick leave when I’ve already stuck it out this long?

Of course, I always feel bad coming into the office sick anyway, since I know that I’m a hazard to all the other employees. Perhaps it comes from my days in college, when I never, ever skipped class for illness. I could have been on death’s door and I would have still drug myself out of bed and limped in for a lecture. Even today, there’s just something in me that revolts from taking sick leave, even when I know I should. Especially when I only have three weeks left in the office!!

That’s right, only three weeks left until I go home and get married. And in those three weeks, there are all sorts of things going on that need attention. So perhaps in my uninspired writing day, I’ll give you a brief summary of what’s going on in the NNPCW offices right now.

For those of you who were interested in the NNPCW scholarships, the deadline has passed. Now we’ve got the applications in the mail to the selection committee, who will be meeting soon to decide how to award the scholarships. We had several great applicants this year for our scholarships—I hope all the applicants will get involved in NNPCW, too!

Actually, I’m swimming in applications right now! We had a ton of high quality applicants for the NNPCW Associate position, and we’re now soliciting more material from them. We also have intern applications to go through. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to do interviews for those positions until after I get back from my honeymoon, which should spice things up quite a bit right before General Assembly.

And for those of you who don’t know, NNPCW always has a strong presence at General Assembly. This year, Brianne, me, and six NNPCW women will travel to Birmingham, Alabama for a pivotal year at GA. If you know a bit about internal church politics, hot items this year will include the final Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force Report, as well as more discussion on the Assembly’s controversial 2004 decision to investigate the option of divesting of stock from companies that profit from the occupation of the Palestinian Territories in the Middle East. The Peace, Unite, and Purity, or PUP Report, relates to the church’s ongoing battles about the ordination of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered women and men to ministry.

Of course, we’re also moving full-steam ahead with the Leadership Event, which you can still register for! “Women Among Them Astounded Us: A Celebration of Women in All Generations” will bring us to Louisville on July 7-11 for dialogue with older women about the issues facing the church and society today.

Frankly, it is about time we started talking, too. NNPCW has become well-known for addressing the other justice-oriented “isms” in our church, but even we often refuse to acknowledge how we perpetuate ageism in our attitudes toward others. My hope is that this event will challenge all participants, young, old, and in-between, to critically examine their own age biases and work to tear down those barriers. I hope the event will also be an opportunity to honor the contributions of all women to the work of the church, regardless of age.

Well, that’s my office. And now I’d better get up and move around before I fall asleep at my desk. Ah, illness—so much fun.

“Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.” --Luke 24:22-23

Kelsey

My friends, if there is one time of year you would actually want to come visit Louisville, Kentucky, this is it. Tomorrow we kick off the Kentucky Derby Festival with Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks show in the country. Never mind that it wreaks havoc on our parking and transportation systems for days—who wouldn’t want to watch 60 tons of fireworks explode from two river barges and a bridge spanning the Ohio River?

For the first time this year, us PC(USA) employees are going to have to pay to watch the fireworks from 100 Witherspoon. Last year was great—I brought David and some friends in, we had a little picnic in my office, and then we watched fireworks from the balcony outside. This year, I’m too cheap to pay, and the powers that be around here are too cheap to let me in without paying.

I suppose it makes sense, too, even if every other employer in town throws giant parties for their employees for Thunder—for those of you who don’t have your RSS feed to the Presbyterian News Service, you may not have heard about the dreaded RIFs about to hit the Presbyterian Center.

A little education, for those of you safely secluded behind the various walls of academia—RIF stands for “Reduction in Force.” The bottom line around here is that the denomination’s budget is short by about $9 million over the next four years. We’ve already cut so many people in the last three RIFs (the last one being in 2004, when Women’s Ministries alone lost ten regional employees), that rumor has it that we’re going to have to cut entire programs this time around.

Apparently, when we cut $7 million back in 1993, 140 staff members lost their jobs.

The announcement for these staff reductions is scheduled to take place on May 1, less than two weeks away. We know that the decisions have already been made and the details are in the mail for the General Assembly Council’s approval. So perhaps it isn’t the time to be spending a lot of money to keep the building open for a fireworks show.

You might be asking, “How are they making these decisions?” or “How does this affect NNPCW?”

The process this time has been much more open and collaborative than the process we experienced in 2004. This year, all programs in the building were asked to submit a description of everything they did, and how it related to the church’s stated mission goals, to evaluation teams. Then 40 mid-level managers (including my boss, Mary Elva, and folks from Presbyterian Women) looked at all our work and decided how well it fit into the church’s mission. They forwarded their work on to a smaller core of managers, who used that information to make budget recommendations that they passed on to the head honchos. I like to think that perhaps the yeast of NNPCW’s collaborative, non-hierarchical models are slowly working their way into the dough—in 2004, decisions were made in a very top-down manner by the executive officers, and this process was much better.

Regarding the RIF’s effect on NNPCW… well, no one can be truly certain of that until May 1, to be honest. While young adults aren’t specifically named in the church’s mission objectives, we are often mentioned “on the street” as a key outreach constituency for the denomination. The fact that NNPCW is one of the few ministries at this level to work directly with young adults would suggest that our work, and sister ministries like Racial Ethnic Young Women Together, Collegiate Ministries, Young Adult Ministries, and the National Volunteers Office, would continue in some form.

I can’t guarantee exactly what those forms will be: whether it means we will continue unabated and unaltered, whether our office will move to a new grouping unrelated to Women’s Ministries, or whether our work could even be absorbed into a new office. But I have faith that our work will continue, and that it will continue with its core identity of justice for women in church and society.

It really is a fearful time to be in PresbyLand, threatened with loss of jobs and anxious about the loss of ministries to which we’ve been called. But God is still at work in the world, no matter what we do. The Good News of Jesus Christ has survived 2000+ years of war, famine, schism, death, and downsizing. And women’s witness to that, as teachers, preachers, organizers, and missionaries, continues unabated since Mary Magdalene proclaimed the resurrection from the empty tomb. That message, and our ability to live into and be transformed by it, transcends any one program of the Presbyterian Church (USA), or the Presbyterian Church (USA) itself.

Keep our national staff and NNPCW itself in your prayers in the coming weeks. We will need it.

“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.” --Luke 9:24

Kelsey

Okay, so you’ll think I’m insane now, but I went and took a photo of the “No Parking” sign to demonstrate that I was legally parked when I received my ticket yesterday. I’m posting it here for you to see, too—if there’s a Kentucky state law that you’re aware of that would prohibit me parking here, even when the sign says I can, be sure to let me know. Notice where the arrow points!!! BTW, the sign below that is for a special event tomorrow, not yesterday!

Today is exactly 30 days from the big event… no, not the Leadership Event, for all those of you in a panic because you haven’t registered (although you need to register soon!). The Bogdan and I get married exactly one month from today, on May 20. And as the day gets closer, more people are asking the obvious: “Are you going to change your name?”

The answer? Yes, although I’m keeping the “Rice,” too. Perhaps it is my compromise between hard-core idealism and pragmatic considerations, perhaps it is just me caving into the status quo. Or maybe I’ve ceased to be able to speak in any language other than PresbyLand acronyms, because I find KARB—Kelsey Anne Rice Bogdan—quite catchy. Some European royals have up to six names. What’s wrong with me having four?

The name change dilemma, however, strikes me as emblematic of the larger struggles of our generation. Choice—in the workplace, in the home, with ourselves—surrounds us, but guilt accompanies each of those choices. Had I not changed my name, I would have inevitably wondered whether I had really committed to this new life, or whether I was stubbornly clinging to the past. I would have felt like David and I were completely separate entities, loosely joined for tax purposes. And when we had children, assuming they took David’s last name, where would that leave me in the family?

Guilt and hurt would have been there, too, when others assumed that I was a “femi-Nazi” and “anti-family” because I didn’t change my name. Not to mention all those who would have insisted on calling me “Kelsey Bogdan,” regardless of my wishes.

On the other hand, though, are those who insist that my “choice” is really no choice at all, that I’m caving in to societal pressures to conform to traditional gender expectations. And that hurts, too, because part of me wonders if they’re right—if by automatically taking David’s last name without asking David why he doesn’t take mine or join ours together, I’m talking the women’s equality talk without walking the walk.

Of course, if we did become the Rice-Bogdans, what would our children do when they married? Have three hyphenated names? Four names? Make up a new name? Justice-oriented for sure, but a bit impractical.

At the same time, the choice in names does indicate progress for women. There is a certain power in names and naming—that’s why, when Moses asks God what to say to the Israelites if they ask for God’s name, God says only, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God resists being named by humans, and reserves the right to label the self. 100 years ago, I really wouldn’t have had any choice in what to call myself if I married. Today, I choose to be KARB. David, of course, had input into that, but I ultimately made the decision.

God calls us to make certain choices, to stand up for our beliefs. I honestly didn’t feel God calling me to remain KAR. I did feel God, however, calling me to make sure that the first names of both husband and wife were listed on my wedding invitations, which goes against social convention. I felt God calling me to write today about what can be something of a touchy issue.

I know many strong, empowered women who are known by both their maiden and married names, like I plan to be. I also know many who are known only by their married names, and others who kept their name. The identity they have chosen for themselves has not ultimately hindered their commitments to women, or their contributions to the coming realm of God.

So for all these years, I’ve been known as a Rice. And you know what rice is? A KARB! Ha ha!

“God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you”: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.’” --Exodus 3:15

Kelsey

Part of the reason I’ve waited so long to post today is so that I could put up the latest installment of PresbyLand Confidential, featuring Collegiate Ministries Associate Bob Turner (now that Holy Week is over). But the free storage site we’ve been using is very temperamental.

Hooray! I finally broke through, so Bob is up for you to enjoy in all his zany glory.

In other news, I have declared “non-violent conflict” on the parking authority. It all started when I went out to get the ‘Stang from her little corner parking spot that she has to leave at 3 pm. Now, today I had parked the car on this little spot on the curb that sits right beyond the “No Parking” sign—the arrow on the sign points to the right, but I park to the left of the sign. I’ve parked there many times before, so I forsaw no problem in doing it today.

And then I saw my neon green parking ticket, nestled on the far right of my windshield. I had been cited for parking in a no stopping zone! As I said, to my knowledge there is no sign that prohibits parking in that particular spot—that’s why I have parked there so often. I checked the area out again to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Then, shaking my parking ticket to the sky, I vowed to appeal my unjust fate.

When I saw one of the evil parking authority on my walk back to PresbyLand, I think I must have glared at him because he asked about the ticket I was holding in my hand (okay, so he was actually pretty friendly, and he wasn’t the one to give me the ticket). He claimed that there is a sign, one that I don’t think exists. So I’ve printed out a citation form and will put my case before a higher power than the parking minions. I need that $15, by golly! That will buy me another gallon bag of rose petals for my wedding!

Now you’re wondering how I’m going to bring this random diatribe back to either God or women. Well, how’s this for a try—evil parking police are like tax collectors in Jesus’ day. Everyone despises them for their line of work, even if they’re only doing what the law says (although they may also take bribes, for all I know). But Jesus loves them anyway. In the end, we’re called to love them, too, even as we call them to repentance for giving out unjust parking tickets. Go and sin no more, parking police person!

As for women, I’ve noticed that all the evil parking police I see in Louisville are men. Why is this? At least the Beatles had lovely Rita, meter maid.

But at least when I got back to the building, Worldwide Ministries was having a make-your-own trail mix party I could crash. Free food—that was some salve to my wounds.

“When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’” --Matthew 9:11-13

Kelsey

Happy Easter, everyone! He is risen!

First of all, thanks to Jen Ross yesterday for a powerful testimony about her work with V-Day on the Rhodes College campus. If you’re interested in starting a similar group on your own campus, I would definitely recommend that you talk to her about how to get something going.

So I guess I dropped off the face of the earth last week, right in the middle of the big Holy Week action. Well, Good Friday is actually a holiday in PresbyLand, so David and I were shuffling around my hometown in Washington preparing for our upcoming nuptials. We now have a ring and a marriage license, so I guess that counts for something! Oh yes, and a buttercream frosting wedding cake. That is very, very important. But despite my proclamations at previous shindigs, I have not made arrangements to serve shrimp cocktail at our reception. The buck literally has to stop somewhere.

I spent Easter Sunday in church with my family, which is always heaps of jolly good fun. It was a nice service, to be sure, that methodically laid out Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross with several references to Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.

Nothing against The Passion, but sometimes I feel like a bit too much attention has been invested in that film lately. Personally, I tend to be very Protestant in my emphasis on the Resurrection in contrast to the Passion. Because if you focus so much on the pain and suffering of Christ’s Passion, I think you miss a lot of what gives our Christian faith life.

Over 2000 years ago, a religious/political dissident named Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by the Romans. To the Romans and to the religious leaders who instigated this execution, such a thing happened every day to hundreds of people throughout Rome’s vast territories. The pain and suffering of such an execution was horrific, to be sure, but such violence was just the way things were. This is the Crucifixion.

Yet Paul tells us that “…if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Because it is in the Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection—that he ultimately conquered the forces of sin, death, injustice, oppression, whatever you want to call it—that makes this story unique among all those Roman crucifixions. If we believe only that Jesus suffered and died a terrible death for our sins, without focusing on the full meaning of the Resurrection, too, then how does our story differ from the ancient Jewish practice of continual animal sacrifice?

Now, there are feminist scholars who question atonement theology—the orthodox Christian doctrine that Jesus’ sacrificial death was necessary for the work of salvation to be complete. In writing this post, I don’t want to argue about that, simply because I don’t have enough knowledge of the discussion itself to posit an opinion on the topic (although you’re welcome to discuss this at NNPCW’s message board).

The point I’m making, rather, is that whatever you believe about the meaning of Christ’s death, Christ’s resurrection ushers in something totally fresh. The old ways of violence and exploitation can’t contain or stop God from working in the world. Atonement in blood for wrongdoing is no longer necessary, because Jesus’ work has rendered it obsolete. If we end at Jesus’ death, then the world wins in its attempt to extinguish the light. But evil didn’t win, violence didn’t win, and because of that we all have hope.

So when I go to church on Easter Sunday, I come to hear the Good News—through Jesus Christ’s resurrection, we are freed and forgiven, empowered to serve, children of God. And regardless of how hopeless the world seems, we can live without fear as followers of one who triumphed over the darkness of the world.

For when we believe in the impossible, when we live as if the impossible were already here, we only follow in Jesus’ footsteps… to the cross, the tomb, and praise be to God, back out again.

“Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.” --John 20:18

Kelsey

Hi Everyone! My name is Jennifer Ross, I am a sophomore at Rhodes College in Memphis, and I am the guest blogger for today! I am going into my second year of being a Coordinating Committee member of NNPCW. Kelsey asked me to write about an organization on my campus that I work with that works to end violence against women and children, V-Day and a sort of reflection on my experience working with this organization

A little bit of info about V-Day: V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations.

So, why did I initially get involved with V-Day on my campus? After my senior year in high school, as I was getting ready to go to college, I heard a statistic that shocked me: before graduating from college, 1 in 4 women will be raped. I was shocked, amazed and scared. This is definitely not something that is published in the fancy, shiny college brochures.

When I got to Rhodes, I was searching. Searching for something to help heal the pain that I felt about events in my own past, searching to connect my faith with social action and justice, searching for a way to make that 1 in 4 statistic a non-reality. I found what I was looking for it in V-Day and applied to be volunteer coordinator for the organization. This year, during the second week in February, V-Day hosted its annual V-Week, opening the week with a prayer and peace vigil and closing with 3 nights of performances of the V-Monologues. It was a poignant, difficult, joyous, and cathartic week as much of the campus rallied together to work on ending violence against women. It was amazing to see a group of students really fired up and working together on something that I cared so much about.

As a Christian, I feel called to minister to those who are oppressed, those who are hurting, and those who need help. This is my joy and my duty as a Christian and I feel so lucky to be able to work with V-Day. Christ is the perfect model for anyone seeking to do social justice ministries. Through Christ’s life and Christ’s example, I see what I want to do, who I want to be, who I am called to be. I am given the strength to continue on when the fight gets hard, the courage to stand up and speak when injustices abound and surrounded by the love of the Holy Spirit when I need it most. Standing up and working for social justice isn’t easy; in actuality, it’s incredibly hard, but because of the strength, courage and love I am given by Christ, I am able to do all things.

I encourage anyone who is reading this blog to stand up, get passionate about something, and make a change in the world.

If anyone has any questions or wants to talk to me for any reason, look me up on the coordinating committee page on NNPCW’s website.

Peace in Christ,

Jennifer

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” Matthew 5:6

This day in Holy Week is rich with spiritual significance—it is Maundy Thursday, and also the first night of Passover to our Jewish sisters and brothers. This is the day when Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Passover together, the meal of lamb and unleavened bread symbolizing the night in which God “passed over” the Israelites in his judgment upon Egypt. For Christians, there is a parallel between the Exodus Passover, in which the Israelites put the blood of an unblemished lamb on their doorframes so that the Angel of Death would pass over them, and the death of Christ on the cross as the Son of God.

In this vein, Maundy Thursday marks the institution of the Lord’s Supper, aka Communion or the Eucharist. And it is from these passages that the lectionary today is drawn:

Exodus 12:1-4, 11-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

For those of you who are in Presbyterian churches, you may recognize the 1 Corinthians passage—it is what most Presbyterian ministers say when they administer Communion. This is probably also the earliest written record of the institution of Communion, since this letter predates even the Gospels themselves.

I vaguely remember my first Communion. We hardly ever served it at my Pentecostal church, and I’m really not sure why we didn’t—maybe it was too Catholic or something (since Mass is celebrated every single Sunday). But one day the pastor decided to have Communion, and told me I had to come out from children’s church (where I took refuge from the doom and gloom of the Apocalypse issuing forth from the pulpit) to take it.

My overriding memory of the experience was being told that I’d better make sure my heart was right with God before I took Communion, because if I hadn’t been forgiven of my sins I would profane the sacrament and God would surely be angry. I took that pretty seriously as a ten-year-old with religious anxiety. So for years after, I tried to evoke Mel Gibson-esque mental images of Jesus on the cross so that I would feel appropriately somber and appreciative of Jesus’ sacrifice.

Yet perhaps my old pastor’s cumbersome attempts to instill sacramental reverence in a ten-year-old had some positive effects. Because now, Communion is one of the most meaningful and enriching elements of my faith journey. I live fully into its sacredness, soaking in the symbolism of the bread broken high and the cup poured out as the minister utters the words of institution. In the time of silence and reflection before taking the elements, that time once devoted to conjuring up images of a blood-soaked, pain-filled Jesus, I connect with God wherever I’m at. Sometimes, I come to the table with a less-than-right frame of mind, too—despairing in my Louisville loneliness, angry at a loved one, grasping for control when I can’t have it.

But contrary to what I believed, I don’t find condemnation waiting for me when I partake of the elements on those days. Instead, I find some sort of healing, forgiveness, the power to forgive. I find Christ in the sacrament—the Holy One, in whom the Eucharist is only one symbol of God’s overriding love for each of us. In Communion, I get a taste of that peace that passes all understanding. I remember what Jesus is all about.

After washing the disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday and then eating the Passover, Jesus tells his disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). The Communion Feast attunes me to Christ’s abiding love, and helps me to pass it on to others.

“The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” --1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Kelsey

Judas Iscariot is the key player in today’s lectionary passages:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 70
Hebrews 12:1-3
John 13:21-32

For today in John, Jesus predicts Judas’ betrayal. You know, there is a part of me that mourns for Judas. He’s the dog that gets kicked a lot in the Gospels—every time he is mentioned, the writers bring up that he will be the one to betray Jesus. Some Gospels, such as the John passage today, go so far as to say that Satan entered Judas. And you can’t help but feel pain of lost relationship, brokenness, when you read the accounts in which Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss of greeting.

Perhaps I mourn for Judas because he really isn’t some sort of demon monster, just painfully human. Even Jesus, I think, loved Judas and hurt for him—maybe that’s why he told Judas to get it over with quickly, called him “friend” in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew 26. And in Matthew 27, Judas hangs himself, overcome with regret for what he has done.

So why did Judas do it? If you’ve been watching your news reports of late, you’ve heard of National Geographic’s TV special on the Gospel of Judas, a non-canonical text discovered in the 1970s in Egypt. The 3rd or 4th century manuscript’s existence was mentioned in other texts as early as 180 AD, but this is the first time scholars have actually gotten a hold of a surviving copy. The text basically argues that Jesus told Judas to betray him in order to fulfill the divine plan, and that Judas was Jesus’ closest friend.

Others say that Judas could have been related to a Jewish sect waiting for the Messiah to bring the violent overthrow of Rome, and that betraying Jesus was Judas’ way of forcing the Messiah’s hand to start the revolution. He didn’t realize that Jesus wasn’t leading that kind of revolution.

But at a deeper, spiritual level, Judas symbolizes all of us. Because when we come right down to it, we often falter as disciples for a lot less than thirty pieces of silver. We’re just as guilty of misunderstanding Jesus and his work on earth. We pay lip service to faith while acting unfaithfully all the time. How can we really bash Judas when we have blood on our hands, too?

I mourn for Judas, too, because in his death in Matthew 27 he forgets the key message of Scripture—that God loves us, that Jesus loves him unto death, despite his betrayal. For without this love that is faithful through our faults and failings, would any of us stand?

And if hell is separation from God, the inability to know God’s love, then Judas’ last desperate moments of life were hell indeed. Perhaps that is why Jesus tells Judas it would have been better for him if he had never been born.

“After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’” --John 13:27

Kelsey

So, now that you know what the lectionary is, you’ll be happy to know that today’s passages are:

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 71:1-14
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
John 12:20-36

We’re kind of in the early part of Holy Week, so the story is kind of slow right now—the real action starts on Thursday, when we hit Maundy Thursday (when Jesus and the disciples have the Last Supper). Rather, in this part of the week, Jesus is making a last-ditch effort to explain what he’s all about to his followers and prepare them for his impending death. Not that they’re all that good about picking up the clues, mind you.

Truth be told, though, aren’t we a lot like Jesus’ followers then? In many ways, we still aren’t quite sure what Jesus is all about. I read an article yesterday in you-know-where (the NYT) that decried bringing Jesus into the political realm on either side, as the great moralizer or the great humanitarian. The author, Garry Willis, proclaims, “Jesus should not be recruited as a campaign aide. To trivialize the mystery of Jesus is not to serve the Gospels.”

And that’s the kicker—the mystery of Jesus Christ. Because if you read John 12 today, you’re not going to get the feel-goodies you might get from listening to Joel Osteen. You also don’t see Jesus sitting on high, Zen-like, serenely passing out ethical sayings to the crowd like candy. The Jesus that talks of walking in the light before darkness comes seems edgy, foreboding. Beyond full comprehension.

I’ve been to many churches in my day. I’ve sat in services where the utterances from people’s mouths send shivers down your spine. I’ve likewise been in services where you could drown in the poetry and beauty of the Holy Scripture as it is proclaimed from the pulpit. They’ve ranged the entire theological spectrum, from Pentecostal to evangelical to progressive.

And though my experiences in those churches has given me a framework for understanding the Bible, even a framework for how to live my life as a Christian, they’ve ultimately left me with more questions than answers about Jesus. For as you sink deeper and deeper into any relationship, you discover that the other being is far more complex than you ever would have imagined. There are variegated shades in the character of the other.

We know Jesus through the Gospel accounts of him. But as we delve deeper and deeper into those Gospel, as we hear them year after year at Easter, infinite hues in Jesus’ character emerge. It isn’t that Jesus changes—it is simply that we get more snippets of a Messiah so complex that we will never fully unlock him.

Maybe there really is one church that has “got it” on Jesus, and the rest of us are going straight to hell. Maybe every church has a little piece of Jesus, and together as the body of Christ we make it into one whole tapestry. A good thought, to be sure. But, most frightening of all, what if none of us really have it? What if we’re all going around and proclaiming our version of Jesus to the world, attaching Jesus to our agenda, and totally missing the point? We have the Word before us as a guide, and the Holy Spirit to inspire us, but shoot, the disciples had Jesus there in the flesh and still didn’t quite connect all the dots. How much easier is it for us to set up our own ideologies as idolatries that blaspheme the one true God?

But we travel on through the Gospels with Jesus, like the disciples, vainly grasping to make sense of him. Setting out on that journey with Jesus may never help us fully figure it out. But it causes us to love him, even to the cross.

“The crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that they darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.’” --John 12:34-35

Kelsey

Good morning! I am officially back from my blogging vacation, at least for a few days. I’m heading to the great state of Washington for the Easter holiday this year (and doing a whole lot of wedding planning while I’m there—only 40 days!!!), so you’ll probably have some guest bloggers for Good Friday and the Monday following Easter. I’ve already lined up CoCo member Jennifer Ross to share with us on Monday about her activism on campus, so stay tuned for that.

This week I’ve decided to go a bit more Jesus-y on you. Because as most of you know, this week is Holy Week in the Christian calendar, the high point of our religious year. To do this, I wanted to go back to the lectionary and reflect on the Scriptures it lays out. For those of you following along at home, today’s lectionary passages are Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 36:5-11, Hebrews 9:11-15, and John 12:1-11 (which is a cool woman-centered passage about Mary anointing Jesus. Woo hoo!).

Okay, now I know what your next question is—what the heck is a lectionary? (Of course, maybe I’m the only one who would ask this question, since I grew up Pentecostal—some years, we were lucky if they even mentioned Christmas in my little church.) Well, my buddy Frank Quinn, OP, from the Catholic site I found on Google, says, “A lectionary is a choice of readings from the Old and New Testaments appointed for specific times and celebrations over the course of the liturgical year.”

Lectionaries have been part of the church almost from the beginning. Since the early church grew out of Judaism, and Jewish services included readings from the Torah and the Prophets during each Sabbath, the Christian church began to organize their worship around the chronological reading of the Hebrew Scriptures and the letters of the Apostles. The arrival of holy seasons such as Easter, though, meant that chronological readings gave way to a themed text for each service, based on the holy day. By the High Middle Ages (when all those hierarchical kings and popes wanted to centralize everything, including worship), all Western Christian churches were hearing the same set of Scriptures every Sunday.

Now, I will confess that from what I read online, our Protestant Reformed ancestors weren’t very gung-ho on the lectionary thing (although if you happen to be Lutheran or Episcopalian, your tradition pretty much kept the Catholic lectionary to some degree after the Reformation). Some of the Swiss Reformers, like Zwingli in Zurich, completely ditched the lectionary and observations of the church year. Calvin, from whom our Presbyterian branch springs, got rid of the Catholic lectionary and church year, but did set up a new continuous reading to keep the whole concept of unified worship.

So fast-forward to the 1970s, the height of the ecumenical movement. At that point, many of the mainline churches were using some sort of lectionary, and they decided to all get together and come up with a common lectionary for all participating denominations. The set of Bible readings we use today ultimately came from that effort—the Revised Common Lectionary. The PC(USA) uses this lectionary, as do the United Methodists, Episcopalians, Evangelical Lutherans, United Church of Christ, and Disciples of Christ.

The Revised Common Lectionary is basically designed to hit on most of the Bible in three year cycles. During the Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter sections, you’ll probably hear the same texts year after year, but during the rest of the year you’ll hear a variety of texts during worship. There is also a daily lectionary that allows you to go through most of the Bible in two years. You can get the daily lectionary on the PC(USA)’s Devotions and Readings page.

One more thing to note about the lectionary, as you may have noticed above—it is kind of long. Most of the time, it includes a reading from each of the following: the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Epistles of the New Testament, and one of the four Gospels.

But if you’re looking for a way to get through the whole Bible in a few years, and then come back for a refresher course, a daily lectionary may be the way for you to go. And during seasons like Lent and Easter, the lectionary continually draws us back to the story at the center of our faith—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.” --John 12:3

“Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.’” --John 12:7

Kelsey

Now, I've been reading the statistics online on downloads we've been getting for "PresbyLand Confidential," and I have to say "tsk, tsk" to those of you who are more interested in the outtakes than the original. We're trying to teach you important things about the church!!!! No, I guess I understand if you're more interested in viewing humorous outtakes than actually learning about the different ways you can get involved in the Presbyterian Church (USA). But don't come crying to me when you didn't know about something we were doing, because I now have video proof that we tried to tell you about it.

Anyway, here's the Eun-hyey outtakes from this week's interview, where we draw upon Eun-hyey's background in art history to understand one of the greatest works of art PresbyLand has ever seen! We also discover from Eun-hyey the requirments for a successful office party. Be sure to take a look.

Next week, we'll feature the Rev. Robert Turner, Associate for Collegiate Ministries in the PC(USA). For those of you who know Bob personally, I think you will agree that the true Bob shines forth on next week's segment. Plus, I'll be back to blogging regularly, so stay tuned!

"Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb." --Psalm 37:1-2

Kelsey

PS-- Remember that you won't be able to watch these videos if you don't download QuickTime! And yes, it is a free download.

So Brianne just called and asked me to blog for her… apparently all the good Wi-Fi connections are password protected. I guess you’ll have to put up with dull ol’ Kelsey for the afternoon.

It has been a bit slow in PresbyLand, really, with most of my co-workers out of the office and most of my work devoted to preparing for events months away. And frankly, I’ve missed blogging to you every day. Perhaps it is a bit therapeutic for me to explore issues with you and exercise my writing chops at the same time. Some people have their morning coffee, some people journal, I blog to you.

Who are “you,” anyway? It seems like I most often find out when I offend someone, which has happened once or twice. I know that there are some college students who read regularly, as well as some faithful NNPCW alumnae. I have a couple of old friends that check in once in a while. I also know that some of you out there are my parents’, even my grandparents’ age. Shoot, a couple of you ARE my parents and grandparents (Grandpa Rice seemed very pleased that he got a shout out the other day). You come from all over the country and span all sorts of life experiences. But there is something about this space that brings you by to visit every once in a while.

I was at a conference last weekend in which we talked a lot about community and safe space. Young adults, both those in NNPCW and those in other church contexts, constantly mention safe space for honest questioning and dialogue as one of the most important things the church can give them. They also complain quite often that such space is lacking in our churches. Yet I don’t think safe space for asking questions is a desire exclusive to young adults. Deep down, I think we’re all longing for the same space to be ourselves, the safety to ask questions, and the opportunity to enter into authentic relationships with one another.

But what does it take to create such a community? When NNPCW member Krista Welch from Austin College and I talked about it, respect came to the fore as one feature. A community built on openness is not one where everyone agrees, but one where everyone respects the personhood and the opinions of everyone else. I may not agree with you about the war in Iraq, for instance, but in an authentic community I owe it to you to hear your point of view.

Perhaps this is where people get confused, too—a safe space is not a homogeneous space. Too many churches, colleges, clubs, and other groups claim to be a safe space, when all that really means is that they scare all the “unsafe” people away. And if we come together simply because we think we’re all the same, what happens when we find out we’re not? It doesn’t leave us much room to grow.

Authentic community also requires hospitality. How do we extend grace to one another? Do we honestly open our lives, even when that might require us to risk something of ourselves? How do we model for others the opportunity to share of themselves?

Sometimes I wonder why I write some of the things in here that I do. But perhaps, in my mind, it is all about creating this virtual, online space of authentic community. I guess it’s kind of hard to claim community when I do most of the talking. I know you’re out there, though, and I know your names—from Rebecca to Maisha, Vern to Viola, and so many others. And I hope that when I ask the questions, you feel like you can ask questions, too. I hope you will feel respected here even when we don’t agree, and I ask that you respect me in return.

Maybe that’s why I miss you all when I don’t write. Even though you don’t often reply back, we’re connected nonetheless.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” --1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Kelsey

Good morning, everyone... I've struggled past who knows what forces of evil on the Internet, and I was finally able to upload the new PresbyLand Confidential! Sophia does it on her own this time... this episode features the Young Adult Intern for Racial Justice and Advocacy, Eun-hyey Park. Take a look to learn about one of the awesome ministries the Presbyterian Church (USA) does to advocate for racial justice, and to find out how you can get involved!