Apply for the 2014/15 Horizons Fellows Program

Attention all current UVa Third Year Students!  Applications due APRIL 1, 2014. Have you ever wondered: What are my values? How do I live them?  What does it mean to be successful?  What does it mean to walk humbly, do justice and love mercy?  Is the pursuit of financial wealth & power a Christian value?

As you look ahead to your final year of college, you are invited to apply for an innovative mentoring program---the HORIZONS FELLOWS PROGRAM:  Vocational Discipleship Training at Theological Horizons.

The Vision:  Vocational training for 4th year students at UVa.  In the context of a year long intentional relationship with a mentor from the Charlottesville community, fellows will wrestle with how their faith, thought & life influence their vocational choices and direction.

The Mission: To provide fellows with tools:  spiritual practices, resources, strategies & frameworks for making decisions to navigate the transition from college to post-college adventures.

Read the Horizons Fellows Program Description

Applications are due by midnight on Monday, April 1, 2014.

Theological Horizons Fellows Program Application

Want to know more?  Read posts by current Horizons Fellows browsing the archives of this blog!

Do you have questions?  Contact Rev. Saranell Hartman at saranell@theologicalhorizons.org

Fellows Blog: Zach Porter on the Necessity of Mentorship

Without further ado, Theological Horizons fellow Zach Porter shares his insights on Biblical origins of mentors and the power they have in achieving goals:

In a recent article on the popular website The Art of Manliness, “The Mentor” was listed as the first of the five types of friends every man needs. The article describes the mentor as “someone you can turn to when the goin’ gets tough,” emphasizing the need for men to have others who are older and wiser in their lives, who can relate to experiences and challenges and provide advice, perspective and constructive criticism.

“The Mentor” is a concept that has strong roots in the Christian tradition: Timothy and Paul, Joshua and Moses, Elisha and Elijah, all examples of strong followers of God sharing their wisdom, their faith and encouraging the whole-hearted pursuit of our Creator. The results of these relationships are noteworthy. Timothy led the church in Ephesus. Joshua led the nation of Israel to incredibly military victories and into the Promise Land. Elisha led Israel as a political intermediary and through demonstrations of the power of Yahweh. These historical figures demonstrate a correlation between active mentor/mentee relationships and successful careers and effective leadership.

This correlation ought provide ample incentive to engage in a relationship with a mentor. It certainly does for me, and I relish the opportunity I have been provided through Horizons Fellows.

Zach Porter, UVa 2014

Sister Simone: The Activist

The past 2 weeks at Vintage we've been talking about our "God Languages." That is, we've been discussing the ways in which we are naturally inclined to commune with God. During the first week we got an introduction to the "Naturalist": those who communicate with God in and through nature. I am quite ill-equipped to talk about the Naturalist, as I scored incredibly low on that section of the quiz.

In the second week - last Friday - we talked about the "Activist": someone who believes faith should be put into action. Fittingly, we were lucky enough to have Sister Simone Campbell visit Charlottesville last Sunday and Monday. You may know her as the witty and politically savvy nun from Nuns on the Bus, or the head of NETWORK, a Catholic lobbying group. But for 18 years, she was an attorney of family law, working especially for those in poverty within the justice system. After hearing her lead a discussion about how to talk with those that hold different opinions, it was evident that her very political actions -- lobbying for healthcare and immigration reform among the most recent -- are informed by her faithful beliefs. 

That is to say, she confronts injustice as an expression of her love for God. Similarly, Shane Claiborne, a religious activist and founding member of The Simple Way, promotes loving God through action. He states, "Those of us who yearn for the kingdom of God must follow in the steps of Jesus. Jesus was not 'in charge' of the poor. He was poor. The message of Christ from the manger to the cross is that the world is conquered through weakness, through leastness, through struggle." And in this way, we all are called to live lives of service in the name of Christ.

If I'm being honest, I didn't score very highly on the "Activist" portion of the quiz either. But I know that action is an important part of being human, and having that action informed by our faith makes it an important part of being a Christian.

Rhody Mastin

Theological Horizons Communications Intern

UVa 2015

Vintage 2014: What's Your God Language?

Vintage is back, friends! As a new Spring semester greets us again, students were happy to reconvene at the Bonhoeffer House last Friday to discuss the ways in which we talk about God. We began with an invitation from American philosopher Dallas Willard:

"We have received an invitation. We are invited to make a pilgrimage--into the heart and life of God. The invitation has long been on public record. You can hardly look anywhere across the human scene and not encounter it... God's desire for us is that we should live in Him... in the deepest nature and meaning our universe is a community of boundless and totally competent love."

On Friday we attempted to recognize and grapple with the magnitude of this invitation so that, in the coming weeks, we can fully understand the ways in which we uniquely respond to it.  Our response is driven by a search for who we are, but if we accept God's invitation to commune with Him, we can gracefully accept that who we are "is embedded in the heart of a holy God" (Calvin Miller).

Theological Horizons is excited to be a part of a semester aimed at individual growth through spiritual identity.

"To covet God's holiness is a righteous hunger. To lust for godliness is a glorious passion... Yet by what path can we arrive at such a center for our souls? How can I tell you? How shall I define it? Holy inwardness defies the laws of space and time. It fills us with a life too great to be our own. When he fills us, what we contain is ore than who we are. The indwelling Christ moves into us with a love beyond dimension; for all his vastness, God chooses to make his throne inside our fleshly frame. He pours his cosmic size into the thimblelike containers of our souls." - Calvin Miller (A Hunger for the Holy)

Beat the Rush talk online now

Sorority rush is an experience filled with uncertainty, hope, drama, anxiety and, too often, disappointment.  Each year we host a tea for women students--an hour to step out of the rush madness and hear from older, wiser women---loving mentors who remind us all that God's love is without limit and without conditions.

Hear Christian spiritual counselor Miska Collier's incredible talk and step into the presence of God with us.  You will be reminded that you are truly loved!  This talk is great not only for young women but for anyone who wonders,"Am I good enough?"

NEWS! Sister Simone is coming to the Bonhoeffer House February 10!

  Sister Simone Campbell has been the Executive Director of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobbying group, since 2004; she is an attorney, a poet, and has experience in public policy lobbying for immigration reform, peace-buildng, and economic justice. Indeed, after writing her famous "nuns' letter" during the 2010 congressional debate on healthcare reform and getting 59 Catholic Sisters to give support in favor of the Affordable Care Act, she was thanked by President Obama and invited to attend the ceremony that celebrated the passing of the ACA.

She was also one of the key organizers of the "Nuns on the Bus" tour, a tour across nine states that opposed the "Ryan Budget" that was approved by the House of Representatives. The budget planned to cut welfare programs that would give to people in need, and the bus tour helped garner support of communities, government officials, and the media. Her most recent Nuns on the Bus tour was in May and June of 2013, and focused on immigration reform. For much of her work in politics she has received the "Defender of Democracy Award" from the International Parliamentarians for Global Action and the "Health Care Heroes Award" from Families USA.

Finally, Sister Simone is no stranger to the media, and can be seen on 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You can check out her Stephen Colbert interview here: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/422223/december-13-2012/simone-campbell.

For all of these reasons and more, Theological Horizons is thrilled to host Sister Simone Campbell on Monday, February 10, 2014 at the Bonhoeffer House! She will be speaking and discussing important topics relating to our faith and social action from 3:00-4:30 on February 10, as well as preaching at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Charlottesville on Sunday February 9. Both events are open to the public, and more information will be given in the coming days! We can't wait to see you there.

"Beat the Rush" event on January 14

• Who are my friends?
• What is important to me?
• Am I beautiful?
• Where do I find my identity?
• How do I deal with disappointment? with judgement?
• Where is God in all of this?

These questions come forward with particular urgency during sorority rush -- whether you are going Greek or not! -- as the drama in the dorms heats up.

Step into the Bonhoeffer House for an hour with older women who have wisdom to share!

Join us for our annual BEAT THE RUSH tea on Tuesday afternoon, January 14 at 4 pm.

RSVP via facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/events/599771766761993/

We'll have a panel discussion, including Christian counselor Miska Collier, pastor Saranell Hartman, and several UVa alumni (both Greek and nonGreek) who have experienced all you're going through right now...

The UVa inner loop bus stops close by on Rugby Road. We will also be offering rides, especially for you if you've never been to the Bonhoeffer House.  Want more information or a ride?  Call or text Karen Marsh at 434-466-1342 or email karen@theologicalhorizons.org.

Bring your friends!  All are welcome.

Now you can listen to the 2013 "BEAT THE RUSH" TALK by psychologist Susan Cunningham!  And see photos of last year's event...

Horizons Fellow Maria Maguire reflects on Joy

I am very thankful to be a Fellow with Theological Horizons. I am a fourth year here at U.Va.  I’m studying studio art and religious studies.  This past spring I spent a semester in Italy.  Though I experienced great joy in that new place, I also missed my community of U.Va.  When I reflected on what exactly it was that I missed—when I tried to identify a physical place where I felt I belonged, where I felt peace—it was the Bonhoeffer House.

Throughout my time at U.Va., the cozy living room of the Bonhoeffer House has been a place of refuge from the pressures of university life.  Though it is deeply connected to The University, it has been for me a place apart.  At Friday Vintage lunches, I have often felt the Holy Spirit that it is dwelling within me come alive through creative realizations sparked by theological readings and discussions.  Walking home from Vintage on a beautiful Fridayautumn afternoon, I feel invigorated and alive—even more alive than usual.  That is the Holy Spirit.

So unquestionably when I got the e-mail from Karen announcing that there would be a new Fellows program for fourth years, I jumped with joy.  An opportunity to get even more involved with the Bonhoeffer house?! I thought with a huge grin.

I was content with simply being more connected with the Bonhoeffer house—that was enough.  I was very excited to help out by volunteering at guest lectures.  I love simply being present, helping out in whatever way I can, so that I can be exposed to the stimulating conversations of faith, thought, and life.

I later found out that the focal point of this fellowship was a relationship with a mentor.  I didn’t expect, and couldn’t possibly forsee, the gift of this program.

Throughout my time at U.Va., I’ve meandered between the disciplines of studio art and religious studies.  I have found that the study of each has provoked discoveries and realizations in the other.   Theological Horizons found a perfect match for me in the community:  my current mentor, who is a liturgical artist.  I was blessed to attend a recent Mini-Retreat of hers, at which we attendees made art as a form of prayer, a way to connect with God.  She is a pastor, and she is extremely gifted at helping others listen deeply to the Holy Spirit.  People who are trying to discern the next step in their lives often come to her with questions—how do I do what God wants me to do?

What gives you delight?  She says.  What better of a way to glorify God is there than to do what gives you joy?  God is at the heart of that.  God is where your heart is.

And so I go forth, discerning questions of what gives me joy, and how I can do whatever that is to glorify God.

I look forward to the blossoming of this mentoring relationship, which has been a true gift from God through Theological Horizons.

-Maria Maguire, UVa 2014

Advent with Bonhoeffer: Mystery

What is mystery? 

A detective novel.  A question that puzzles us, a thing we just can't put into words. South African theologian and friend of Theological Horizons, John de Gruchy, invites us to consider mystery:

"Mystery is being encountered by and engaging reality differently. It is not a question of solving problems, but of participating in something that transcends and ultimately overwhelms us as we struggle with matters of life and death, love and justice, faith and hope...In the end, this is what it means to be 'led into mystery', and in the process to become more fully human." (from Led Into Mystery: Seeking Answers in Life & Death) 

Bonhoeffer said that our lives have worth to the extent that we keep our respect for mystery.  How can God lead us into mystery today, this second Sunday of Advent?

"The unrecognized mystery of this world: Jesus Christ.  That this Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter, was himself the Lord of glory: that was the mystery of God.  It was a mystery because God became poor, low, lowly, and weak out of love for humankind, because God became a human being like us, so that we would become divine, and because he came to us so that we would come to him.

God as the one who becomes low for our sakes, God in Jesus of Nazareth--that is the secret, hidden wisdom...that 'no eye has seen nor ear has heard nor the human heart has conceived' (I Cor. 2:9)...That is the depth of the Deity, whom we worship as mystery and comprehend as mystery."

"God travels in wonderful ways with human beings, but he does not comply with the views and opinions of people.  God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for him; rather, his way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof.  Where our reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely God loves to be."

"And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly.  God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings.  God marches right in.  He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them.  God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the week and broken."---Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(source: God is in the Manger: Reflections of Advent and Christmas)

Advent with Bonhoeffer: Waiting

Advent begins today.  This is a time to wait and to pray, "Come, Lord Jesus."  Dietrich Bonhoeffer(1906-1945) will be our guide during the next four Sundays. From across the years, Bonhoeffer reminds us that Jesus Christ expressed strength  through weakness, that authentic faith is more important than the beguiling trappings of religion, and that God is often heard most clearly by those in poverty and distress. Let's walk through Advent with Bonhoeffer. For Bonhoeffer, WAITING--one of the central themes of the Advent experience--was a fact of life during World War II: waiting to be released from prison; waiting to be able to spend time with fiancee, Maria von Wedemeyer; waiting for the end of the war. As friends & former students were killed  & his home was bombed, there was little he could do but pray and write. There was a helplessness in his situation that he recognized as a parallel to Advent, Christians' time of waiting for redemption in Christ.

"Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent," Bonhoeffer wrote to his best friend Eberhard Bethge as the holidays approached in 1943, "One waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other--things that are really of no consequence--the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside."

"We can, and should also, celebrate Christmas despite the ruins around us...I think of you as you now sit together with the children and with all the Advent decorations--as in earlier years you did with us.  We must do this, even more intensively because we do not know how much longer we have."--letter to Bonoeffer's parents, Nov. 29, 1943, written from Tegel prison camp

"Be brave for my sake, dearest Maria, even if this letter is your only token of my love this Christmas-tide.  We shall both experience a few dark hours--why should we disguise that from each other?  We shall ponder the incomprehensibility of our lot and be assailed by the question of why, over and above the darkness already enshrouding humanity, we should be subjected to the bitter anguish of a separation whose purpose we fail to understand...

And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God.  Our eyes are at fault, that is all.  God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.  No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives."--letter to fiancee Maria von Wedemeyer from prison, December 13 1943

from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: God is in the Manger--Reflections on Advent and Christmas, edited by Jana Riess

Update! NEW venue for Sarah Masen, Julie Lee & Will Marsh concert

 

Breaking news on our house concert on Friday, November 22 at 7:00:

It's a triple bill at a new location!

Sarah Masen, Julie Lee and Corrie Covell, on their Lift it Up Tour, will now be joined by an incredible rock bank from Australia, goodbyemotel.  [see their music video]  The band's music has been featured in Chrysler commercials as well as TV shows such as Gossip Girl, Covert Affairs, and Suits. Our own Will Marsh will open the show.

All of that is to say it's going to be amazing...SO amazing that we're moving to a larger space!

*** The show will be at a new location: Eunioa/The Garden at 1500 Jefferson Park Avenue - between Gibson/Nau and UVa Student Health.  Doors open at 7 pm. $5 ***

COME OUT & BRING YOUR FRIENDS.

Sarah Masen is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville whose music has been featured on the TV show Party of Five. You can download a free song from her most recent album The Trying Mark by clicking here. When discussing the origin of The Trying Mark, Masen says that "for two years I have had this confessional symbol [of the trying mark] before me as a kind of totem that returns my wandering energies toward center. The fear and frustration of 'I can’t do my longing justice and feed my children' is somehow compassionately softened by the trying anyway at both, each day. As I have meditated on the symbol, words like “enough” and phrases like “I don’t know” steady me, redirecting my attention to that mystery within which I live and move and have my being. The songs in this collection point to that unknown country the trying marks."

Julie Lee is also a singer-songwriter based in Nashville that is known as a "scrapbook of various traditional American styles." She has opened for Alison Krauss and her new album Till and Mule comes out November 19. You can hear some of the new songs on her website julielee.org.

FREE Parking (since it's after hours) in the parking lot behind Nau and Gibson Halls.

We can't wait to see you all there!

"Led into Mystery: Seeking Answers in Life and Death" with John deGruchy

John W. de Gruchy, Emeritus Robert Selby Taylor Professor of Christian Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, will give a lecture entitled, “Led into Mystery: Seeking Answers in Life and Death” on Tuesday, November 19 at 5:00 p.m. in the lounge of St. Paul’s Memorial Church across from the Rotunda.

John de Gruchy has authored or edited more than thirty books on Dietrich Bonhoeffer; the church in South Africa; contextual, public and Reformed theology; social history; Christianity and the arts; reconciliation and justice; and Christian humanism. He served two congregations and the South African Council of Churches as an ordained minister in the United Congregational Church before he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Cape Town in 1973. De Gruchy retired in 2003, but continues to be active in research, publishing, and mentoring at the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. With his wife Isobel, de Gruchy is now a resident member of the Volmoed Community for Reconciliation and Healing near Hermanus where he writes, gives seminars and makes furniture.

De Gruchy’s most recent book, Led into Mystery: Faith Seeking Answers in Life and Death, will also be the subject of his lecture. Led into Mystery is an unanticipated sequel to his book, Being Human: Confessions of a Christian Humanist. It was prompted by the untimely and tragic death of his eldest son, Steve, in February 2010, and the questions this posed about the meaning of life and death from the perspective of Christian faith.

Jean Vanier and Community

Last Friday at Vintage we discussed Jean Vanier, who, at 38, bought a small home in Paris and invited three men with developmental disabilities to come live and share the home with him.

This was the beginning of his community.

Vanier's vision grew into a global hospitality movement that is known as L'Arche, a safe space men and women with mental disabilities to discover their spirituality, explore vocations, and, most importantly, experience community. He said, "Community is the place where we ideally learn to be ourselves without fear or constraint. Community life deepens through mutual trust among all its members. The more authentic and creative a community is in its search for the essential, the more its members are called beyond their own concerns and tend to unite... Community is established by the simple, gentle concern that people show each other every day. It is made of the small gestures, all the services and sacrifices which say 'I love you' and 'I'm happy to be with you.'"

I wonder which came first: Vanier's concept of community which was then applied to the L'Arche philosophy, or L'Arche which showed a pure sense of community from which this definition stems.

I think that in being a student at UVa, I hear the word "community" used quite a bit to describe my current setting. We're told we're a community, a family, or at the very least, a bunch of students that should be tied together by the fact that we are all students. I hope I don't sound cynical, because I truly have experience fleeting moments of community at UVa, which are precious and dear to me. But if we look at community through Vanier's idea, community is sacred. When the UVa brochures talk of the community of students, I think they miss this meaning.

But Vanier is careful to point out that community is imperfect. It must go through stages - at first we are enamored with our group of people. We don't see their flaws and "everything is marvelous," as Vanier stated. But in the second stage, we are no longer disillusioned. We now recognize that being in community is hard.

The third stage -- if we can get there -- is one of realism and commitment. The members of the community "no longer see other members of the community as saints or devils," Vanier said, "but as people; each with a mixture of good and bad, darkness and light, each growing and each with their own hope. The community is neither heaven nor hell, but planted firmly on earth and they are ready to walk in ti, and with it."

We must learn to forgive. That is the purpose of community for Vanier. Because we are imperfect and live with our sins deeply entrenched around us, we must learn that being in a place of acceptance requires constant mutual forgiveness. But this isn't a bad thing. In fact, I think that these imperfections -- these cracks and crevices that are split open by our sins against one another -- give God the room to fit in among us.

For a video interview with Jean Vanier about L'Arche, click here:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eldz3uNsmv4

-Rhody Mastin

Theological Horizons Communications Intern

UVA 2015

Jesus and Your Brain Podcast!

Did you miss Dr. Curt Thompson's talk, "Loving God with All Your Mind: What Do Jesus And Your Brain Have To Do With Each Other"?  Now you can click to listen to the complete audio recording! Curt Thompson, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church,  Virginia.  Dr. Thompson is the author of Anatomy of the Soul and blogs at www.beingknown.com.

Integrating new findings in neuroscience and Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson discusses how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Learn how to be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people.

His talk at the Bonhoeffer House on September 20 was attended by well over 50 people from the University and community.  We're delighted to be able to bring the podcast of his talk to you now.

Announcing winners of the Goodwin Writing Prizes

You have waited to learn news of the 2013  Goodwin Prizes for Excellence in Theological Writing...

More than 100 exceptional essays across 40 schools were submitted in this year's competition.  After four rounds of readings, the board of directors of Theological Horizons has awarded:

The $2,000 Goodwin Prize to Ryan Harker of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary for his essay, "Formed to Consume: A Theological Analysis of Advertisements for Communications Technology".  His advisor on the paper, Prof. Andrew Brubacher-Kaethler, will receive an award of $500.

The $1,000 Goodwin Prize to Davey Henreckson of Princeton University for his essay, "The Political Image of Christ: Public Theology and Proleptic Ascent";

The $500 Goodwin Prize to Allison Hamm of Duke Divinity School for her essay, "The Crown of Creation: Sabbath-Keeping and Christian Worship".

Abstracts of the winning essays and profiles of the writers will appear on this website in the near future.

Congratulations to Ryan,  Davey and Allison.  Great thanks to all those who submitted papers in this year's competition.  We are greatly encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment!

A Horizons Fellow's Thoughts on Fourth Year

  So you’re telling me I have to be a real person soon? Your fourth year at U.Va. is the last opportunity you have to cherish such a tight-knit, interwoven college community before being thrown into the real world.  For more reasons than one, it’s an awesome and exciting time.  But now since I’ve been put a position of a mentor and, obligatorily, a student for first year students to look up to, I’m starting to feel like this next step, this transition into a career – maybe just a gap year, or maybe even a ski bum year – lacks experienced guidance and a mentor that’s been through it all.  And that’s when the Theological Horizons Fellows program fell into my lap.  All it took was a dear friend to nudge me into applying, through forwarding the application request email.

I’m excited to live this year alongside a Christian mentor that’s put the foundation of his career on glorifying the kingdom of God. One beautiful thing about this program is how realistic the Theological Horizons staff are with the time of us fellows. We’re all excited for the investment of the mentor relationship to come, but are enthusiastic, invested fourth year students. Because of this inevitable fact, the fellows, along with Theological Horizons staff, have agreed upon a very manageable schedule for the year ahead.

It’s my hope that our relationship throughout the year will help propel me into the next step, but also equip me to enter this real world with my head on straight, a desire to make His name known through my working and future personal relationships, and perhaps even give me the wisdom to learn from others’ mistakes.

Wahoowa, Cam

Cameron Elward, UVa 2014

St. Benedict and Longing

Last Friday at Vintage we talked about the search in which we live our lives. In particular, a quote from Frederick Buechner made me think a lot about how the world in which we live can become an excuse for not finding God if we let it. "The struggle to find others with whom we can share our lives, others who give our lives texture and color and meaning, has been going on forever. The task of finding work to do that is fulfilling and productive and sufficient for our needs has been constant. The need for rest and sustenance and time apart has been never-ending. Our hope and our yearning and our desire for God, and life lived with God, have been everlasting, from age to age. The world is not a simple place. It never really was."

I think our generation can easily be a little too proud of the fact that our technological age both makes our lives more difficult and strangely simpler than our parents' and grandparents' generations. While it certainly makes writing research papers more efficient, constantly being tied into a form of media is also exhausting. But Buechner's insight was a sobering reminder that navigating the world, and especially navigating the world as Christians, never was easy. It wasn't harder for our parents because they didn't have google - and it isn't necessarily easier for us because we do. In recognizing that what we are going through and the questions we are asking in terms of our faith are not novel, it becomes much easier to open up to humility. And I think it's this humility that yields balance - I want to find a way to balance everything within my work and within my faith search. But even more importantly, I want to find a way to balance all of the components. This sometimes seems daunting, but Benedict warns us, "Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love."

Theological Horizons Fellows: Vocational Discipleship

The Theological Horizons Fellows program was founded with the vision of vocational training for 4th year students at UVa.  In the context of relationship with a mentor, fellows will wrestle with the implications of the intersection of faith, thought & life on their vocational choices. That being said, we are excited to introduce our fellows to you!

Cameron Elward Peachtree, GA Biomedical Engineering (major) and Spanish (minor)

 Maria Maguire Richmond, VA Studio Art (major) and Religious Studies (minor)

Zachary Porter Istanbul, Turkey Music and Economics

Mary Lansden Brewbaker Tuscaloosa, AL Economics and Religious Studies

 Carolyn Harris Atlanta, GA Finance/Management

Brett Goodwin Leesburg, VA Aerospace Engineering

 Lauren Thomas Charlottesville, VA German (major) and Dance (minor)

Katie Prey Baltimore, MD Nursing

 Theological Horizons hopes to provide the fellows with tools, such as spiritual practices, strategies & frameworks, for making decisions to navigate the transition from college to post-college adventures. Good luck with your fourth year, Fellows!

Therese of Lisieux and Finding Your Identity

Our whole lives are about identifying ourselves – especially in relation to others. In fact, almost every title that I identify myself by directly connects me to another person – I am a daughter. I am a sister. I am a friend. There are also titles that connect me to institutions – I am a student. I am a Baptist. But all of these titles and means of identification force me to look outside of myself for internal validation of who I am.

At Vintage last Friday we talked about Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun that spent ten of her 24 years with prayer as her only work. It’s fair to say that her identity was very clearly bound up and enmeshed in God. But for those of us who are not nuns or cannot devote every hour of our day to prayer, I think it is less obvious – certainly when compared to Therese – that we can be identified by our connection to God.

In an adapted version of Therese’s writing by Scott Cairns, Therese speaks pleads with souls to let Jesus in.

Notice!

Jesus stands just before you,

Waiting in the tabernacle shaped for you –

Shaped precisely for you!

He burns with great desire

To enter into your heart.

Ignore the yammering demon

Telling you ‘not so!’ Laugh in his pinched face

And turn without fear to receive

The Jesus of quiet calm and utmost love.

Partake of His Mysteries often, often as you can,

For in Them you find your sole, entire remedy,

Assuming—of course—you would be cured.

Jesus has not impressed this hunger in your heart for nothing.

This gentle Guest of our souls

Knows our every ache and misery.

He enters, desiring to find a tent,

A bower prepared for His arrival within us,

And that is all, all He asks of us.

In her writing, the intimacy between Jesus and the human soul is made clear – it is a divine intrusion. Even in the verbs she uses, it is evident that Jesus is not passive in his waiting for us to accept His invitation. He wants to enter, to cure, to impress. But most importantly, Jesus wants to become part of us. In this entering and curing and impressing, He should become a part of the fabric of our soul. Indeed, as Ruth Haley Barton wrote in her book Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation, “There is a place within each one of us that is spiritual in nature, the place where God’s Spirit witnesses without our spirit about our truest identity. Here God’s Spirit dwells within our spirit, and here our truest desires make themselves known.”

Somewhere within what we currently exist as, we are already validated. And when we recognize the place where God dwells within us, we no longer have to seek external connections to support our fickle identities. We are found within.

-Rhody Mastin, UVA 2015

Theological Horizons Communications Intern

Loving God with All Your Mind: Lunch and Seminar

 

Theological Horizons invites you to Curt Thompson's seminar on Friday, September 20 at the Bonhoeffer House from 1-3pm:

Loving God with All Your Mind:

What do Jesus and Your Brain have to do with Each Other?

Dr. Thompson is the author of Anatomy of the Soul, and blogs at www.beingknown.com. Integrating new findings in neuroscience and Christian spirituality, Dr. Thompson will discuss how it is possible to rewire your mind, altering your brain patterns and literally making you more like the person God intended you to be. Learn how to be mentally transformed through spiritual practices, interaction with Scripture, and connections with other people.

All are welcome! A light lunch will be served.

Copies of Dr. Thompson's books will be available for $10.

There is no parking available, but the UVa Inner Loop will drop you off on Rugby Road in front of Westminster Church, near the top of University circle. Inner Loop is also convenient for First Years, as it runs directly in front of Old Dorms on McCormick Road.

The event is free, but space is limited. Please register by emailing Karen Marsh at karen@theologicalhorizons.org

For directions to the Bonhoeffer House, please click here: http://theologicalhorizons.org/about/the-bonhoeffer-house