Archive | December 2010

Christmas Celebrations

We’ve reached the end of the semester! Students are now finished exams and those from out of town are heading home to their families and finishing their Christmas shopping!

I’d love to share with you a conversation I had with Vanessa about how the semester has been for her:

A: How has it been being president this year:

V: Well, it doesn’t feel that different than being a general exec member, we’ve all really worked well together the four of us. In community meetings and exec meetings I have an overall picture of what we’re doing, and making sure we cover what we need, it’s a bit of an extra responsibility but it’s been a really interesting experience. Exec meetings and planning have gone really well. The biggest difference is in the large group meeting where I am opening and closing meetings and directing the group more than just participating and more aware of how each individual is responding and engaging to the study or how certain people are reacting to different things; often I feel like a third party viewer and feel a little bit at a distance at times, but at the same time it’s been amazing to see the things I have gotten out of the studies as well.

A: What has been your favourite thing so far this year for this semester:

V: It’s been interesting getting to know people, especially since the group is lots of new people, even the “regulars” are people that first started coming to the group occasionally last year. It’s been exciting not knowing what to expect each week, and we are getting more into a groove with things. It’s great doing study, as many are experiencing manuscript for the first time and are enjoying it. It’s been interesting doing the social events and having a chance to relax and get to know people, it’s less like hanging out with old friends but more about getting to know them and getting closer to them, and getting close in a way I wouldn’t be outside a group like this.

A: What has been the coolest thing that God has done this semester:

V: It’s been cool to see how application of passages has hit personal things for me. I was worried that being part of the planning and exec team would kill the life and connection with God that the group has been offering me. There have been times when I have come to meetings really tired and God has consistently met me and by the end of our time together I am so excited by the stuff we’re talking about and don’t even notice how long we’ve been talking – a complete 180 to how I entered in. So it’s been really exciting despite having a busy semester and a very different responsibility and relationship with the group this year. He’s met me in that journey and brought great excitement in what I’m doing.

A: Tell me about the Banquet Vision, as it looks very different to how it’s been done in the past. How did the brainstorming happen, how did you feel as you were putting it together:

V: Initially, we were planning a typical potluck, and share what we experienced this semester. But then we began thinking of different ways we could fundraise, not for a particular event, but it would be nice to have something extra for different events we plan, and also the school is more willing to give us grants and funding if we make some efforts to raise funds on our own. And we wanted to start thinking early about fundraising for city/script as that’s something that is a consistent event we attend, but the cost of it is hard for some students. And we can’t plan to do that a few weeks before the conference, we need to start thinking sooner; so we started to think of ideas to do as a fundraiser, and thought of a bake sale or a raffle, and we wanted to do this with some sort of larger point, so we thought of combining it with our Christmas banquet. Initially we were planning to do this all in one day, but then thought to break it up so people could enjoy the bake sale and buy the raffle ahead of time. We figured we’d reach more people and invite more people. It was really interesting to see how it evolved after that. It was a nice break after being really busy and having an intense study, and it was a good idea to invite people to come celebrate the end of the term with us. We were really excited that while everybody else needed to be careful and politically correct about holiday celebrations, we were able to say we are a Christian group and we are going to have a Christmas party, and we can say that and we can do that; it was a little cheesy and contrived in some ways, but mostly it was a lot of fun; we had our own little mini holiday.

A: How did people use their skills and talents:

V: The exec did the brainstorming. Moses designed the poster. Vanessa did some baking. Brian was the representative to the Ryerson Student Union, he organized booking the spaces and logistics of getting a table and the other audio/visual equipment we needed. We had a sign up sheet for members of community to help; some signed up to cook or bake or help staff the table. Jenna brought lots of decorations for the table, as we wanted to dress it up a little.

A: What are you most excited for second semester:

V: I am hoping the core group that has been established continues to come out to fellowship meetings and bible studies. I hope to plan a retreat for the reading week, maybe for one or a couple days. I am really excited about city/script, and given extra fundraising would love if we had a good group of people attend. I’m trying not too focused about end of year, because I am very excited about what will happen up until that point too.

A: Tell me more about the talks of a joint event with OCAD and U of T:

V: We had a joint thanksgiving dinner with the fellowships at University of Toronto St. George and the Ontario College of Art and Design; the students from our fellowship who attended had good things to say. Since then, we’ve talked about doing something or joint events in second term. We figured a good way to do that would be to fundraise for city/script together, as its less about taking away from what each individual campus is doing and is appropriate to get to know the people you will be seeing and studying scripture together during city/script that you wouldn’t normally be spending a lot of time with, and since it’s a larger event, it might be helpful to have more minds working together to pull together a larger fundraising event. We haven’t gotten anything in particular yet, but that is the hope.

Poster designed by Moses for the Ryerson IVCF Christmas Banquet.

Merry Christmas! Please remember the students in prayer as they are resting from a busy semester and celebrating the birth of our Saviour.

December 21, 2010

Stories from Campus

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This semester has been a semester full of firsts!

For many of the Ryerson Exec Leaders, it is their first time in leadership. For the students that regularly attend the group, it is their first year being part of the group. In addition to things being very new for both the leaders and members of the group, there has been new vision and energy for how the group operates and ministers to the larger campus community.

This summer, I met with the Ryerson Exec Leaders to vision for the fall semester. We spent some time in Scripture in Exodus 33-35. The leaders were especially excited about using their various skills and talents in ministry this year. This semester the ministry at Ryerson has been greatly blessed by the skills and talents of the student leadership team.

Some highlights include:

Vanessa, used skills from her program (Fashion Design) to design and create Inter-Varsity T-shirts for the exec members to wear during the first week of school (photo above).
Moses, used skills from his program (New Media) to redesign the Ryerson IVCF website and create various posters and flyers for events.
Jenna, used her amazing interpersonal skills to communicate about events to the group and welcome people into the group at meetings and various outreach events.
Brian, used his great gifts of administration to organize and communicate with the Ryerson Student Union to book rooms and equipment needed for various meetings and events.

Praise God! For these skills and talents He has blessed these students with and also for the ways He is using them for His Kingdom!

My role with the group looked a little different this semester, as I was made aware of a dire funding situation late this summer, and needed to step off campus to raise my support to a more sustainable level, and my contact with the students was limited. However, I spent some time with Vanessa, the Ryerson Inter-Varsity Executive Team President, who shared these stories:

A: How did you feel making the shirts:

V: I very much enjoyed making the shirts. It was a fun, quick project that people got excited about. Everybody wanted to take pictures of the shirts. It was interesting because I prior to that hadn’t really thought of a way of using my fashion creativity for Inter-Varsity, so it was kinda cool to do that.

A: How did people respond? How did the exec like the shirts? How did people on the campus respond:

V: The exec was really excited. Others who were helping out from the IV community wanted extras. We had a few people from the Ryerson Student Union come by who wanted to take pictures of the shirts. People wanted to take pictures of us with the shirts on the front and back, and I think it made us stand out in a way, like people noticed.

A: Tell me about what Campus Groups Day was like, the set up, how the table was how people responded, etc:

V: Well initially, as we were setting up, it was good, all the exec were able to make it to help put the table together and we were all bringing different elements We were a little bit afraid it was going to rain, and it didn’t only rain briefly and had little umbrellas protecting the stuff. For the most part it was a really lovely day, we had lots of people going by, we had about three pages of people signing up to get information and quite a lot of them came out on the first night. People were very excited about food, we had a variety of different kinds of food; we had cookies, samosas, Brian brought some really cool crackers and mango candies from Chinatown. Some people were stopping because of that, but some people stopped and listened but even having really colourful flyers, and the food and the shirts, people were more inclined to be like “what is this all about”. I was really excited about how colourful and full the table was, it made me really happy that our table wasn’t boring. And we had music and we were all standing and I was trying hard not to dance too much. It was a good time.

A: What was your fave moment? What were some of your highlights:

V: It’s hard to pick “a moment”, It really flowed, so I want to say the whole day was kinda similar. I was excited by how many people we got to talk to. It was a good time. Most of the exec was able to be there for the whole time, and there were a couple returning members of the community that came out and helped out, and they were really excited so it was really nice to some people we hadn’t seen all summer and it was nice that they were involved and just how excited everyone was. It was a really energetic day.

A: Did you have any special significant conversations:

V: Well, there was one girl in particular. At first people would come to the table and ask us what we were about and we’d give them a flyer or a pamphlet and tell them when our first meeting was and tell them a bit about who we are and what we’re about and then they’d usually go on their way, and then we’d realize after that they were in the same program as someone staffing the table, so we changed our approach and started asking them about what they were studying and then used it to start conversations and go from there. Talked to one girl who was a first year fashion design student, and we got to chat about the group and when we meet; she wasn’t available on Thursdays, but was excited to hear about the other events we’d be doing, so I was able to chat with her about the group and some advice being in the same program.

A: Tell me about the first 1 Peter manuscript study:

V: It was pretty good. There were a few returning members and lots of new people and people who were not used to manuscript study; and they were excited about learning this new style of studying scripture. It was a good introduction to manuscript study and to the book of Peter. We kept it more general, and felt it was a good start and good introduction to general themes in the book. It was good to get people interested.

A: How did it feel to prepare the passage for teaching:

V: It was really good going through the passage as an exec. We were really nervous leading the passage as many of us hadn’t lead a Manuscript Study before and we weren’t sure who was going to come and how it was going to go. We took it slowly, and got familiar with the passage and talked about what we thought it was saying, and came up with a few questions. But for the most part, we didn’t know specifically what was going to happen.

A: How did it feel leading the passage:

V: Really interesting, very different, it was really about being what different people got out of it and what they noticed compared to what we had noticed when we had gone through it together. It was kinda funny being on the other side, and kinda holding back and more so listening to what people were noticing and occasionally bringing them back to focus when things got on a tangent. Or being the person that the question was directed at, as opposed to being the person asking the question, instead we were trying to give them an idea of an answer or a place for them to start looking. It was funny, it felt very like – I don’t know – mature. It was a good feeling.

A: Do you have any prayer requests at this time:

V: The main thing to pray for is guidance, that the Holy Spirit would show us where to focus our efforts and what He really wants us to do and so we get a lot out of it instead of just trying to figure everything out on our own. Also pray for peace; and focus as the semester is getting busier and people are starting to catch colds and flus. Pray for strength and health; and for us to be open to new things and to do the things the Spirit is leading us to.

Please continue to pray for the Student Leaders as they continue to serve on campus.

December 20, 2010

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Sabbath musings

So, I plan to post blog posts about the items mentioned in my last post later today, but I feel the need to share these musings first.

One thing that I took away from the National Staff Conference was a book written by Marva Dawn entitled Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. I was drawn to this book because I am the first to admit that I am a frequent covenant breaker when it comes to observing the Sabbath fully. This book frames keeping the Sabbath whole by breaking up our actions and practices into four categories: ceasing, resting, embracing and feasting. As I began reading this book, at once I became aware of the ways in which my lack of observing the Sabbath or the lackluster ways I have been observing the Sabbath have effected how I actually feel at the end of my Sabbath. For instance, I have been getting better at ceasing and resting during my Sabbath, but rarely do I embrace and feast; and I realize that choosing to actively incorporate those elements in my Sabbath observances will actually change how I feel about the practice of Sabbath keeping and also change what I am able to receive and how I worship God.

So, typically I have been observing the Sabbath on Saturdays. This past Saturday, I intentionally chose not to observe the Sabbath, as I felt guilty that I hadn’t prepared myself well to take the day off, and that there was too much to do in too short a timeline. Sunday rolls around and I’m feeling pretty tired from my lack of Sabbath observing. But, rather than get started on work, I finished watching an unexpectedly moving movie and enjoyed some music that I recently discovered I liked. At this point, I needed to shower and get ready for church lest I be late (and I didn’t want to be late as I was on the coffee serving team and wasn’t sure how much prep I would be responsible for before the service). In my rush to leave, I didn’t do a thorough check to make sure I had everything and thus left the house without my cell phone. Which, upon realizing I didn’t have, I offered to God saying that it was good to not have it so I could be focused on the service and then do some errands and come home to the many emails and notifications awaiting me on my phone.

So, I board the bus and begin my 45-minute commute to church. I actually love this commute, it is one of the few times of the week when I can read or listen to music or just be silent and be present with God. This is especially true of the Sunday morning commute to church, as there are fewer people travelling at this time and thus more opportunities to be quiet with my thoughts and reflections. So I continued reading Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, and found myself in the midst of the embracing section of the book. Which called me to embrace intentionality, Christian community, and time instead of space; all at the heels of my intentional choice to not observe the Sabbath. (I have often found as I read the book that I have recently experienced instances of choosing the opposite of what is recommended to keep the Sabbath whole.)

I get to church to find that everything had already been prepared for serving coffee, so all I had to do was be present to serve after the service. So, I went and sat down during the service. While in the service, I had a conversation with God in my head that I was sad I missed my Sabbath, but today was not going to be a Sabbath, because I needed to do x,y,z and that would mean breaking my Sabbath observances. (You can imagine where this is going.)

After the service, I served the coffee and tea, and after cleaning up I prepared to set off on my errands. I checked and saw that the people I usually fellowship with after church had already left and saw it as confirmation that I should go forth in my errands/covenant breaking. Just as I was about to leave I ran into a South Asian man from my church who has been very interested in my work with IVCF, and had offered to have a casual meeting/time of fellowship with his family. He asked what my plans were, and right before I told him I had plans, I realized this could be the invitation I was hoping for, and sure enough when I said I had no definite plans I was invited to spend the afternoon with him and his family.

I was excited by the idea, but also a little worried, as I often find it challenging to spend time with South Asians as I often do not conform to South Asian cultural expectations. I often feel judged for conforming to Canadian culture and not being “South Asian enough”, this especially happens with South Asian women, as my family chose to raise me in ways that were unusual for how South Asian girls and women are typically brought up. I was concerned when the first part of this invitation included the husband telling his wife they were having company (giving me flashbacks to the time spent with my family in Australia) which was soon followed by my getting a ride with his wife and children to their home, while he took public transit. But this experience that triggered so many fears of past experiences was redeemed right from the beginning; conversation with his wife was easy and moved smoothly. We moved through a variety of topics and she was eager to answer my questions and listen to my responses.

Upon arrival, she quickly attempted to straighten up while asking me to sit. We were able to have good conversation at various points. As she began preparations for lunch she asked if I enjoyed spices, and she was glad I was able. She didn’t assume that I could, as she mentioned many South Asians she knew were unable to handle lots of spice after leaving their home countries and settling in Canada, but was glad by my eagerness for spices.

The family is Indian, so while there are lots of similarities there are many differences between our countries. However, it is clear they have spent some time learning about those differences. Soon after the husband arrived we ate, and I thoroughly enjoyed eating with my hands (though if I wanted I could have used cutlery). The meal was a goat liver curry, which was good, but I have never eaten goat or liver before, so I was worried how my stomach would respond, but it was ok. While we ate we watched a Bollywood movie and some home movies, and had some snippets of conversation.

After lunch, we chatted and had tea. After that, the family has a usual practice of taking a Sunday nap. Which I was invited to take part in, as they brought me a blanket and the family retired to their rooms. I spent some time reflecting on the circumstances of this day, and after realizing my plan of post-fellowship errand running was not likely to happen, I was able to be fully in God’s presence.

I began to continue reading Keeping the Sabbath Wholly until the family stirred from their naps. As people made their way down, we watched the food network as dinner was being prepared. Dinner was served around 9 pm, and it was delicious. There was lemon rice, served with the goat liver curry and a homemade raita. It was delicious, though I was still worried about the meat.

After dinner we had dessert of watermelon, and enjoyed some more fellowship time. Around 10:30, I was invited to spend the night, as it would take a long time to get home. I wanted to take them up on the offer, but needed to be home for a meeting at 8:15 the next morning, so I opted for going home.

Before I left, I was able to be part of the evening prayer. I then had company as I waited for the bus. As I got on the bus, I was struck by just how much I enjoyed that afternoon and evening. The God-ordained Sabbath I experienced offered a time of good rest and restoration. There were many times when I was able to feel a “homecoming” both to my South Asian culture but also to be part of a strong Christian household. As I got to spend time hearing their stories, I was surprised by the ways I had categories of understanding; and that my questions were eagerly received and answered. Easily we were able to navigate our ways through some deep cultural conversations where we both walked away sharing and receiving knowledge and understanding. I was able to experience the comforts of home without being home; which was truly a gift as I have been struggling being “home” in my parent’s home as well as my current home. I’ve been struggling with notions and experiences of family, as I’ve been in the reality of “almosts” and “good enough” in both households, so to be hosted well by a South Asian Christian family which offered me a holistic picture of identity as South Asian-Canadian Christian was a great blessing.

And after taking that day off, I was able to return to work the next day with greater vision and more energy.

December 14, 2010