40 Day Challenge
One of the hopes of this MARKcentral was that there would be more stories of people living out the scripture coming out of this week. This was the inspiration behind David and I introducing some group application for all the Mark 1 studies. which looked like two sessions with two exercises to be completed.
The first session, included an exercise inspired by Mark Scandrette’s book, Practicing the Ways of Jesus. In the book, he lays out an experiment done by his community called Experiments in Truth, where members participating in the experiment do some reflection on their lives and identify one area they would like to see change happen, and then identify one behaviour or habit they would like to give up and one they would like to adopt for a period of 40 days. The experiment is meant to be held loosely and not legalistically but has measurable goals and outcomes by the end of the 40 day period. At the end of the time, participants can make decisions about whether this experiment is something they’d like to incorporate in their lives in a regular rhythm.
Some of the questions to help people identify what they want would like to change are as follows: How do I live in my body? What do I think about or dwell on in my mind? How am I managing my feelings and the stresses of life? Where am I spending my time, talents and resources? How am I showing up to my relationships? After reflecting on where you spend your life energy, you can determine one or two priority areas where changes are most needed.
The second step of the experiment is to explore the patterns and root causes for the issues identified by briefly describing the issue or pattern and considering what are the daily choices you make that support this habit or pattern. Reflecting on if there are deeper issues from which this struggle arises?
I’ve known in my own leadership that it’s hard to lead people to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself, so I also decided to partake in the experiment. After some reflection I noticed an unhealthy pattern around envy. I saw how it particularly affected my relationships with friends and colleagues. I also saw it was far-reaching, innocuously affecting my decisions and I was most vulnerable before sleeping at night and when I first woke up in the morning. So I decided that in order to address the envy, I would adopt a practice of writing 10 things I was grateful for each day. I would also, spend the last 10 minutes before I went to sleep and the first 10 minutes when I woke up reading scripture, starting with the major and minor prophets. As I spent time evaluating how I spend my time and talents, I realized that I’d spent more time comparing myself to others and feeling badly than doing some life-giving activities that I enjoy, so as part of the experiment, I included that once a week I would make art in response to the things I was receiving in Scripture or themes I was noticing in gratitude.
In addition to identifying the thing you’d like to change and the new practice to adopt, the experiment invites people to share their experiments with a a partner and a small group that they check in with regularly. I have been blessed to be paired with a few staff colleagues for accountability. I’ve enjoyed hearing their updates, and sharing the things I have been seeing and receiving.
I’m now close to 30 days into the experiment, I will continue this experiment for 47 days (40 days after the end of the second MARKcentral week), so that I can be checking in and sending updates to participants in both weeks. As time goes on, I’m eager to see and hear stories of how others are fairing with their challenges, and at the end of the experiment, I’ll post an update with images of the artwork I’ve created.
#MCOPC2016
One of the hopes in having two MARKcentrals was that there would be smaller class sizes and a more intimate feel of a conference. The estimated number of people at each week being approx 100. All of our plans for a more intimate conference were shifted when 180 people registered for the OPC week! On the one hand, we were grieved at the loss of some of our programming hopes that couldn’t really be accommodated with the number of people we had. But on the other hand, we were deeply encouraged that there were so many people eager to gather around scripture together! Within that 180, there were approx 10 not-yet believing students!
After coming out of a full week at #MCArden2016, David and I were tired, but eager to see what God would do with this group of people. There were many things about this week that were similar to last year: a staggered 2 meal schedule (as we couldn’t all sit together for meals), a mid-week worship night, and similar teaching and lodging locations. But, we had some new elements like staff stepping into new roles, and some group application for all the Mark 1 studies.
Before heading into the OPC MARKcentral week, I found myself stressed and frustrated at the seemingly endless logistical issues to work out. But, upon arrival, I felt a peace come over me, and actually felt at home. Which surprised me, because as recent as 2 years ago I remember feeling completely lost and out of place at OPC.
Day 2, with the Question of the Day
During this week, I was the primary point person. David took care of registration, budget and lodging details but I was the one that was up front as emcee, and led staff meetings. When I wasn’t taking care of any issues that arose, I joined the prayer team to intercede for the conference and offer prayer ministry for those in need. Being with the prayer team was a huge highlight for me. I’d never served on an intercession team before this week, and I loved the experience! Often I would hear stories of my friends who have interceded for conferences, and I was skeptical about some of the things they would do and how they would pray, but God in his grace and mercy showed me how some of the more unconventional ways we were praying actually were connecting with what was happening for those teaching and participating in studies. In subtle ways, that only I would notice the Spirit moved and revealed how It was drawing all the pieces together, and addressing some of the places of doubt in my heart. I was so grateful to work with Ruth, Ryan, Ruth and PY on the prayer team and see them lead the conference to connect with God in new and familiar ways.
The #MCOPC2016 Prayer Team!
I also loved working with the staff team, which was a mix of brand new staff and staff I’d known for years. It was great seeing staff step up and for many to lead studies on their own. It was exciting to hear about the not-yet believers in the studies and how they were fairing. We rejoiced as some of these students made first-time commitments to follow Jesus and as others heard from God for the first time in prayer and worship! We celebrated as some students decided to join the Toronto Urban Plunge team! I had so much delight seeing Ashley Chan lead an all KCF worship team and lead us in multi-lingual worship. The culmination of my joy with the staff team happened as we ended our last staff meeting with a 2.5 song dance party, with Ashley Chan and Preston leading the charge and setting the pace. In more recent years, I’ve experienced anxiety when spending time with my colleagues so feeling joy while being them had been rare, but this week I was so full of joy and so grateful for each of my colleagues.
There were a few OCF students who attended this week: one of my knights and Jimmy were in the Genesis study led by Jamie, my staff partner; and PY served on the prayer team with me. For Jamie and I, we had a few points during the week to connect with the OCF crew and it was a blessing to be with them as they processed their experiences and as they asked for prayers for what’s next. All of these students are graduating, and even though I had only been working with them for a year, each of them are dear me. My knights, Jimmy and PY were the first students to welcome me with open arms to OCF. They honestly shared their lives with me, and were open and eager to have me speak into their lives. They allowed me to be me, prayed and cared for me and have been a huge part in my heart for campus ministry being reignited. It was a great gift to spend parts of this week with them.
Even now as I reflect on this week, I can’t quite explain what was happening for me. In this season of many losses and hardships, I felt peace and settled in a way that shouldn’t have been true. I received vibrant images and words in prayer, I saw prayers answered, lives healed and new people join the family. It was thrilling! I felt bold in ways I don’t often feel in my life. I felt free in ways I haven’t felt in months. My friend and our camp host Andrew said this of me, “Every time she’s been up here [to say something] she’s had this huge smile”, and as I looked back at the photos of this week and heard from my staff friends, I see that this was true. I even see a huge difference between how I was at Arden and at this week. So I’m still unpacking what that means, but am grateful for this gift.
The #MCOPC2016 group! So many great memories with this group!
#MCArden2016
As the days got closer, I was really excited for the MARKcentral CSR Arden (#MCArden2016) week. This would be a week at new location (one David and I had never been to), with a new staff team configuration and new programming, and even though that could mean lots of unforeseen issues arising, the notion of newness was really exciting for me. David and I drove up before the staff and bus arrived, got a tour of the camp and the rooms we’d be using and started helping get the spaces set up. The first day went by super quick, as the bus arrived on time, filled with loud and excited students.
“How can you say you love Jesus and not have a heart for justice?” – “the Preacher”
This MARKcentral week was significant for OCF, as it had almost all first-time participants in MARKcentral and most of the new student leaders for the upcoming year. I was especially excited as they all took the bus together and had some time to start bonding with each other and other students from across Ontario. It wasn’t long until my fun-loving OCF students were known as the “cool kids” at camp and also the “ruckus-causing” ones. But, to their credit, they were super welcoming to anyone who wanted to join them. One of my students, whom I’ll call “the Preacher”, was deeply impacted by the second half of Mark. She spent some time in lament about how her church and the global church have not done all they could to be about justice for the most vulnerable. Her heart was grieved as she read the passage of the widow in the Temple and saw how this woman trusted a system that was not out for her good, and it resonated with the Preacher as she saw aspects of her own story reflected. This is the same student who at last year’s conference never made a heart connection with the passages. She studied the texts academically and never let the meaning root deep in her heart. But this year, the passages resonated and this same girl who never saw justice as deeply connected with Jesus, now calls all who will listen to be about justice for the most vulnerable amongst us.
Most afternoons this week were free, but mine quickly filled with long one-on-one walks with my OCF students. I got to hear more stories of their year, the joys and hardships and the things they were hopeful for in the upcoming summer and year ahead. Throughout the week, I felt blessed to be able to be with these students, and to see how much had happened for each of them in a year.
Our attempt at making the OCF logo. I love these people so much!
I also felt blessed to co-direct this week, and come alongside the staff as many served in certain roles for the first time, or were new to some of the changes we were implementing. I was so happy to work with Leah and Allyson, who were interceding for the conference and had set up a prayer room with themed activities for each day. I had the Operations Manager at CSR Arden make me some whiteboard sandwich boards and each day I would ask a Question of the Day that would relate to themes in the scripture studies and with the prayer room activites. I was greatly blessed by Dave and Jared and their leading the worship team with 2 UTSC students and the Preacher. God used the 5 of them to lead us in a diversity of worship experiences that helped many people connect with God deeply. I sat in Allison and Melissa’s Mark 1 study, and was encouraged by the diverse group of students as they wrestled with the text and their wonder as they made connections.
By the end of the week, we grew deeply as a community together and were sad to part ways. For me, this was one of the best experiences at MARKcentral that I’ve ever had. I left the week, tired, but eager to see what God would do at OPC.
The #MCArden2016 group. Such a great week with these lovely people!
MARKcentral(s) 2016
If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you’d know from previous posts that in my earlier years in ministry, I wasn’t always a big fan of the annual Gospel of Mark manuscript conference, MARKcentral. This has since changed, as I’ve seen the Spirit move in powerful ways in my life and in the lives of students and use these weeks to begin a transforming work! So, when I was asked to co-direct this year’s conference, with my colleague and good friend David, I excitedly agreed.
The directors: David and I sneaking in some admin work during “free time”.
This year MARKcentral had a few new changes. The one that was probably the most challenging logistically, was that we decided to split the Central Field region in two, and had two MARKcentral conferences at two different times and locations. The campuses at each location were decided not based on geography but exam schedules (as it was noticed that campuses that finished exams early in April had a harder time recruiting students to come to a conference during the first week of May). So the first week of MARKcentral was from April 24-30, at our Circle Square Ranch camp in Arden, Ontario. The second week was from May 1-7 at Ontario Pioneer Camp in Port Sydney, Ontario.
The planning for the logistics of these two weeks at two different locations resulted in many late nights and stress headaches. We longed for more consistency between the two weeks, but ran into many unforeseen problems as the weeks began to take shape. But, I can say from this vantage point, each week had its share of great joys and minor problems. David and I were able to innovate some new programming, empower staff to lead and grow in their leadership, and partner well with each other as we led with our combined giftings and skills.
I’ve written posts for each week of MARKcentral, but for photos and videos from both weeks, follow ivcf.markcentral on instagram.
Hospitality through Food, Discipleship Baking, and Waffles Around the World
One of the easiest ways to build relationships with people is through food. So, as I spent a good deal of this year observing the existing ministry at OCAD and trying to build relationships with students, I spent a lot of time making and eating food.
Hospitality through Food
My Knights live in a house on Jarvis, which we often used as a place to gather for meals and parties. In the fall, I began a semi-regular (twice a month) practice of invading their home and teaching them how to make different types of cuisine on Sunday evenings. My fondest memories are of our sushi-making gathering and our samosa party. These gatherings served as a conduit for deeper relationships in our community, places where people felt welcome to brings friends, and to hang out and spontaneously end up in worship and prayer. One of my student leaders, whom I’ll refer to as the Witty Chef, is also a gifted baker and cook, often making all the household meals for his siblings, even though he is the youngest! He works part-time at a grocery store, and often the beginning of every meeting I had with him would entail him telling me of specials for that week. One week, turkeys were on sale, and he decided to get one and learn how to cook it, even though he’d never done so before. He decided to brine the turkey, which is something even I haven’t done, and cook it one day, just for fun. He invited me and the rest of the leadership team to come eat it. and I can assure you. it was the best turkey I’ve ever had!
Discipleship Baking
Often when I’m getting to know someone I try to build relationship by doing something that they enjoy doing. This often works well when I also enjoy the activity too. Two first year students I met this year are avid bakers, and a few times during the winter semester I got to know them deeper as we baked together. I enjoy what I call discipleship baking, as it gives people something to do with their hands, and frees them up to be more candid than they might be if we were just sitting across a table having coffee together. Discipleship baking with art and design students is a lot of fun because there’s a willingness to be adventurous and ambitious in flavours and recipes, like during reading week, a student and I made all four of the cookies in this video!
Waffles Around the World
We again decided to love and serve the campus by giving away free waffles during the last three Wednesdays of the semester (the busiest time for students). For the winter semester, we were able to get an OCAD student union grant, and we wanted to switch up how we did our waffle nights. So we decided on the theme “Waffles Around the World”, as a way to showcase waffle flavours and practices from around the world and use these events as an opportunity to celebrate and engage the ethnic and cultural diversity of the campus. Each week we offered different flavours: Spanish Churro, Cambodian Coconut, and Savoury English Potato waffles. In our interactive art pieces, we asked people questions to engage their own and others ethnic and cultural identity, because we believe that people’s ethnic and cultural identity say something about our God. As we prepared for these events, we spent some more time planning and talking through the whys of event, and spent time in scripture helping us see how God values and loves diversity. As I worked with a team on the interactive art elements, the Witty Chef led the team in the kitchen. In both the fall and winter terms, the Witty Chef took care of getting all the waffle making materials and managing all the kitchen logistics for our waffle events. I found out later how much he’d absorbed the teachings from the scripture and was able to call his team to the vision. I also found out that my first encounter with the OCF community (where I made potato waffles and brownie waffles), made a huge impact on his life, and influenced his decision to choose to make potato waffles for one of the weeks.
2015 Annual Report
Be on the lookout for more stories of this semester, but in the meantime here’s the 2015 Annual Report!
MarkCentral 2015
Ever feel pulled apart in 4 different directions? At our annual week-long Mark manuscript scripture conference, I was wearing 4 hats.
Hat 1
I taught the second half of Mark (Chapters 8-16) with colleagues and friends of mine, teaching some heavy-hitting passages including the transfiguration and crucifixion; and it was also my first time being a teacher at MarkCentral. I enjoyed the group of students we had in our section from York, Ryerson, McMaster, U of T, OCAD, Queen’s and Carleton. After a hard year on campus, being in so many passages related to suffering was challenging but needed. Our section struggled grappling with the depth of these teachings, but by the end of our time together, things really landed for the students as they looked through passages that were at varying degrees of familiarity with new understanding. One of my highlights was finding new ways to make the text more interactive. For the rich ruler passage, I asked the students to write down on a rock things that they prioritize over their relationship with God, they kept those rocks on their tables all week, and then after we finished studying the crucifixion, I led the students to a nearby stream and asked them to reflect on what they wrote in light of the crucifixion and to choose to release the rocks physically and metaphorically into the stream. Words don’t fully give justice to the feelings that arose as I heard the silence pierced by the individual thunks of rocks hitting the water. Afterward at dinner, a student from our study came up to me and told me, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been as happy as he was when he let go of his rock and what it represented.
Hat 2 and 3
I also was going back and forth between serving and caring for the team of students from Ryerson and the students at OCAD, and feeling like I wasn’t really caring well for either, as I technically hadn’t transitioned to OCAD yet, but my staff partner wasn’t around so I was trying to care for the students there in her absence. After each worship night, we were invited to gather with our campus groups and check in and pray with one another. I asked for Ryerson and OCAD to be together so it would be one less thing I was split between. Our first gathering was awkward. But the next gathering which was 3 days later, revealed that in the time that had passed, the students had sought each other out and were becoming friends. I planned to divide the group into the different campuses to pray, but felt actually the Spirit had been doing some good work binding this group together and it made sense to pray together. I was especially encouraged as the students who were studying Mark 2 with me revealed how over the course of the week the Spirit revealed things in their lives they needed to cut out and choose differently. This felt especially redemptive as I heard from some of my Ryerson leaders who named the things that had been holding them back all year and express remorse for not choosing to do something about it sooner.
Hat 4
I also was a major part of the team responsible for hosting our friends from Bangladesh. All year I had been talking back and forth with our hosts and friends from Bangladesh about getting students to come to MarkCentral. After lots of factors, it wasn’t possible for students to get the visas needed to come to Canada, but Brother Peter, the general secretary of the movement and his associate Brother Bony were able to come. It was challenging trying to host them well in the midst of all the other things I was doing that week, but I had a team of Canadian staff and friends to help with hosting. After the week at MarkCentral, Ashley, one of the staff on my GUP team last year and I hosted Peter and Bony around the city and even took them to Niagara Falls!
In the midst of all these hats I was wearing, I was grateful for those of you who had been praying for this conference; and was aware of all the different ways God was calling me to trust and rely on Him to make all things happen. At the end of the week I was exhausted, but grateful.
Yeast starter: Part 2
“Well,” she paused and broke into a big toothy grin before continuing, “about that…”
On the day of the first study where we would introduce the yeast starter application activity, I had a previous speaking engagement. I was set to speak to the Mission Circle at my dear friend Bonnie’s church, and I would completely miss that afternoon’s study.
Now, as you can probably guess from my previous post, I was pretty excited about the whole yeast starter both in its actuality and the ways it could foster a culture of hospitality (I’d have to be in order to endure those 10 days). But I had to sell my bible study leaders on it. Most were not bakers or scientists so my whole “It’s cooking science!” exclamations didn’t really captivate them. I eventually began to win them to the concept of the Friendship Bread, but I knew I’d likely have to be the one to explain the activity during the study, forgetting that I would miss the very first study where it would debut.
Much to the dismay of my student leader AP, she would have to go from being intrigued conceptually and skeptical of its actuality to being the one to win the confused and the skeptics in her study to the vision of this application activity. The night before I sent her additional resources to help her explain the process and hoped for the best.
I arrived on campus later that day in time to debrief how the study went and prep for the next week’s study. I met her in the Pitman cafeteria and asked her how it went…
“Well,” she paused and broke into a big toothy grin before continuing, “about that…” Since this study happened to fall in the week before reading week, most of the usual attendees of her study did not come. But, an hour into the study, student X came in. Student X is an engineering student and is friends with one of our student leaders. He came to our last two social events in the fall semester and eagerly engaged us in conversation that started light but went deep. He’s not a believer, but has a keen interest in spiritual things and wants to know more about Christianity and the Christian worldview. The day he came to AP’s study, he wasn’t sure if he’d fit in or if his questions would be welcome at the study, but decided to pop by anyway. Instead of doing the study, AP and student X got into a long conversation about faith. He asked her a number of questions and shared where he was at. She later told me she felt like she may have flubbed some of her answers, but found he was gracious with her answers and continued to probe deeper into the conversation.
As AP tells me this story, she mentions how before he walked in, she had just been looking over the Uncovering the Life of Jesus book and had it on the table as he came in. She later gave him her copy of the book and told him to use it as a starting point in his discovery of who Jesus is and to follow up with her or his student leader friend with more of his questions. AP also tells me that it really felt as God had set aside the time and space for this conversation as it ran longer than her allotted bible study time, but didn’t have people waiting to use the library study room and thus interrupt the flow of the conversation.
As she recounts this all to me, full of wonder and some residual shock of what just happened, I found myself full of joy and making note of how gracious our God is, and how good it was that this happened when I wasn’t on campus so that He could use AP as his instrument, for I’m sure if I had been there she likely wouldn’t have said much and the dynamics of this conversation could have been very different. I noted the humour in the situation and told AP that she’d been prepared to offer one type of yeast starter, but instead offered another, and only time will tell how it will grow.
Yeast starter: Oh my housemate, she suffered
One of my former housemates has a common refrain when talking to others about the ways I would be gracious to her, “Oh, my housemate, she suffered.” And this refrain is true for my current housemate who suffered on behalf of the “stoodents”.
As we continued on in the Gospel of Mark, I looked for ways to make the text more tangible and engaging. As we arrived at Mark 8:14-21, the passage about the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod, I realized that the average student these days doesn’t have a practical understanding of how yeast works. So, for the application activity for this exercise, I gave each student a yeast starter so that they could make Amish Friendship Bread. The hope being that they would understand how a little bit of yeast has a large impact in the life of this bread and also that they would be able to extend hospitality by sharing their starters and the breads they would make and that this hospitality would continue to grow and multiply.
In order to get ready for this application activity, I made 4 batches of the yeast starter, much to the dismay of my and my housemates’ nostrils. Let me tell you, these were the longest and smelliest days we encountered, as I lined my sewing table with 4 plastic bowls full of starter and stirred and fed it over the course of 10 days. I tried to convince my housemate we’d eventually go noseblind to the smell, as Febreeze advertisements would have us believe, but no, those ads are full of falsehoods, our whole apartment was engulfed by the odour of the starters and we were aware of every moment of it.
On the one hand I was fascinated by the process and seeing how each day the mixture looked different, it felt like I was reliving my elementary school science experiment days. On the other hand, I couldn’t wait until day 10 when I could divide out the starter and freeze that which I wasn’t using and have our apartment return to its usual non-yeasty aromas.
As day 10 finally arrived, and after divvying up the starter, I made my first loaves of Amish Friendship Bread. I read on a blog somewhere that, “it’s the smelliest process for the most divine bread ever” and sure enough as this bread was baking our apartment filled with its sweet aroma, a welcome change to the scent of the starter. My housemate came home in the midst of my baking extravangza and was pleasantly delighted by the smell. The recipe made 2 loaves, so I brought one to the potluck for the “stoodents” and kept one at home for a party we were hosting later that week. The blog did not lie, once I got to taste the bread, which had called for pudding powder to make it more moist, I could immediately tell it was the most delicious sweet bread I had ever eaten.
I still have some starters in my freezer, if this post has whet your appetite and you’d like to try to make some Amish Friendship Bread, let me know and I’d be happy to send you a starter.
Tubing redeemed & other stories
Often when I tell the story of how I got connected with IV, I start it this way:
In my first year of university, I went on the worst retreat of my life…
It was a regional retreat at Muskoka Woods that was for college and career groups from across Ontario, and I went with my church’s college and career group. I won’t go into all the gory details, but I can say that after this experience, one thing was clear: I wasn’t giving up on Jesus or Christian community as a whole, but I knew this group was no longer a good fit for me nor was it a place that would equip me for the mission I felt God had called me to (reaching out and being witness to my fellow design students). I was deeply grieved by this realization, this was the first church I had joined that I really felt connected to and the thought of leaving and starting anew was not something I was looking forward to. In the end, I felt called to stay at my church, but to seek out a Christian community on campus that would be present for me when I was on campus and equip me with the skills and training I needed to be missional amongst my classmates, and after a few divine appointments, I found IV. (There’s more to this story, but I’ll save that for another post.)
One of the many painful memories of the above mentioned retreat was that it housed my first tubing experience. I’ve wanted to go snow tubing ever since I knew it was a legitimate activity and I was through the roof with excitement that we could go tubing during this retreat. The lead up to the tubing was long and my patience was tried as I waited for my slow moving retreat roomies to bundle up so we could go. I could have guessed with their lackluster attitudes about being outside that these folks may not be the best company, but I was so excited it didn’t seem to matter. We finally got outside, and I went down the hill which was much smaller than I imagined a total of 2.5 times, and then my bored and cold roomies went inside and I was left to follow them. Had I known it was to go inside and do nothing, I would have stayed out tubing, but I was young and female bonding and FOMO (fear of missing out) were way too important to me.
Since this time, I’ve had those friendships and retreats in general be redeemed, but it wasn’t until Ryerson’s winter retreat this past January, that God was able to redeem tubing for me. I haven’t always had the best experiences with camp in the past, but I was excited by the possibility of having a winter retreat at OPC, especially since I had students who had worked at camp in the summer coming and I also had built new relationships with camp staff at the National Staff Conference. When it came time to select activities, I was thrilled at tubing was an option. And so, ten years after that first retreat (almost to the exact date), tubing was redeemed for me. As I sped down the hill (so many times I lost count), I was struck by how “right” it felt to be there at OPC, with these students and the alumni that joined us, and that God was so good to give me this redeeming experience with them.
Another highlight from this time include an interactive study of the Rich Ruler in Mark (Mark 10:17-31). The text challenged us as we considered that sometimes we can make the blessings that God has given us into idols and how we are called to let them go in order to put God first. We applied this passage by identifying what we root our identities in or what binds our decisions and then depict that thing in a creative way on a piece of paper. Some of the students drew pictures, some wrote poems, one who was an English Masters student wrote a 6 page paper! After we shared our answered with one another, we then put our papers in the fire as a symbolic representation of putting God above those things. It challenged the students as they wrestled with what it would mean for them to actually allow God to come first before those things.
The Arch 