As for me and my house...

In Edmond, lots of school is starting this week - whether it is our public schools or UCO. As I think back to my freshman year, I remember being active in church every Sunday.

You may not be surprised at this considering my profession, but it was a big deal for me because it was my decision.  I didn't have a car and I took advantage of the church van that went to the dorms and picked up college students.

I was often running to make it with wet hair but I was one of the regulars.  I think that I even wore a jacket and a tie which pretty much dates me - different times.

I was also active in the United Methodist Campus Ministry.  It is referred to as the Wesley Foundation which I think is not a smart name for us as a denomination but there you go.  Their building was right across from campus and so I could easily walk there and often did my first two years of college (I moved in my junior year).

Some gods we serve today make us believe
that they are serving us.

I would like to say that my intense spirituality drove me to seek this out but it was really more practical than this.  The dorms didn't serve dinner on Sunday nights.  On my first weekend, I saw an ad in the campus newspaper (another throwback) for the United Methodist Student Center and they were going to have a free dinner on Sunday night for college students.  I would like to say they had me at "United Methodist" but as enticing as that was, they really had me at "free".

As a young man not even 18 years old, living on my own for the first time in my life, I had a lot of choices opening up before me.  I believe that I chose wisely.

This is not to say that I was a wise man.  Anyone who knew me during that time could tell you lots of stories that would cause you to shake your head.  But for the major decision of how and where I would spend a lot of my free time - it was in the church.

This Sunday as we encounter lots of new students, we want to be especially welcoming. That free dinner that so enticed me?  Cooked and served by the local United Methodist Women.

We have lots of young men and women who are making choices that may shape their identities for the rest of their lives.  Those who are active in the church have already chosen to serve the Lord.  We hope that by our example and our hospitality, others will join us in that choice.

This Sunday, I will be preaching on Joshua 24:1-2, 14-18 where he speaks about integrity and the choice to serve God rather than the other local deities.  We still have a lot of choices today.  If you're in Edmond, I hope you'll join us for worship!

In Christ,

Sam


Photo by By Guillaume Capron from Issy les Moulineaux, France      This image was downloaded from Flickr by Medium69. Cette image a été téléchargée depuis Flickr par Medium69. (Un petit déj en terrasse ...) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons