Campus Ministry

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the academic year, from 10–10:20 a.m., start your day with praise and prayer at the Chapel of the Abiding Presence. Our chapel speakers come from a wide range of places—from our own campus pastor to local clergy from all denominations to alumni in various career fields, and our own faculty and staff.

September 23

by Andie Lozano-Lomeli

On the first day of FREX my professor asked me, “Why are you here?” Although I applied to TLU, had been on campus playing volleyball for a while at that point, and had been looking forward to starting classes, I didn’t exactly know why I was here. I thought about my answer to this question for quite some time, and it made me feel so philosophical and existential. Why are we here? Genuinely take a second and ask yourself. How did you get to TLU? In this chapel? In Seguin, Texas? Is the question more towards TLU or earth generally, I don’t have the slightest clue, and maybe I’m being dramatic, I probably am. If I had a 2-inch higher reach in volleyball, I’d probably be at Trinity, or another school. What does it mean that I get to learn at TLU with this unique set of people and experiences? These things passed through my brain, and I thought to say, “I’m here to play volleyball!” or “I’m here to get my degree” or even “I’m here to make friends.” I didn’t think these things encapsulated any of this internal conflict I was having, so instead I said, I was excited to learn, I think. Ever since then, TLU has given me the opportunity to learn and not only learn through my classes but through my experiences and hardships.

I think the idea of maximizing the opportunities to grow and learn in any situation is simply just so much fun, and I believe it makes us more well-rounded humans. I’m currently a double major in communications and English, as well as a double minor in political science and psychology, and I’m often asked genuinely why are you doing this? As in, why am I studying four different disciplines? I usually say, “cus life be crazy and I’m interested in everything ever” which is true, but there’s more to it. I think that being at school and being curious in our chosen majors and all the different things we are involved in is a gift, especially in college. Our professors have defined their values, have probably maybe done the discernment, and are following their vocations, and we get to listen to them talk about the thing that they have defined as important enough to not only learn, but teach forever. The information we are absorbing from these seasoned adults is valuable, and I think we should prioritize and consider how interesting it all is. What does it mean to enter a Theology classroom and sit, listen, and write notes on the Genesis creation story having a huge theological background, or none at all. I know when I came into TLU I had never come across any theological anything, as my household wasn’t really “big on religion.” When I went into Theology, or a study-away trip to Holden village with an open mind, my ability to absorb and listen to what my professors and classmates were saying changed, deeply impacting my sense of self, as theology is a transformative discipline in many people’s lives including my own. I’m not sure how many more times in my life I’m going to be able to listen to a lecture on the creation stories through that academic lens and be given a chance to form an individual educated opinion on what’s in front of me, and I think that deserves to be celebrated. I think it deserves to be celebrated that I learned about “God” and that there is much more to religion than oppression, and that me and my two moms, are very much welcome at this ELCA institution. So, I encourage you to continue to challenge yourself with these things, especially life-altering principles that are being taught in your basic requirements.

As far as the ability to impact and learn, I strongly believe that college students have the capacity to absorb more as we are all searching and honestly yearning to find our vocations. This makes us incredibly moldable and able to fall in with groups of people who are strong in their value sets, positive or negative, because we are searching for that space. Last Fall, I took a class with Dr. Bisha, leadership for social change, and she made all the students in the class look through a deck of cards called “live your values” and discern what ten of our values are. The cards had different ideas such as family, kindness, leadership, advocacy, to name a couple, and they were challenging to look through as I felt they were all important to me, and honestly important things to consider as a human being. I wanted to choose them all, but I realized, if I did, I wouldn’t be committed to any set of values, and I would be trying to dedicate and live every moment of life through the lens of 78 different equally important ideas. This may be impossible, so I reflected on the idea that being neutral, or agreeing with 78 different ideas being the foundation of your life at once, may not be the best route to go if you are attempting to enact any good or change in your life. I actually honestly think neutrality and agreement may be the villain in the world of discernment. As I looked through what was in front of me, I realized I had to make a choice about what my values were, at least now in my life, and how I was going to actively live in them as a friend, student, sister, daughter, and cat mom. I reflected on the fact that if I didn’t make this choice, even though it was a daily assignment in my TR 2:30-3:45 class, I would experience some pretty dramatic existential dread. I made a choice on ten, and since then, have attempted to live into them in pretty much every area of my life. This has aided me in learning and being curious as I felt as though my values have forced me to pose many questions in comfortable and uncomfortable situations that are important, that I wouldn’t have thought to pose otherwise. In order to be curious, we must ask questions, and these questions must be grounded in something, so recently the choice of making them grounded in my values has seemed to be working quite well. I think what these questions are grounded in is what gives us power, and this power is what defeats the villain of neutrality.

This is applicable in the classroom of course, but even more so in the social scheme of college. Every student and even faculty and staff at university is in pursuit of a group. A group of friends, colleagues, and someone who understands them and can help them feel comfortable in this community. Something a friend of mine told me recently, which I found useful is, people phase through your life as your life has different phases. This blew my brain up and made me think about how important it is to appreciate relationships and commitments for what they are, take the lessons, and apply them in your development of those values. This way, the next friends you have are further grounded in your values, and then this cycle will continue basically until you die. Woah death! Of course, I found a way to mention death in my seven-minute chapel message. This is your reminder that we are really, like actually, are going to die eventually, and life is simply a joy. Be joyous and be confident in who you are and try to stay true to yourself in easy and difficult times. I challenge you to ask questions to others as well as yourself, of why am I not being true to myself? Why aren’t I living into what is important to me? This may lead to self-discovery. We are in college, and college is transformational in many ways because we are in a stage of our life where we are most open to change in a big way. To my faculty and staff here, or anyone who gets to interact with people making big choices, I’ll remind you of the responsibility that is being kind and asking genuine questions to those struggling to learn. We can all facilitate growth; we just need to be willing to meaningfully have those discussions. I say this to close and remind everyone to be kind, and live with joy, and learn for the sake of learning as true curiosity can lead you to your vocation and put you in places and with people who can challenge you to be curious to

TLU’s Campus Ministry is a vibrant, student-led organization that empowers students to take initiative in spiritual growth and community outreach. To foster this growth and outreach, Campus Ministry employs student leaders to dream up, plan, and implement all of our programming, which means it changes every single semester!

Join us for events like:

• Praise and Worship
• Dinner and Devotionals
• Service and Mission opportunities and trips
• Collabs with other campus organizations and groups

If you are interested in giving back to Campus Ministry and supporting the continuing faith development of the TLU community, please email Pastor Wes. He would love to speak with you about how you can participate in the continued leadership of our chapel services.