Real Sex

Issue No. 4 Jan./Feb.

In Sophomore Bible Study (SBS) somebody requested last semester that we study purity. So we did. Since then we’ve moved on to studying 1 Peter, but I’ll get to that later. Megan and Lucia, who both attend SBS, wanted to discuss purity further than was possible in SBS, so together we read a book by Lauren Winner, which we recently finished, entitled Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity.

Megan and Lucia read Winner’s book and met weekly with me, always intent to discuss what they read and how it applies to them. Winner showed us how to better understand our foundation and what God wants for us. Through these times together, we began to see more clearly the broader framework of God’s story of His love for us, including Jesus Christ, and how we fit into that, and not simply additional rules to add to our lives which are frequently unhelpful. Some things we covered include: how in Gen. 1:31, “God saw all that he had made,” including humans with physical bodies, and declared, “it was very good;” a few lies our culture tells us about sex, as well as lies the church tells us about sex; how what we do with our own bodies matters not only for ourselves, but it matters to our community, the Body of Christ; and why, as one of the chapters discussed, we have any right to ask our neighbor what they did last night (see Gal. 6:1-2). As the Body of Christ we believe that we cannot simply be autonomous (see 1 Cor. 12:12-26), but that everything we do – including sex – affects the community of which we are intimately a part.

(Remember, in SBS we’re in 1 Peter now.) One of our last weeks together studying Real Sex, Lucia was incredibly excited. During the previous SBS part of what we read was 1 Pet. 1:15-16, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” Lucia said that when she read that she thought of what we had been discussing. It really struck her and everything fell into place for her why that applies to everything in our lives, including sex.

I praise God that I am able to be witness to what He is doing here at Kenyon College and for letting me share it with you.

A Recipe to Show Love to College Students

Issue No. 3 Nov./Dec.

On the second Friday in November, Koinonia Open Programming Board managed to feed 175 Kenyon College students a Thanksgiving Dinner. “How?” you may ask. Well, I’ll tell you...

Koinonia is the Christian service and outreach student group at Kenyon with whom I work. From their budget and a generous donation, we bought three twenty-pound turkeys, two sizeable hams, fourteen boxes of stuffing, fifty pounds of potatoes, six twelve-packs of rolls, six cans of cranberry sauce, four large cans of green beans, four family-sized cans of yams, three pounds of butter, two family sized cans of cream of mushroom soup, two pounds of brown sugar, two family sized bags of frozen corn, one gallon of milk, and enough lemonade powder to make ten gallons worth. With the help of a student’s mom, grandmother, and sister working all day, as well as twenty Christian students volunteering an hour or two each, these food items were transformed into a magnificent Thanksgiving Dinner. In addition to that, church members donated eight pies to Koinonia for dessert! The students who came were amazed by the food and even more so that anyone would even try to put on an event like this. This is one way the Kenyon Christians are showing Christ’s love to other students.

The Greek word koinonia means “fellowship or participation,” as in Acts 2:42. But it also means “distribution, almsgiving or sharing,” as in 2 Corinthians 9:13. This Thanksgiving Dinner was only made possible by God’s grace through Christians’ koinonia. The same is true for this ministry and all ministries. Thank you for your prayerful koinonia.

Retreating Into Relationships?

Issue No. 2 Sept./Oct.

A lot has happened since the start of the semester, and so many things I want to tell you about! I could talk about the great discussions happening in the four Bible Studies I’m leading with students. There are also fantastic goings-on with the two student groups I work with, Koinonia (a service and outreach group), and Saturday Night Fellowship. Or I could even talk about any of the six students I’m meeting with individually or the two students Kelly’s meeting with individually for discipleship. But I would like to focus on the Fall Retreat we had earlier this semester.

Ten Kenyon students, Sam Van Eman, Kelly and I went to Joy of Living Ministries, Inc., a Christian campground outside of Danville, Ohio, for one night and day over a September weekend. During this time we played, rested, read scripture, prayed, and worshipped God together. This was a great opportunity for students to get off of campus and grow deeper in their relationship with Christ and others. We had the pleasure of having three one-hour teaching times from Sam. Like me, Sam Van Eman works for the CCO. Unlike me, Sam has written a book that was published last year. His book is entitled On Earth as it is in Advertising?: Moving from Commercial Hype to Gospel Hope.

After the retreat, I asked the students about it. One senior responded that she learned that, “We don’t trust that God can fulfill us completely...I want to trust God and believe that I am who He says I am...I want to start asking myself the following questions: What fulfillment am I seeking that I am trying to get from other things? What are those idols in my life?” In addition to what we learned from Sam, one freshman said, “It is such a refreshing and exciting change from high school to be around so many upperclassmen that genuinely like and care about us freshmen. I really feel like God is doing great things with His community of believers at Kenyon, and I’m so excited to be a part of it.”