Link to Current Activities Schedule
Link to Reflections on the Beatitudes
Link to Benediction for Dr. Decker
Dear friends and companions of the Downtowners,
It is not often that students have the time to think together about their ways of believing in God. It is not often that students, in a true sense, have the opportunity and the luxury of time to do this theology together. A highlight of our retreat last fall during an extended mealtime prepared around a bonfire provided just this opportunity for reflection on the meaning of relationship with God.
Students of differing religious traditions reflected upon their religious experience that has come to them from their communities of family and worship. Students talked together about how they grew up Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Hindu, Baptist, and non-denominational, respectively, and became the people of faith that they are now. Rituals and laws were important, but the presence of God in their lives and their struggle to believe in God in their lives made for truly authentic belief for them.
One way this energy of God pours out into service of God’s people is through the ministry to the poor of the city. The Downtowners provides a vehicle for this to happen and the students talked about how meaningful this is to them in their relationship to God and to their faith.
Doing theology together in community is critical to maintaining a balance in religious faith and practice. This experience avoids the pitfalls of fundamentalism, arrogance, and false piety and thinking one has all the answers on the journey of faith in God. Humility is central to the search for truth. Listening to one another’s path of searching for God is to listen to the sacredness of a person’s life. I am moved to my soul by being with students whose academic lives have faith as the center of their motivation and who are open to asking about their struggles around their uncertainties, their fears, their trust that God cares for them and is with them as they choose their respective paths, either alone or with their families. A nursing student who is the mother of a fifteen-year-old son has experienced homelessness herself. Now she serves as an intern in the emergency room, serves the homeless through the Downtowners, worships weekly, and has God as the center of her life. She is someone to listen to and to learn theology from! This is no ivory tower theologian!
The Downtowners offers sound theological reflection through programs, prayer and service.
The student leadership that serves our city through the Downtowners Campus Ministry is both inspiring and effective. The journals they keep for our Student Discipleship in the City program reflect that they receive more than they give at such places as Bethlehem on Broad Street, the Y.W.C.A. Family Shelter, the Holy Family Soup Kitchen, Lawrence Haven Food Pantry, Dominican Learning Center, Faith Mission and the United Methodist Free Store. This generosity of time and talent speaks of motivation rooted in religious tradition that goes beyond what is simply service. Excerpts from student journals tell the stories. The students whose journals appear below are from Columbus State, Franklin University, Mt. Carmel School of Nursing and Capital University Law School.
“Christmas Day…I volunteered to serve the homeless. It allowed me to help those in need on such a special day. Dr. O has provided me with the great opportunity to help those in need. Through God all things are possible and through him we can continue to serve…” Elizabeth L. serving Bethlehem on Broad Street
“This experience (serving, praying, experiencing community with the Downtowners) has made me do a lot of thinking and I may rejoin my religious family after my long absence. I miss being in the company of such caring, genuine, and generous people…” Dustin A. serving at Holy Family Soup Kitchen
“One of the activities I told her to do (Somalian woman studying English as a second language) was to pick one of her children’s books and read it to her children at bedtime. She told me they have only two books for her kids. That broke my heart to hear…that night I went home and went through all our books and I posted an announcement on my classes’ B.B. the next day that I was taking book donations for children…We are all in this world together and it breaks my heart to know of the struggles we all face.” Hollie M. Dominican Learning Center
“It’s the faces of those children that gets to me (at Lawrence Haven Food Pantry and Bethlehem on Broad Street). I can give out food to homeless men, o.k., but those kids, especially when they say thank you, break me up.” Tommy J.
“It is comforting to see people of different faiths coming together to serve the community at Holy Family Soup Kitchen. I’m a Muslim and my faith (Islam) says it is important for all the followers to give in charity to help the poor. In fact, two times of the year it is a religious obligation to give 2.5% to the poor.” Segal S.
“Now that I have served my community in this way as a citizen and a Christian, I have no excuse on not continuing to serve the Lord and His people. I thank God for this opportunity for it has opened my eyes to the things that were not visible to me before…I have always said that I want to be more active in community service, however, it took me until now to actually follow through on a promise that I have made for years...” Aisha B.
This sampling of student reflections illustrates how the students are shaped by their service. As they touch the lives of others, their lives are enriched as well. A special thank you goes out to the Student Disciples in the City who give our Board and supporters hope and joy!
Gratefully,
Ellen O’Shaughnessy
(aka Dr. O by the students)