Hastings College is lively and active with the Holiday season's cheer. Many religious groups were gathering during our final weeks of the first semester to buy gifts for friends, relatives and strangers, discuss the atmosphere of Christmas and remember what Christmas is all about.
The group Common Grounds meets weekly to discuss faith, politics, or whatever seems to be present on the minds of the students. Our last gathering found an unlikely group of students gathered together. It was a blessed mix of conservative and liberal beliefs, a variety of faith backgrounds and a diverse room of traditions. However, the presence of God was with us and as we decorated cards with potato stamps for friends, neighbors and loved ones, there was peace in the air. I looked around with joy as I saw the candles of advent in our midst. This showed the hope we have for peace, the joy we have for love. This was the spirit of Christmas. We can gather together as friends for a blessed evening of fun, food and fellowship. What an awesome way to show the Christmas season!
Well, here it is. After much anticipation, this famed website is live. I'm exicted to see what it will develop into. Our hope is that it'll be used as a tool for students. Students we've met and students we haven't yet met. I hope that it will help people connect in ways they haven't before. I hope that people will browse these pages and find information that is useful to them.
I hope that these pages become a resource that people will be in conversation about. I hope that one day, in conversation, two people I have never met will be discussing where to find resources for students, and one will say, "Oh, have you checked pcusaCOLLEGE.org?"
I know, that's a little cheesy, but I hope it will be used in those ways. I also hope that it will be used in more ways than I am thinking of now, and that it will continue to expand and change to something that we had never expected it to become.
So with that, what would you like to see here? What resources, information, articles, and all that would be useful to you? Let us know, we'd love to hear from you.
We started. Yes we did! PSALT took off with a gallant start. We are a community made of individuals from many places. Together we make a team of thinkers, feelers, supporters, workers, players and lovers. Our work together found us having fun and bonding as easily as if we had known each other for days.
The work has begun, along with the fun. And as for now we will be separate, yet connected. We will never be able to separate ourselves from each other. The passions we share drive us to make the world a better place, to love our neighbors, to bring people together in love.
To begin, we are setting ourselves up as a resource, as an organism to create dialogue. We feel this is important. Our covenant with each other is the covenant we want the world to sign. To be open, to be humble, to walk with God.
….More later!
This past weekend, the Presbyterian Student Advocacy and Leadership Team (PSALT—add a link to description) met in Louisville, KY at the national Presbyterian Center. This was technically the first meeting of PSALT ever, as the members of the Presbyterian Student Strategy Team (PSST) voted to change the name this past spring. So the new PSALT brought together nine students (through an application process) of different ethnicities, genders, class years, and types of colleges. One drove from Ohio, while others journeyed across time zones from the West Coast. Still others went west from Pennsylvania and New York and some came up north from Georgia , Texas, and North Carolina.
Needless to say, there were a lot of different views on theology, lifestyle, and even what to call a carbonated beverage. What was amazing though is that we did not fight or argue. We started our work meeting with a covenant (like Youth Conferees do at Montreat for all you Southeasterners…). We each had an opportunity to contribute to the covenant, and everyone signed it showing that we would work together for the good of Christ’s church. I think that’s the amazing part about our generation. We’ve seen fighting, and we do not like it. I cannot count the number of fellow students who voiced frustration at the antagonistic nature of the Presidential Debates. We are not going to argue. We want to work together on that which we can agree on. For PSALT, that’s serving the needs of college students across the PC(USA). But, no matter who we are or what we do, I pray that the amazing power of Christ’s mercy will unify us all to serve God more fully every day.
dership Team (PSALT—add a link to description) met in Louisville, KY at the national Presbyterian Center. This was technically the first meeting of PSALT ever, as the members of the Presbyterian Student Strategy Team (PSST) voted to change the name this past spring. So the new PSALT brought together nine students (through an application process) of different ethnicities, genders, class years, and types of colleges. One drove from Ohio, while others journeyed across time zones from the West Coast. Still others went west from Pennsylvania and New York and some came up north from Georgia , Texas, and North Carolina.
