Summer CUP 2011

I wrote this after coming back from InterVarsity's Chicago Urban Program (CUP) in July 2011.  It was yet another very transformative point in my life.

I know this is long over due now but for those of you who want to know about how my trip this summer to the Austin neighborhood of Chicago went here you go :)

Summer CUP is one of those things where once you go you don't come back the same.  Something in you changes either your actions, thoughts, beliefs, or heart, something feels different after spending 5 intense weeks of learning about God's heart for justice and how much injustice is in this world. So to prevent this from being a book I'll share with you all some of the most powerful things I learned and experienced while I was spending my summer open to hearing what God had to say about this subjects we so often approach from a distance.

CUP was awesome! God is so amazing He like confirmed that I was supposed to be there on the second day! We were talking about how you have to proclaim the message of Christ but also live out that proclamation, you need to be demonstrating that the Gospel you are preaching is what you say it is and does what you say it does (ie hope, healing, rest, etc...). So evangelism and outreach go hand in hand, well I just so happen to be our chapter's evangelism and outreach coordinator. So what I was learning I need to take back to campus and use my position to help share that with others. So that was epic, it was a total God moment. And it also helped encourage my decision to go on staff more too. I talked to all the staff workers there and they were saying how great it was that I was pursuing it and really encouraging me through it. Then they would talk to me as if I had already been accepted to go on staff even. And my site staff were always saying how excited they were that I was coming on staff and that they knew I would make a good staff worker. But what really sealed the deal was my site staff Chris said that he saw me as his Jr. Staff in the apartment.

Then the other very awesome part yet very challenging and convicting was our manuscript study through the book of Amos. It just showed again and again God's heart for the oppressed and those who experience injustice. But it also showed his anger towards the Israelites in perpetuating the things that broke His heart. He ROARED at the fact that they were only being "sunday morning jews" and causing injustice whether it was direct or indirect. At one point Amos calls them cows because cows are lazy and gluttonous and will trample anything that get in there way of what they want. And it was basically like this when I heard that "wow, I do that...that means I am being called a cow..." I want the easy life and because of that, while I am sitting on my couch, people are being exploited so I can have that easy life. I'm not directly doing it but indirectly doing it and that Angers God. I response to this strong and very challenging conviction, I’m looking into more fair-trade, budgeting my money, shopping thrift store, etc... to not take part in those things as much as I can.  And also I need to be a more informed voter so I can help cause systemic change through my politician choices because it is more than an individual problem but a system problem too...

But it was also a very encouraging experience in seeing how the Church can bring change and reach those who are unreached in our world. So I got to work with a college readiness program and those kids have so much potential and they have dreams and goals and are trying to reach them. They aren't lazy and they getting to know Jesus too all because some people saw that if these kids in these neighborhoods didn't have some one there to invest in them and show them that their education mattered that they need to try hard to get into the schools that would help them (the local public schools are horrible in their neighborhoods, they are called drop out factories so they have to try and get into different ones). But these kids are good kids, they are fighting against the system and the Church is walking along side of them giving them every chance they can for success...it was a good thing to see So I think that is a good over view.

 

I am very excited to be back in Big Rock/Aurora and I can't wait to start using what I've learned about.  It has already been an interesting experience going to the store (try finding fair-trade at woodmans...its hard! but then so exciting to see the cafe next to where I work serves fair-trade coffee!!).  But it is encouraging to come back and see that there are things I can do here, and to be a part of a church that is working to serve the community :)