Last Day of Classes!!!

Hello Chapel Friends!
        It is Friday! The last Friday of classes as a sophomore for me. Now I just have oh you know 3 papers and a portfolio to finish up. Haha. Well, at least classes are done. Some Chapel members celebrate their last day of class ever at Alma College today! We will miss you guys so much! Come say goodbye to the seniors this sunday at 9pm in the Chapel for Senior Sunday! All the Chapel seniors will be taking part in the service or attending (:

      Are you staying on campus for springterm? Sign up for Chapel Buddies (: You can sign up by yourself or with a friend. You and your chapel buddy will then be paired up with another pair and you will meet up every week during springterm to have some fun! You can go biking, have a picnic, play catch, go get ice cream or whatever you choose while getting to know some chapel friends better. Many of your friends might not be on campus for springterm anyway, so this will give you something to do with your free time and have some new and awesome friends to hangout with! (: Sign up for Chapel buddies in the Chapel lobby Sunday night before or after chapel! The Kickoff party is Tuesday May 1st at 8pm in the chapel basement! (:

      Have you taken the Chapel survey yet? We would love your input and help to make Chapel better! Please click on this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SYC2TK5 and help Chapel improve!

     Here is a Youtube video for the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHdcyue0bSw&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLB82AE6254F48A16D

     It's hard sometimes to praise God in the storm. What does this song bring to mind for you? Any advice for those who have trouble praising God in the toughest storms?

Peace LoveGodBless,
Rachel <3

P.S. If you would like to be a guest blogger for the Chapel blog, let me know (:

Hi From the SMCs (:

Hello Chapel Friends!

           So many of you have been checking out the blog for Lent! Keep checking the blog for new entries coming up!

            As the SMCs we seek to help you feel welcome, comfortable, and spiritually challenged at Chapel and through bible studies, alternative services such as Catholic Mass, Traditional Worship, small groups, and next year there will be a class for anyone who would like to lead a bible study! If you want to contribute to the atmosphere Chapel aims for, sign up for the class next fall! Dr. Wise will be teaching it and all ACCL members are encouraged to join the class. I know a few SMCs will be taking the class also. This class will give you the biblical knowledge and skills you need to lead a bible study next year. Check it out! (:



          Here is a silly picture of your SMCs so you know who to contact if you want to volunteer!!! Or if you want to talk about God! Or if you have a prayer request! Or if you just have some questions or concerns about Chapel(: We're here to serve you guys and God of course :P Hang in there during this Busy week and also during exam week because you're almost done!!!

PeaceLoveGodBless,

            Rachel and the SMCs

Top left to right: Riley, Janelle, George.
Bottom left to right: Ted, Kylie, Rachel, Caitlin, Jennafer

If you are super crazy stressed, just listen to this song by clicking on the link below and then see if you have the inspiration to keep working! 

Click Me!:  http://youtu.be/HCjIM7-aLmg

As we approach Easter

If you have been following diligently, so sorry that we missed a posting for Saturday.  We didn't quite have enough people to make it all the way to the end of Lent for people writing devos.  We have a few more to load this week, but there is not enough for each day.  If you have anything that you would like to post as a reader feel free to email us and we can put it up for the end of this week.  We hope that you enjoyed the devos during Lent and we will work to continue posting these type of things and hopefully some other posts from her on out. 

Today if you need something to focus on, consider what Elisabeth talked about at Chapel last night.  Reread Jeremiah 18:1-6 and Isaiah 64:8.  Then write down ways that you feel God is shaping you as you finish this year and the summer begins to be a part of your new thoughts.

Happy Monday!

Never Forget.

Katie Arend is a junior, majoring in Psychology and Communication, she hopes to get her master's in socail work.  She is currently spending the semester studying in Philly, and enjoys catering weddings in the summer!
God is always there, but do you always acknowledge his presence? I can honestly admit that I haven’t always in the past, but God always find his way to make himself known every place and step you take. That was one of many things I realized here in Philadelphia. Coming to Philly I had no expectation to even attend a church service or any other religious based activity.

Passage to read: John 15:7

A week or so after I got into Philly I started having nightmares about the recent passing of my grandfather. I am not just talking about one or two bad dreams, this was happening every night. Coming to Philly while not knowing a single person made me a bit nervous to disclose what I was struggling with. I decided that I was going to talk to my friend Alicia whom I felt I could trust talking to. It was not until she and a few others started praying for me and encouraged me to pray about it. From there I started feeling better about my loss and stopped having nightmares. At this time I started to really feel convicted by the power of God more than I have in a long time. I then started strengthening my relationship with God and putting more trust in him.
I always thought being a Christian was easy. I realized that going to church, saying an occasional prayer is not what makes a true Christian. Being a Christian takes work and can be really challenging. My main focus this Lenten season and this semester is to maintain a great relationship with God. I want to have a true, never ceasing relationship. All the strong relationships in life need effort in order for them to grow and the one with God is no exception. This semester while walking with God I hope to look at my relationship with God as never failing and throughout the highs and lows of my life not forget that relationship. Even when I am weak in faith remember to make God a part of my life in every way that I can. This Lenten season I challenge you to examine your relationship with God and make him a never ending or forgotten part of your life.

We are so loved.

Emily Hollenberg is a sophomore RA and an education major with hopes of being an English and Spanish teacher. She enjoys reading, writing poetry, blogging, and watching The Lion King obsessively. She’s a member of Gamma Phi Beta and Active Minds, and hopes to become more involved in Chapel!

             As soon as I decided that I was going to write this, the first scripture that popped into my head was Psalm 139.14: “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I’ve always liked this verse because it reminds me that I am loved by God. He made me with intention. He knows my hopes and fears and dreams and aspirations, and He couldn’t be more proud that I have them. He wants to watch me grow and learn and become myself, to reach my full potential, and that He loves me absolutely unconditionally. I am Emily, and I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am made in wonder. I am made in fear. Look out world, here I come, ready to be the best that I can be and worship the loving God who made me; who I am with all of my perfections and imperfections. I couldn’t be more happy that I am me, and that this is what God has planned for me, whether I know what that plan is or not.

            Sometimes I feel like maybe we stray away from this idea. We know that God loves us, but do we truly understand that love? Do we realize the gravity of how loved we are, how fearfully and wonderfully made we are? You, yes YOU, are loved by God, and fearfully and wonderfully made. Praise, praise, praise! We are fearfully and wonderfully made and we are LOVED, we are so loved.

            Maybe this isn’t a traditional devotional, and maybe it is. I don’t know to write a devotional, I just know how to be loved by God and how to love Him with all my heart.  And I know that we are so, so, loved. Always remember that you are wonderful. Always.

Perspective

Maybe you've seen her in the lab, or playing the guitar in chapel... Senior Kayla Zuiderveen is Alma's most recent Fulbright Scholar and an enthsiastic star gazer!

The Bible is depressing.

Okay, not exactly, but the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes certainly are. If you’re ever in an overly optimistic mood and wish you could feel a little less happy, give Ecclesiastes a try; it’ll turn your smile upside-down in no time. If I could sum up the first three chapters in a sentence, it would be this: everything we do is meaningless.

Solomon had a point when he penned Ecclesiastes:

“The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;

round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;

I refused my heart no pleasure.

My heart took delight in all my work,

and this was the reward for all my labor.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done

and what I had toiled to achieve,

everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;

 nothing was gained under the sun.

Pretty depressing, huh? Perhaps the reason I have been so drawn to this passage lately is the senioritis I’ve been experiencing. It’s so much easier to shirk assignments when I’m convinced they’re not worth anything in the long run. Even Jesus describes the meaninglessness of the daily grind:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy,

 and where thieves break in and steal.

 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

 where moth and rust do not destroy,

and where thieves to not break in and steal.

 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

But neither Solomon nor Jesus ends on a blue note; instead, they offer some very wise words of application: “Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Paul echoes Jesus’ words when he reminds the Galatians about the point of human life:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law in summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I guess the message that hit home for me was to keep things in perspective. The things that occupy our minds now – that next exam, paper or recital; the romantic melodrama; being accepted to the fraternity or graduate school of choice – these things pale in comparison to our calling as followers of Christ – to love and to serve.

During Lent, don’t let the college scene overshadow what really matters. Remember to love instead of judge, to encourage instead of tear down, and to treat other people as if they were more important than you. Otherwise, everything we do is nothing but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal, meaningless, a chasing after the wind. And that’s depressing.

Be. Listen. And worship.

Trevor Kline is a music and dragon loving senior.  He rocks the drums and is majoring in music education.  He also enjoys reading, video games, and eating popcorn.

Find some time during the day to be alone and without interruption and throw in some headphones and listen to this song.  Do more than listen, let it truly be a time of worship.  Listen to the words and truly let them sink in and relate to them.  We have an incredible God (duh) that no matter the struggles or the sin we fall into, he loves us and we're able to break free from it.  All we have to do is literally make the decision to follow Him.

There are hesitations however for a lot, maybe most people.  There a couple really common themes in this:
One is that we're not good enough for God.  While this is pretty much true (sorry to be a downer),  God's love for us transcends all knowledge and comprehension of what we know of love.  To have a fully unconditional love is something that we can think about as a general concept, but truly trying to understand is not possible, for me at least.

This song talks about the face that we fail God every day, yet, if we look to the cross and realize that he became man, came to earth, and was murdered by us, all because he loves us (again with the mind blowing), that through him our chains are broken and we are free through him.

Whether we like or not, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, there is a war happening for our hearts.  We need to realize who the enemy is and know that the only out of his grasp is to fall into the loving arms of Christ.  It may seem like a strange or abstract thing to some, but a life dependent on Christ will transcend that of an earthly life every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8K6vuILgDo&feature=youtube_gdata_player