May 2018
Congratulations to Graduates, Farm Day Volunteering,
Learning from Muslim Neighbors and More!
Dear Friends of Campus Ministry,
Easter greetings to you! I write to you in the midst of a season in the life of our ministry that in many ways reflects this season in our church year. As the semester comes to a close and students depart -- either for the summer or for new adventures entirely -- there is a sense of something ending and a kind of grief that comes with that. At the same time, however, God is bringing forth new life and abundant possibilities among us. Graduates are receiving their degrees and celebrating with friends and family. Students are heading off to summer jobs, internships and service commitments that promise excitement and growth. New plans are already bubbling up for next year. It is a challenging yet joyful time and I am excited to share it with you through the articles and stories below.
I am also excited to share with you some personal news: I am going to be having a baby in late July and will be on maternity leave for twelve weeks, including the beginning of the fall semester. My wife, Abby, and I are so delighted to welcome this little one but, as with all new things, this will be a time of transition for us and for the ministry. I am grateful for the wonderful colleagues, interns and student leaders who will be pitching in while I am away. I hope and trust that shaking up our routines will give God the room to do wonderful things among us.
As always, thank you for your support. Your accompaniment makes this ministry with students possible and I am grateful. Please keep our students, especially our new graduates, in prayer as they follow God's call to new places and in new directions.
Easter Rejoicing,
The Rev. Becca Seely
Executive Director
Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education of NYC
Easter greetings to you! I write to you in the midst of a season in the life of our ministry that in many ways reflects this season in our church year. As the semester comes to a close and students depart -- either for the summer or for new adventures entirely -- there is a sense of something ending and a kind of grief that comes with that. At the same time, however, God is bringing forth new life and abundant possibilities among us. Graduates are receiving their degrees and celebrating with friends and family. Students are heading off to summer jobs, internships and service commitments that promise excitement and growth. New plans are already bubbling up for next year. It is a challenging yet joyful time and I am excited to share it with you through the articles and stories below.
I am also excited to share with you some personal news: I am going to be having a baby in late July and will be on maternity leave for twelve weeks, including the beginning of the fall semester. My wife, Abby, and I are so delighted to welcome this little one but, as with all new things, this will be a time of transition for us and for the ministry. I am grateful for the wonderful colleagues, interns and student leaders who will be pitching in while I am away. I hope and trust that shaking up our routines will give God the room to do wonderful things among us.
As always, thank you for your support. Your accompaniment makes this ministry with students possible and I am grateful. Please keep our students, especially our new graduates, in prayer as they follow God's call to new places and in new directions.
Easter Rejoicing,
The Rev. Becca Seely
Executive Director
Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education of NYC
The Vine Gets Down on the Farm:
Students Celebrate Creation with Earth Day Urban Farm Project
After a long, long winter, students from all three Vine branches burst out of doors into the spring sunshine on April 21 to celebrate and care for God’s creation. In honor of Earth Day weekend, students attending NYU, Columbia, Union Seminary and Queens College journeyed to Brooklyn to spend a day volunteering at Added Value Farm, an urban garden and eco-education center. Students spent the day pulling up weeds and clearing fields in order to ready the farm for the planting of summer vegetables.
“It's not often living in New York City you get the opportunity to deepen and build community by getting your hands in the dirt,” shared Jane Ulring, a student at Union Theological Seminary. Jane noted that other volunteers included teenages, a Boy Scout troop, families with toddlers and other adults of all stripes. People across NYC come together each week to help out at the Red Hook-based farm, which is committed not just to urban gardening, but to serving youth in the community.
“It's not often living in New York City you get the opportunity to deepen and build community by getting your hands in the dirt,” shared Jane Ulring, a student at Union Theological Seminary. Jane noted that other volunteers included teenages, a Boy Scout troop, families with toddlers and other adults of all stripes. People across NYC come together each week to help out at the Red Hook-based farm, which is committed not just to urban gardening, but to serving youth in the community.
The vegetables grown at the farm are sold at farmers markets and CSAs and the proceeds go directly to support the farm’s internship programs for local teens. Our college students were delighted to get the chance to meet some of the young people in the internship program and to help them as they built a doorframe for a new storehouse.
The farm service day is a natural extension of our students’ ongoing commitment to stewardship of creation. For instance, The Vine’s LaMP branch decided in 2017 to switch from disposable to reusable plates and cutlery and has held multiple teach-ins on faith and environmental issues. The Vine Queens College branch hosted campus-wide Earth Week events in 2018. The farm service day was a great way for students to put their call to serve God and neighbor and planet into action.
Jane remarked, “My experience farming was a joyful way to give of my time, enjoy the outdoors, learn something new, and witness to God's abundance and blessing. I left from Red Hook brimming with gratitude.”
The farm service day is a natural extension of our students’ ongoing commitment to stewardship of creation. For instance, The Vine’s LaMP branch decided in 2017 to switch from disposable to reusable plates and cutlery and has held multiple teach-ins on faith and environmental issues. The Vine Queens College branch hosted campus-wide Earth Week events in 2018. The farm service day was a great way for students to put their call to serve God and neighbor and planet into action.
Jane remarked, “My experience farming was a joyful way to give of my time, enjoy the outdoors, learn something new, and witness to God's abundance and blessing. I left from Red Hook brimming with gratitude.”
Faces of Campus Ministry: Meet Shruti Kulkarni!
"The Vine community has played an important role in my decision to attend seminary. As I was beginning to discern a call to become a pastor, I remember attending a Vine retreat and having a number of conversations with other students who pointed out to me what they saw as my gifts for ministry. One campus ministry friend in particular has continually affirmed me as I’ve explored the process and reminded me when I've doubted myself that I’m following God’s call. - Shruti Kulkarni, Vine Alum & Student at United Lutheran Seminary
More about Shruti:
Shruti is an alum of The Vine's ministries and a first year Master of Divinity student at United Lutheran Seminary. She studies at the Philadelphia campus and serves as an intern at Saint Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia. Shruti was not raised in the Christian faith and was baptized in 2017 at Saint Luke's Lutheran Church in Times Square, Manhattan, where she is a member. She completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia University in 2016. Shruti self-identifies as an advocate, activist and tech geek. She also has a passion for learning Welsh and is part of the Welsh Congregation of New York City. Shruti is in candidacy for Word and Sacrament ministry in the Metropolitan New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Thank you for being part of our community, Shruti, and congratulations on finishing your first semester of seminary!
This profile is part of the Faces of Campus Ministry series that is posted regularly on The Vine NYC's Facebook Page. Like and follow The Vine on Facebook to meet a new student, alum, staff member, volunteer or supporter every two weeks!
LaMP Welcomes Visitors from Ahmadiyya Muslim Community
On April 9, The Vine's LaMP branch in Morningside Heights was delighted to welcome visitors from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Queens to join in our weekly student dinner gathering. Eight guests, including the community’s Imam, Mahmood Kauser, gathered with over 20 Christian college and graduate students to share about Islam as part of their community’s Meet-a-Muslim program.
Meet-a-Muslim is an initiative in which young adults from the Amhadiyya tradition visit with campus ministries, churches and other non-Muslim faith groups to help educate non-Muslims about Islam, dispel misconceptions and combat the rising Islamophobia in our society.
Meet-a-Muslim is an initiative in which young adults from the Amhadiyya tradition visit with campus ministries, churches and other non-Muslim faith groups to help educate non-Muslims about Islam, dispel misconceptions and combat the rising Islamophobia in our society.
Imam Kauser spoke and answered questions about a variety of topics, including the history of the Muslim faith, connections between Christianity and Islam, women and LGBTQ+ people in Islam, prayer, dress and dietary practices. The goal of the presentation was to help build authentic relationships between neighbors who have increasingly come to fear and demonize one another. Particularly interesting to students living together in our ecumenical campus ministry community was the opportunity to learn about the differences and similarities between Ahmadiyya Muslims and more commonly known Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
While the program is called Meet-a-Muslim, nearly every hand in the room shot up when Imam Kauser asked how many of our students had met a Muslim person before that night. Living in New York City, our students are blessed to live and study in religiously diverse colleges and neighborhoods, and to have friends of many faith backgrounds. That being said, secular college settings are not always conducive to discussing faith, spirituality, and meaning-making across religious difference and this gathering gave students the chance to do just that.
LaMP Co-Pastor, Becca Seely, remarked, "For me, the greatest gift of the evening was simply that it challenged our community to figure out how to be welcoming in new and more expansive ways. As Christians and Muslims with our own traditions and practices, we had to figure out how to gather together and bring our full selves to the table. From what food to serve to who would pray when to trying to explain our practices to each other, we just had to figure it in love out as we went along. We discovered God’s presence among us in the midst of our connecting with one another and seeking to be hospitable to each other."
Thank you to Imam Krauser and our guests from the Amhadiyya Muslim community for sharing your tradition with us!
LaMP Co-Pastor, Becca Seely, remarked, "For me, the greatest gift of the evening was simply that it challenged our community to figure out how to be welcoming in new and more expansive ways. As Christians and Muslims with our own traditions and practices, we had to figure out how to gather together and bring our full selves to the table. From what food to serve to who would pray when to trying to explain our practices to each other, we just had to figure it in love out as we went along. We discovered God’s presence among us in the midst of our connecting with one another and seeking to be hospitable to each other."
Thank you to Imam Krauser and our guests from the Amhadiyya Muslim community for sharing your tradition with us!
Farewell and Godspeed to 2018 Graduates!
May is always a bittersweet time of year in the life of campus ministry, as we both celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our gifted graduates and face the fact that many of them will be leaving our communities as they head off to new adventures. This year is no exception. It is with mixed emotions that we bid farewell and godspeed to nine students and young adult volunteers, and one pastoral leader, all of whom will be departing from among us soon.
While it is hard to say goodbye, we are incredibly proud of our graduates, all of whom have found amazing ways to learn, grow and use their gifts for good during their time in school and campus ministry. We are excited to see where the Spirit takes them next and how God uses their gifts to serve others in the future.
Here is just a taste of what some of our graduates will be up to next:
While it is hard to say goodbye, we are incredibly proud of our graduates, all of whom have found amazing ways to learn, grow and use their gifts for good during their time in school and campus ministry. We are excited to see where the Spirit takes them next and how God uses their gifts to serve others in the future.
Here is just a taste of what some of our graduates will be up to next:
- Lina, graduating from Lang College at the New School, will be heading to Nashville to pursue a Master of Theological Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School.
- Maura, a Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer who connected to our community during her year of service, will head off to Chapel Hill, NC to begin a Master of Public Health at the University of North Carolina.
- Kieran, who is graduating from Columbia's Social Work School, will be putting his studies to good use as a social worker in the Bronx starting this summer.
- Patrick, another Presbyterian Young Adult Volunteer, will be heading back to school to complete his undergraduate studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
It is hard to say goodbye to all our graduates and difficult too to say goodbye to a member of our pastoral team. LaMP's co-pastor, The Rev. Vicki Flippin, will be moving to Connecticut this summer to begin serving as Pastor of First and Summerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven. Vicki has been an amazing gift to the LaMP branch and will be missed tremendously.
Good luck and God's blessings to all of our amazing graduates and departing community members. We are so proud of you and so grateful that you have been part of our campus ministry community! We can't wait to see what you do next and to welcome you back as alums!
Good luck and God's blessings to all of our amazing graduates and departing community members. We are so proud of you and so grateful that you have been part of our campus ministry community! We can't wait to see what you do next and to welcome you back as alums!
The Vine NYC is a network of big-hearted, open-minded campus ministries serving college and graduate students across New York City. The Vine connects students with peer faith communities, local congregations and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Vine is a ministry of Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education in partnership with local congregations.