From rshadian@hawaii.edu Mon Oct 14 20:12:19 1996 Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 20:09:44 -1000 From: Ritchard Shadian To: Chi Alpha Subject: The Brotherly, Volume FA96, issue 4 ### # # ### # ### ## # # # ### ####### ###### ###### ####### ## ## ####### ###### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ###### ####### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ####### ##### ## ## ## ###### ####### ##### ## ## ## ####### ###### ## ## ## ###### ####### ###### ## ### ## ## ## ## ###### ## ## ## ## ## ## ###### ### ####### ## ## ###### ## ## ## ####### ## ## ###### ### _ THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I AT MANOA CHI ALPHA CHAPTER ______________________________________________________________________________ OCTOBER 14, 1996 VOLUME FA96 ISSUE NO. 4 ______________________________________________________________________________ Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4 ******************************************************************************* It seems the story with your article submissions is feast or famine. After groveling and begging in one issue, I get a whole bunch. After congratulating you in the following issue I get little or nothing. I will not accept "too busy" or "no ideas" as an excuse. Folks, without articles this newsletter has no character, and is virtually useless. I could just as well send out an "announcements" bulletin and accomplish the same purpose. Again, I don't mean to chide against those who do send me things, but this newsletter could be much more than it is if I had your help. So, please, send me articles. ----------------- | ANNOUNCEMENTS | ----------------- FOOD, FOLKS, AND FUN -------------------- This Friday, October 19, we will be having an afternoon picnic at Ala Mona Beach Park (in front of Piikoi St.) starting at 3:00 p.m. and continuing until sunset. There will be swimming, volleyballing, frisbee-ing, guitar playing, singing, laughing, fellowshipping, cooking, and eating. For those who need rides, or can give rides, pickup will be at Chi Alpha corner at 2:00. Come by, bring food, and be prepared to have fun. FOR MEN ONLY --- SMALL GROUP AT EXCITING NEW TIMES! --------------------------------------------------- The time for the men's small group has changed. The Wednesday 4:30 p.m. section has been cancelled due to lack of attendance. Instead there are two new sections: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. in Hemenway 216 (contact me for info) and Wednesdays at 11:30 a.m. on the Hemenway Lanai, until a more permanent location can be secured (contact Marvin for info). COOKIES FOR CASH ---------------- Lisa is in the process of arranging a fundraiser for us --- cookie selling. The cookies come in 10 packages of 50 cookies each and will be sold for $5 a package. Stay tuned for more information on how you can help us raise money for Chi Alpha's needs. R & J LAST WEEKEND ------------------ This is the last weekend to see Romeo & Juliet, the reason that has kept me from Friday night meetings for the last five weeks. It runs Wednesday (10/16) thru Sunday (10/20). Wednesday - Saturday shows start at 8:00 pm. The Sunday show is a matinee which starts at 2:00 pm. ----------------------- | PRAYERS AND PRAISES | ----------------------- >From Claire, dated 10/8. Concerning her uncle Craig, who has cancer (we prayed for him every day at the prayer meetings two years ago), she has this request: "After spending 2 years in India receiving treatment, defying the doctors' two week to live statement, he is back in California - was in remission for a while, and is now in a western hospital. Some days he feels better than others, but has been worse. Many people hold him up in prayer, but if any one else would like to, I know he needs it. He is much more open to God, and I am hoping he could embrace that love completely - Now is when he needs to put down his pride, and know his maker's love." >From Cheryl, dated 10/8 "My mom fell down the stairs of our house Wednesday evening. Her left foot ended up getting completely folded up under her left leg. When my dad got home and found her he immediately called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. She broke both bones in her lower left leg in multiple places, none clean brakes-a lot of shattering of bone. She had to have surgery to set it and pins put in to hold it. She'll be in the hospital for a few more days. Prayer that she'll recover well and quickly and that God will grant her(and my father) the patience to deal with her injury/being basically immobile for a while." ------------ | FEATURES | ------------ KEEPIN' WITH THE TIMES by Ritchard Shadian [Disclaimer: This column represents the personal views of the editor (that's me) and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the UH Chi Alpha chapter. Rebuttals are more than welcome.] This was a column I used to run last semester when I was making a desperate attempt to color this newsletter up during the times it was threatened with a lack of articles (a situation I face once again). It is merely a reflective article on our place in the modern decade -- reaching a godless generation with the message of hope. OUR RELIGIONSHIP ---------------- I'm auditing an introductory religion class this semester. That is, I'm sitting in on the lectures for REL 150 but am not taking the class for a grade. I think everyone should take this class whether they need the credit or not. It's very interesting to hear about other religions (including Christianity) from a secular viewpoint and is good equipment for witnessing to those of other religions as well as defending our own religion. That is, if you can call it a religion. I'll explain. University religion classes, as a rule, are usually not friendly to Christianity. I suppose it isn't surprising since Christians are everywhere --- on every TV, on every street corner, and in everyone's face. This professor also took pot shots at times, but I didn't find it offensive. I would come to him after class to correct misinformation, but it didn't bother me that he had a negative opinion of the Christian religion (negative in my eyes at least, although I might be exaggerating). In fact it doesn't bother me when anyone has a negative opinion of the Christian RELIGION because even I admit that, from an objective and all-inclusive standpoint, there are aspects of our religion that can be looked at strangely. Now we've all heard the cliche "It's not a religion, it's a relationship" Sometimes we toss it around the same way we rattle off "A penny saved is a penny earned". Do we know what we mean when we say that? Is it even possible to separate the two? This professor was of the opinion that the relationship aspect was a part of the Christian religion. Indeed I believe it is at the heart of our religion, but is not the religion itself. The religion part is all the stuff you do with that relationship -- communion, baptism, worship, bible study, etc. It stems from the center. So can you have one without the other? It's possible to have religion without the relationship, and many do. But can you have the relationship without the religion? I don't think so. When you're still seeking the relationship, there's no need to seek out the religion. But when you enter into the relationship, you get the religion with it. And if you're living in it... Well, perhaps each Christian should ask themselves: am I working on improving my relationship or my religion? Which is more important? _______________________________________________________________________________ That does it for this issue. Iwant YOU to send me articles for the next issue coming out in two weeks. In Christ, Ritchard (rshadian@Hawaii.Edu) ============================================================================== Mailing list address: chi_alpha@Hawaii.Edu World Wide Web page: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rshadian/chialpha/homepage.html