A Center for Christian Ministry at UIC

  • Agape House @ UIC

    Agape House is a community of students, staff and faculty from UIC that gather together to learn, share and grow in our faith journey. Rooted in the Protestant Christian tradition, we share our lives and faith together through worship, fellowship, study, and service.

    Whether you come from a particular faith background or none at all, you are welcome to join us as we engage in questions about life and explore God's call for each one of us. It doesn't matter what you look like, who you love, or where you come from, we look forward to knowing you and joining you in your faith journey!

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Up Front

Water From a Rock - I Am the Journey

Submitted by kurt on May 1, 2010 - 3:44pm.

Last night, Lisl and I were blessed to hear the most amazing transgender actress, Alexandra Billings, speaking at the GSC's Lavender Graduation. Among some of the best quotes she pulled out were, "The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Also, "Every single on of us is made of 0.3% stardust." However, one point she made works best for the theme I've been thinking about for a month or so now.


Is Jesus Your Zombie?

Submitted by kurt on April 12, 2010 - 10:59am.

Jesus the Christ is risen! Jesus is alive and still around! However, he is no longer present among us in the same way he was with the disciples of the gospels. Let's be honest, it's actually pretty freaking difficult to get our heads around the way Jesus is actually WITH us. We come up with clever metaphors that help us get close to understanding Jesus' presence.


Water From a Rock - Her Love

Submitted by kurt on March 15, 2010 - 3:53pm.

Every time I go to see the Vagina Monologues, I think about my mom. (By the way, the women of UIC did an amazing job this past weekend! Bravo!) This past weekend was the first time I saw the monologues since my mother died last summer. I cannot help but picture my mother every time I hear, I Was There In The Room. The bleeding and the sacrificing of the vagina and the heart are vivid descriptions not only of birth, but of the warmth of the love my mom showed for me... even when I was disobedient!


Water From a Rock - Prayers for Bobby (and us)

Submitted by kurt on March 6, 2010 - 3:45pm.

I am finally sitting down to read Prayers for Bobby, a book recommended to me by one of our UIC students. This book is all the more poignant for me now because we are gearing up for a counter-celebration next Monday when the anti-gay (anti-everything) group Westboro Baptist Church comes to visit. I have only read through the introduction of the book, but one paragraph already struck me.

Leroy Aarons writes about a California family, the Griffiths, who lost their gay son to suicide.


Water From a Rock - Seeing in the Dark

Submitted by kurt on March 1, 2010 - 5:26pm.

Most old school horror movie creators will agree that audiences are more afraid of what they cannot see than what is obvious and in their face. Continuing our Lenten theme of engaging grief, loss and darkness, we must address what it is like trying to see in the dark, finding vision in the dark. The prophet Isaiah wrote these verses:

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you that have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,


Water From a Rock - You Gotta Sing the Blues

Submitted by kurt on February 19, 2010 - 4:58pm.

Unofortunately, neither life nor faith is always like a Disney movie. Last Wednesday, the Church entered into that season of Lent when we remind ourselves of this reality. Some of us put the ashes of dead palm leaves on our foreheads. For the next few weeks, many congregations will refrain from singing the "Alleluia." Instead they will spend more time singing laments.


Water From a Rock - Hollow Ground to Hallowed Ground

Submitted by kurt on February 13, 2010 - 5:19pm.

Life's transitions often crowd us with confusion and frustration. For young adults going through college, self-discovery and discovery of the divine becomes head-achingly complex in a barrage of information and exhortations from this or that moral perspective. The Haunted, a metal band from Sweden, describe this feeling of frustration quite thoroughly:

Once again I've lost my way,
going nowhere fast, I dread the return,
Spend my days in this self-made cage,
Where my soul can dwell,
And my loneliness is thriven far too well.


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