Quiet Thoughts for an Anxious Time

College is a stressful time of life. Everyone feels the stress and responds differently. For parents, bringing a child to college is a hinge of time marking both an end and a beginning. For Faculty members each new year brings the anticipation of new students and their courses. For some, promotion and tenure decisions loom. For administrators and staff members there is the annual rhythm of watching every dollar, grieving over every transfer and the creative efforts of trying create educational co-curricular programs. For students, there is the steep learning curve of managing the stress of competitive classes and social networks in the best way they can, sometimes successfully and other times in ways that add to their stress. I often thought that if we could somehow channel the tension and stress in relationships on a college campus, we would find a new source of energy. College Chaplains are not immune to stress. He or she seeks to be vitally related to all in the institution and in that relating will inevitably absorb stress vicariously. One task of the Chaplain is to be affected by others without being infected by their stresses. One role of the Chaplain is to be a stress reducer, a “transformer” if you will. No matter what other tasks the chaplain is assigned, he or she is in a position to scale down the electric franticness of the institution and give it a moment of rest, breathing room, and offer a chance to reflect on what brought us all to a college to study and work in the first place. Between June of 1979 and June of 2007, it was my distinct honor to try and be this for those at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. One of the forms my ministry took was offering a weekly non-required worship service in the College’s chapel, Yeilding Chapel. For most of those years we held a service at 6pm on Monday nights, because until recently, that was an “unclaimed hour” on our campus, an hour between classes and labs, and the beginning of the evening activities or study. Other nights were spoken for and Sunday mornings on a college campus are for sleeping and, well, sleeping. The context of any ministry shapes it and I am aware of how I and those services were shaped by the context of Birmingham-Southern, a four-year, Liberal Arts, residential college related to the United Methodist Church. During my time there, I served as the Chaplain, Director of Counseling, Director of Service Learning, and Dean of the Chapel. In those years, the student body ranged from 1100 to 1800 and the faculty numbered between 85 and 105. For most Monday nights, the congregation was students between 18 and 22 years old. While my “congregation” was fluid, changing completely every 4 years, I was grounded by my effort to be faithful to scripture. The Common Lectionary was and is my homiletical guide and unless campus life demanded a topical sermon, each week we read at least some of the appointed scripture passages and prayed the psalm of the week. I was usually amazed at the way the three readings had something to say to our college students and the way they illuminated the common life we were living. I trust in the metaphor of scripture as a “lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” , but it was inspiring to me and the students who helped plan worship to discover beacons for college life in the ancient texts. Planning the worship around the texts given in the lectionary led us into interesting conversations and helped bring a sense of perpetual surprise to each meeting. My hope in putting these to print is to offer one man’s thoughts on the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a college context at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st Century. I’ve titled these Quiet Talks for Anxious Times, because I’ m not sure if they are sermons or not. My etymological dictionary says that “Sermon” comes from the word “swear’; it wandered from the Latin into Middle English, English and French, and finally came out meaning a “series of words”. I like that definition. I know that my intention was to swear on the Bible that this series of words was meant to be a conversation with students to reflect a grace-full God who loved them. I know for me, the grace of each of these reflections was in the preparation, prayer and presentation. If there was any Gospel left in them after it had filtered through my own mind and heart, then thanks be to God. I imagine all who have preached and then published feel a bit “odd” when reading words one initially spoke in a liturgical context. It feels a little like the old saying that these would be better if you had been there. So even without the setting, the liturgy and the music, and most importantly the friends who had gathered, I hope you enjoy reading these. As you read them, imagine a round brick building that seats 110 in three concentric circles. The seats are fixed to the floor and are all on the same level. Four stained glass windows telling the Christian story dominate the walls. At 6 pm the sun is setting and illuminating the western “red” window. Candles are lit on a central round wood and marble altar. Above it a 12-foot wood and aluminum cross hangs from the 60-foot ceiling. A mobile of tin strips hangs above the cross and each strip moves with the wind in the room. Acoustics are lively and as folks gather and greet each other the sounds are full and friendly. Soon, a flute and guitar begin playing. The room quiets, a prayer is offered, the organ introduces a tune and a hymn is sung. Before sitting, people walk around and greet one another and then pause for a special musical selection and a psalm. Prayers from the people are requested and shared. We sing again, read from scripture and then I “swear an oath with a series of words”. Welcome to this place.