End of An Era

This will be my final post from Lafayette college, my professional home for the past eight years. I will leave Lafayette in a few weeks to begin service as University Chaplain at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA. I like to think that I have been a mostly good influence on Lafayette, as it and its people have certainly been a positive influence on me. Though I have worked in ministry in higher education for over twenty-five years, it was at Lafayette that I experienced the greatest amount of growth in my personal and professional life. The atmosphere here lends itself to doing interfaith work in a way that was new to me when I arrived. And that wonderful interfaith spirit only continued to grow during my time here. Students and faculty and staff gave of themselves so that a strong spiritual life community would have a solid foundation. Though the mainline Protestant group here is small, students stuck with the program and made it count, and let themselves be noticed for their progressive spirit. That can be a prophetic action in today's brand of American Christianity. Lafayette also presented me with great challenges, as it has sometimes given off a feeling of "institutional agnosticism" that can serve to discourage students who are trying to feel their way along, spiritually. They felt sometimes that they were denigrated by faculty who questioned why they felt a need for religious beliefs in this day and age. However, I have also heard marvelous testimonies from faculty and staff who have also felt marginalized because of their religious beliefs, and yet, they refused to remain silent about their faith's journey in the face of peer pressure. So, Lafayette has been a spiritual testing ground for many, and that is certainly true for me, as well. I leave having grown in my understanding of the importance of providing safe spaces for people who are seeking a spiritual path, and someone who is willing to walk that path with them. So, thanks be for all I have experienced and learned here. And here's to the next part of the journey for me from whence I will post here in the not-too-distant future.

Trinity Sunday..a Revelation Through the Eyes of a Little boy!

I have written here before about the joys we have found in attending the local Episcopal Cathedral for the past year-and-a-half. Yesterday was another of those amazing times. It was Trinity Sunday, which, in many United Methodist Churches, is just another Sunday. However, not so with the Episcopalians. Trinity Sunday is another opportunity to mix pageantry with teaching and beautiful liturgy. The bishop preached, and likened the operation of the trinity to three men ( and he also added the possibility of women!)dancing merrily. Because I have a longstanding love/hate relationship with the concept of the trinity, I am always happy when someone offers an illustration that gives it life and new avenues of interpretation. Once, I questioned a professor about the need for the trinity. Since he was a Catholic priest, the trinity figured largely in his theology. So, he asked me to think of it as the three manifestations of God in a familial relationship with one another.He said that the trinity can never make sense outside of that relationship and interconnectedness. The other aspect of yesterday's service that made a deep and lasting impression on me was at the baptism of the children. We all love baptisms, as we smile and coo at the babies who are being baptized. Two very little ones were indeed baptized, and the font was located halfway down the aisle, in the middle of the congregation. The children were, quite literally, surrounded by the members of the congregation. The third child baptized was a young boy who looked to be about eight-years-old, and he was dressed snappily in a white shirt and red tie. He had a look of awe and amazement in his eyes, as the priests and bishop made him the center of attention for that moment. I wondered to myself how we can keep that feeling alive for him. After all, parents tend to slack off in taking children to church, and the kids then get out of the habit of attending. But for that brief moment, I did sense the presence of God in that place in a way that was so special and real. So much of the awe and majesty of liturgy has been taken away today, sometimes replaced by vapid praise music with lyrics that focus on the individual and God, and not on the community. The Cathedral has figured out a way to couple majestic and powerful music with a message that touches every individual, and brings the historic message of the church into bold relief. We will be moving soon, and I shall miss that connection that I have made with that congregation. However, I will be leading a university congregation that meets in a majestic facility, and I shall have to work to make the liturgy a living, breathing entity that invites each congregant back, week after week. I will remember the look of wonder in that young lad's eyes, and seek to help convey that in new and exciting ways.