"The Deep Breath Before the Plunge"

As many of you have likely noticed, cool temperatures and rain have arrived just in time for the start of the Fall semester of school. I've always loved this time of year; the outdoor energy of summer sunshine is redirected to the activities of the Fall, like planning for the new school year, getting ready for indoor sports, and taking out warmer clothes. Cooler weather drives us indoors more of the time, and that opportunity allows for less running around being busy with either work or holidays, and instead invites more reflection, more thought, and maybe more prayer.

This is my last day on campus before new student orientation on Thursday. In the 2^nd installment of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the Wizard Gandalf is standing with his frightened hobbit friend Pippin before the beginning of a great battle. Gandalf says to Pippin about the quiet before the war breaks out, “It’s the deep breath before the plunge”. And that is certainly where I am situated right now, taking a deep breath before the plunge of thousands of students and the energy of a new semester crashes into the campus in the coming weeks.

I really have little idea of what it will all look like. Of course I have a general sense of direction and purpose on campus, but there are unknown faces, unknown stories, unknown adventures that all await me and which I also know nothing about. It is both thrilling and slightly nerve-racking.

But standing before the possibility of the “new” is the continuing task of the Christian. Who knows how God will show up? We can trust that God will appear in the likeness of Christ through the Holy Spirit, and that gives us a clear guidance of what to watch out for. But at the same time, when Christ was on earth, he unsettled what we think about “God”; so I think we should continue to expect that. Christ doesn't close things down, he opens things up – new possibilities for life, love, and joy.

So it truly is a “deep breath before the plunge” on this cold, rainy day at Kwantlen. And the plunge into God’s future, as usual, is filled with the excitement and thrill of encountering Christ in the unexpected openness of new relationships, new stories, and the “new” in itself. For Christ himself is “the new”. 

Christian Companionship

Starting my job as a Christian Chaplain at Kwantlen has meant that I am now joining a tradition of Christian Reformed Chaplaincy, one that is respected and appreciated in University settings across the continent. This tradition continues to be rich and interesting, and there are currently many other campus chaplains scattered in those universities, chaplains who have now become colleagues, companions, and friends in this exciting job of being a Christian presence in a centre of learning.

Today I met one of these colleagues of mine over the phone. The beginning of this job has brought with it many challenges, some of which were expected and some of which were not. I was in need of someone to share these struggles with and so was truly blessed by the 30 minutes of conversation I had with someone who I now call a colleague, friend, and mentor. I was able to describe and “unload” the stories and challenges that have arisen in this first summer of chaplaincy; a listening ear, some words of wisdom, and some encouragement for the future were all occasions for this new friend to be the presence of Christ to me. It was a simple conversation, yet full of the significance that comes through Christian companionship.

Christian companionship is significant. We dare not neglect it, I think, or we run the risks of isolation, self-sufficiency, or even despair. Becoming who we are in Christ involves a community, involves relationship with others. I have been gifted with many rich Christian communities: family, schools, universities, and churches. Now I get to experience a new dimension of Christian community, the companionship of co-workers in a similar career, wrestling with and enjoying different yet similar situations.

This is certainly not limited to those positions more formally known as “ministry”. To be a follower of Jesus is to be in “the ministry”, no matter what your career calling. In every moment we are called to witness to our faith. So this collegiality I experienced today is not confined to “chaplains”; we are all co-workers in Christ and so we can all find ways to allow our work to be “ministry” and then find ways to connect with each other for prayer, encouragement, and shared hope.  If we ignore this sense of Christian companionship in our careers and lives, we miss out on a vital dimension of the Christian life. Jesus has summoned us into relationship with each other, a relationship that does not neglect any area of our lives, careers, family, or anything else. Encouragement and companionship is needed in all of these dimensions. “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, as indeed you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). 

Dirty Dishes

I'm in a messy office today! Some students stopped by for the weekly Multi-Faith Centre tea-time I've been hosting through the summer, and so I stacked the coffee table with cookies, kettles, tea-pots, mugs, lemonade, all sort of social, summery goodies. The conversation was relaxed and enjoyable; the result was a pleasant few hours and some dirty dishes.

Some dish-washing is a pretty small price to pay for the chance to build relationships. In fact, dish-washing is often a hugely beneficial thing for community building. After a meal and conversation, the menial task of washing up can become the place where a common task becomes a common source of friendship, openness, sharing, and love. This is so crucially important for what it means to be a community, to develop love over common objects, common tasks, a common vision for our community and our world. For the Church, the common object, task, and vision are all summed up in Jesus Christ, in his life and person. We look to the one who brought healing and comfort, love and justice. He is the one whom we love (the object), he shows us the tasks to act out in love (the task), and he reveals to us a future for a world held in the love of the Father (the vision).

Of course, dirty dishes are not the only common task the community of the church is called to. We are summoned to a common task of confession to and forgiveness of each other. The church is filled with much more than dirty dishes; we all carry personal problems, we all find ourselves frustrated with difficult personalities, we struggle with negotiating the different goals we each hold for the direction of our Christian community. “Doing the dishes” might not be such an easy thing; we need to bring to the surface the dirty, difficult, uncomfortable, and challenging things that we would rather avoid.

Can the church dare to be a place where that sort of honesty and vulnerability takes place? Can we bring all the problems we would rather keep hidden out into the open air of confession, of mourning, of lament, trusting and hoping that doing so guides us towards a common object of love? It is difficult, it is hard, it may be unsettling.

But the presence of the Holy Spirit urging us on in our communal imitation and love of Christ will aid and comfort us in the task. And our hope in Christ is that all of the churches tasks, from the pursuit of justice, to the confession of sin, to the washing of dishes, may be occasions for God’s presence to break into our world in fresh, new, and sparklingly clean ways.