March 2010 Archives

             This year's Poehler Lecture featured Dr. Loma Meyer, a highly renowned professor and staff member.  With the exception of two years of public schooling, she attended Lutheran schools throughout college and attended both the University of Minnesota and Oklahoma State University.  She received her doctorate degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Minnesota.  In 1967 she first came to Concordia Saint Paul and throughout her time here she served in a wide variety of positions, including: Director of instruction, dean of the faculty, vice president for academic affairs, and executive vice president.  She served in several of these positions simultaneously and had to "consult with herself to get a consensus of opinion from her four offices."  Overall she worked at Concordia Saint Paul for over four decades, serving 26 years as a teacher and administrator, 12 years as a member of the board of regents, and 17 years as a retired faculty member. 

                Dr. Meyer's lecture was divided into three main categories.  First she spoke about her own background, then about the history of Concordia, and finally about the future of Concordia as she sees it.  In each of these categories she talked about both the integration of faith and learning and the integration of faith into every aspect of life.  As she was talking about her own background, especially the death of her husband, she focused mainly on integrating faith into an entire lifetime.  Throughout her husband's struggle with Parkinson's disease they remained strong in their faith, a faith Dr. Meyer describes as "a living, daring confidence in God's grace and mercy."  Dr. Meyer then provided the audience with a look at Concordia's past and present presidents.  She pointed out major events during the terms of each, especially those that helped the university progress and integrate faith and learning.  Examples of this include President Hyatt's work to grant women equal pay, President Harre's expansion of the liberal arts program, and President Holst's many building and expansion projects.  Next she focused on the changes and challenges she sees in Concordia's future and how Concordia can work to keep integrating faith and learning in the midst of those challenges.  Two of the main struggles she described were the anti-Christian and anti-intellectual tendencies that are prevalent in today's culture, and the increasing use of technology that is diminishing the classroom experience.  While the question of integrating faith and learning is one that was just assumed 20 or 30 years ago, it is now one that has to be discussed and taken into account because of these and several other challenges.  Dr. Meyer argued that as a Lutheran university it is not enough for Concordia to be just an excellent institution, they must also integrate faith and learning.  She concluded her presentation by saying that all learning should be centered on faith and that the past is history and the present may seem somewhat bleak but the future holds promise. 

                Concordia's honors program really seems to be at the heart of what Dr. Meyer was addressing.  She said the integration of faith and learning is priceless and that the saving grace of Jesus is more valuable than any other knowledge.  I like to think that the honors program is based on that same thinking.  While we strive for knowledge and an excellent education we know that when it comes down to it, what Jesus did for us on the cross is the most important thing.  Dr. Meyer pointed out that the honors program is one of the ways Concordia is working to "keep up" with the future and still remain rooted in the faith.  I think the connections between Dr. Meyer's lecture and the honors program are really quite clear.  Besides the overarching theme of integration of faith and learning, the two are also connected through the technological aspect.  Our study of Religion and Cyberspace connects quite well to Dr. Meyer's discussion of challenges technology will present for education in the future.  Overall I think the honors program is working to investigate and overcome the challenges Dr. Meyer anticipates in the future of integrating faith and learning. 

From the small bit of background information given before the reading, it seems that De La Cruz lived what could be considered a "hard life." Placher describes the circumstances surrounding her birth as "most unpromising" (254).  I have a feeling he was putting it nicely.  She was born an illegitimate daughter, unable to get married because she couldn't provide a dowry, opposed by the Archbishop of Mexico because of her education, and ultimately died of the plague while trying to nurse others back to health.  De La Cruz writes that she even, "Prayed to [God] to extinguish the light of my mind, only leaving sufficient to keep His Law, since any more is overmuch, so some say, in a woman" (254-255).  In my opinion those circumstances are quite a bit more than unpromising.  But in spite of all the difficulties in her life, De La Cruz knew that God had called her to a life of scholarship and study.  Though it wasn't always easy, and she sometimes asked for her calling to be changed so as to ease her burden, she continued to live out her calling with the knowledge that she was doing God's will.  Her example of caring for her sisters in her convent showed that she could serve God through her family life, even if she didn't always want to.  She knew the work she was called to carry out, and she did so even in the face of opposition.

While De La Cruz did remain true to her calling, she didn't do so without a trace of doubt.  She was blessed with the mind and heart of a learner, but without all of the resources from which to learn.  As college students we often complain about having to go to class and deal with professors and other students, but De La Cruz would have loved to learn in a classroom environment.  She writes about "how severe a hardship it is to work not only without a teacher but also without fellow students with whom to compare notes and try out what has been studied" (258).  The things we take for granted are some of the things De La Cruz desired most.  In addition to her lack of formal resources, De La Cruz also faced hardship because of the location she was living her calling out in.  She would have been content to sit and study from dawn until dusk, but she was left to study after her communal duties were done, at times when others were "also free then to come and bother me" (258).  Living in a setting where we are almost constantly surrounded by friends it may seem unusual to view this as a hardship, but to someone who feels in their heart a call to learn these distractions could be a great stumbling block. 

I really have to admire both the way De La Cruz overcame her hardships and how the hardships were introduced into her calling.  From the beginning she knew almost absolutely what God had called her to do.  For me, it's at that point that the hardships begin.  I'm almost inclined to say I would take any hardships that followed if only I could have as clear a calling as she did (I should probably be careful about what I wish for).  While I am gaining a clearer understanding of what my calling is, I can still identify most of my hardships along the discovery path rather than the living out path.  Since I haven't always had an absolute sense of calling (and still don't), and because other restraints kept me from being able to find "the perfect" organization, I don't believe my project organization is a definite part of my calling.  I believe it's a place where God can use me to serve His children in this world, I'm not positive my deep desire is rooted there.  I am happy working there, and most of my hardships have come from time conflicts, transportation issues, and other rather trivial things rather than terrible difficulties, but I don't believe it is the place God has called me to serve out my ministry.  That would make things way too easy J. 

After listening to Dr. Raheb speak I became a really big fan of him.  From the background reading we did it was clear that he is a very well educated, interesting man, with what we would consider a unique background.  But after listening to him speak his sense of humor and overall demeanor made me really appreciate both his speaking style and what he had to say.  When, nearly right away, he made the joke about his great great great great great great great grandmother babysitting Jesus it was clear that he has a presentation style that I enjoy listening to.  After being a little more familiar with Dr. Raheb his sense of humor also becomes recognizable in the reading we did before the convocation.  Though it's not him writing, the fact that Rosemary Radford Ruether described his answer to the question "When did you become a Christian?" in almost a sarcastic way says a lot about the kind of person he is (I Am a Palestinian Christian, vii).  A lot of the background information I learned about Dr. Raheb came from our assigned reading on him.  As a result it is probably all information everyone else already knows, so I don't want to spend a lot of time focusing on it.  There were a lot of interesting things Dr. Raheb had to say and I think it is more beneficial to focus mainly on those points. 

One of the first points Dr. Raheb made, and one of the points that struck me the most, was about being a minority.  He pointed out that the Bible is a book all about the minority.  I have a lot more to say about that but I'm going to try and follow the outline and keep my insights reserved for paragraph number three.  Steaming from the idea of minorities he explained that a lot of Western thinking is backwards about that point.  We tend to automatically assume Palestine is a Muslim country that was recently introduced to Christianity, but in fact the opposite is true.  Another key point Dr. Raheb made had to do with the common culture that exists between the Palestinian Muslims and Christians.  In the sense we've been discussing it, it's as though the public square is the same for both religions.  One doesn't have to go to another square in order to witness, they can be public about their faith within their own square and culture and still reach a different religion.  This is a unique opportunity that exists in the Palestinian world, and it's one that few of us are presented with.  While he made several other points as well, the last one I want to focus on came up while he was talking about the Inter-faith dialogue he helped found.  He pointed out that it became more about coming together and gloating about religion rather than working together to solve the problems that were at hand.  While this may not have been one of his key points, I found it very interesting and I think he pinpointed a problem that exists far beyond religion in Palestine.

The points Dr. Raheb made really got me thinking.  As I said before the first point that really struck me was his point about minorities.  Coming from the Western World I think that's a hard point to grasp.  I'm not used to being the minority.  I suppose if I really took the time to think about it I would discover that being a Christian where I grew up probably made me a minority, but it certainly didn't feel like it.  It's important to remember the Bible is about God choosing and working with the minority.  Though we may forget it at times (and argue about it in class) we don't live in an entirely Christian nation or world.  We are called to be in this world, not of it, and we can't grow too comfortable in our Christian lives and forget that we are God's chosen people living in a world that isn't entirely like us.  Transitioning into Dr. Raheb's last point, that sense of comfort can also give Christians a false sense of entitlement.  I'm pretty sure Dr. Raheb was talking about both Christians and Muslims, but it's a terrible thing when our focus gets shifted from the task that is before us to ourselves.  God knows He's awesome, He doesn't need us to sit around and talk about how awesome He is and how awesome we are for following Him.  If that's what out witness in the public square becomes, we're missing the point.  He wants us to follow Him and serve His people rather than sit around and talk about how we might do that.  What was meant to an arena where two different religions could come together and grow in respect for each other became for Dr. Raheb what a lot of public squares become for today's Christians; an opportunity to boast about religion rather than live it.