Hope McIlwain,
Department of Mathematics,
Mercer University
[April 1, 2014]~~
The overcast, dull gray sky matched my burdened spirit as I walked slowly to the gravesite. Four days earlier, my best friend and fellow college professor, called to say that her husband of a mere four years had been killed in a car accident. Today, under the clouded sky, we were laying him to rest.
Quietly, as we waited for the service to begin, fellow faculty members approached, filling up the area behind the tented gravesite. As the service began, I felt deeply grateful for these colleagues whom we call friends.
Mercer’s Mission Statement
Recently I was asked by my dean to reflect on our university’s new mission statement and was struck by the theme of community that reverberates throughout the statement.. My thoughts returned naturally to the support of colleagues on that gloomy burial day in June, and to other similar times at my university.
We are encouraged to view ourselves as members of a community. In the mission statement, we are reminded to cherish each individual member of the university and to recognize that each person has equal, sacred worth.
Personal Worth
In Francis Su’s talk “The Lesson of Grace in Teaching”, he asserts that personal worthiness is not defined by our accomplishments (or our failures) – a lesson often overlooked in the accomplishment-driven world of the academy.
Consider who make up the members of our community:
• the faculty whose presence inspires us to be a better scholar and teacher
• staff whose support makes our job easier
• students who study hard, engage with ideas, and make us proud
• faculty whom we don’t understand
• staff who need extra instructions on every project
• students who spend our entire class time texting
All of these are members of one’s university community. Each has inherent dignity and sacred worth. I find our school’s mission statement encourages us to think about how we interact with each other, and especially for those people with whom we struggle.
Freed to Serve
In Galatians, chapter 5, we are reminded that God gives us freedom to serve the needs of others in our community. In the context of my university, I think that the freedom of mind and spirit we are given is not simply for personal gain but to serve other members of our community and, by extension, members of the larger world community.
Each of us needs to be cherished, affirmed, respected, and celebrated.We have great jobs: they allow us to teach subjects we love and to influence the next generation. But, this can consume us.
I find I need to take time to allow God to show me how much I am cherished so that I can in turn extend grace and truly cherish the other members of my own university community.