Sermon by the Rev.
Andrew S. Rollins
November 12, 2006
(Proper 27B)
Text: Philippians 1:7
Title: “A Heart for
Students”
Diocesan
Newsletter 1931
Exactly 75 years ago last month, in October of 1931, the Diocese of Louisiana published a newsletter featuring the new ministry of the Davis Sessums Memorial Student Center on the campus of Louisiana State University. (You’ll find a copy of that newsletter in today’s bulletin.) October 1931 was the beginning of the second year of St. Alban’s full program at LSU. This newsletter -- really a report to the diocese -- was written by the first chaplain appointed to St. Alban’s, The Rev. Joseph S. Ditchburn (‘Mr. Ditchburn’, as he was called – a nod to our low-church roots!). This old newsletter gives us a snapshot of where we started. I hope it will also help us to consider where God might lead us in the future.
St. Alban’s was a mission plant of the Diocese of
This ministry was well-received by the students from the start. Ditchburn writes that St. Alban’s had 12,434 student ‘contacts’ that year. According to Patrick Lipscomb, our chapel historian, the key to Mr. Ditchburn’s success was that he created a warm, family environment for the students. His family lived in the apartment here. His wife and children were always around and involved. Mr. Ditchburn got the students involved in the running of the ministry. He created a Student Vestry made up of twenty ‘boys.’ He understood St. Alban’s to be a training mission to prepare students to return and serve in their home churches. This newsletter shows that, from the beginning, the mission of St. Alban’s was clear, focused, and definite; our purpose was to be an outreach to this university. Mr. Ditchburn, and all those unnamed persons who were his partners in ministry, had a heart for the students of LSU.
Holding Students
in our Hearts
This morning, I’m going to diverge from the assigned readings for the day and lift just one phrase from the apostle Paul as my text. It’s a small phrase that says a lot. In the first chapter of the Letter to the Philippians, Paul writes: It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace . . . (Philippians 1:7). “I hold you in my heart.” Paul had been given a heart for the Philippians, a special concern and affection which permeates the whole letter. In the next verse, he says, I yearn for you with the affection of Christ Jesus (1:8). The original Greek word there refers to the upper intestines, the heart, the lungs, and liver – the place perceived as the source of deep emotion, ‘the bowels’ (Gumble). Paul’s heart throbs with the heart of Christ for the Philippians. Paul had a heart for the Philippians; Mr. Ditchburn had a heart for LSU students.
iPods & A/C
Much has changed since 1931. Take a look at the several black and white photos in the Common Hall from those days. One shows Mr. Ditchburn standing in front of the chapel with 25 female students in flower- print skirts and 1930’s hairstyles. The photo next to that shows Ditchburn standing with the Student Vestry in double-breasted suits, with ties, and -- check out the shoes! The programs here were different. Students put on plays on stage in the area underneath what we call ‘The Loft”. Student dances were held here.
If Mr. Ditchburn walked across the campus of LSU today, he would be shocked by the changes. He’d scratch his head at the iPods, the navel rings, the laptops, the Burkenstocks. Arriving at St. Alban’s, he’d be surprised to see office and chapel additions, the Iconostasis, the ’79 BCP, the microwave oven, and (perhaps most surprising) the air conditioning.
But beyond those exterior changes, Mr. Ditchburn might be pleasantly surprised at how much has not changed. Today, the mission of St. Alban’s remains the same as when Mr. Ditchburn first arrived. He could sit in on today’s Advisory Committee meeting and easily recognize the same mission being discussed that was discussed with his Student Vestry of 20 ‘boys.’ We still make our decisions about the budget, programs, staff, and worship based on that mission to the university.
Music, Preaching,
& Liturgy
Mr. Ditchburn could attend worship here any Sunday morning and evening and he would find much that was familiar. Of course there would be things that have changed since 1931. But he wouldn’t be a fish-out-of-water because we continue to put our emphasis on what has stood the test of time. The music, preaching, and liturgy are all classically Anglican. Our preaching centers on “the faith that was once delivered to the saints.”
Episcopal students are attracted to the stability, familiarity, of the BCP and the Hymnal. Non-Episcopalians often find that we’re offering worship that has ancient roots, yet is still very alive and full of the Spirit. We don’t follow the trends of the surrounding culture; we’re aware of them, but aren’t enslaved to them. We don’t look like we’re laboring to create a new religious experience week to week. That’s our particular niche on this campus. And that is also why our new “Lunch with C. S. Lewis” has been such a good fit. (We have 20 – 35 students attending each week.) Lewis is our best Christian apologist. He’s thoroughly orthodox and he’s thoroughly Anglican.
Our music program is central to that worship experience. Drew Bower’s leadership, and Brad Pope’s, and our choir’s talents and work have all come together this semester to make something truly rich. It’s not just talent. It’s about heart and spirit. I tell people that the choir leads us in worship; they don’t just perform. We currently pay six of our Sunday morning singers, all of whom are students at the LSU School of Music. The fact that they’re students is important. Our providing scholarships for them is part of our ministry; it’s not merely for the benefit of our worship on Sunday mornings. Just listen to the singing of the processional and recessional which is always a sign of life in a parish.
Team Ministry
Mr. Ditchburn would be surprised by the size of the 10:30
service, by the number of programs offered for non-students, and the number of
people who are directly involved in student ministry here. Sunday nights is the
place to see Team Student Ministry in action. We printed the list of 52 parishioners
(“The Golden Spatula Award” Winners!) who purchased, cooked, served, and
cleaned up after the Sunday evening student dinners just this semester! We
served 45 (almost all students) the last two Sunday evenings – the time of the
semester when numbers usually drop. These servers are people who have a heart
for students, like Mr. Ditchburn.
They’re also the most joyful people at
Mr. Ditchburn would also be surprised by the size of the staff today. We have three clergy working here now. We employ a part-time organist, choir director, child care, and sexton. We now employ a full-time administrator: Laurie Morris. That staff is necessary if I’m going to function as both a priest and chaplain. They make it possible for me to actively pursue connections with students, and to be available to students when they want a chaplain. I often get one chance with a student: “Can I stop by and talk to you about something?” The answer has to be ‘of course.’
Mr. Ditchburn put it this way: “One must certainly get to know individuals. One’s only weapon after all is friendship. A student pastor is as strong as his ability to make friends. His task is to tie himself into a group as a friend, a group that is likewise tied across by friendship, and who will recognize the satisfactoriness and the sincerity of the friendliness of Christ.”
I’ve heard people say that there are two congregations at St. Alban’s, which I’ve never liked. Something is lost whenever we refer to the “student congregation” and the “non-student congregation.” We non-students support the ministry to students. We have to be nurtured, fed in order to do that. You fund the program and the ministry. Apart from you, all we have is a chaplain with a very nice building! Still, we’re a single congregation that is focused on a single, specific, well-defined mission to this University.
Mr. Ditchburn’s Student Vestry of 20 boys paid 25 cents each
for their weekly dinner at the
Where Is Your
Heart?
In Episcopal Church vocabulary, we are a mission of the Diocese of Louisiana. The bishop and the convention of the diocese assign us to that category. But, in fact, they cannot make us a mission. We are not a mission until we are responding to God’s specific call to us. There are church buildings all over the country that still carry the official title of ‘mission’ but have not desire to do anything but have tasteful worship and be left alone. That’s not mission! Mission is not because of something we can inherit. We’re not a mission because a bishop says so. We’re not a mission because we sit inside this building.
Mr. Ditchburn put it this way: “To build a building on a campus, no matter how attractive, does not mean that students are thereby going to be won for Christ and His Church. There is no building or any other physical means of winning people.”
What makes us a mission is that we have a burning desire, an affection, a heart for students. God has to put that in us, through the power of His spirit. God’s love is always specific. God doesn’t love humanity in general. God loves you specifically. God is not like some people you know: “I love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand.”
Just as Christ’s love for you is particular, when the Holy Spirit moves, He gives us a heart for particular people. It might be college students. It might be another group. We’re not sent out into the world to ministry to people in general. The Holy Spirit is a bit more strategic. We’re sent to particular people. Paul knew he was sent to the Gentiles. He had a particular love for the Philippians.
Well, that’s what we’re about. That’s where my heart is.
Do you want to be a part of all this? Is God calling you to be a part of this wonderful ministry?
Prayer
I want to close by praying that God would continue to put in us a heart for students (and faculty). God has to continually renew our hearts for this mission.