Inaugural Address: "Because…"
Oct. 14, 2022
Let me begin with a host of acknowledgments and expressions of gratitude. For a gathering last evening with the board and Cabinet, Brent Edstrom and Jared Hall for lending their musical gifts. Pastor and scholar Ron White for sharing lessons on leadership from Lincoln and Grant. Lauren Taylor for her wonderful prayer offering.
For this afternoon's ceremony, Tad Wisenor and the Institutional Advancement team for carrying out the heavy lift to put the events together; the voices of the Whitworth Choir, led by Dr. Xiaosha Lin; our Wind Symphony, led by Dr. Richard Strauch; thank you, Sophia TurningRobe, for leading us with the Land Acknowledgment Statement; the invocation and benediction by Forrest Buckner and Roberta Wilburn; Provost Gregor Thuswaldner for presiding over this event; Faculty President Dawn Keig, ASWU President Georgia Goff, Brandon Pyle, and Trustee Shelly O'Quinn for offerings words of welcome and charge on behalf of the community. And students Jude Ruetschle and Litzy Soltero for the Scripture reading.
To Board Chair Brian Kirkpatrick for his leadership, partnership and friendship. I, and we, are all served so well because of your presence and wisdom. I'm particularly grateful for the model of the former Whitworth presidents with us today, including their spouses. Phil Eaton and his wife Sharon, who served at Whitworth as interim before a lengthy and distinguished career at Seattle Pacific University. Beck Taylor and his wife, Julie, Beck a leader I had the privilege of observing closely for 11 years at the Whitworth helm, who led us so incredibly well and across all areas. And Bill Robinson and his wife, Bonnie, who led Whitworth for 17 years and who shaped this place and me in uncommon ways. It's hard to imagine a place led any better than Whitworth over the past thirty years through these presidents. We are forever in your debt.
It's also a gift to be joined today by many friends and family. Included in that group of friends are the many, many of you present today and who I don't have the time to acknowledge all by name. We are joined by family that includes my father, in-laws and extended family. And of course our nuclear crew, our children Morgan, Kelsey and Tyler. You are all great, but the wonderful and blessed Janice gets the loudest shoutout. Man, oh, man, am I lucky.
For our Whitworth faculty and staff, your impact on the lives of our children is something for which we are forever grateful. We played our role for 18 years and then handed them over to this community. Fleshing out those comments alone could make for a speech, so just know that we realize we are just one example of thousands of families whom you have forever impacted.
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For my convocation address six weeks ago, I introduced to our students the question about our personal loves. In a passing remark, I floated the question about university loves, community loves, and I said that question was for another time. That's the question I'd have us all consider today. And it's a question I've set in the context of a single word, "Because."
For those of you who attended convocation, a quick review. For everyone else, allow me to lay a brief foundation for that question about the things we love.
Philosopher James Smith makes an assertion through the title of his book. That title and assertion is: You are What You Love.
If we are what we love, he asked, then what do you and I love? What does the evidence of our lives demonstrate and suggest about our loves? Not what I say I love, but what my life really conveys about those loves. I'd contend that question about loves is a vital question for a university, too. What do we love? What does the evidence suggest about our loves? How do those loves shape the today and tomorrow of this special place?
Our current loves, whether personal or institutional, have history; they offer some sort of evidence from the past. Our present-tense loves also have some kind of formative and shaping effect that speaks into what might become of our futures and how we live our lives, both individually and corporately.
Smith writes that we are all headed somewhere. We cannot not be headed somewhere. Whitworth cannot not be headed somewhere. There's a place out there that we long for, a place where we hope to arrive, a place where Whitworth is mission-centered and thriving. Because our wants and our longings inform where we are headed, it is worth being intentional about what we love. Those loves inform the decisions we make, for ourselves and for a university.
So, over the past several months, often just sitting across from people in their offices or in mine, I've asked campus colleagues how, for Whitworth, they would answer that, "We are what we love" statement. How would they answer with regard to their hopes and aspirations for this place? What would they name about the historical evidence for university loves? How do those loves play out on campus today? And how do those loves speak into our future and thereby inform how we function for our students, for one another, and for God's Kingdom?
And so, back to "because"; a singular subordinating conjunction that forms the title for today's address: "Because…" There is so much conveyed in the word. In fact, I just might argue that the word "because" should receive most favored nation status among all conjunctions.
Apparently we all begin to understand conjunctions as early as 24 months old, and we have a good grasp of what they mean at 36 months. I know I did, and often in response to a parental edict. Childhood me: "Why do I need to do that?" Parent: "Because I said so." Point made, point taken. Little is more clear than the parental "Because" that precedes, "I said so."
The biblical use of "because" is far weightier than the parental version. Listen for that word in the Scriptures you heard just a bit ago. Listen for what the word asks us to recall, and then, how that "because" compels us to respond.
Psalm 115:1 - "Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."
2 Timothy 1:9 - "He saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace."
"Because" simply packs more meaning than other transitional words. The conjunction "but" signals a shift is coming. The conjunction "and" simply says more is coming. The conjunction "because," however, connects the past with the future. In fact, it credits the past for the future. It is a cause and effect conjunction that requires us to remember.
Blessed be "because." In that conjunction, we have no choice but to remember and give credit to the source of our "because." It's pretty easy when using "but" and "and" to make ourselves the heroes. With the words "but" and "and," we get the credit. When we use "because," the hero is someone other than ourselves. In Scripture, "because" points us to a holy and heroic God.
Or consider "because" in another way. Hear it as something akin to the word, "Therefore." The late pastor Stuart Briscoe advised us to pay close attention to the word in Scripture. Whenever we see the word "therefore," we should pause and dwell on what the word is "there for."
"Because" and "therefore" unite the past, the present and the future. "Because" and "therefore" address our most cosmic question: Why?
And so, as I dwell on this place, this mission, our students, our people, I am stuck on the word, "Because."
What now follows is an ensemble of voices, like many lines delivered by the cast in a play, a mix of my voice and others from the community, set amid five "Becauses." Certainly we could craft more than five. You and I would no doubt arrive at ones that differ slightly. For Whitworth, let me offer these five . . . because, this is my address and I have the stage.
Because in Christ the whole fullness of God dwelt in bodily form, we honor Jesus Christ as Lord of all.
Very simply, our work, commitments, teaching, scholarship, and relationships today remain anchored in Whitworth's Christ-centered mission. History matters here. From the first day of classes in 1890, Whitworth has been a place where faculty and staff unite around the grace and truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture. In our differences, we are bonded in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in whom is our hope and salvation.
Because Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many, we serve a broken world that the triune God has redeemed and is reclaiming.
At our best, we live out a commitment that calls Whitworth to become a more equitable and just community; where students, staff and faculty are equipped to be interculturally competent global citizens who live and learn and love across all dimensions of diversity and human difference; where seeking peace and wholeness—shalom—for all of God's image bearers is essential for being faithful to the God who was, "In Christ reconciling the world to himself." Just as the prophet Micah calls us to, "Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God," we care about justice, and we do something about it. We practice intentional acts of kindness and random acts of kindness.
Because the earth is the Lord's, all that is in it and all those who live in it, we pursue knowledge to glorify God and understand God's world.
In this place of rigorous intellectual study and academic excellence, we are a place where minds can change. Where minds do change. Because of that, we prioritize opportunities to develop the superb intellects and skills of our students. We value talking about hard things with love, and we work to get better at doing that. We will never stop learning because we are teachable. Because of that, at our best, we approach each other with humility and curiosity. We hold a deep reverence for people and the perspectives they bring so that we can all better flourish. Even when we disagree, we see our counterpart as made in God's image.
With intellectual humility, this has been a place where we convene in disagreement rather than repel against it. Within our firm convictions, ideas are offered and heard; they are challenged and respected.
For our students, we trust they will find clarity through curiosity, where answers to big questions aren't reduced to a tweet or a post. They are encouraged to be independent and inquisitive, thoroughly honest about how their worldview impacts the choices they make every day.
Because we seek to live lives worthy of our callings, we follow Jesus Christ as our model of vocation.
The writer Pete Wehner would remind us that the work we do in Christian higher education is soul craft sort of work. A Whitworth degree is far more than a commodity. We have built stellar academic, residential, and co-curricular programs that respond to the world's needs. At its best, a fundamental purpose of our work is to shape the mind and the human soul; to help students pursue moral good; to help students love the right things; to help students be superb in whatever area of study and vocation they choose. Ours is the privilege to develop students who receive high marks from the prophet Micah; graduates who play a redemptive role in the world, who contribute a redemptive arc to the many communities in which they live, work, worship, and serve.
Because all whom we encounter are made in the image of God, who are beloved, and whom God knows by name, we value relationships, stories, people and community.
The shape of our campus center, The Loop, is an apt metaphor for how we build community. No hard edges. No crisp corners. There is ample space to fit the needs of our people. In those spaces, we value and make time to learn each other's stories. We invest in relationships. That's the foundation for teaching, mentoring, discipling, conducting, and coaching. We are intentional about our students being seen, known, heard, and valued. Students succeed here because of the deep care and love they receive. We entrust our students with big responsibilities because we trust them to do big things. We notice the little things and we respond accordingly. We recognize the people who shape us and the sacred moments that change us.
I'll close on this final thought, question, and response:
Among the beloved, a place where God is with us, this 200-acre footprint has been, and is, a place of consequential geography.
What is Whitworth there for?
Because . . . it is a place where we honor Jesus as Lord of all; where we serve a broken world; where we fearlessly pursue knowledge; where we follow Jesus as a model of vocation; and where we value people and community. And we do that, Scripture informs us, because of God's love and faithfulness, and because of His own purposes and grace.
Amen.