Class of 1963 Memory Book

On the eve of Garrett-Evangelical’s 156^th Commencement, the classes of 1963 from Evangelical Theological Seminary (ETS) and Garrett Theological Seminary (GTS) returned to their alma mater.  As they do, memories from a previous era are sure to follow. Such was an era of typewriters, not computers; community phones, not iPhones; and chalkboards, not projection screens. In those days, the Garrett Tower housed a basketball court, ETS was a seminary of the Evangelical United Brethren Church located in Naperville, and Lake Michigan was a stone’s throw from the Garrett dorms. The changes at Garrett-Evangelical are certainly numerable and if you see a 1963 graduate, you’ll be sure to hear about it!

The Class of 1963 connects us to the past, but they also connect us to the future. When they graduated, they entered a world where African Americans and Caucasian Americans were far from equal, where an ordained woman was a rarity, and where the United States was still reeling from the assassination of its president. Although their present seemed bleak, they went into the world as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors. They ministered to multicultural congregations on the South Side of Chicago, soldiers in the war, hospital patients, and the oppressed citizens of South Korea.  In essence, they did what they could do to change the world around them.

The world in which the class of 2013 has entered is better because of the ministries of those from the class of 1963. When the graduates of 1963 anointed the class of 2013 in Senior Chapel, they passed on on the torch. There is a lot of uncertainty for the Class of 2013, but they too will go out as pastors, professors, missionaries, social activists, chaplains, entrepreneurs, and counselors.  They too will minister to diverse congregations, to the sick and dying, and to the oppressed and hopeless and in their own way, they will change the world around them.

Travel Logged

Garrett-Evangelical has been proud to offer a variety of travel course opportunities for our students each year. We are pleased to be able to share some of our students travel stories over the next few weeks.

Becky Wilson (second from the right)
in Bethlehem

One of the many things that stood out on my first visit to the campus of Garrett-Evangelical was a flyer promoting a travel course to Rome. While I have not yet experienced Rome, my experience as a seminarian has been marked by travel.

By whatever means available from my home in Detroit to Evanston.

By train to downtown Chicago for urban ministry conferences at SCUPE.

By bus through the Galilean hillside.

On foot through an Israeli check point from Bethlehem to Jerusalem.

And last summer, by plane to Philadelphia for the travel course, United Methodist Studies: Wesley and the 19th Century.

This was my first trip to the City of Brotherly Love. I ate my first cheese steak, tasted soft pretzels from several vendors and preached a sermon from the pulpit of Historic Old St. George’s United Methodist Church.

Travel courses are a lot of fun. They are also hard work. Each student was required to preach two sermons on the trip. No big deal, right? Except for the fact that the assignment was to preach contemporary interpretations of John Wesley sermons. I considered dropping the course when I was assigned The New Birth. (Seriously, I did.)

Standing in the chalice shaped pulpit of Old St. George’s in the summer heat was a daunting task. Once my body adjusted to the pulpit’s swaying I found my voice and delivered a sermon to my professor and classmates. In this preaching moment I felt a powerful connection to the history of my denomination and my family roots, which are half-grounded in Methodism.

Originally hesitant to embrace the topic, but in the end, encountering a new birth of my own.

Traveling to Lovely Lane Chapel, Old Otterbein, Long’s Barn, Cokesbury College, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Gettysburg and Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, I was reminded of the importance and the power of seeing life and learning history from a location other than our own backyard.

It is one thing to read about the evolution of Methodism in America, but it is another thing to travel through it.

It is one thing to read about Jesus’ travels in and around Galilee, but it is a totally different experience to put your feet in the Sea of Galilee and contemplate your future ministry.

It is one thing to read about violence and oppression, but it becomes real in a whole new way when an Israeli soldier’s gun brushes against your leg as he walks the aisle of your tour bus.

As I begin my final year of seminary, I realize how fortunate I am for the opportunities to travel and experience the world outside of the classroom. All of my courses at Garrett-Evangelical, not just the ones involving travel, have filled me with a boldness to preach The Gospel and with an eagerness to transform the Church and the World.

I am also eager to visit Rome.

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Becky Wilson is a third year Master of Divinity student with a concentration in Urban Ministry.

Seventeen Seconds

By Michael Jarboe, 3rd Year MDiv. Student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

I was taking out my dog, Bella, about thirty minutes before the Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when this overwhelming swell of wind whipped through my apartment complex courtyard; spinning the bushes, creaking the bike rack, and swaying the mysterious oak tree that stands affront the building almost to the breaking point.

“Run, Bella!” Avoiding the downpour I scooped up our fury and frightened Shih Tzu, just escaping the flash storm that blanketed the Windy City. It all happened so fast.

It all happened so fast. Two minutes remained in the game and down by one goal our sites looked to Thursday night’s unexpected and undoubtedly exhausting final match-up to determine the 2013 Stanley Cup Champions: The Boston Bruins or The Chicago Blackhawks.

Our deflated table at a local pub sat impatiently watching as the final seconds slipped through the gloves of Chicago’s offensive attack when suddenly the scrappy effort of Brian Bickell tied the game up. The room erupted! Overtime period, as we saw the game’s outcome at that moment, was no stranger to Blackhawks or their fans.

What happened next no one in the room could have predicted. In 17 seconds from the moment the face-off following the game-timing goal, Blackhawks’ Johnny Odulla assisted David Bolland with follow-through slap-shot into the Bruins’ net with 58.3 seconds remaining. Shouts of joys, high-fives of joy, chest-bumps of redemption, tears of the reality that the Blackhawks may have just ensured the Stanley Cup filled the room and the rest of Chicago equally.

The scenes and pictures from last night are still ruminating in my mind and soul. It was hard not to be captivated by the scenes on Clark Street. Minutes after the game, news stations had their camera’s tuned into the raw madness of fans pouring from the bars, homes, and friends’ watching parties to collectively celebrate with their brothers and sisters. Thousands upon thousands of people let go of their inhibitions as the pride for their team and their city had reached its boiling point.

I’ve always loved these scenes in the public sphere. Whether it’s rushing the court at a college basketball game when an underdog beats a giant or the images of millions waiting outside the Vatican with a spirit of hope as the announcement of Pope Francis was declared, people gather together when there is something to celebrate. People long for human interaction in the moment of great joy and gladness because the shared experience is something that enlivens possibility and creates memorable stories that can be told, captured, and re-told again. A common goal was reached for Chicagoans to win the Stanley Cup, so who better to celebrate than with the community of that common goal.

So how do we manifest this in the Church? In 17 seconds the Stanley Cup transitioned from something attainable of the Blackhawks in 48 hours to 58.3 seconds. If the Church hopes to manifest any form of celebration that these pictures display in the streets of Chicago following Monday night’s win, it must step into mindset that the possibility for creating a sustainable community, with the common goal of “acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God,” (Micah 6:8) is attainable today. Not after this fiscal year, not after this generation before us dies off, not when they start playing guitar during the service, and not when I get ordained and have some form of power. Nope. Today, now, this moment: this is the time to draw people together for the common good of our neighbors and neighborhoods. This is the time to grab our pads, our sticks, our Corey Crawford face-mask and skate into two-minutes-remaining-of-Game-6-mentalities. If we do this, with God’s help, the potential for a celebration-filled shared-experience is awaiting with excitement to fill the streets of the Kingdom of God. What’s stopping you this time?

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Michael Jarboe is a 3rd year Master of Divinity student at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.  He blogs regularly at http://michaeljarboe.wordpress.com/.

Photo Credit: The Chicago Tribune