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Dear friends,
What is the meaning of the Christian gospel? This is a question that I encourage students to reflect on as they discern the shape of their ministry. Gospel means “good news” and I want them to think what it is about the Christian message that is both good and new for the world at this moment in human history. What is that can’t be found anywhere else? Why is it so deeply good that it has persisted across two millennia?
In answering this question, what becomes clear is that in various contexts and cultures the Christian gospel can take different shape to speak to the needs of different people. As our college community continues to diversify, more of these perspectives enter our classroom. As the 20th century Anglican mission theologian Max Warren famously said, “It takes the whole world to know the whole gospel.” With each passing year at the college, we get more and more of this wholeness.
As I think about the answers I’ve heard from students in the past year, I find myself coming back to three words.
First, consolation. Jesus’ good news is a message of rest to a weary people. As Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) From gig economy workers to overstressed parents, from those worried about losing their homes to those wondering about the impacts of climate change, and so many others, there are lots of people in our world who are tired, in a deep, bone-weary way. The Christian gospel tells us that we can find rest and contentment for our weary bodies and souls in Jesus. Jesus has already done what is needed to make us right in the world.
Second, transformation. Jesus gives us rest but the story never ends there. Jesus is constantly calling us beyond ourselves and our current circumstances to be a new creation. This is why words like repentance are so foundational to the gospel. We are meant to turn around toward the fullness of life found in Christ and the kingdom he enacts. Through the cross and resurrection, Jesus shows us how new life and new hope is possible even in the most unlikely and unexpected of circumstances.
Third, reconciliation. As renewed and transformed people, Jesus calls us into new relationship with one another, relationships marked by faith, hope, and love. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5:18) We are called as new creations to work for the restoration of relationship between humans and God, between humans and one another, and between humans and the whole created order.
The challenges of human society at this moment in history seem overwhelming. The headlines tell us of trade wars and threats to our sovereignty, of climate change and grinding military conflict, of crises of mental health, housing, toxic drugs, and more. But it is precisely for people who feel overwhelmed, uncertain, and afraid that Christ took on human flesh and lived and died among us. In this gospel, we can still find great hope and possibility. Every day in this college, I see our students growing and maturing as ministers of that hope and possibility, ready to be agents of a gospel message that is just as deeply and profoundly good and excitingly and disturbingly new now as it was when it was first incarnated in Galilee two thousand years ago.
Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink
Principal