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president's column
Annus mirabilis
by John K. Sheriff
This is a momentous year in the life of Bethel College. Choose whatever image you like – we are embarking on a great voyage, destination hoped for, but uncertain; we are stepping onto the stage of a year-long drama, genre undetermined until the end; we are undertaking a journey, motivated by faith, hope and love, in company with fellow travelers as varied as the Canterbury pilgrims, all with their own stories to tell.
Significant challenges in fiscal and enrollment management come along with a transition in presidential leadership. But the potential for this year to be an annus mirabilis, an extraordinary year, is embodied in faculty, staff, students, church leaders and all who love and support this college. This year has the potential to be a renaissance of a culture of enrollment growth, a rebirth of confidence and achievement as an institution. We can do this together – we must.
“We” will be the most common pronoun on our lips. To borrow words from Dostoevsky, we are all responsible for everything. Or, in the words of Walt Whitman, this is a meal equally set, no role or person is more or less honorable than another, for all are essential. And each role is “what we make it, as great as we like,/Or as small as we like.” If all who love and support Bethel play their roles a little greater, this year can be for Bethel a year of wonders, even a wonderful year.
Momentous times remind us of momentous speeches. One such begins, “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation . . .” (Abraham Lincoln). Nearly 125 years ago, a courageous and forward-looking Mennonite Church and Newton community created Bethel College. Now we are entering a year in the life of that college that will test, literally, whether that college, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
Another U.S. president said in his inaugural address, “[W]e shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of ________.” John F. Kennedy put “liberty” in that blank. Who is willing to put Bethel College in that blank? Who is willing to be part of that “we” group?
The solutions to our problems will not come by tensing our muscles and setting our jaws, nor will they come simply by a change in leadership. The solutions to our problems will come by giving creative, thoughtful, disciplined attention to them throughout the operations and processes of the college. They will come through the thoughtful prayers and generous support of all alumni and friends of the college. They will come by accepting the brutal facts of our situation as opportunities to try new things, to turn obstacles and restrictions to our advantage rather than see them as reasons for failure or torment. It is within our power to experience the joy that comes with being part of a group committed to shared goals and achieving success through team efforts.
As the faculty and staff have joined together to do something extraordinary at Bethel College this year, they seek to
- treat all people who come among us as if they were Christ (the Benedictine Rule);
- discover the interdependent integrity of scholarship, discipleship and service (Bethel mission statement);
- reveal to students and others their eligibility for the immortal and the good (Walt Whitman);
- think about and do what is true, honorable, just, lovely, gracious, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8-9).
We are counting on alumni and friends to join us in praying, giving financial support and recruiting to make this year an annus mirabilis at Bethel College.