Month: May 2015

At American University’s Commencement on June 10, 1963, John F. Kennedy asks about the kind of peace we seek. His view is that we seek a peace that is not like that of the grave or the slave. He says “I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children…” I can get behind that. Watch 2 minutes of this speech and think about how you can help make this come true for you, me, and our children.

JFK Commencement Speech, American University, June 10, 1963

What does the phrase “It’s the police” mean to you? Do you react with a sense of safety and security, or tension and worry? This is a divisive issue. If you read the following, I hope you will see that I don’t take sides. I do, however, want to recognize good community relations when I see them.

People working various communication channels can be pretty good at providing meaningful sound bites that help people take sides. Some phrases related to police activity lately are “Black Lives Matter,” and “I Can’t Breathe.” We also know what it means when people raise both hands.

Police across the country have a heightened security problem and a public relations problem. Just as it is so sad that people have died by the hands of police lethal force, it is also so sad that police are targeted and killed in retribution.

Free speech is a good thing. Peaceful protesting of injustice is a good thing. Unjust lethal force is bad. Rioting, looting, and targeting police for retribution are also bad. These statements are true. But, what do we do now?

I think I know at least one thing we can do. We can come together as partners. While the news about police and problems in some communities has been negative, there are communities where police and citizens are proactive with positive solutions. The ACU Police Department primarily serves a university community but it is responsible for serving a section of our whole city. As the university wraps up the school year, the Chief of Police at ACU writes to his partners about some important topics he wants to address. The following email was sent to these partners. As you read, you should notice that he is addressing 5,000 partners including faculty, staff, students, and neighborhood citizens. To shorten the email, I left out a segment on parking issues and leaving bikes on campus. The language was the same throughout the email, though, and I share it here with his permission.

The Chief writes:

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Dear ACU community,

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP THIS YEAR:
The semester has drawn to a close and the ACU Police Department (ACUPD) wants to thank everyone for their patience, flexibility, and compliance during a 2014-15 school year filled with significant construction and special event related parking related closures, detours, and directives.

SUMMER SAFETY :
If you are here this summer, please continue to partner with ACUPD in keeping the campus and neighborhoods safe. Remember that our campus becomes even more vulnerable to crime during summer breaks because we lose many of our 5,000 partners. If you stay this summer, stay alert and always call ACUPD when you see something suspicious.

CONGRATS TO GRADUATES:
And finally, if you are a graduating senior, please accept our congratulations and our thanks for entrusting ACUPD with the awesome responsibility of keeping you and the campus safe during your years at ACU. We work hard to provide the ACU community with 24/7 law enforcement services delivered by a dedicated and professional team of officers and staff. You have deserved it, your parents have expected it, and we hope we have delivered it.

Sincerely,
Chief of Police
ACU Police Department

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I’m okay with being considered a partner. And I sense a good degree of satisfaction on campus with safety and security. I don’t think anyone would claim perfection in the system, however, this community has a healthy degree of ethnic diversity and does very well to keep a positive relationship between police and citizens.

I wish police departments across the country could realistically speak about their community citizens and neighbors as partners for safety and security.

And, I thank you, ACU Chief, for partnering with your community.

We spend a lifetime in soul formation, becoming who we really are. Yet the sad reality is that some of us unthinkingly sell our soul for things we don’t really care about.

I remember sitting way up on a mountainside in Papua New Guinea, in awe of the great beauty before me. I was 19 years old, spending a year as a missionary on the opposite side of the globe from the life I knew, and I was learning about a whole new world. Before me was a beautiful valley with small huts scattered around and families sitting in them gathered around their fires. There was no doubt in my mind that all of this was from the hand of God. Looking out over the valley below, however, I wrestled with competing ideas.

After my yearlong mission, I planned on going to college. Friends, however, warned me that college caused a lot of people to lose their faith in God. I couldn’t fathom how knowledge and education would lead me away from believing in God. Everything I could see before me convinced me otherwise. I decided then and there that I would mark that moment as an important memory. Any idea that challenged my faith in God would have to rival the sight, sounds, and smells of the beauty before me. I didn’t think it would be possible.

Well, college did happen not long after that. It was all you might expect in the highs and lows of learning and scholastic achievement. All along, I remembered my decision on the mountain that I would hold to my faith as I considered what the academy presented from the bachelor’s degree all the way through a Ph.D. There were challenging times, but I was thankful for my mountainside experience that I held as a faith benchmark. I willingly considered other ideas of what to believe but on the idea level only. Nothing rivaled my mountainside.

Along the way I decided that this benchmark of faith had to be more than an idea. I needed the practice of faith to give it life and substance. Being involved in a local church with my family has served that purpose for me. Finding ways to serve and be part of a community showed me how my faith mattered. It was still tested but this faith had people in it – children, teenagers, adults, people like me, people different from me, souls finding their way together.

And I’m still here. Faith has pulled me, pushed me, hidden its face from me, hit me upside the face at times, but I’m still here. There is a mountain in my memory that was a time and place for a decision that would measure all other decisions. I’m a soul survivor. How about you?

If you find yourself soul searching about your identity, here are some guiding suggestions for a soul survivor:

1. Realize that who you are is always a matter of faith.

We make choices and we adapt to our environment. Who we ultimately become, however, is always a matter of faith. There is no magic wand to make you who you want to be. It takes work, perspective, opportunity, and good choices. Worthwhile efforts are often challenging. Being convinced of truth is good, but it is an act of faith. Do you have a mountainside memory to remind you why you believe?

2. Commit yourself to having an open mind within your faith framework.

Having a faith in something sturdy for your life will make all the difference. With a benchmark of faith, you can open your mind to all of the ideas the world will throw at you. And through it all, you can be at peace with your choices. Be warned, however, that who we are in our soul is not completely up to us. We always exist in some community of influence. Make sure your choices of influence are in your faith framework as you consider other ideas with an open mind.

3. Make your faith come alive by living it out in practical ways.

Your faith ideas don’t exist in a vacuum. Your faith benchmark should have a practical outlet. Who you decide to be needs to be reflected in the faces and places where you put your resources. Get involved in the practice of things you believe to reflect your essential beliefs, and do it with like-minded people. Is it community service? Is it a local church? Ecological issues? Keep your benchmark beliefs alive and be a soul survivor!