A Introduction of Sorts
Before I spend much time talking about campus ministry at
Oklahoma State, I’d like to spend a bit of time reflecting on my own experience
as a college freshman back in the fall of 1996. You see, in high school, growing up at St. Dunstan’s in Tulsa, the
diocese was a real lifeline for me. Having recently lost my father to an extended illness, it was my church
family and diocesan friends that kept my head above water. I like to say these are the people that held
me up before I even knew I was falling. I was active in the youth group at St. D’s, Happening, youth board, and
summer camp. I even attended provincial
youth events and EYE. If there was
something the church offered, I was there. And then I graduated.
I arrived on the campus of Drury College (now
university) that fall really desiring a church community to be a part of. So, as the days before google dictated, with
the guidance of the Yellow Pages, I started visiting churches on Sunday. I realize now that I had set an impossible bar
trying to compare these new churches to my church home at St. Dunstan’s but if
we’re being honest, none of these new places seemed to give a single, solitary
you know what that I had even showed up. No one greeted me. No one
introduced themselves to me, save the priest as I walked out the door once the
service was over. This hurt. Deeply. I was beginning to wonder whether the church had anything to offer me
any more, or if it even cared.
In one final attempt to connect, I went to the
church that was in walking distance to campus, already scheming the trouble I’d
gladly seek out on saturday evenings since Sunday morning seemingly looked off
the table. And then it happened. At the peace, a woman ran up to me and barely
containing her excitement asked, “are you a college student?” Turns out, she was the Episcopal chaplain at
SW Missouri State and just happened to be visiting her parents that
morning. The thing is, I’m lucky, my
story is a deviation from the norm. A
lot of young people in the church never connect with a new community once they
leave for college. I can say with no
small amount of certainty that this chance interaction profoundly affected both
my involvement in the church generally and my current vocation
specifically.
While I had made new friends and found new
community, be it in the dorm or in the classroom, that was local and
limited. What I needed was something
that tied me to the larger community of my extended church family back in
Oklahoma and beyond. This is what Susan,
the chaplain, opened for me that Sunday. She re-introduced me the the Body of Christ, found in that worshipping
community of misfits and goofballs that welcomed me for who I was and who I was
becoming. She helped provide a space for
exploring some pretty big questions and gave me permission to say, “I don’t
know.” But most importantly, Susan
showed in word and action, that there was, in fact, a place for me in this
church I love. And for that I cannot
thank her enough. As you’ll soon see,
her presence and investment in me as a freshman helped lay the foundation of my
ministry at Oklahoma State which I’ll talk about next time.