>I am the part-time Baptist Chaplain at Essex University. I am still trying to work out exactly what that looks like in my working week and how I can best serve the University community. In an attempt at being supportive of the community, and because earlier this year I led prayers at a memorial tree-planting ceremony for a law student who tragically died, I attended the Graduation Ceremony last Friday for the Human Rights Centre and School of Law.
Prior to the Graduation Ceremony I was invited to a reception held by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Colin Riordan, in the Vice-Chancellor’s Boardroom. (Ooooh!) (For the unititiated the Vice-Chancellor is the man in charge of the whole University.)
There were nice refreshments available and people there from the School of Law and Human Rights Centre. I chatted to one or two people and gradually they went off to get their robes on. When there were just a few people left I saw a man in a pinstripe suit stood on his own, so I thought I would do the pastoral thing and go over and say ‘hello’.
I walked towards him, held out my hand and said, “Hello, I’m Nick.”
“Hello, Nick,” he replied, glancing at my badge that declared my identity as a chaplain.
“Are you part of the School of Law?” I asked naively, trying to start a conversation.
“Er, no.” replied my companion. “I am the Vice-Chancellor.”
After the ground steadfastly refused to open up and swallow me, and I had carefully extracted my foot from my mouth, I apologised for not recognising him and he graciously engaged in a brief conversation about the chaplaincy and my role in it.
Soon, however it was time for him to go and get his robes on so I made a hasty retreat towards the auditorium where the Graduation Ceremony was to take place, hoping I had not left too bad an impression on the Vice-Chancellor. I hoped that I would be able to blend in with the crowd and disappear. So imagine how I felt when I arrived to find there was a seat reserved for me – on the front row. And right in the eyeline of the Vice-Chancellor!!
I have reflected on this encounter since the event. Was it a major faux pas or simply a little blunder? Would the Vice-Chancellor remember this and blacklist me – banning me from future events or even removing me as a chaplain? The reality, I think, is that he will have put it behind him and forgotten all about it. After all, that week he had attended nine Graduation Ceremonies and seen over 2,500 students graduate. He is in charge of a community that comprises over 10,000 people if you include staff and students. He won’t remember me.
That contrasts markedly with God. He is in charge of a community of over 6,000,000,000 people. Yet he knows each one intimately. He does not just know our name, he knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows our habits and ambitions. He knows our joys and sorrows. He knows our successes and failures. And none of them makes him think any less of us. He still loves each one of us as a unique person whom he has created, whom he loves unconditionally and for whom Jesus died. Each one of us is incredibly important to God, and he longs for us to feel the same way about him.
Why God is not a University Professor:
1. He has had only one major publication.
2. It was in ancient Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.
3. It had no references.
4. It wasn’t published in a referred journal.
5. Some even doubt he wrote it.
6. The scientific community has had a hard time replicating his results.
7. He never applied to the Ethics Board for permission to use human subjects.
8. When one experiment went awry he tried to cover it up by drowning the subjects.
9. He only occasionally came to class in person: just told students to read the Book.
10. Some say he had his son teach the class.
11. He expelled his first two students without appeal.
12. Although there were only ten requirements, all students failed his tests.
13. His face-to-face tutorials were infrequent and usually held on a mountaintop.
nukelearfishing 
Leave a comment