The King's Connection Magazine Volume 23 Number 2//Fall 2012 | Page 2

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Get It?! (Excerpt from the president’s message at Fall Convocation) W hat is ‘it’ that drives this place? The ‘it’ I have in mind has to do with big questions we all bring to our work at King’s: Who am I? Do I have a purpose in life? Why am I a student, professor or staff member here? What sort of world do I want to help create? Do you get it? When you follow Christ in a university like this, something amazing happens. God, the great reconciler, brings about a change so amazing that it’s like creation all over again. God says “let there be reconciliation!” And there is! New creation! The old way of ‘regarding’ passes away. Stand back in wonder and delight, and regard a world that’s different, one where the alienation, brokenness and suffering—in short, the sin—that spoiled a good creation are done with, and where agents of reconciliation live as if the new creation is already here, because it is! II Corinthians 5:16-21 speaks to such questions. Our Mission Statement Dr. Harry Fernhout - President echoes this passage in its call for Christ-followers to live as God’s ambassadors of reconciliation in a world of brokenness, suffering, and alienation from God. This must permeate your and my experience at King’s – the call to participate in God’s work of reconciliation, bending our lives toward the vision of healing, renewal, reconciliation and hope which the Gospel promises. If this academic community has a passion for this ministry of reconciliation—well, then we ‘get it.’ Do we have the audacity to imagine that this is our real world, and not the dreams and visions of the ‘good life’ peddled by contemporary culture? Do we have the audacity to ‘regard’ education at King’s in that light? This scripture passage also calls us to ‘regard’ everyone and everything differently (verse 16). To ‘regard’ means to ‘pay close attention.’ Isn’t that exactly what learning is all about? We pay close attention to things, like molecules or historical events, in order to learn about them and to understand how things fit together. So this passage is incredibly relevant to our work at King’s. If we are followers of Christ, we no longer ‘regard’ anyone or anything from this-worldly point of view. In fact (verse 17), if anyone is in Christ, ‘new creation’ is here! Who are you? You’re not just a consumer; you are a new creation in Christ! Do you have a life mission? You’re not just out for success; you are an ambassador of reconciliation! What sort of world do you want to help create? Not one where power and greed are worshipped, but one where God’s reconciling shalom flourishes! This year, I invite you to ‘attend to’ those times when we ‘get it’ at King’s. Or times when we don’t—yet. Let’s talk about those, “admonishing each other with all wisdom.” Our challenge at King’s is to ‘get it’ in whatever we do in Jesus’ name, which is everything. ? THE KING’S The King’s Connection Magazine is published three times each year for alumni and friends of The King’s University College. 9125 - 50 Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6B 2H3 780.465.3500 1.800.661.8582 Fax: [phone] Please send any address changes to: Please send alumni updates and address changes to: Direct comments regarding articles to: Development 9125 - 50 Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6B 2H3 or call: 780.465.8314 Toll Free: 800.661.8582 Opt#4 [email protected] Alumni Relations 9125 - 50 Street Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6B 2H3 or call: 780.465.8314 [email protected] Marketing Manager Vanessa Christensen 780.465.3500 ext: 8017 [email protected] 3 /// The King’s Connection /// Fall 2012