You likely know the old cliché about always seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. In front of me as I type this column is a special pair of glasses through which I often attempt to view the world.

Among the most influential people in my life was my father. Born in a coal mining community in southern West Virginia, he saw education as the means to a better life. He attained both collegiate and graduate degrees and devoted himself to ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. At his ordination, his bishop told him it was his responsibility to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” He did both with grace and skill. Influenced by Dr. Martin Luther King, whom he met while a student at Boston University, my father was an advocate of human and civil rights because of his deeply held theological belief that we are all God’s children.

In 1965, watching the television coverage of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, when peaceful protesters were brutalized at the Edmund Pettis Bridge, my dad realized that his actions needed to align with the words he proclaimed from the pulpit. He flew to Alabama and joined the marchers, putting faith into action, on the road from Selma to Montgomery. Throughout his ministry, while shepherding several large congregations, he continued to advocate for “…the least of these” through his work with human rights commissions, peace and civil rights organizations, and city missions.

My father’s glasses sit on my desk. Now and then, I place them on my face. The world looks different through those lenses. I look at our world today through my father’s glasses and see ever-increasing opportunity to advocate for God’s people…all God’s people…as human beings of divine dignity and worth. Though my father died in 2016, his faith, through words and actions, continues to guide and influence me. Like Dad, I strive to put faith into action in my interactions with the D&E community and beyond.

I wonder about the hypothetical glasses D&E students find on their desks. From their life experiences to the influencers they encounter in the classroom and across campus, what do they perceive through these new lenses as they look at our community and world?  Might this vision of our world and its issues inspire them to dedicate themselves to a life of service and meaning, as did my father?

Knowing both the values that influence a D&E education and the quality with which it is offered, I am confident our graduates, as stated in the college’s mission statement, are prepared “…for thoughtful engagement in the world.” My hope and prayer for each of these students is that years from now, as alumni looking back fondly on college years, that old pair of spectacles first encountered at D&E will bring into sharp focus the life moments when their faith and action needed to be aligned.

It was also my father, as he wrote notes of encouragement to me over the years, who would always end his correspondence with the phrase, “…the journey continues.”  Grateful for his eternal journey, may our earthly ones be filled with moments of faith and action working in tandem. Putting on his glasses, God’s intention for our world is in clear focus.

The journey continues….


Chris A. Wood
President
Davis & Elkins College