Tyndale Chapel Podcast

Amen. As we conclude that time of our song worship this morning, amen. God is among us.

Well, good morning. Welcome to everyone, staff, faculty, students and friends, to our first Chapel in 2023. It is good to see you all again. I hope you had a good Christmas season, and opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, away from the daily activities of work and studies, and able to come back this week refreshed in mind, body, and spirit. I believe it's important, in this our first chapel of this new semester, to take time to acknowledge the location of our university in relation to the Indigenous peoples of this region. You've heard this before but listen to game this morning. For 1000s of years, the Greater Toronto Area has been the traditional land of the Huron Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. It is part of the Dish with One Spoon Territory, a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee, that committed them together, to share the territory and protect the land. Other Indigenous peoples and nations have subsequently entered this territory in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect. It is on these lands and in this spirit, that Tyndale seeks to engage in its work. This land acknowledgement was written specifically for Tyndale in 2000, under, 2018, under the guidance of elder Dr. Terry LeBlanc, a trusted colleague, an elder in the Tyndale community, and in consultation with individuals from Six Nations and the urban Indigenous community of the Greater Toronto Area. It is our privilege and our responsibility to partner in the journey to reconciliation, sustaining a safe, welcoming and informed place of learning for everyone.

I've centered my message this morning, around the theme of sitting in God's waiting room. And to begin, let's look at some scripture. Listen or follow along as I read a few select verses from Psalm 90, starting with verses one to six. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn us back to dust and say "Turn back you mortals". For a thousand years in your sight or like yesterday when it is passed, or like a watch in the night. You sweep them away. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening, it fades and withers." And then verses 14 to 17. "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper us for the work of our hands. Oh prosper the work of our hands."

You know, we've all had the experience of sitting in waiting rooms, or at least in waiting spaces, doctors and dentists, job interviews, faculty office hours, auditions, driver tests, vaccination clinics, the list of possibilities is long. Some are exciting, and some hold apprehension. But we've all had the experience of sitting in waiting rooms, waiting for specific meetings or events to take place. There are stages in our lives where we can sometimes feel like we're sitting in a waiting room, waiting for the door to open. Perhaps you're approaching graduation this year, and wondering what that first job will be. Which opportunity we'll open up first, which one is best? Or perhaps it's in relation to a relationship that you're in? Is this person the one? Will you spend your lives together? What is best? How will you know? Sometimes, I think we can also feel like we're sitting in a spiritual waiting room, looking at closed doors and waiting to see which will open. What does God want for you? What does God wants from me? Where is he leading? What is best?

Waiting rooms happen. They're part of life. But what do we do when we feel God has put us in a waiting room for a period of time? How do we respond in faithful ways during those times of waiting? And at the institutional level, as a university, how do we respond what it might feel like Tyndale University is sitting in God's waiting room for a period of time? We began a journey called Tyndale Green, two and a half years ago. In the summer of 2020, we thought we might have shovels in the ground by now. It's moving more slowly than we expected at the start. But you know, there's a lot of work that has been done, and continues to be done, underway on our behalf. But it's not always visible broadly. And so sometimes it might feel like we're sitting in a waiting room when it comes to that initiative. This past August, we launched our new strategic plan, "Flourishing like trees planted by streams of water", we set priorities for what we would accomplish this year. And then in the fall, we realized that our revenue was softer than we had anticipated and planned for, and we needed to make adjustments to some of our plans and schedules. We didn't stop moving forward on our strategic priorities. But we did have to adjust in order to move forward, in order to flourish. So taken together, it might feel a bit like Tyndale University is sitting in God's waiting room these days. And if I can misuse a recent Christmas analogy, it might feel a bit like we've been in a season of extended strategic Advent. What do we do with that? How are we responding? How will we engage with God and with each other as we go through this period of waiting?

Well, let me share a recent experience of my own that got me thinking about this. During Advent, I followed an online series provided by Lutherans Connect. One of the daily reflections focused on the old spiritual, "He's got the whole world in His hands". Some of you are smiling. Perhaps you've just had a flashback to your younger years. Some of the younger members in this chapel this morning might be wondering what song I'm talking about. Fair enough. But this particular Advent reflection, included a 1953 recording of the wonderful Marian Anderson singing the song. Marian Anderson was an important figure in the struggle for African American artists to overcome racial prejudice in the US during the mid 20th century. It is powerful to hear and see her sing, "He's got the whole world in His hands". The reflection that day also included a brand new recording of the same song, but this time by the Stellenbosch University Choir in South Africa. Same song, two entirely different arrangements and styles of presentation. In moving from 1953 to 2022, and from America to South Africa with this song, I was reminded that as God holds the whole world in His hands, it includes holding the hope of resilience and endurance, on a global scale, absolutely, as we look at the challenges that our world faces, and even when we might may just find ourselves feeling like we're sitting in waiting rooms, waiting. During those times as well, God is holding us in His hands.

So in today's reading from Psalm 90, the Psalmist focuses on the work that we all do to build the kingdom of God. It speaks to our mission here at Tyndale University as we seek to prepare people to serve the church and the world for the glory of God. Listen to verse 17. Again, this is what it says "That the favour of the Lord our God be upon us and prosper for us the work of our hands, oh prosper the work of our hands." But you know the psalmist doesn't stop with let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us and prosper us. He includes our responsibility to do the work entrusted to us, and asks God to prosper that, the work of our hands. So you know, waiting room doors do eventually open. What will be the work of our hands here at Tyndale, both now and after those doors open. And when we move beyond actual or perceived, personal or spiritual, individual or institutional, waiting rooms.

Let me share with you just a few examples of things that happened at Tyndale in December. While we were perhaps feeling like we were sitting in the waiting room. On December 3, we hosted our first, in-person, Christmas in the Chapel concert since 2019. Right here. 417 people attended in person, plus the fixed, 50 or 60 people who brought musical contributions, an additional 110 online tickets were sold. We can't know how many people listened at each of those online sources. But if we use a modest average of two, that's another 220 attendees. And since December 3, the live stream has been viewed another 441 times. Revenue raised the night of the concert was just under $60,000. And why that is significant is because that's at the high end of revenue from every Christmas in the chapel event since it became, since it began 12 years ago. And that was the first time we'd been back live in three years. The following week, an individual that we have not known previously, made a commitment to provide 100 to $200,000 per year, for the next 20 years. And approximately $800,000 in interest, on a financial gift that we weren't able to access previously, was transferred to Tyndale University. All of that came to Tyndale three weeks before Christmas. Now there are three things I want you to know about that. First, our external relations and development teams are an incredibly professional group who work tirelessly to raise about $2 million in donations every year. Even though it may sound like those three gifts I just referenced simply fell out of the air, I can assure you that they came about through hard work and faithful stewardship on Tyndale's behalf. Second, and more importantly, even when some of those early Fall weeks looked a bit bleak as you, and the leadership, and the external relations teams and everyone else did our work. God had us in his hands, and He has us in His hands now. This is not magical thinking. This is the outcome of God's faithful people doing their hard work, and Tyndale's faithful living out of our mission, even when it feels like we're sitting in a waiting room. And if we had time today, I could provide many other examples from many of the departments on this campus that would reflect similar kinds of commitment and follow through.

So that's the first two things. The third part of this, is just to reinforce that sometimes, it may feel like we're just sitting in a waiting room, but we never are there just wringing our hands. Our strategic plan is alive and well. People are still working hard, often in ways unseen and unknown to most, as we reconfigure the ways in which we continue to move forward with our mission and our strategic plan and intent to flourish. And God still holds us in His hands, working in ways we cannot always see. While our hopes and vision for Tyndale Green may feel like they're on hold and perhaps sitting in a waiting room, people are working hard on our behalf, in ways unseen and unknown to most to move this initiative forward as well. And God still holds us in His hands, working in ways we cannot see. And the individual hopes, dreams, concerns, and questions you may hold, as you sit in your personal waiting room, waiting for a door to open, are held in God's hands. Because God holds the whole world in His hands. And the world includes the individual, and the small group, and the family, and Tyndale, just as much as it includes nations, and justice, and resilience during oppression.

So what I want to share and leave with you today is never be fooled or discouraged by the waiting room. God does great things behind closed doors, while he holds the whole world in His hands. Psalm 90 and 17 is perhaps our prayer for God's blessing. "Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us and prosper for us the work of our hands. Oh prosper, the work of our hands." And Isaiah 49 Verse 16, I think, reflects God's response to us this morning. "See, I have inscribed you on the palm of my hands. Your walls are continually before me." He's got the whole world in his hands. He has you in his hands. Amen. And God bless you.