“In the words of Sybil Marshall, ‘Education must have an end in view, for it is not an end in itself.’ It is not a job that is the end; it is to find your ‘voice,’ that which ignites passion within you.'”

EMU gave this challenge in developing the theme, “A Vocation of Preparation,” in a convocation service held Aug. 30 in Lehman Auditorium, the opening day of fall semester.

Swartzendruber cited Quaker educator/writer Parker Palmer in his book, “Let Your Life Speak,” that the word “vocation” is rooted in the Latin word for “voice.”

“My vocation, your vocation, is not a goal to pursue, nor is it a job. It is, instead, your calling,” the president told the assembly.

“If Jesus needed time, approximately 30 years, to prepare for his vocation, surely a few years of preparation for each of us isn’t a waste of time,” the president said.

Finding Voice, Calling

“Finding your voice, your calling, takes time, energy and discipline, the president asserted. “No one has invented a drive-through McVoice, a place where you drive up to the first window, look over a catalog list of courses, place your order, drive up to the second window, pay the bill and find your voice, your calling.

“There are, of course, shortcuts available,” Swartzendruber said, noting that he found a website called Affordabledegrees.com. that grants degrees in just five days for $199.

“Not only are there inappropriate shortcuts, but we have to acknowledge that there are many productive, happy folks in our world who have never been to college. And it doesn

On one occasion, when asked which commandments in the scriptures were most important, Christ responded, “Love God with your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

On Wednesday morning Sept. 1, the first day of the fall semester classes at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø, President Loren E. Swartzendruber outlined what this might mean for the campus community.

“As a Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, with roots deep in the liberal arts, we intend to love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength,” Swartzendruber told students, faculty and staff in an opening convocation address. “We dare to say that our love for God is expressed holistically. We aim for balance in our approach to faith.

“Someone has suggested that if we love God with only a part of our personalities, we will in turn only receive a part of what God wants to be for us,” Swartzendruber said.

To love God with our whole being, he continued, means “to love with your heart, the center of your emotions; your soul, the essence of one’s spiritual being; your mind, the intellect; and your strength.

“Loving God with our hearts is perhaps the easiest of the four ways Christ identifies to love God,” he said. “It is our culture