Read more…

President Loren E. Swartzendruber, surrounded by tables of glowing candles, spoke in a convocation service Wednesday, Jan. 12, on the theme, "A Community of Hope" to help launch the second (spring) semester.

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber explores "hope in community" in a convocation service to help launch the second (spring) semester.
Photo by Jim Bishop

"Community is a term that is so commonly used that it can easily lose its meaning," Dr. Swartzendruber said. "Yet, all of us crave it.

"Yet, reality is often something else. Authentic community is difficult to experience in a world filled with war, pain, suffering and death," he continued.

"Does community, with all its imperfections, have anything to do with hope?" he asked.

The president declared that "hope is impossible to find hope apart from community," adding that "It’s difficult, if not impossible, to find true community after one faces a crisis. It has to be cultivated when life is good.

"Part of the essence of Christianity is to be together in a concrete community with its human faults and tensions," Swartzendruber declared.

"Today, as we launch a new semester, I invite each of you to find hope in community," the president told the assembly.

He then invited anyone who is from areas of Southern Asia that were devastated by the tsunamis flooding, has family or friends there or who has lived or traveled in those regions to stand for prayer. Swartzendruber noted that student planners will be planning opportunities for the campus community to respond with contributions and material aid in the weeks ahead.

"At EMU, we remind ourselves frequently that we are part of a global community," Swartzendruber said. "We put flesh on that community by our cross-cultural experiences," in recognizing two student groups who will leave campus Thursday, Jan. 13, for semester-long cross-cultural study programs. They came forward for a commissioning a prayer of blessing to close the convocation service.

Brian Martin Burkholder (l.), EMU campus pastor, and Donald R. Clymer, director of cross-cultural programs, lead a prayer of blessing on two student groups about to embark on semester-long cross-cultural study programs to Guatemala/Bolivia and New Zealand/Fiji.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Twenty one students, led by Douglas Hertzler, assistant professor of anthropology and sociology and assistant director of EMU’s Washington Community Scholars Center (WCSC) and his wife, Jodi-Beth, will spend the semester in Guatemala and Bolivia.

Vernon E. Janzti, professor of sociology, and his wife, Dorothy, will lead a group of 33 students in a semester-long study program to New Zealand and Fiji.

EMU requires all students to participate in a cross-cultural experience as a graduation requirement as part of its "Global Village" curriculum.

Please know that you and the region are in our thoughts and prayers. The growing CTP network of alumni, students and friends means that in times like this we all know persons from the affected regions and we worry about your safety and the safety of your loved ones. We mourn with you the great loss of life and incredible damage. The shock and trauma of this event will be with us for a long time.

Also our prayers go with the many, many aid and relief workers. There are quite a number of CTP-MA, SPI, and STAR alumni who work for relief and development agencies. You all will be working long hours and harried days to bring relief and hope to those devastated by this event.

Many of us here at CTP are out of the office until January 3 due to the holidays but we wanted you to hear from us and know that you are not forgotten at this time.

And when your able we would be very glad to hear from you, telling us your OK, and what the challenges are that you see ahead for your country/region.

For all of us at CTP, Howard Zehr and Ruth Zimmerman CTP Co-Directors

P.S Below is a website sent by Colleen Malone (CTP alumnus who worked for a number of years in Sri Lanka) that gives opportunities for contributions to the relief efforts for Sri Lanka. There are also many other NGO agency opportunities out there for all the countries affected.