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Whatsoever is True Phil 4:8
Sermon for the Commissioning of Rick VanManen, Campus Minister at University of Alberta
Friends, Family, the Faithful, and Rick:
I first bumped into Rick when he was teaching in Pusan, Korea. I learned that he had grown to love many things in Korea, and I’ll name just four: the warm, quiet pools of the public baths, the martial art of Tae Kwon Do, fresh barbequed twae-ge kalbi (pig meat), and somewhat less appetizing for us Canadians, dog meat.
Our text says:
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- think about such things. (and as the next verse says, practice it)
Except for the dog meat, you’ve had a great experience of discerning these virtues while you were in Korea, Rick. Now you’ll do the same thing again. Discerning culture. Let’s talk about that.
This text, as a campus ministry commissioning text, is lovely. It gives you tremendous license as a minister—there is no corner of the university, no discipline, no idea, and definitely no person that does not have some of these worthy qualities in them. In our Reformed tradition we call this common grace—that God by his providence, gifts every part of his creation with some degree of goodness. I remember former CRC campus minister Phil Apol saying once that the doctrine of common grace is the tool he most frequently pulled from his theological garden shed.
What is especially important in our multi-faith context is that this license to mindfulness doesn’t just cross the dividing lines of science, philosophy, art and recreation—it also includes other religions.
I know this is the case because Paul demonstrates the point by his choice of virtues here. The string of moral qualities is not the traditional Christian list—it does not name the theological virtues of faith, hope and love and neither does it name the fruits of the Spirit. Commentators all agree that what Paul is giving here is a list of virtues from Greek stoic philosophy. You might say he’s borrowing from another religion, just like (as Rick has explained to me) some of the wisdom literature in the Old Testament takes from Egyptian literature.
One commentator explains that Paul did this “in order to show that there was much in heathen views that might and ought to be valued and retained by Christians.” (Hawthorne) All truth is God’s truth. All beauty is God’s beauty.
So when the student’s council the University of Western Ontario declared a World AIDS day on campus, CRC campus minister Mike Wagenman jumped right on board and set up a Christian Reformed World Relief Committee table and added what turned out to be the only faith-based component to the day. They spent the day raising money for AIDS victims in league with the student’s council.
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- think about such things. (and practice it)
This verse serves as an admirable motto for a university. U of A is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and did you know that on the coat of arms is the Latin phrase Quaecumque vera, translated in English as “whatsoever is true”—the first part of Philippians 4:8. This is great, Rick. You share a common motto with your university.
To a certain extent, you also share a common vision. I read the vision statement from the new U of A “Dare to Discover” document and its really quite noble. Listen to this:
Our vision is to inspire the human spirit through outstanding achievements in learning, discovery, and citizenship in creative community, building one of the world’s great universities for the public good.
That’s something to stand by. Learning is for inspiring, citizenship, and the public good.
Rick, it is your vocation now to bring to bear all the resources of your Christian tradition in the communal shaping and practice of that university vision-- with an attitude of humility and grace. We are a people who love learning.
Whatsoever is Subversive
Now this all sounds very affirming of the university and culture and so it should be. But there is another side to this passage of scripture that reminds us that the Christian faith is not simply a chaplain to culture, but a prophetic discerning presence that also resists and subverts dominant culture.
The counter-cultural commission rests simply in this: Paul did not write this letter from a velvet office next to Caesar’s palace, but from the confines of prison. He was considered a seditious presence. Chapter one verse 13 names it quite succinctly: “I am in chains for Christ.”
The tremendous license I mentioned at the beginning of this meditation is complimented by a tremendous responsibility. Common grace always works alongside what we have called the antithesis. Paul was in jail because he celebrated a divine upside-down kingdom and lordship that challenged Caesar’s military kingdom and lordship. Whatever is true, right, and lovely in the faithful community of the risen Jesus Christ will not be what secures territory, taxes, or total control for the surrounding political-economic empire. We have conflict.
What does this mean in our era of modern global capitalism? Let’s think about this in the context of the U of A’s vision to be a “great” university. Whatsoever is great?
Your mentor at U of T, Brian Walsh, whose well-worn theological garden tool is more often the antithesis, defines “great” in an article he wrote for the U of T newspaper: he says,
if there is one thing that is clear from western intellectual history it is that an increase in intellectual knowledge has no direct correlation to an increase of either wisdom or morality in a culture. Indeed, we have too often seen the opposite to be the case.
Increased knowledge does not necessarily a good society make. In other words, if one believes that “greatness” means the “knowledge energy” generated by such world class U of A institutions as the School for Energy and the Environment and the National Institute of Nanotechnology (for e.g.) is best measured by the amount of funding, equipment, publications, and new technology they garner, the future of this community will not be great. It will be sick and terrifying. Read Jane Jacobs Dark Age Ahead. We know too well after the last 100 years what happens when technology or market or power is lord. It’s a place called vertigo where the anti-scripture would be something like this:
Whatever is true for you, whatever is competitive, whatever offers world-class status, whatever is attractive to your basest desires, whatever increases your image or income—if anything is efficient and improves ratings, think about these things. (and practice them)
The motto of this university is “whatsoever is true.” Truth has fallen on hard times these days, but if truth is testimony, this is our story: the inconvenient truth that confronts us now demands that the university be a place to talk about the spiritual malaise of our late modern times and the wreckage that threatens our homes, our culture, and our planet and its poor.
“Greatness” must be gauged not just by knowledge energy, but by compassionate wisdom. The university today is in danger of selling out its soul, not to mention its heart, as evidenced by such books as The Corporate Campus, University, Inc, and Digital Diploma Mills. We must not play to the market empire. (I intentionally say “we” because we are a part of the system. The antithesis runs through our own hearts!)
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- think about such things. (and practice them).
It appears our competency has outstripped our character as a civilization. As the Leonard Cohen song says, “When they said repent, repent, I wonder what they meant.”
So be bold in your humility, Rick, and humble in your boldness. (David Bosch)
The Character of Joy
Speaking of competency outstripping character, I want to end by mentioning something about character and remind you all of where our reading began today. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again, Rejoice!”
One of my mentors, retired campus minister Aren Geisterfer always told me the most important tool in my campus ministry garden shed was my sense of humour. I think St. Paul and Tom O would agree. Don’t let anyone steal your joy.
Listen to this: even though Paul was imprisoned when he wrote this letter, the writing is pumped with joy. The word joy appears 17 times in this short epistle.
Joy. Your alma mater (ICS) professor Calvin Seerveld said that joy for the Christian “is not a disembodied, unhistorical relief that happily distracts one from reality” but it is rather a gut-level experience that God knows what God is doing now. Joy, he says, is an anticipation of rescue that gives you a warm strength while you do what is unpopular in your university, work or marketplace. (On Being Human)
In other words, joy wells up out of your partnership with the risen Jesus Christ. Foolishness to the Greeks, but the divine wisdom to followers of the Way.
Its true, right, and lovely. Rick, I know you have a joy and foolishness that swims inside you. May it gather strength as you come to know more deeply how you are embraced by God in Jesus Christ for service at the U of A, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
