This morning, our pastor prayed over the faculty who start teaching at Penn State in the morning. He invited the professors to stand up in their seats, and he then commissioned us.
He asked those around us to reach out their hands toward us in blessing. He then asked each faculty member to open their hands in a posture of receiving from God.
So I did.
Our pastor prayed God would bless us and that we might be a blessing to our students. As I prayed along and received this sacred calling on my life, I considered all the ways I’m praying for myself and other Christian professors:
I pray that when students come into our presence, they feel as if they’ve had an encounter with Unexplainable Love.
I pray when students sit under our teaching, they feel strangely filled with hope and possibility for their lives.
When students gather with us, may they feel tied into a community they never thought possible.
May everything we say tether others to a spiritual reality.
When walking into a room, may we know Christian professors bring the very spirit of the living God; they usher Christ into the midst of chalk and Powerpoint, desks and laptops. They change the atmosphere. Christian professors carry redemption inside of them. We carry in Jesus who is the fulfillment of every possible longing, no matter how deep and complex, that can answer every question a student has because Christ is the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).
We cannot fathom this unseen work, but I pray we release it to operate fully.
I do not take this calling lightly. I’ve been commissioned today.