By David Melton
There will be packages under the tree again. I have met about two people in all my travels in the past year who have told me that “these are great times!” For most of us, the economic realities of “right now” are tough. But Christmas is still on. Gifts will still happen.
Gifts can be funny things. Ever get one that you didn’t want? Remember that shirt that just wasn’t you? I remember one year my mother-in-law gave my wife and me a “day for two at the spa.” (I think she knew all along that she and Kim would get a girls’ day out with that one.) I don’t do spas. This kind of thing happens all the time — that’s why re-gift is now a word!
Thankfully, most gifts mean the world to you — a picture painted by your son, a sweater your wife bought you that you would never have splurged for yourself (even though she put it on your credit card!), a dinner out at a restaurant, courtesy of a friend, at a place where you don’t even have to walk up and give your order at a counter!
At Boston Baptist College, we are gift central. Even in hard, hard times, churches sacrificially support us — every envelope is a gift. And gifts aren’t always financial. I would argue that the greatest gifts we are given are the students who come here. They are gifts from moms and dads, from churches, from all kinds of places and all kinds of situations.
Not that running a college in Boston makes every day feel like Christmas, but there are “packages” to open, nonetheless.
I teach each semester — usually just one class, but I do it on purpose. I have plenty on my plate, but there is no place like the classroom to stay reminded of why I’m the president of a ministry college. My Ecclesiology course this semester is tightly wrapped! But when I shake it — it rattles! Ben will invariably stay after class to talk and ask just one more question! Chris is usually standing nearby for what he has dubbed “the after class.” Beatrice sits right up front and seems to soak it in. Maybe she’s bluffing, but I don’t think so! Anna sits over on the side by Megan — usually they are quiet, but when I ask them something they are right there with me. Scotty and Ryan usually add humor; Jill ties things together well — and…well, the experience is a gift.
Watching students mature over four years, now that is a gift!
Kristin is talking passionately about the needs of urban schools for the light of the gospel. She is ready to teach where the doors open after graduation. Put a bow on that.
Jean Abel wants to return to his native Haiti where his people have such unspeakable needs. That’s a wrap.
Carlos wants to do “whatever God wants.” Ribbon, please.
I do get tired of raising the needed funds of this college. But I won’t quit. I get to see the gifts. I see what the Lord is putting inside those packages.
I think the students in Boston are getting something as well. We make no bones about it in Boston — we work our students hard. We treat doctrine like it matters! Ask them, they will probably roll their eyes a little bit but eventually repeat my mantra, “Bad theology always leads to bad function.” I am happy that while winds of minimalism blow across Christianity, in Boston we are asking — more than ever — “What does Scrip¬ture say?” Our students study ministry, learn new skills, mature in their approach, but our bread and butter still is handling the Word of God with skill and passion. And when the letters after your name mean more than just a degree, they mean that you can “rightly divide the Word of Truth,” well, that one surely is going to be returned.
So go ahead and celebrate the season! Enjoy remembering the birth of Jesus! Buy a few gifts. Hopefully, even open a couple yourself. And maybe sneak in a thought of Boston. The only “returns” here are eternal.
Merry Christmas from the whole Boston family.