Story-tellers, Song-writers, and Sight-seers
by Dr. David L. McKenna, President Emeritus
Fifty years ago I started out as the youngest college president in the nation; today I am the senior of living presidents at three institutions. It helps to have Ira and Ellsworth here celebrating their 90th birthdays. At his 90th birthday party a man was asked if there were any advantage in being his age. He answered, “Yes, less peer pressure.”
In celebration of this event, I have dedicated the book Christ-centered Leadership: The Incarnational Difference to Asbury Theological Seminary on its 90th anniversary as the home of Wesley’s “warm heart” and a center of his “world parish.” President Tennent, the first copy is yours. Then, the dedication continues to honor my colleagues and mentors, Ira Gallaway and Ellsworth Kalas on their 90th birthday. Ira and Ellsworth, the next copies are yours.
Twenty years ago we announced our retirement from the presidency. Jan and I moved a long way away but, like Hallmark, we cared enough to send you our very best–our daughter Debra as a member of the Board of Trustees. Still, some of those who served with me and are here tonight are probably asking, “Has he learned anything since he retired?” Robert Fulgrum gives the answer in his book “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” I have learned:
…don’t hit people
…clean up your own mess
…take a nap every day, and
…when crossing the street
hold hands and look both ways.”
My higher learning in retirement, however, results in the humbling confession that “God is God and I am not.”
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When people ask where we live in Seattle along the shores of Lake Washington, we answer, “Look up at the second floor condo on the southwest corner and you will see our yellow flowers. They are our signature for sunshine in a grey world.” Primroses, dahlias, and mum send that message year round.
When I sign a letter or a book, I always scribble “With His joy, Dave” followed by a swirl and the scriptural notation, “Isaiah 43:19.”
Forget the former things.
Look, I am doing a new thing.
Do you not see it springing up even now?
What message could be more appropriate for the 90th anniversary of Asbury Theological Seminary? From this perspective we celebrate the past, pause for a moment to embrace the present, and then lean forward to see the new things that God is doing. Yes, they are springing up even now.
A Timeless Metaphor
God speaks the words of our text through Isaiah to the Children of Israel who are in Babylonian exile. Sixty to seventy years have passed since Jerusalem was sacked, the Temple destroyed and Jewish leaders humiliated by a forced march through the wilderness to the land of exile in punishment for their sins. They are now a fractured community of different generations—leaders who have prospered by privilege, masses who are comfortable by entitlement, and a younger generation who have no memory of Jerusalem and its glory. Only a handful of the faithful keep hope alive by remembering the miraculous story of the Exodus when God parted the waters of the Nile so that Moses could lead his people to freedom on dry ground.
Sounds almost like a Barna poll of American Christianity in the 21st century, doesn’t it? Privileged leaders, comfortable masses, forgetful youngsters, and a handful of the faithful. The fact is that the metaphor of Babylon is timeless, running from the Old Testament prophets, through our time, and out to John’s vision in the Book of Revelation. Walter Brueggemann applies the metaphor to our time in his latest book, Out of Babylon, and Richard John Neuhaus wrote his last book under the title, American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile.
So, whether the setting is exile in 583 B.C. or in 2013 A.D. God has a word for us, “Forget the former things. Look. I am doing new things. Do you not see it springing up even now?” Looking back and leaning forward, God has for us a new story to tell, a new song to sing, and a new sight to see.
A New Story to Tell
God begins by giving Jews in Exile a new story to tell that is a complete reversal of the old story of The Exodus:
…Instead of parting the waters to create dry land, He will give them springs in the desert;
…Instead of leading them with a patriarch like Moses, He will chose Cyrus, a pagan despot, as his anointed servant to set them free;
…Instead of letting them wander for 40 years through the wilderness, He will personally prepare a royal highway with a military escort for their journey;
…Instead of guiding them with a cloud by day and fire by night, God Himself will be the “sapper” clearing the way for their procession and their “rear guard” protecting their flank.
Looking back, we too have an old story to tell.
… Our Wesleyan identity begins with a voice telling how cold reason caught fire and rigid legalism gave way to freedom. John Wesley summed up his story in the simple sentence, “My heart was strangely warmed”;
…Our Asbury identity is written in the story of a Methodist preacher who was warned that if he left the security of established churches on the East Coast to ride circuit in the wilds of Kentucky, the results of his ministry wouldn’t fill a corncrib, Francis Asbury answered, “I will show you the way.”
Looking back, what is your personal Asbury story? For me, I can never forget the time when Ira Gallaway, Chair of the Board of Trustees, stood against opposition and recommended me, a “maverick Methodist,” otherwise known as a Free Methodist, for the presidency of the Seminary.
Nor can I forget the first luncheon that Jan and I had with Ralph and Orlean Beeson. Our plates were on placemats with drawings of the Beeson’s custom-made yachts and the walls were covered with photos of Beeson buildings at Samford University. You can imagine how my fund-raising aspirations sank when Ralph said, “Dr. McPheeters came by often. He always brought some news about Asbury and prayed with us, but he never asked for a dime.” Of course, we know now that Dr. McPheeter’s prayers are worth millions of dollars.
Leaning forward, what is the new story that God wants us to tell? Naturally, we want to pre-plan the story by strategizing with stated goals, performance indicators and measurable outcomes. Did you know? Strategic planning comes to us from the military. In his recent book, It Worked for Me, Colin Powell writes about the elaborate scenarios created by the army to anticipate enemy action. Based on years of top leadership Powell concludes, “Strategic plans are good until the first shot is fired.” It is when the boots are on the ground, the enemy is engaged, life is at risk, and the first shot is fired, that the real story begins. Perhaps that is why an expert in the field advised, “If you must plan, plan often.” Woody Allen took it a step farther with the sardonic comment, “If you want to see God laugh, show him your plans.” Proverbs 19:21 balances it out as Wisdom speaks, “Many are the plans of a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
We also want to pre-write the new story according to our wishes:
… I wish, for instance, that our secular city of Seattle would be transformed. When Garrison Keillor brought his radio program The Prairie Home Companion to our city, he began his show by musing, “Hmmm. Here we are in Seattle where dogs outnumber Christians;”
…I could wish that we could learn to show tolerance to racial, ethnic and religious diversity without sacrificing our biblical convictions;
…I wish that we could find the Spirit-guided way to use the social media as an instrument for getting millions of hits inquiring about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, perhaps on a website named “FaithBook”;
…I wish that we could see again what the late Dallas Willard called the last “great outbreak” of the kingdom of God in the Western world when the 18th century Wesleyan movement transformed both people and public institutions by an enlightened Judaeo-Christian “moral synthesis;
…Most of all, at a time when the search for holiness is being whip-sawed between radical and complicated views of believing and behaving, I wish that we could again communicate the message of holiness as wholeness of believing, being and doing in a natural, simple and beautiful way for the people in the pew and person on the street.
But then I remember the rest of the verse where God says, “Look. I am doing a new thing. Don’t you see it?” As we lean forward, God is calling us to be “first-class noticers.” Rather than trying to pre-plan or pre-write God’s story for Him we need to pray for discernment of the Spirit to help us see where new things are springing up. Out of these “new things” will come the new story that He wants us to tell. Let the new story begin.
A New Song to Sing
A new story needs a new song. Before God gave Israel a new story, Israelites were singing the lament, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137: 1, 4).
Now, to celebrate their freedom from exile, God has a new song for them:
You will go out with joy and be led forth in peace;
The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
and all of the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Isaiah 55:12
As their new story told “Who they were”, their new song tells “Who God is.”
In my study there is a little book to which I turn time after time. The title is Our First Song: Evangelism in the Hymns of Charles Wesley and the author is J. Ellsworth Kalas. If you want to get a glimpse into the greatness of this man you will find it in his love for the songs that sing the praises of God. J. Ellsworth writes, “We sing, not because it is our obligation, but because we have something to sing about.”
We Wesleyans are known for songs to match our story. Is there any greater moment in our history than when Charles prepared the way his brother John to tell his story by singing the song he wrote to celebrate the first anniversary of his conversion, “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He set the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood avails for me”?
Taking a cue from Charles Wesley, when I traveled back and forth across the country telling the Asbury story to new friends and prospective donors, many of whom had never visited the campus, I always said, “If I could waft you over the miles to a seat in Estes Chapel when the students are singing, ‘And Can It Be” you would be an Asburian forever.”
Story and song come together, not just in our celebration of grace, joy and blessing over the past 90 years, but also in our confession that we have known sin, pain and pathos in our past that required forgiveness and reconciliation. At one time a cloud of conflict hung heavy over our Seminary community because of doubts about the establishment of the E. Stanley Jones’ School of World Missions and Evangelism. Division threatened to spoil the spirit of our faculty retreat at the opening of the academic year. Kenneth Kinghorn, Bill Goold, and Albin Whitworth were in charge of entertainment. So, after the evening meal, they announced the theme, “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet.” Dividing the faculty into three groups they instructed each group to write its own song to a familiar tune. Imagine our scholarly and serious-minded faculty composing this verse to the tune “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean,”
There was a young lady from Hyde,
Who was washed out to sea with the tide.
T’was a man-eating shark
Who was heard to remark,
“I knew the Lord would provide.”
Then, in unified chorus, the faculty sang, “Bring back, bring back, O, bring back my Bonnie to me.” Needless to say, we learned something about the healing power of song.
O, the power of our own personal song! We held a Christian leader’s conference in Columbus, Georgia, to tell the Asbury story. Paul Amos, Chair of AFLAC, served as our host. With his Southern charm Paul greeted 300 community leaders who had come to the opening dinner at his invitation. Then he said, “I have a song I want to sing.” With untutored voice Paul sang, “I am satisfied with Jesus, is He satisfied with me.” No one remembers the professional soloist who sang or the speech I gave, but I assure you that no one will ever forget Paul Amos’ song.
What is the new song that God wants us to sing? Along with the new story, it is yet to be written. The secular world is showing us what to look for. iTunes with its millions of songs not only leads in marketing new technology for the younger generation, but also carries a message of moral revolution across the world. iTunes teaches us that we need a new song that:
…tells who God is;
… rings true to the word of our Biblical and Wesleyan theology;
…plays in the marketplace;
…dispels the public notion of dreary and disgruntled Christians; and
… makes the world eager to hear our story.
May the Spirit of God lead us to a renaissance of Wesleyan song as the note of joy for our story of full salvation. Let the new song begin.
A New Sight to See
Our new story and our new song need a new sight to see. Isaiah fired the imagination of Babylonian exiles when he painted the word picture of Jerusalem restored and the Temple rebuilt. Even more excitement would be created by the prophet’s vision of standing on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and seeing the horizon filled with the white sails of ships bringing Jews from every nation on earth coming home to worship God at the sacred Temple in the Holy City. No sooner was this exhilarating image fixed in the minds of his hearers than Isaiah blows the scene wide open with the declaration,
It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore
the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel whom I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation
to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49: 6)
In these words the Children of Israel get a Gods-eye view of Jerusalem and the Temple being the light for the Gentiles and the hope of all the world.
Oh, the power of imagination. Walt Disney died before he saw his dream realized for Disney World. At the grand opening Walter Cronkite, Master of Ceremonies, said to Disney’s widow, “It is too bad that Mr. Disney is not here to see this. “ Mrs. Disney answered, “If he had not seen it first, we would not be seeing it now.”
Think about it.
…Asbury Seminary. If H. C. Morrison had not seen it first,
we would not be seeing it now;
…Beeson Center. If Bill and Betty Conger had not seen it first, we would not be seeing it now;
…Orlando campus. If Maxie Dunnam had not seen it first, we would not be seeing it now:
…Kalas Village. If Bill and Carol Latimer had not seen it first, we would not be seeing it now.
Let me add another name to the far-sighted among us. Twenty-five years ago Eugene Lintemuth, our Vice-President for Finance at that time, asked me to meet him at McPheeters’ Circle and look north along Chestnut Street. He said, “Can you see this as a landscaped boulevard making a great entrance for campus?” I could only see old houses to be bought on one side and apartments that could not be bought not be bought on the other. You know the rest of the story. As Jan and I arrived at the campus today through that gracious, welcoming entrance which is also a model of cooperation among our institutions, our community, and government agencies, I could only think, “If Gene Lintemuth hadn’t seen it first, we wouldn’t be seeing it now.”
Can you see it now? God accepts our dedication of this restored and rebuilt campus to Him and His glory, but quickly adds, “It is too small a thing for you….” Google Earth zooms open before our eyes and we realize that our campus is a local pinpoint in a global picture. Asbury is not just an institution in itself; its influence is magnified many times as it is an integral part of a global network and a major player in answering Christ’s command to “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation….” President Tennent has brought that sight with him and as our Global Partnership develops, we will say, “If Timothy Tennent had not seen it first, we would not be seeing it now.”
So, looking back from our 90th anniversary year, we celebrate a Seminary whose soul is found, not primarily in strategy, statistics and success, but in the stories we tell, the songs we sing and the sights we see. Leaning forward toward our Centennial, we anticipate, by the grace of God, another generation of Story-tellers, Song-writers, and Sight-seers.
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Let me now serve notice. I have asked God for at least another ten years of life because in 2023 I don’t want Ira and Ellsworth telling those stories, singing those songs, and seeing those sights without me. To God be the glory!
Having just finished reading Dr. McKenna’s 90th anniversary speech, I understand a little more the influence of Asbury Seminary has on each person who sits on the shoulders of those who have gone before leaning and learning on their Savior at a great place like Asbury. I hold no greater degree than the one earned at Asbury because of servants of Christ like Dr. McKenna who saw a future with Christ leading the way. Thank you for these amazing reflections!
Thank you Drs. Tennent and McKenna for these stirring and thoughtful challenges. They have renewed my personal commitment to continue to serve our Great Lord and Savior even in my retirement years.
I was blessed to the depths of my soul as I read Dr. McKenna’s message and was reminded again and again of my own Asbury experiences and treasured memories. I have never ceased to give thanks for my and my families time in Wilmore. Indeed, may Asbury and the Kingdom continue to be blessed for many years to come by the visionary and spirit filled leadership of Asbury’s presidents.