Why do we give to EMU? We give because we were asked!
Our good friend & classmate Luke Miller planted a seed while we were still in college. Maybe it was because he was the son of David Miller, who at the time was the Director of Development for EMU, but I think he knew we would likely have financial resources to share some day. He wanted to be the first to challenge us to generous living and giving.
We’ll never forget (years after Luke’s invitation) when Luke’s father David Miller and Roy Musselman (our local EMU development representative) came to our home. It was our first time for such a visit. We were a little nervous but we ended up having a delightful time talking about the mission of EMU and how we could participate. We agreed to become associates in discipleship, and promised to drop a check in the mail.
Weeks later we ran in to Roy at my sister’s graduation and he couldn’t stop thanking us for our extraordinary gift. We looked at each other and soon realized that we had each written a check to EMU. We gave twice as much as we promised. We learned a powerful lesson that we could live without that extra money.
Why do we give to EMU? We also give out of gratitude for our campus experience.
We met here 20 years ago, and the campus provided an awesome place to get to know each other, observe other budding romances, and gain relationship insights from faculty and folks at Community Mennonite Church. Our yearly gift to EMU could be thought of as our anniversary gift.
We have deep gratitude for the influence of our EMU professors on our lives. We had inspiring and challenging courses while we were here. Our professors certainly built upon what we had been taught during our childhood, and helped to shape our minds AND our souls for the next leg of the journey.
Not only did our profs shape our EMU experience, so did our friends. This is where we made life-long friends, this is where we learned to make positive decisions about our lives, and this is where we met each other. We would be hard pressed to choose the best part of being at EMU.
As EMU students we had a lot of fun but we also had faith forming conversations. We challenged each other to live differently from pop culture as Christ taught. We discussed Harold Bender’s bold statements about nonconformity in the “Anabaptist Vision”. It included three major points, (1) The essence of Christianity is DISCIPLESHIP- transformation of one’s life, (2) The Church is a COMMUNITY of believers, and (3) a common belief in the ethic of love and biblical nonviolence. Good theology but how can we do this? Well, this is the journey we were on at EMU and it’s also the same journey most of us are still on.
Why do we give to EMU? We give to honor our classmates who are living out their faith in their own communities.
We are in awe of what our EMU classmates are doing now 17 years after graduation. They are teachers, nurses, executive directors of non-profit ministries; youth group sponsors, physicians, parents, song leaders, over-seas mission workers, therapists, pastors & church leaders. They are followers of Jesus. They are people who give, not take; bless, not curse.
Why do we give to EMU? We give to bless the current body of students.
Giving to EMU is not only productive, it is reproductive. We can give to EMU to mold the current students who in turn learn that they are needed to build the kingdom of God in their corner of the world.
Tim Swartzentruber informed us that EMU has moved from the 4th tier to the 3rd tier of nationally ranked liberal arts colleges in US News & World Report. Our strengths were in the areas of alumni giving percentage, first-year student retention rate, and faculty with Ph.D’s. However, one of the biggest areas for improvement is in the area of student debt. The national average is about $19K and the EMU average is $22K. The gifts of people in this room and beyond can directly decrease that number.
While paying off debt can be a good discipline for young adults, it is too often a deterrent for students and parents who consider EMU. There are some who can go to local state universities for much less. Whenever we can, we share with young people, and their parents, the powerful impact EMU had and continues to have on our lives. It was not a four-year experience. It is a lifetime experience.
Why do we give to EMU? We give to prepare the way for the next generation.
In six years our oldest daughter will be a senior in high school and together we will make the decision about where she will go to college. As of now, she has plans to room with her friend at EMU in the Fall of 2011. I know there will be many conversations over the next years but we want to continue to communicate our joy and gratitude for our EMU experience. We pray that our kids and many other youth from all over the country and globe will have the opportunity to blossom on this campus.
Why do we give to EMU? We give because Amos told us to.
Not Amos Martin or Amos Weaver but the OT prophet Amos. Amos came on the scene during the time of division between the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. King Jeroboam II wanted the Israelites to return to following the ways of Moses.
The King asked Amaziah, the High Priest, to reestablish the required worship practices and sacrifices in Israel. King Jeroboam and High Priest Amaziah were likely feeling pretty proud of themselves as they were restoring the faith to Israel. Then, Amos, an unknown farmer, comes along during one of these ceremonies and Amos bellows out harsh words from the LORD,
“I hate, I despise your festivals. I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.” God is angry about their sacrifices. Why, what’s wrong?
We can just imagine Amaziah trying to talk over this heckler but God keeps pressing Amos to speak. He says, “Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins. You who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.”
God is angry because they are not keeping the whole Covenant that had been given to Moses and intended to pass down to all generations. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind AND love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t even think about standing here offering me sacrifices at the altar when you are treating those around you unfairly.
He goes on to say, “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said. Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
We know that God sent Amos to a particular group at a particular time almost 3000 years ago. However, we see many parallels to today. We can go to church to offer up songs of praise, prayers of gratitude, place our tithe in the offering basket and go home to watch an Eagles game. Sunday morning worship is one hour of one day a week. What are we doing the rest of the week? How are we treating those around us? Do we spend money simply for our own pleasure? Do we close our eyes to the need of the poor? Do we care about those dying of AIDS in Africa ?
We believe we have been called by God to give our whole hearts, time, talents, and resources to build the kingdom of God. There is no distinction between what is God’s and what is ours. If we are followers of Jesus, then we are called to give whatever he asks us to share. Giving financially to EMU is one of those things he has asked us to do and we are delighted and enriched by doing so.
