Greeting the Perkins community at the Feast of New Beginnings, Dr. Hugo Magallanes, Perkins’ recently named Dean ad interim, contemplated how to navigate the many changes at Perkins and SMU.
After many days of prayer, he proposes an approach: “Embracing Change by Practicing Hospitality.”
An excerpt is below with the entire sermon available for download.
As we begin this new academic year, we do so amid unprecedented changes:
- We begin after a summer with several staff/faculty transitions; many of us are serving in interim roles.
- We are rolling out a new curriculum.
- We are implementing a new modality, which has been fantastic for recruiting students, but also has presented some challenges and required quick adjustments.
- With the new curriculum we have added new courses, and some of these are in Spanish, as part of the MDiv in Spanish (13 students).
In addition to these Perkins transitions, SMU President R. Gerald Turner just announced his retirement at the end of this academic year. I truly believe that this presidential appointment, President Turner’s successor, will be crucial for the future of Perkins. For these and many other reasons, I have been thinking, praying, and trying to come up with a plan to navigate these changes.
I believe that by practicing hospitality we will be able not only to navigate these changes but also to embrace them as we define and redefine our institutional identity. Please allow me to illustrate this point.
The practice of hospitality and dealing with change often show up as questions in organizing a social event—a birthday party, a wedding, a retirement dinner—particularly when this event includes a formal meal and gifts. For example, when organizing such an event, we tend to ask these types of questions:
What elements are essential for such a celebration? What elements should be included in the program? Which ones can be deleted? What elements are negotiable? And what elements do we not care about? Similarly, when it comes to inviting guests, we ask ourselves:
Whose presence is essential? Who can be excluded? Who should be invited?
These questions, which are quite common, tend to indicate the importance of social status, and the decision-making power exercised by the host. In this process, the hosts are in control, and they can choose, based on their preferences, who should be invited and who won’t be included, whose presence is indispensable and whose isn’t. In many ways, and almost exclusively, the host defines the limits of hospitality and controls the levels of change.
These questions related to social events, gifts, social status, and professional favors, miss the point of the importance and significance of practicing hospitality, not only in responding to changes, but also in shaping our character and our identity.
I believe there is another way to understand and practice hospitality. Bible scholars, Christian historians, theologians, and ethicists have written and affirmed that Christian hospitality, particularly eating together, is a virtuous practice because it creates:
- A bonding experience between the host and guest
- A reciprocal connection between the host and the guest in breaking and challenging the status quo and traditional roles.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus has a different idea about meals, banquets, and hospitality. In fact, the Parable of the Great Banquet will help us see the meaning and significance of practicing hospitality in responding to change.
In reading the history of Perkins in a book by Dr. Joe Allen, I know we have practiced this kind of hospitality in previous years. I know that this kind of hospitality is part of our identity, and it represents one of our core values and the character of our community.
When people ask me about Perkins’ commitment and identity, I quickly respond by highlighting the welcoming nature of our community and the theological and ethnic diversity of our research and teaching that is palpable around us. This kind of hospitality is not only a chapter in our history; I see clear glimpses of it in our everyday life. I see great potential for our future.
I truly believe we here at Perkins are ready to face the future, which may be uncertain and ever changing. Even though theological education in today’s world, brings many challenges, I want to invite you and encourage you to embrace change by practicing hospitality.
May God help us with God’s mercy, kindness, and grace to do so.