Letter to President Battle - Page 4
Samuel follows Eli's direction and God brings revelation to Samuel's ears. For Bishop Long to disrespect the faculty of the ITC, a highly respected, highly qualified, highly committed group of individuals who have made great personal and professional sacrifices to teach us and thousands of other graduates of ITC, bespeaks Long's lack of respect for ITC's heritage as a whole, for it is the faculty who is on the front line for preparing us for ministry, however we are called to serve.
Yet, the revelation that God gives to Samuel has great bearing on the prevailing concern we have about Bishop Long's preaching for ITC's commencement. God tells Samuel,
See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them (1 Samuel 3:11-14, NRSV).
In revisiting God's revelation to Samuel, we wonder why we would ask an alumnus of ITC who has consistently misrepresented the values of this institution to return without accountability.
Dr. Battle, we understand that you received a list that was supposed to reflect who the Senior Class wanted to speak for commencement. While there is some confusion as to how the list was compiled, what is certain is that the invitation for the commencement speaker comes from your office. Therefore, amidst Bishop Long's deplorable behavior on public record, it is of concern to us that you would deem Bishop Long fit to send us forth on our day of commencement to teach and preach a "liberating spirituality."
At Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Church symposium in February 2003, less than a month after Bishop Long's visit to ITC, Smiley asked Dr. James Cone, the father of Black liberation theology, if the Black Church had become too political and strayed away from its primary mission. Dr. Cone cautioned that the Black Church has not been good at thinking about what its nature and mission is. Cone made the case that the question the Black Church must ask itself is whether it is called to save its own life or whether it is called to lose its life for the sake of others. Dr. Cone continued,
The Black Church is concerned with saving its own life because it is interested in the gospel of success. The cross is it at the center of the gospel, because the cross is not a gospel of success … I feel today, with so much focus on building buildings and all the other humungous things that we do, that we fail to see that the cross is at the heart of what the Black Church ought to be about.
He concluded by stating, "I am concerned that the church doesn't get too concerned about its own survival because Jesus said, people who seek to save their life shall lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of the least of these, then you'll find your life."
continue to page 5
Yet, the revelation that God gives to Samuel has great bearing on the prevailing concern we have about Bishop Long's preaching for ITC's commencement. God tells Samuel,
See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them (1 Samuel 3:11-14, NRSV).
In revisiting God's revelation to Samuel, we wonder why we would ask an alumnus of ITC who has consistently misrepresented the values of this institution to return without accountability.
Dr. Battle, we understand that you received a list that was supposed to reflect who the Senior Class wanted to speak for commencement. While there is some confusion as to how the list was compiled, what is certain is that the invitation for the commencement speaker comes from your office. Therefore, amidst Bishop Long's deplorable behavior on public record, it is of concern to us that you would deem Bishop Long fit to send us forth on our day of commencement to teach and preach a "liberating spirituality."
At Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Church symposium in February 2003, less than a month after Bishop Long's visit to ITC, Smiley asked Dr. James Cone, the father of Black liberation theology, if the Black Church had become too political and strayed away from its primary mission. Dr. Cone cautioned that the Black Church has not been good at thinking about what its nature and mission is. Cone made the case that the question the Black Church must ask itself is whether it is called to save its own life or whether it is called to lose its life for the sake of others. Dr. Cone continued,
The Black Church is concerned with saving its own life because it is interested in the gospel of success. The cross is it at the center of the gospel, because the cross is not a gospel of success … I feel today, with so much focus on building buildings and all the other humungous things that we do, that we fail to see that the cross is at the heart of what the Black Church ought to be about.
He concluded by stating, "I am concerned that the church doesn't get too concerned about its own survival because Jesus said, people who seek to save their life shall lose it. But if you lose your life for the sake of the least of these, then you'll find your life."
continue to page 5
posted by ITC Seniors 2006 | 6:36 AM
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