I am writing to you today with a heart full of gratitude. I have had the privilege of serving Valparaiso University for the past four years as Chief Mission Officer and head of the Division of Calling & Spiritual Life. I am now entering a new stage of my calling that will take me away from Valpo. My last day on campus will be Thursday, Feb. 26th. Our division is hosting a brief reception after Morning Prayer that day in the Helge Center Multipurpose Room.
God’s call in our lives unfolds in many different ways. We celebrate when someone discerns that God is calling them to a new opportunity, but we don’t always acknowledge that our vocational changes can result from difficult circumstances beyond our control. That is the case here, and it is hard. But it doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work.
Before Rev. Konkol was named President at Valpo, my position was eliminated as part of the budget reductions the University needed to make. I am grateful to Rev. Konkol and my supervisor, Provost Eric Johnson, for keeping me on as we discerned other potential leadership opportunities for me at Valpo. I ended up discerning that God wasn’t calling me to those alternatives, but I am so thankful for that time of reflection.
In our division, we often say, “Calling is not a straight line.” We also focus an awful lot on mustard seeds and yeast as metaphors for God’s work in the world. Each of these principles has been helpful to me, and I hope they convey my fervent belief that God is up to some amazing things at Valpo. But sometimes, in order for new things to take life and thrive, other things must end.
The quote below comes from one of my favorite books, On Our Way, by Dr. Dorothy Bass, former member of the Valparaiso University community. This quote appears on the inner page of that volume with a postscript indicating that it is “based on Martin Luther’s comment on Matthew 13:31, as he explained the character of the Christian life.”
Jesus tells a parable about yeast. A woman mixes just a little into a great quantity of flour, and gradually the yeast leavens it all. The reign of God is like that leaven, Jesus says. Though it seems small when first stirred in, it changes the world.
The faith and grace that come to us by God’s Spirit work in the same way. These do not leaven the whole lump at once, but gently, gradually, they do their work in our lives. Eventually we become bread, God’s bread, sent to nourish a hungry world.
A whole life is made not of godliness but of the process of becoming godly. A whole life is known not by health but by getting well, not by being but by becoming, not by rest but by exercise.
We are not now what we shall be, but we are on our way. The process is not yet finished, but it is actively going on. We have not reached the goal, but we are on the right road.
At present, everything does not gleam and sparkle. But everything is being made new.
From Dorothy Bass & Susan Briehl, On Our Way: Christian Practices for Living a Whole Life. Nashville: Upper Room, 2010
What I love about this quote is that it captures the fact that not only are our callings not straight lines, but not everything is perfect and shiny either. And that is okay. Jesus is at work in our lives and in the lives of the places we love, like Valpo, making all things new.
May God bless you and Valparaiso University! I will be cheering you on and praying for you. Thanks to all of you, and particularly to my amazing staff, for making the past four years a blessing.
– Rev. Dr. Brian Beckstrom
