Set to Light: Sophomore Perspective on Wabash Religion
Spiritual life in people moves like flame: it can either flicker and die out, flicker to a sputter that only later lights up, or flicker and ignite like wildfire. Either way, it all starts with that initial spark. Wabash may be a wet campus (more like saturated), but in the spiritual sense it sits as prime and ripe for flame as dried California brush. Inquiring propsective students might be excited to learn of the active Christian, Muslim, and Catholic movements on campus and perceive the environment as hot with spiritual zeal. Unfortunately, the steady furnace these movements have hoped to kindle is still far from being radically sparked. They remain mere sources of flicker to the dry pile of sticks that is Wabash College.
As mentioned, there does exist at Wabash a thriving spiritual community. A strong fellowship of Christian believers flourishes and grows, a fellowship that strives to have impact on the campus through dialog, events, and guest speakers; cookouts, service ministries, and Bible studies; and general representation of Christ. Amazingly, in the last four years or so the number of devoted attendees of the weekly Wabash Christian Men worship meeting has increased from about four to fifty or sixty. And even outside of this group, another fellowship, the newly formed Amped, meets weekly as a study and ministry geared especially toward athletes. Christians are indeed trying to be impactful.
Catholicism, too, is well-represented here at Wabash. While many Catholics are also a part of the campus Christian groups, weekly Mass is held at the Chapel and Catholic men can enjoy the hospitality and fellowship of the Newman Center. Muslims, as well, hold regular worship services in the mosque in the basement of Martindale Hall and enjoy an especial fellowship among one another. Each of these groups is active on campus and full of great Wabash men.
This mysterious “Wabash Man” often can be described with the defining characteristics of intense passion and devotion. College students can put such a great deal of pride into the successes and reputations of their passions, the life investments made can be quite astounding. Fraternity brothers defend and promote their house at every opportunity and with all gusto (think Homecoming week; which, freshmen pledges, you shall see). Physics or math or English gurus pour hours upon hours of devoted study into their work, just as swimmers and runners dedicate every morning and evening to train for their weekend races. For that which defines them, men will devote their lives.
This defines Wabash.
But from my one year experience thus far in this land of scarlet and white and passion, I have seen only fragments of such intense devotion dedicated toward spiritual beliefs. Outside of the fellowships mentioned, and yes, even perhaps within them, many men who identify themselves as “religious” or “spiritual” are hardly as radically committed as the storied Cavemen on the football team or the Conservative Union’s political junkies, if committed at all. The faith exercise needed to stay fit spiritually brings sweat and soreness, and similar to the exercise necessary to staying fit physically, it is easily put off and forgotten about. But such is the plague of religious motivation: it often amounts to no motivation at all. And this I have seen across the entire spectrum of Wabash’s religious movements.
The extent of the religious impact, then, sometimes seems minimal. Spirituality often comes up in dinner discussions or evening chats over cigars, an indication that people do think about the matter, but outside of worship services and these casual conversations noticeable spiritual dedication is not often publicly recognizable. At weekend parties it appears to be all but forgotten, and especially by those professing to be spiritually concerned. When the gig starts bopping, thought and discussion of spiritual matters men quickly and naturally trade in for tingling numbness and thumping rave beats. Crude talk displaces praise, and the charge of Philippians 4:8-9 is all but forgotten. To be accurate, here I can speak only on account for fellow Christians, as I am unfamiliar with the moral values held by other religions. But so it goes. The life of lip-service-only commitment is never more tempting than at college, the temptation to which I must confess my own all-too-often fall.
As college men at Wabash we enjoy a unique freedom to do virtually whatever we want, very nearly restriction-free. And naturally we are not extraordinarily fond of giving up that freedom to others’ control, especially if those others dare to hold us from doing all the things we want to do. Historically nobody has ever really enjoyed being held from doing what they want; any person will rebel whenever possible from the forces against them.
Conviction and passion stand alone as the primary motivators for behavior otherwise. For instance: nobody would ever obey a command to attend and endure four years of grueling work every morning at six o’clock unless inspired by some incredible passion, say, for Wabash football, and a conviction to trust and obey the authority, say, the coaching staff. But people are not quick to willingly surrender their mornings, let alone their hearts. The willful surrender to total control, however, is what sold-out religion demands. It then is no wonder why completely sold-out religion is somewhat less than popular among college students. I have seen that even at Wabash with its many religious opportunities- Christian, Catholic, Muslim and otherwise – this unnatural yet essential willful surrender is no less unpopular.
Fortunately, this is not the only side to spirituality at Wabash. Christian living at Wabash is hard, but it isn’t unattainable. Though the area church services and Wednesday night worship should not be the lone place of Christianity in the week, they are an important aspect of godly living. Here Christians are brought together to hold each other up and grow as friends. The necessary accountability groups are made up of men introduced through these weekly meetings, and friends from WCM do enjoy many good times throughout the weeks. Lasting friendships arise out of this brotherhood, and here men help other men grow stronger in the Christian life.
These opportunities are by no account unique to the Christian groups. The majority of the men deeply involved with any of the religious groups are so involved because of that same passion so common at Wabash. The leadership of the different fellowships do devote themselves fully to the promotion and defense of their beliefs. They do invest the same dedicated effort toward their fellowships as the athletes do toward their teams and the book whizzes toward do toward their books. To be sure, there are many Wabash men serious about living out their faiths whom you will find in nearly every campus organization.
If you are concerned about using your college years to grow in your faith, look for these men and get to know them. It’s possible you might find their passion and enthusiasm inspiring the same in you, and that’s no bad way to start the year.
Despite this last hopefulness, I fear that for some freshmen this may sound like a rather bleak, if not uninviting, perspective on the faith they may once have thought so lively at Wabash. If this is you, I am sorry. But bleakness gives way to light, even here. In spite of this perhaps disillusioning prognosis, there exists also a hopeful prescription: faith works.
Faith may work, but unfortunately long-distances relationships don’t always. In college those guys so privileged to have girlfriends must invest huge amounts of time and energy into their relationships. In order to maintain the relationship amongst an all-male population, nightly phone calls, weekend visits, e-mails, etc., are a must. Boyfriends that see this time sacrifice as a gnawing obligation are likely to come to eventually dread the nightly call, knowing that from eight to eleven-thirty every night they have to put up with that same high-pitched, rambling nonsense. Even still, a few others call because they somehow truly enjoy spending time talking with the babe; they actually look forward to each new conversation. The first sort of relationship lasts only as long as the guy can either put up with the time sacrifice or hide his false flattery, while the other relationship likely blossoms into something lasting and fruitful. The friends of anyone involved in a bitter relationship with his girlfriend can easily see how fruitless such a “relationship” is, and they likely will not be interested in meeting or getting to know any of his supposed love interests. In the same token, when someone happy in love brings his girlfriend on campus to show her off to all his friends, they take note of such a happy relationship and mirror what they see. They crave that lasting happiness, and might secretly be quite jealous.
Such is the way with faith. Some believers act out of duty or obligation, while others worship out of a genuine response, inspired by the love they find through their faith. As they mature in their beliefs they grow to love that which they believe in, and it becomes their desire and passion. Lasting faith is not that which is grudging commitment to some annoying obligation, but that which is the fruit of love-labor. This is the only kind of faith that inspires the same in others; the other hasn’t a chance. When people see through falsely flattering words they turn away in disgust. In contrast, the sincerity of the genuinely believing man can be a brightly burning flame that stirs in the depths of the people around him.
Those depths, however, can be both very dark and very deep. If this pile of sticks, Wabash, really is to see spiritual revival raging wild through its halls this type of faith, working through impassioned action, must truly begin to stand out among the religious believers. Is it easy? Hardly, and we are imperfect humans. But still, all it takes is a flicker…
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