La Sierra commences new year with call to purposeful living

  Health+Behavior   Arts+Culture  

On the second day of fall classes, hundreds of La Sierra University students crowded into the university’s church for the annual service that begins each school year with prayer, praise, and words of inspiration.

Hundreds of students, faculty and staff fill the La Sierra University Church for the new school year's convocation service Sept. 22. (Photos by Natan Vigna)
Hundreds of students, faculty and staff fill the La Sierra University Church for the new school year's convocation service Sept. 22. (Photos by Natan Vigna)
Dr. Rob Thomas, chair of the Department of Health & Exercise Science leads the faculty processional as convocation begins.
Dr. Rob Thomas, chair of the Department of Health & Exercise Science leads the faculty processional as convocation begins.
Dr. David Kendall, center, historical musicologist and assistant professor of music plays trombone in a brass ensemble for convocation.
Dr. David Kendall, center, historical musicologist and assistant professor of music plays trombone in a brass ensemble for convocation.
(Left to right) Provost Steve Pawluk, Tania Acuna, president of the Student Association of La Sierra University, and university church Senior Pastor Chris Oberg give welcoming messages for convocation.
(Left to right) Provost Steve Pawluk, Tania Acuna, president of the Student Association of La Sierra University, and university church Senior Pastor Chris Oberg give welcoming messages for convocation.
(Left to right) Drs. Ginger Ketting-Weller, Gary Chartier, Adeny Schmidt, Friedbert Ninow, and April Summitt read portions of the convocation scripture.
(Left to right) Drs. Ginger Ketting-Weller, Gary Chartier, Adeny Schmidt, Friedbert Ninow, and April Summitt read portions of the convocation scripture.
The La Sierra University Chamber Singers giving an acapella performance of "Unclouded Day" for convocation.
The La Sierra University Chamber Singers giving an acapella performance of "Unclouded Day" for convocation.
La Sierra University President Randal Wisbey gives a convocation address titled "Fully Alive."
La Sierra University President Randal Wisbey gives a convocation address titled "Fully Alive."
Students exit the La Sierra University Church following convocation, on their way to the Dining Commons.
Students exit the La Sierra University Church following convocation, on their way to the Dining Commons.

La Sierra University’s convocation held on Sept. 22 included an acapella performance of “Unclouded Day” by the Chamber Singers, a scripture reading by the school’s five deans, and welcoming messages from student association president Tania Acuna, university Provost Steve Pawluk and university church Senior Pastor Chris Oberg.

“Welcome to a safe place where your questions, your doubts, are not only welcomed, they are encouraged,” Acuna said. “Welcome to a place of limitless opportunities.”

“I can tell you in one sentence what church means at La Sierra. La Sierra University Church is simply a group of wonderfully nice people. They like to feed you, they like to open their homes to you,” Oberg said to the students. “Really nice people already are praying for you around this community. You are welcome here. This place is your place.”

Pawluk welcomed on behalf of the university’s schools and college the student body, including its 439 first year students and 456 seniors. “This occasion is important. It signifies the beginning of a life-changing academic year, one which will offer all sorts of blessings and adventures if you have the curiosity to seek them and the courage to embrace them,” he said.

University President Randal Wisbey, in a convocation address titled “Fully Alive,” challenged the students to live life to the fullest by pursuing their callings and engaging in acts of justice and compassion. He called them to a life of meaning.

The words ‘Fully Alive’ have become the central theme of a three-year focus by the Division of Student Life which aims to inspire the campus community to live lives of meaning and integrity, said Wisbey. Citing the refugee crisis emanating from Syria and Iraq and news stories of the immense suffering afflicting millions attempting to flee violence, Wisbey stated, “How am I to behave when I know it could just as easily be me and my family? One of the ways that we as a university family are responding is through our commitment to helping people understand. To breaking down walls of ignorance and creating a new path that links understanding and compassion with action.”

“The problems of others seem unreal compared to our own. Yet here, at this Seventh-day Adventist Christian university, we want to acknowledge others—their struggles, their woes.  … How might we, as members of this university family, live out Paul Ricoeur’s assertion that ‘It is only when we translate our own wounds into the language of strangers, and retranslate the wounds of strangers into our own language, that healing and reconciliation can take place?’” said Wisbey.

“To live life fully is to embrace the things that Jesus embraces—it is to act with justice and compassion on behalf of those who seldom experience either one. Here, this year, you will have the privilege of being the face of justice as you engage with your classmates and your professors in bringing healing and hope to people,” he said.

Following convocation, students commented on the service’s message.

“I really thought it was interesting about the refugees. What if we were in that position?” said Ivan Vegar, a sophomore biomed and pre-med major. 

Freshman Elizabeth Orta, a pre-nursing major from Los Angeles Adventist Academy said she believed President Wisbey, through his address, was striving to give students “a way to live to be successful, to be here for a purpose.” 

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