Convocation Speech Fall 2015 v2
Unless otherwise noted, these speeches and open letters were written for the Dean of Students of Biola University between 2011-2016.
[Portions of this work were inspired by the Beloit College Mindset List]
[Beginning this semester, we were asked to reduce the length of the Dean’s speech. Thus, this shortened revision…]
President Corey, before you today are the men and women of the Fall 2015 incoming class…
And since it’s Convocation, it’s time for my annual look back at what the world was like the year these students were born.
Most of this year’s freshmen were born in 1997. What was the world like in 1997?
In 1997, 12 years after he was fired from his own company, Steve Jobs returned to run Apple. What was the world’s most valuable company in 1997? Microsoft. In 1997, the Toyota Prius, the first hybrid vehicle to go into full production, was unveiled in Japan. Gas, at the time by the way, was $1.22 a gallon.
Tiger Woods at 21 became the youngest golfer ever to win the Masters. In other sports, Green Bay won the Super Bowl, the Bulls won another NBA title, and the 1997 World Series went to… the Florida Marlins?
The US spacecraft “Mars Pathfinder” began on-the-ground exploration of Mars. In Scotland, scientists announced that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
President Bill Clinton was inaugurated for his second term. We lost Mother Theresa and Princess Diana within weeks of each other. Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule.
In 1997, the first of a quite famous series of books was published… you may have heard of it: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.”
1997 was an odd but quite entertaining year for movies:
Titanic [the most expensive film of all time, at that time]
Jurassic Park: Lost World
Men in Black
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Austin Powers
Chasing Amy
Disney’s Hercules
Starship Troopers
but it was The English Patient that swept the Academy Awards
On TV (come on, you remember TV), you might have watched: Law & Order, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, X-Files, Seinfeld, or animation like The Simpsons or King of the Hill or South Park…but you were probably also watching that new show, you know…Teletubbies.
Your iPod (yes, I said iPod) was probably full of Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Spice Girls, Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Backstreet Boys, LL Cool J, Babyface, LeeAnn Rimes, Vince Gill… and DC Talk.
And 1997 saw a big change in video gaming; Sega discontinued the “Genesis” (which had pretty much tanked their company), but your Nintendo 64 or Sony Playstation could get all excited about Final Fantasy 7, Castlevania-Symphony of the Night, Grand Theft Auto, Mario Kart 64, Diddy Kong Racing, StarFox 64, and Yoshi’s Story.
Changes indeed. Every time I do one of these lists, I’m struck by how much has changed…and the changes seem to come faster and stranger every year. It may seem like the world is becoming a different place, an unfamiliar and perhaps unfriendly place…and it’s perhaps understandable for a child of God to feel lost, like all the road-signs have disappeared and the ground has shifted.
But I’m also struck by how much has not changed. When that ‘cloning’ story broke in 1997, there were many people convinced that we had finally crossed the line, that this was the act that would bring holy wrath down on us. We were messing with God’s design, and this was unforgivably immoral. And we were outraged and indignant… and worried, about the future.
But then, as now, God’s patience with us was not yet exhausted… and today, as then, the future is still in His hands. God’s road-signs have not disappeared and His ground is rock-solid… just as in 1997, His path is still there, if we will only allow ourselves to follow it, and not be distracted by the noise and the static of things that are passing away.
Christian songwriter Rich Mullins died in 1997, and one of the last songs he ever wrote ended with these lyrics:
“I can’t see how You’re leading me,
Unless You’ve led me here,
To where I’m lost enough to let myself be led.”
I present these new students to you, President Corey… a new class of students, ready to be led.
