Remarks by J. Randall O'Brien

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

It doesn't seem real, and it doesn't seem right. How did it ever come to this? Our souls ache. Our hearts break. Like Job we want to cry out, "If only my anguish could be weighed, and all my misery be placed on scales, it would surely outweigh the sands of the sea!"

We are hurting. Our President and his family are hurting. Our faculty and staff, our students, our Regents, our alumni, our community and our friends suffer, as well.

We gather here today on the steps of this historic administration building to share together the heavy burden of pain we feel in this hour. Our university is in crisis. Our presidency is in crisis. We are in crisis.

Each of us feels a heart rending sense of loss--- a loss of community, a loss of innocence, a loss of wellness. A broken bone in our universe needs to be set.

Let us give ourselves permission to grieve, to think our thoughts, to feel our feelings--- to ask with the Psalmist, "My God, my God, why?"

Many of us are in shock and denial. Baylor in crisis? Our Baylor? How could it be? Some of us are angry. We are ready to place blame. Others of us are seeking to negotiate a peace. A few of us have become depressed. But all of us are hurting.

Like little children we long for one to reassure us, "It's okay. Everything is going to be alright."

Yet here we stand in a time between the times, between the "not yet" and "already." We gather here today neither to canonize nor demonize any person. Our president, our faculty senators, our other colleagues, our alumni, and our Regents are our friends, our sisters and brothers, our family.

Each of them, like each of us, is a child of God, a good, yet fallible human being. Let us grant each other the grace that has been given us, the gift of high expectations, and accountability, along with the grace of respect, forgiveness, trust, love, and hope.

Let us ask of these times, "What can we learn from this?" Conflict is inevitable in any family; but it is not terminal. Our response to it determines whether we will become bitter or better.

Waco is watching. So are Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, and the rest of America, even other parts of the world.

What do they see? A university in crisis? Yes. What do we see? The same thing, but more. We see an awesome opportunity to model a Christian response to conflict: fallibility and forgiveness, judgment and grace, failure and faith, hurt and hope, listening and loving, complaint and commitment.

Tomorrow we pause and remember 9/11 of two years ago. Our prayers go out to so many. Yet, Stanley Hauerwas is right--- 9/11 didn't change the world; 33 A.D. changed the world. Because of the cross and empty tomb we know there is triumph on the other side of tragedy.

It is going to be okay. Maybe not today. And maybe not tomorrow. But in due season everything is going to be alright.

In the meantime may we each consider doing three things? First, let us pray. Please pray for this university and all in our Baylor family. The Apostle Paul reminds us that "all things were created by Christ and for Christ." This university is not ours; it is His. Pray for God's will to be done. Let us not ask God to take sides, but to take charge.

Please pray for healing. Let us pray specifically for President Sloan and his family. We can only imagine the pain they must be feeling. Pray that our Lord would personally clothe each one of them with His grace and strength, and hold the family closely in His loving arms.

Second, let us amend not end, Vision 2012. Our calling must forever remain, "academic and spiritual excellence." May mediocrity never find a hiding place at Baylor. President Sloan and Provost Jeffrey stand willing and eager to work with us in adjusting the blueprint as we seek to build an even greater university.

Recently, for instance, our Department of Religion requested flexibility in Vision 2012 as we will soon undertake a nationwide search for a particular faculty position for 2004-05. Our rationale was carefully considered and our request was granted. Let us think together, work together, and adjust together to make Baylor all she could be and should be.

Our President is willing to do that. I know because I hold in my hand a copy of his correspondence to the Chair of the Faculty Senate expressing his desire to work with all of our constituencies as we march forward into a bright future.

Let us dream our dreams and see our visions, but never let our dreams die.

Third, above the many voices ringing out in these times, let us be comforted by God's Word: "For everything there is a season," the Good Book reminds us.

A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
A time for silence and a time to speak.

This is the time to speak, is it not? By your presence here you have chosen to do just that, rather than remain silent. So I offer you this moment to speak.

Is this a time to kill or a time to heal?
(people respond) . . . a time to heal.
Is this a time to hate or a time to love?
. . . a time to love.
Is this a time for war or a time for peace?
. . . a time for peace.

Healing, love, peace. That is what we want, isn't it?

"Then let us beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruninghooks, and let us study war no more."

As, together, we build Baylor, and re-build community.

"Hear our prayer, O Lord."