I caught him.
The incident happened a little more than six months ago. The time: 8 a.m. The day: Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. He was standing at the front of a classroom — Bowers Hall 201 to be exact. I did not let him see me, but from my hallway perch I could see what he was doing.
A well-placed window provided the line of sight I needed. Just in case anyone might doubt my eyewitness account, I pulled out my mobile phone. The camera app did its job; my iPhone photo file instantly, and forever, captured the evidence.
We’ll come back to that in a moment.
First, in a few sentences, I want to remind you of the single most impactful decision we face as human beings. It’s the fateful question confronted by Adam and Eve inside Eden. It’s the life-and-death, fork-in-the-road thing dividing Cain and Abel outside the garden.
It’s the legal foundation at the top of the supreme commandments, etched by God and handed to Moses: laws one, two, three and four. It’s the inflection point for Elijah, the crucible of the psalms and the central thesis of all Old Testament prophets. And, yes, it’s also the most critical commitment named by Jesus (Matt. 22:36–38), Paul (Rom. 1:20–23) and John (Rev. 14:6–7).
“Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only,” Jesus said in Luke 4:8, quoting Deuteronomy. This invitation — to acknowledge God, to praise God, to adore God, to listen to God, to follow God and to devote mind, body and soul to God — is everything.
Seventh-day Adventists have recognized — and emphasized — the importance of taking this decisive decision, this preeminent human question, seriously. In The Great Controversy 43.1, Ellen White reminded her church of faithful generations in history, who “maintained their fidelity to the Author of truth and worshiped God alone."
Why is the question of worship, of true worship, so important? Yes, for eternity. But what about its significance here, and now?
First, worshiper of God identity names us, our relationships and our lives as truly meaningful. We have an intelligent Creator. Our very existence was engineered — and is sustained — with intention. We matter. Worship, then, is a philosophy and practice of life that grounds us in deep significance.
Second, worshiper of God identity humbles us and sets us along the road of character building. To worship True Perfection is to confess our need. We gain perspective about our mortality, our sinfulness and our dependence. We are motivated to pursue goodness, integrity and love by God’s inspiration.
Third, worshiper of God identity prompts curiosity and exploration. Naming God as the transcendent architect of our world accelerates questions, experiments, study and conversation. Worship elevates our thinking, not only to the wonders of medicine, oceans and airplanes, but also to the supernatural hand in and upon them.
Fourth, worshiper of God identity inspires us to serve. The same Jesus who knelt in prayer knelt before His disciples, washing their feet. Our worship mindset provides acceleration toward an identity as dedicated humanitarians. Love God, love your neighbor.
Fifth, worshiper of God identity, as articulated in scripture and taught by Jesus, leads to hope. We worship a living God. History breeds confidence. Prophecy points to a future of joy. Amid seasons of malaise, living as a worshiper is to recognize present-day silver linings as evidence of good things past and even better things to come.
So, what does all of this have to do with "Adventist Education," the theme of our Gleaner this spring season?
Worship has everything to do with Adventist education. Worship of God is what makes Adventist education distinctive. Worship is the melody that sings through every subject, syllabus, lecture and sidewalk conversation.
Worship — the cornerstone of the curriculum — is what differentiates Adventist education from the vast majority of grade schools, high schools, colleges and universities in the world. Jesus is our Teacher, and, therefore, our classrooms are unique and primed to be the very best and the most meaningful in the world. Our adoration of Christ prompts us to an unmatched excellence of inquiry in deciphering the wonders and puzzles of our earth.
The Pacific Northwest’s Adventist university shares in this distinctiveness. Walla Walla University is a college at worship. We are worshipers of the Living God. This school year, students will spend some 250,000 hours in student-led worship experiences. Sixty thousand hours of formal, biblical instruction will be earned. And 100% of our educational experience — inside and outside the classroom — will seek Jesus at the center and circumference. We are worshipers; this is our academic and experiential identity.
Oh, yes, I caught him: Howard Munson, historian. He did something rare and unthinkable in American higher education these days. But not rare here. Not on the WWU campus. Munson commenced his American history class with his head bowed in prayer.
