With a fanfare of lights and music, students filed down the aisles of John Brown University’s Cathedral, waving the flags of their nations. This joyful service opened a heavy chapel on redemptive justice led by Jesse Rudy, and it began one of the many events on campus celebrating JBU’s World Awareness Week.
Students from 63 different nations were asked to walk across the stage for the ceremony. The parade of flags began with the Christian flag, and ended with the host country, the United States. Those in between filed out in alphabetical order. Among the 63 nations represented were Jamaica, Morocco, Hungary and Tanzania. Students began at the doors of the chapel, carrying and waving their flags for all to see. Loved ones had their phone cameras out and watched as they made it up the stairs to the stage. Each student paused before placing the flag in the mount and cheers erupted from their friends and those they were representing.
Most of the students chosen to represent their nations with their flag also did so in dress. Nations like Spain, Brazil, Uganda and Venezuela wore shirts representing their national sports team, while nations like Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Haiti wore specific styles of dresses and skirts.
Once each flag was firmly mounted, Vice President for Student Development, Anne Tohme, took to the stage and welcomed “every tongue and tribe.” Addressing the global church and the Christian mission, she said, “We are to be a local, global and personal part of God’s mission. We are all to bear witness to the hope of Jesus Christ.”
After introducing and welcoming all to World Awareness Week, Tohme gave a brief introduction to the chapel's guest speaker, Jesse Rudy, who would be speaking on redemptive justice, specifically in the book of Ruth. A JBU alumni, Rudy is also the founder and CEO of the nonprofit organization Redeem International. The nonprofit is dedicated to protecting vulnerable widows and orphans from exploitation and violence.
Rudy began his talk with a story from the front lines of his organization. It was a story of violence against a young widow named Lydia and her sons and the redemption of her situation. He then explored the definition of the word to redeem as buying back, or restoring, what has been lost, broken, stolen or destroyed. After exploring the definition, he reflected on the Bible as a story of redemption and how Christians are called to share in the redemption of creation.
Rudy dug deeper into the redemption of the Bible, with the story of Ruth. He said, “God loves a good parable.” The story of Ruth, according to Rudy, was the image of a widow restored. Like how Ruth and the widow Lydia were restored in their particular circumstances, Christians are restored back to God through Christ.
Ruth’s redemption through the kinsman redeemer mirrored Rudy’s own family history. His grandmother had been a kinsman redeemer for his grandfather. After a fire, his grandfather became a widower with two young boys, and he asked his wife’s sister to marry him and to help him raise his boys. In a surprising act, she agreed. Rudy reflected on the fact that he himself was the result of the same kind of familial faithfulness and redemption.
The opening of World Awareness Week called students to act as redemptive agents for Christ locally and globally. They were petitioned to bear witness to the hope of Jesus Christ to the nations. Rudy said, “We live lives that are parables of God’s redemptive plan and purpose.”
Photo Courtesy of Nick Fewings on Unsplash