When Did We Forget How to Say “Thank You?”

by K.C. Vande Steek, Senior MDiv.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the Candidacy Meeting on September 13. We (students) have been talking about a lot of things regarding that meeting: how helpful it was or wasn’t, whether or not the Candidacy Committee is putting too much emphasis on psychological analysis, if the word “recommend” should be used instead of “require,” and so on and so forth. These conversations have been very passionate and appropriate as further dialogue is clearly needed on all these issues.

Can we back up for just a minute please, though? There’s one really crucial step in this process that I feel is being left out. I noticed it in the auditorium that day and keep seeing it pop up in the student center and elsewhere around campus. I hate to admit this, but another reason why I noticed this step was missing was because I neglected it myself: Has anyone stopped to say “Thank you?”

After the meeting I asked a number of third- and fourth-year students if the Candidacy Committee had ever done something like this before. The response was “no.” In light of the fact that in the past the Candidacy Committee has, in the past, worked mainly through emails and letters, this face-to-face meeting was pretty significant. To top it off we now have a whole new pamphlet about the process using colloquial language and an invitation to email the committee our thoughts, questions and comments.

For us, as students, this is a big privilege. We’ve been asked to speak and to participate in shaping CTS for ourselves and for future students. Because of the significance of being asked to speak, the enormity of this opportunity, I feel like what we say in response is important, but I want to emphasize that the tone we use to convey what we say is just as important. Have we, as a student body, neglected to be grateful in this situation?

I realize that it’s hard to be grateful when you feel frustrated, apprehensive and a little afraid. If I moved my family to Grand Rapids and started at Calvin Seminary last year and then found out I might need to be here for four years, not three, and then was ‘recommended’ for C.P.E. (which is a lot of extra time and money) or I might not be ordained—yeah, I’d be legitimately angry too. But this only reinforces how significant Thursday’s meeting was and the need to begin the conversation in gratitude. Last year, you had to take it or leave it. This year, go ahead and email Duane Kelderman.

Again, I want to say that the concerns that still exist are legitimate problems. Some of these will be addressed in future articles in this publication and interested students are invited to write for themselves and join in the conversation. There are many good ideas out there for improving this process. I just want to suggest that all of these things need to be blanketed in love and gratitude.

Sadly, I don’t think a lack of expressed gratitude is applicable only to this situation. How many of us MDiv students took the time to write notes or letters saying “thank you” to the administration of this institution when they cut our program by 19 credits? For many of us, that act allows us to graduate a whole year earlier than we would have. Think about that, really think about it, and then say these words slowly: a whole year earlier. How many of us, after thinking about how great that is, then responded by thanking the administration?

Three weeks ago Duane Kelderman gave a chapel message on gratitude. Last week President Plantinga gave a chapel message on praising God and one of his reasons for encouraging us to do so was “because it is just plain healthy.”

Let’s do those things. Let’s be a student body that expresses gratitude and thanks, that gives praise to God. Let’s be gracious even when there are still a number of issues and emotions lingering over a sensitive topic. Let’s stop, take a deep breathe and say “thanks.” Then, with gratitude, let’s dive in wholeheartedly and speak our minds.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few letters that need to be written and they are long overdue.

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