Preacher: Revd Dr Donald MacEwan, University Chaplain
Readings: Isaiah 44:1-6; Revelation 21:1-6
If you had to give a mime for God, what would you do? In a game last week at the Chaplaincy retreat called Faith amid Nature, one participant mimed God by pointing upwards. Fair enough – her team guessed correctly that she meant God. But does that really capture where God is? Up in heaven? Above the sky? Beyond our world? Watching us from a distance?
The book of Revelation offers us a different geography. In chapter 21 we hear of the visionary’s profound hope that God will dwell with his people. God will not only be in one place – heaven – or in just one time – perhaps past glories. Instead, the writer looks for a metaphor to explore how God is everywhere, at every time, and with everyone. And as a writer, he thinks about the alphabet. Writing in Greek, he says that God is Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters. There is nothing before Alpha or after Omega. All the alphabet, all life, is within God’s presence.
Which got me thinking, at the end of this semester and academic year. How has God been present in this University in our lives as students or others here, present by his Spirit? How does God dwell with us from first to last? How will God be with us in the vacation and beyond? And so here is my St Andrews A to Z (and beyond).
A is for academic families, those adoptive kinfolk of parents, children, siblings and relatives formed in Freshers Week and beyond. Parents offer wise guidance to the new student, and an introduction into essential student activities such as jumping off the pier at 6 am, liquid breakfasts, scavenger hunts, and (at their best) lifelong friendship. Like God’s family of the church, the academic family is formed not by blood but by community.
B is for Benedict XIII, the Pope who granted the University the right to exist, and to award degrees. Known as Papa Luna, his palace was not in Rome, nor even in Avignon where the anti-popes usually lived, but in Peniscola in Spain. But we can be glad he sent his papal bull to us, on receipt of which in February 1414 there was “boundless merry-making,” recalled today less in bulls than in balls, the Welly Ball, Christmas Ball, DRA Ball, May Ball, and Graduation Ball.
There is an embarrassment of riches for C, as the Candlemas Semester draws to a close, in this final service in the Chapel from the Chaplaincy, not to mention the Crushes which some library-dwellers reveal on facebook. But today C is for Choirs, especially St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, whose music enhances our worship, expresses our faith, and touches us with the beauty of Christmas, the gravity of Holy Week and the exuberance of Easter. Directed by Claire, we give thanks to God for the Choir.
D is for dipping in the sea at first light on the first of May. A cleansing ritual for the forgiveness of sins, or at least for an unwary step on certain cobble-stones, thousands run into the sea off East Sands. It’s not quite a baptism – but there’s something sacramental about it, a receiving of grace in the physical, the cold water, the touch of skin, the warming bonfires – the sense of being part of a whole, and belonging.
E is for exams. At the end of the semester or year, questions are set, answers demanded and judgment given. Congratulations to all who have finished exams recently, and I hope that God felt less like your judge and more like your companion.
F is for friends. Some wonderful friends are made in Freshers’ Week. Those conversations deep into the night, that close connection straightaway, that sense of facing the world, or at least the Bop – together. But friendship wouldn’t be so fantastic if it wasn’t also fraught. Friendships gone wrong are often what students share with Sam and me in conversation. They really matter. Perhaps that’s why the Bible draws on friendship to explore how God relates to us – a friend closer than a brother, a friend who will help you at midnight. And I believe that in our friends we encounter the love of God.
G is for gowns, red, black with a violet X-shaped cross for St Mary’s students, black faced with burgundy for postgraduates, and the colourful peacock display of academics at graduations. And I doubt you’ll ever forget that caterpillar of gowns stretching out along the Pier for the first Pier Walks of the year. Why not do it today?
H is for Halls, those homes from home where students eat and sleep, make friends with cooks and cleaners, and may even discover where the launderette is by about Week 6. And in these secular monasteries and convents (St Regs is even named after a monk), aren’t the wardens a bit like an abbot or abbess, our mothers and fathers in Christ, listening without judgment to our troubles and torments, helping us over the hurdles of leaving home and finding our way? Halls – a harbour, a haven, a little bit of heaven?
I is for invitations and intimacy, intrigues and investment. Yes, St Andrews is a place of love. From coffee-dates in the North Point to cheese and mushroom toasties together at the post-union Toastie Bar, from West Sands walks to bringing someone home from the Bop, inclination can lead to involvement. But if intimacy is heading for indifference, or even ill will – come and talk to Sam or me, and we’ll try to help you find hope. Or if things are going intensely, or insanely well, we may end up marrying you – to each other – right here.
J is for John Honey, a student in chapel the first Sunday morning in January 1800, who heard of a ship in distress near the harbour – the Janet from Macduff. Honey ran, and rescued all five people of the crew. In his memory – students follow his route to the harbour and take the Pier Walk in the Gaudie, the night before May Dip. John Honey showed faith in action – and indeed Honey became a minister in the Church of Scotland after graduation, but died young, aged 32 possibly from injuries sustained in the rescue.
K is for Kennedys – James and Kate. James was the bishop who founded the College of St Salvator, including this chapel, and whose bones are beneath this extraordinary tomb, a depiction in limestone of the heaven which the Book of Revelation imagines. His niece Kate Kennedy, celebrated by a certain club and procession, was played this year by a bejantine for the first time – a female Kate.
L could be for lectures, labs or the library – but why not recognise the University’s belated acknowledgment of half of God’s children in education. Women first studied in 1877 as Ladies Literate in Arts, before taking degrees alongside men from 1895. They lived in the first ever hall of residence, University Hall, founded by Louisa Lumsden, who paved the way for later pioneering women including the first female Principal, Louise Richardson, and our current Rector, the first black woman in the role – Leyla Hussein.
It’s not all modules, Masters and marking of course. M is for music and Mermaids, Performing Arts Fund. Countless plays, performances, operas and musicals have explored life in conviction, beauty, laughter and the odd bum note. God is our creator, and has given us a wonderful freedom to compose and express our lives with imagination and feeling.
N is for the new. John of Patmos, the writer of Revelation, envisages a new heaven and earth, a new Jerusalem. God is always beyond us, drawing us into what will be, which will be graced by his presence. God’s community of love is growing and deepening, even in the face of the worst the world can do. Researchers are always exploring what is novel – discoveries, insights, connections and expressions. And students, I hope, are learning something new every day.
O is for a letter between Alpha and Omega – Omicron. Covid affected St Andrews as it did everywhere, everything and everyone. Classes, halls, social life, support, travel, graduation – all hugely changed, and still ongoing. The omicron variant meant the loss of the University Carol Services in Holy Trinity Church and in London. The pandemic meant much deeper losses to many. We lament all that was lost, and give thanks to God for walking with us in the midst.
P is for the PH, which of course for many scientists here is the measure of acidity and base – but also signifies for all of us the name of Patrick Hamilton. Hamilton was a St Andrews student who was hugely influenced by the ideas of Martin Luther. He published and preached these ideas, and on 29 February, 1528, was tried for heresy, found guilty, and burnt at the stake outside this chapel, where his initials are now found in the cobbles. There is a darkness in religious convictions especially when allied to political power, and the fear of losing it. We see it in the death of Jesus, and in countless times and places since, not least in St Andrews. We pray that we will find ways of living with difference, disagreeing well, and being reconciled in the embrace of the God who gave his Son that we be friends with God, and with each other.
Q is for the quadrangles – St Mary’s and especially St Salvator’s. Sallies Quad is the heart of the University – where ambassadors bring visitors, where the Rector’s Drag and Kate Kennedy Procession begin, where on warm May days students pretend to revise sprawled in sunshine, then return to nervously wait for exams in Lower College Hall (pre- and perhaps post-pandemic), where sports teams pose for photos, and all graduates process before finding family and friends for congratulatory hugs. And all overseen by the tower, still the tallest structure in St Andrews, a beacon of faith from first look of Visiting Day to the last dance at the Grad ball.
R is for Raisin. How is God present in Raisin festivities? Is there a moment of spiritual clarity between the seventh and eighth vodka jelly at your academic mother’s flat? Will I ever forget coming down from the Hebs Room with Sally Foster-Fulton, visiting preacher, one Raisin Sunday, to encounter a naked male student running around the Quad? Have I not washed clean the hands, faces and sometimes whole bodies of shaving-foam covered Freshers following the foam fight? Have some of them not called it a religious experience?
And what to say for S? St Andrews is home to over 50 Sports clubs from Aikido to Zumba (Okay, I made the last one up – it’s really Windsurfing). But sport in St Andrews is all about religion. It’s known as Saints Sport, while the recreational side, on Wednesday nights in the Union, goes by the revealing name of Sinners. Meanwhile there are 186 Societies and Subcommittees from A Capella to the Zac Ephron Appreciation Society (no, again, I made that up – it’s really Yoga). And everything is overseen by the wonderful Sabbatical Officers. And when your final stressful exam is over, head to Castle Sands for your soaking to celebrate.
T could be for the terrific Tech Team who ensure our Sunday service is livestreamed around the world, doubling our congregation at least. But it is also for Thinking Allowed, the weekly discussion group I lead on Thursdays, exploring issues in faith and society, beginning from the questions participants have. I thieved the name from a radio programme, but I’m not ashamed. Thinking Allowed is the hallmark of how faith can be, and should be, if it’s to be alive, and meaningful, and a genuine encounter with God.
U must be for Ukraine. And Ukraine is also for Afghanistan, and Syria and Iraq, and Sudan, and Myanmar, and all the places where people are living in fear because of conflict and violence, poverty and hunger, the cruelties of power and the effects of climate change. Twice we’ve gathered as a community for Ukraine, in a vigil in the Quad, and standing together on the West Sands. Let us continue to hold our sisters, brothers and friends in our hearts. (And congratulations to Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra for winning the Eurovision Song Contest last night.)
V is for Viva. PhD students are examined viva voce – by living voice. It can be frightening or encouraging. Just remember – the examiners dearly want you to do well – they’re on your side. Show them what you know.
W is for Prince William. Yes, his student years changed St Andrews for ever, and at least one student kissed her frog and discovered he was a Prince. I met William and Katherine last year for about three nanoseconds when they chose the wettest day of the year to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary in St Andrews. And they did so by engaging with a group of students from all different faiths to explore how the pandemic had affected people of faith here.
X could be for the University’s motto – Ever to Excel. And yet I think I prefer the X-shaped cross which we see everywhere, in images and statues of St Andrew, who was crucified on a cross shaped like an X, or in Greek, the letter Chi, the first word of Christos. It could be said that Andrew was a failure. His life as an evangelist ended in pain, humiliation and death. And yet we live in a town and University which bears his name. And Christians still seek to witness to that love of God found in Jesus, found not in power but in weakness, not in glory but humiliation, not in excellence but in exhaustion.
Y is for the Younger Hall, behind scaffolding and a place of hammering and painting. But it will be ready – enough – for three weeks of graduations next month. Sam and I look forward to seeing graduands of 2020, 2021 and 2022 taking part in that rite of passage, crossing that stage, and wearing their hood with pride, St Andrews graduates, giving thanks.
And Z? Sadly no Zumba Club. Nice flat whites in Zest; lovely spaghetti carbonara in Zizzi’s. But Z is for zoology. Students study it. But today, I wonder if Zoology can stand for the overwhelming issue which faces us as students, staff, everybody – climate change. We’ve spent much of this year in chapel hearing about faith and the environment, we’ve said prayers, listened to preachers, given to charity, stood in Lines in the Sand, some of us marched for climate justice at Cop 26. We do this because we care for the planet, from its anthropology to its zoology, its botany and biology, its climate and its crisis. This is God’s world, and our role is to care for it, and for all who call it home.
That’s it. A St Andrews A to Z, echoing God who is Alpha and Omega, first and last. You’ll have your own, I know. And there is life beyond this place, in the vacation, and after your time of study, work or visit here. But take this A to Z with you – maybe it can be a map for the rest of your life.