The 95th anniversary of Silliman University Church is being commemorated this August 2011 in a simple week-long celebration.
My direct involvement in the 95th celebration provided an opportunity to make my own recollection of my living encounters of historical figures. All these have strengthened my knowledge of the past, and inspire the present faith journey to have a vision for the future, anchored on enduring faith legacies.
My first Friday night in Dumaguete was totally without the concept of a nightlife as Dumaguete did not have a definite party place in the 1980s. Everyone stayed in the dormitory the whole evening. The guitar-playing doommates Huber and Mitz led us to a whole night of music jam interrupted only by stories of our big brothers’ college experiences. As the evening fun continued, I went down to call my brother at Larena Hall. While waiting for the phone to be picked up, I was reading the campus phone directory on the wall and saw the number of the President’s Home. I decided to dial it after talking to my brother.
I was ready to put it down right away for I was scared of a possible scolding but the person on the other line was very welcoming: “This is the President’s Home and this is Dr. Doromal, may I help you?” The welcoming voice encouraged me to answer and decided to be totally honest about playing with the phone as I was bored on Friday night.
I introduced myself properly, and he asked about my stay in the dormitory. I got entertained by the distinctive accent of the Big Boss and the pleasant feeling of talking to him in English. Then, he talked about going to Silliman Church on Sunday. He said that his daughter Meg was an elder of the Church, and he would ask her to visit me and all the other freshmen in the dormitory to invite us to Silliman Church.
I became an instant dorm “celebrity” when First Daughter Meg went to my dorm to personally invite me to be in Silliman Church. Maybe her presence was a contributing factor to my being elected president of the dorm residents the following week.
It was an awesome idea for a Church elder to be visiting freshmen on their first days on campus, the welcome definitely ushered to us make The Church a Sunday priority. And the memory of a welcoming University President is an enduring inspiration! It was gift of humility that grew to be come a gift of faith.
My most memorable Galilean Fellowship was at the Bokingo residence at Silliman Park. This tradition was started in 1937 when Rev. Douglas Vernon was pastor of Silliman Church. The inspiration was the sermon of Jesus at the Sea of Galilee and a parallelism was established in the same spirit as with our Christian community in the campus-by-the-sea.
The Galilean at the Bokingo home was so close to the early years of this tradition. Our host, Prof. Evangelina N. Bokingo, head of the Home Economics Department, and her husband Sir Ben, former Agriculture faculty, made sure we got to experience something from history.
Most distinctive during our favorite part, the time for welcome drink, was when this pink juice was served with oatmeal cookies (same as the popular Silliman Cafeteria cookies). Ma’am Eve explained that the pink juice called Roselle and the oatmeal cookies were part of the Galilean tradition in all Missionary Homes at Silliman.
We ate the food and the old guitar fellowship, and we had an instant 1930s experience. As we were enjoying the welcome drink, Sir Ben shared with us about his humble faith journey highlighting how God led him to the best gift of his life — his wife Eve — who helped him build their beautiful spirit of a Christian home at Silliman Park.
Having the late Rev. Lydia Niguidula as pastor for Christian Education prepared me for the challenges in the campus ministry. Her legacy was there even during those years when we did not have a youth pastor, and I was asked to serve as Youth Ministry coordinator.
Among the many lessons I learned from her is planning a creative worship. I remember the Saturday evening when we had a workshop on designing a worship service. She was there for us to make sure every minute mattered.
In introducing ourselves, we were asked to pick three pictures of varied subjects as points of departure in our creative introduction. The prayer to open the sessions was led by her in a rhythmic hand exercise, with the soft music playing that ushered us to a spiritual commitment “to give our best.” There was a push for creativity in every part of the workshop. There was no boring moment, and she made sure no one would fall asleep by making it the “cardinal sin” of the evening with a plate of blades and kalamansi slices in front us to remind us of the “bloody” option to keep us awake, as the workshop went heavy with work-to-do beyond midnight. The value of “nothing but the best for God’s glory” in a creative liturgy was instilled in me even as I was still a 16-year old college freshman that time.
One full hour was spent just to teach us how to scan the Bible to look for the verse anchor of our chosen theme. She was so open-minded when we had to consult with her. The selected passage of the Bible was to be the only inspiration and the main anchor in all parts of the worship.
The ideas for the sanctuary decoration and other points of visual manipulation had to be echoes of the theme. Every part of the worship, starting with the total silence before the prelude to the opening song had to echo the theme.
And, oh, the sermon and the choice of the speaker was to be the highest peak and the climb towards it required the longest preparation.
Some actually hated Ma’am Lydz’ scolding over some points we may have neglected but looking back, it was the “regimented” discipline that told us that preparing for a worship is already part of the worshipping, and all of us need to, ”give of your best to the Master; Give of the strength of your youth…”
There were times when I would get frustrated witnessing pastors and other Church workers neglectful of the value of preparation.
Fortunately, the gift of humility best expressed in the life Jesus Christ would always lead me to forgive these human flaws, for the measure of perfection would be beyond my own human calculation, and so beyond my pride.
I thank God for the people within and beyond history who led me to Silliman University Church. I have realized that when a Christian is mentally prepared, he or she would actually grow stronger in conviction, and actually learn more in the process.
The ultimate gift of faith was the strengthened sense of knowledge. Every process established by the teachings of those before me, led me to uncover my own weaknesses, and these weaknesses were transformed into strengths — needed to be vigilant on the Christian position.
This would not have happened if my faith had I not been challenged by my own mediocrity uncovered when I was with Elders who had the conviction to build gifts of excellence to glorify God with the welcoming heart, the sanctuary of peace at home, and with the passion for Christian Education.
When the young Christian is taught the importance of the value of preparation, the young mind will not only learn the material but will find new insights and build a stronger foundation on which to rest their Christian faith.
