Accessibility and Engagement : A Biblical Perspective

So much of what it is to be a student affairs professional is to be accessible and to be engaging – particularly with those students we serve.

Yet, being placed within the Catholic and Jesuit tradition at Boston College, we are swept into a tradition with an extraordinarily deep understanding of what it is to have access and to engage other persons.  This tradition goes so deep that the Gospel writers saw it most fitting to write down how Jesus Christ accessed and engaged them!  This access and engagement was not without challenge – as witnessed by Jesus’ demands to ‘drop all you have and follow me’.

To be as Christ for others requires compassion and passivity, but does not preclude challenging and provoking those we engage to see a broader picture of themselves than just individual students.  How wonderful of a witness the twelve apostles serve as a group of individuals brought together in common purpose and common intrigue.

The biblical tradition allows all those who come after Jesus Christ’s time on earth to have access to the ‘living Jesus Christ’ – to walk, as His earliest disciples did, with Him.

This Friday (11/4) at 1pm in the Heights Room of the Corcoran Commons, Thomas H. Groome, STM professor of theology, and Daniel J. Harrington, S.J., STM professor of New Testament, will hold the workshop ‘Breaking Open the Word: Best Practices’ (open to all).

This workshop aims to…

“provide guidelines for preparing Scripture and the tools for making it accessible to all age groups and for all needs—teaching, preaching, praying, sharing, spiritual direction, and more. Drawing on the best biblical scholarship, Fr. Harrington will offer guidelines on how to prepare, research, and access the text. Then, through participation and reflection, Dr. Groome will offer an approach to appropriating Scripture that will “bring participants’ lives to the Bible and the Bible to their lives.” Early registration recommended.”