Stronger Together: Supporting Your Campus Leader During Challenging Times

Annually, perhaps like some of you who lead church-affiliated institutions, I preach a sermon at the United Methodist Church (UMC) on my campus. I never know from which text I will be asked to preach, as it depends upon the UMC lectionary for the date of my sermon. This year I preached from a text with a theme about shaking. As a San Francisco native, for my sermon, I used the analogy of an earthquake and the feeling of being unmoored amid the rumbling that usually comes without warning. Unlike warning systems like sirens for tornadoes, or weather forecasters who let us know when hurricanes are forming over the ocean, no one has yet figured out an early warning system for earthquakes—earthquakes just start suddenly. During an earthquake, when you feel the rumbling, you try to hold onto something to steady yourself, though depending upon the severity of the earthquake, you may be hanging on for dear life or be thrown across a room.