Sadly, I have not been very open about my faith in my academic setting.
Even though I want to, by the time I think about people’s reactions and what they would think of me, the zeal to say anything is gone.
This began to change when I joined a Faculty Commons book discussion of “SENT” by Heather and Ashley Holleman.
So many practical teachings have impacted me in SENT; for instance, praying over each seat before the start of school, envisioning the student sitting in them. Chapter 3 talks about the different roles God has called us to in the lives of those around us. I connected more with the authoritative royal priest role, which is praying for people, and I wanted to do this for my students.
In the book, Heather related how she would ask her students if she could pronounce a blessing over them on the last day of class. She used the traditional Irish Blessing attributed to Saint Patrick. I had a strong connection with this part of her book and decided I would try to do the same for my students on the last day of class.
While preparing the slides for all my classes, I put the prayer on the last slide. I intended to see how the class would go, and this would determine whether to ask them if I could pray over them (or not). I prayed to God about this several times before my last class; I was afraid to go through with it.
In the first class, after my next-to-last slide, I thanked students for their efforts all through the semester, and I also gave some words of advice. Then I asked,” Can I make a request, class?” Some nodded, and I said, “Can I pronounce a blessing over you?” And they all nodded.
I changed the slide to the prayer. As I was about to start reading it, one of the guys removed his cap and bowed his head, and the majority of the students bowed their heads while some looked at the screen and read along with me.
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rain falls soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
As I got to the second line, I was moved to tears.
I never expected the reaction I got from the class—they wanted the blessing and accepted it without any hesitation.
Later that afternoon, I got an email from one of the students saying, “I want to thank you for praying at the end of the class today, that meant so much to me. I will be praying over you as well. Thank you for everything, and God bless.”
This blew my mind.
It was then that I realized what a joy it is to share the love and blessings of God with my students.
Oluwabunmi Dada
Murray State University