Participants in Judson College’s 93rd annual Rose Sunday service Aug. 24 were happy to find a clear morning after a rain-soaked weekend as they walked the few blocks from the college to Siloam Baptist Church, Marion, in Cahaba Baptist Association.
Students donned white gloves and many wore hats for the traditional procession and worship service marking the commencement of the new academic year, which began the previous week.
Rose Sunday was first observed Sept. 19, 1915, but has its origins much earlier in a practice begun by the founder and first college president, Milo P. Jewett. Jewett underscored the value of worship by walking with students to Siloam Baptist every Sunday.
Judson seniors began the day in front of Jewett Hall passing through a woven ivy chain, crafted and held by the underclassmen in their honor — another long-standing tradition at the college. Each senior wore her academic regalia and a single red rose — the college’s signature flower.
Judson President David Potts then led the procession to the church for worship.
Members of Siloam met earlier in the day in order to accommodate the Judson students, faculty and staff at the traditional late morning worship time.
After music by the college’s concert choir, Scott Schuyler, Siloam’s pastor, delivered a challenge to the students:
“If you follow Him, you’ll make your parents proud,” Schuyler said of Jesus. “If you follow Him, you’ll make your professors proud. But no matter the reaction of others, Christians are called to follow Him.”
Potts noted that sociologists call the present generation the “mosaics.”
“As a group, your generation takes a ‘cut-and-paste’ approach to life,” he said. “If an idea, philosophy, a particular aspect of a religion or thought pleases you or seems right by your standard, then you cut and paste it to your life. … [T]he practice is a direct product of the relativism that has become so dominant in Western thought in my generation.”
Quoting Judson’s founder, Potts noted that Jewett often used the prepositional phrase “of Christ” to refer to the college.
“Perhaps you are at a crossroads in your life, seeking direction, seeking meaning, seeking a worldview, seeking truth, seeking God,” he said. “Milo Parker Jewett in another century and David Potts in this century would commend two words, ‘of Christ.’ As Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’” (JC)
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