Goshen College grieves for Bluffton student-athletes during prayer service

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Goshen College community paused solemnly Monday – the day students returned to class from spring break – to pray for Bluffton University student-athletes and their families who are grieving and recovering from a tragic charter bus crash late last week.

In addition, almost $7,300 was raised Sunday night for Bluffton University during the “Home Concert” by the Goshen College Men’s Chorus, college officials announced. More donations are expected to be received in the coming days for Bluffton.

President James E. Brenneman told about 600 students, faculty and staff at a special service in the Church-Chapel on Monday that while it may never be possible to understand, nor accept, why six people died so abruptly, it is important to respond with love and to trust in God. Since, a seventh person -- the fifth student-athlete -- passed away on March 9.

“The sorrow we feel for them, the pain we bear, calls forth in us a love we may not even have known we had for these friendly rivals, the Bluffton Beavers, our sisters and brothers in flesh and faith,” Brenneman said. “Perhaps, that’s why our grief is so deep, our questions real, our anger at God or fate so palpable, our hurt so painful.”

A charter bus carrying members of the Bluffton baseball team crashed early Friday, killing students Tyler Williams of Lima, Ohio; David Betts of Bryan, Ohio; Scott Harmon of Lima, Ohio; Cody Holp of Arcanum, Ohio; and the bus driver, Jerome Niemeyer, and his wife, Jean Niemeyer, both of Columbus Grove. In addition, 29 people were injured, three seriously. Zach Arend (Oakwood, Ohio), died on March 9 from injuries sustained in the accident.

“Whatever else may be our response to this sad turn of events, may we choose to make life truly matter today, every day, by binding ourselves ever more closely to each other – bound together in our love for each other – bound together by God’s everlasting love,” Brenneman said.

Goshen College students said Monday they were still upset about the Bluffton tragedy.

“Being one of our sister schools, we obviously know various people who are at Bluffton. There are many (Goshen) students who actually knew the students who were killed and who were also affected by the crash,” said Erini Shields, a senior from Muncie.

Peter Koontz, a junior from Elkhart who spent his first year at Bluffton University, said he was glad that students, faculty and staff gathered Monday to grieve and pray.

“I felt it was a good way to show support for Bluffton because many people here have close connections to there,” Koontz said. “Most people can relate to it in some way and that’s why people took it so seriously and it really affects them.”

Bob Yoder, the campus minister, said Monday’s service was held to mourn the loss life, express solidarity with Bluffton University and with those still in the hospital and to help the Goshen College community cope with Friday’s events.

“Some of us personally knew people on that bus, and so the grief is deeply felt and perhaps very raw. Some of us are friends of the families of the six who perished, and so our heart reaches out to them,” Yoder said, after lighting six candles in memory of those who died. A seventh person passed away on March 9.

“Some of us have friends at Bluffton University, and so we feel a deep sadness for them... and some of us have no personal connections with this tragedy, but because this spring break tragedy could have happened to any small town college, including ourselves, questions are stirred within our souls and answers to those questions are not easily found or met.”

Still, Yoder called on students to reflect on the tragedy and consider responding in some way, such as praying, donating blood, speaking with friends or donating to a fund established for the victims and their families.

Toward that end, an offering was taken Sunday night at a standing-room-only concert of the college’s Men’s Chorus, just returned from their Spring Break tour. The concert featured music, songs, prayer, a slide show and observations from the West Coast tour, Feb. 23-March 3. In addition, prayers were offered for Bluffton.

William Jones, Goshen College’s vice president for institutional advancement, said it was important for an offering to be taken to benefit Bluffton’s student-athletes and their families.

“Many in the Goshen College family are searching for ways to respond to the pain and heartbreak that our brothers and sisters in the Bluffton University community and larger Mennonite Church are experiencing,” Jones said Monday. “Last night’s concert allowed folks to respond through prayer and financial support for the Bluffton students and their families.”

Robin Bowlus, Bluffton’s public relations director, expressed appreciation for Goshen’s College’s gesture.

“So many people are contacting the university from across the country offering financial support,” Bowlus said. “Our hope is that this kind of love and compassion and support is natural for our community and our state and our country.”

However, Bowlus said Bluffton University would need help for quite a while. “This has been a sad and tragic situation on our campus and we’re going to need prayers and support in the coming months,” Bowlus said. “Our grieving is not going to end when the memorial services end.”

The Goshen College community feels a close connection to those at Bluffton University because of extensive family ties, friendships and professional relationships. Like Goshen College, Bluffton University is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA.

– by Richard R. Aguirre

Editors: For more information about this release or to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College Public Relations Director Richard R. Aguirre at (574) 535-7571 or rraguirre@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.

 

Message by President James E. Brenneman delivered March 5, 2007 during the Service of Prayer and Remembrance for Bluffton University at College Mennonite Church.

A multitude of questions come to mind as we ponder the unexplainable and weep over the tragic deaths of Bluffton University students, Tyler Williams, David Betts, Scott Harmon, Cody Holp, and bus-driver, Jerome Niemeyer and his wife, Jean Niemeyer. I suspect most of our questions will go unanswered, at least for this fragment of life’s journey.

Having just returned from a road trip on a bus with the Goshen College Men’s Chorus — this accident hit us especially hard. It might have been us.

Whatever the cause of this terrible tragedy, be it pure accident, a random event in time and space, human error and consequence, or some yet unexplained reason or no reason at all, the effect or result of this tragedy invites us to the threshold of death, where life sometimes matters most to us.

Because you are here this morning, I sense you and I have been called abruptly, prematurely, unwittingly into the “valley of the shadow of death” — to help bear the burden of unbearable grief that our sisters and brothers at Bluffton University feel in their hour of need.

The sorrow we feel for them, the pain we, in part bear, calls forth in us a love we may not even have known we had for these friendly rivals, the Bluffton Beavers, our sisters and brothers in flesh and faith, indeed, a love we may not have even known for life itself. Perhaps, that’s why our grief is so deep, our questions real, our anger at God or fate so palpable, our hurt so painful. Scripture describes such love as covenant love — a love that crosses great differences and miles, a love that stretches back through time, even before time, to the very heart of God (as we sang in our gathering songs today), a love the Psalmist says is “from everlasting to everlasting.”

It is just such tenacious, cross-bearing, mind-bending, heart-wrenching covenant love that helps get us through these shadowy, random, valleys of death. Who can explain such love? I can’t. Yet, the whole of Scripture argues just this point, that God loves us with a covenant love, an everlasting love and in so doing has covenanted to suffer with us as part of love’s bargain. God with us. The Divine Presence with us, in us, close to us, suffering with us. In Christ, God become flesh — a truly unique proposal among the world’s religions.

Like I said, I can’t really explain such a God or such love: the love we feel for those who lost their precious sons, for the family of the bus driver and his wife, for the whole Bluffton University family who are in such anguish. I have my hunches, but I cannot fully comprehend them. Nor, when it comes right down to it, can I find completely reasonable explanations, either, of why God so loves them or me or this world. Scripture doesn’t so much explain such love, it simply assumes it. It simply says, “God is love.” Why? I don’t know. Like unexplainable tragedies, such covenant love is another of life’s imponderables.

But, oddly enough, I believe in such love more today than last Friday. We are different people today than Friday. The world is not the same without Tyler, David, Scott, Cody, Jerome or Jean and it matters to us. We choose to make it matter so. We choose to be so burdened by the loss of others. We could choose otherwise, but it is this covenant we make with each other that requires us to take into our souls the ache of those we love. It is a choice we make in faith. A choice we would not need to make at all. But, I’d rather live in such a world and have this love that suffers with others in tragedy than not to know such love at all.

We may not understand life’s imponderables. We may have our doubts about such a world where tragedy strikes so unexpectedly. But it is the only world we know, the only world we have. Why this and not another world? That too, is one of life’s unanswered questions.

We are in good company with our questions, our doubts, our sorrow. Certainly, the Apostle Paul, after years of suffering, after agonizing over his own doubts and questions about the meaning of life and death, concludes with a question (Rom. 8:35,37-39) worth pondering: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword (or death)? No… for I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Though our lives are but “a breath,” “a blade of grass that withers away,” it is wonderful to know that God’s love “endures forever” through time and eternity.

Whatever else may be our response to this sad turn of events, may we choose to make life truly matter today, every day, by binding ourselves ever more closely to each other — bound together in our love for each other. Bound together by God’s everlasting love.

 

Message by Bob Yoder, Goshen College campus minister, delivered March 5, 2007 during a Service of Prayer and Remembrance for Bluffton University at College Mennonite Church.

Opening remarks and prayer:

Today, we mourn. Today we mourn with the families and friends of the six who died in the bus tragedy on Friday, March 2, 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. Today we mourn with Bluffton University and their baseball team, who lost four of their students. Today we mourn with Executive Coach Luxury Travel bus company, who lost two members from their family.

We gather together this morning as the Goshen College community to mourn the loss of Friday’s tragedy. We gather this morning to stand in solidarity with our sibling institution, Bluffton University, and pray for those who remain in the hospital and those recuperating from injuries. We gather together this morning to be with each other in our own sadness, questions, frustrations, fears, and shock.

We gather this morning, each of us having varying connections to Friday’s events. Some of us personally knew those on that bus, and so the grief is deeply felt and perhaps very raw. Some of us are friends of the families of the six who perished, and so our heart reaches out to them. Some of us have friends at Bluffton University, and so we feel a deep sadness for them. Some of us are members of Goshen College’s baseball team, and so we feel some level of camaraderie to Bluffton’s baseball team. Some of us have no personal connections with this tragedy, but because this Spring Break tragedy could have happened to any small town college, including Goshen College, questions are stirred within our souls and answers to those questions cannot be easily identified.

We gather this morning to mourn the loss, to pray in solidarity, and to be with each other in support. Let us pray together:

“O God, we gather this morning in shock, in pain, in confusion, in sadness. We lift up to you all those affected by the tragic events of this past Friday. Be with them in the midst of their daily activities. We ask that you be with us in this midst of this service right now. Some of us may be feeling like the author of Psalm 22 when that person called out to you:

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.’

God, some of us have had trouble resting these past few days. Some of us have cried out but find no answers. Some of us have simply groaned. But God, the psalmist continues the prayer by acknowledging who you are:

‘Yet you are holy enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried, and were saved; in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.’”

Amen.

A prayerful response:

When tragedies like this happen, sometimes a first response on our part is “what can I do to help?” That is a very good and appropriate inner response. However, there are times when an answer to that question may take some time to unfold…so I encourage each of you to listen to your heart, to God…about what an appropriate response may be.

One way to respond is to pray and lift up those most closely affected by the loss, and we will spend some time in prayerful reflection in a few moments. But there are also some other ways that people have already responded. At last night’s men’s choir homecoming performance, there was a freewill offering taken that will go to a special fund established by Bluffton University to help with expenses for families of those students involved in the accident. Another way to respond might be for you to consider donating blood this coming Friday during our spring semester blood drive.

I am sure there are other ways of appropriate response of being in prayerful solidarity with our sibling institution, so I encourage you to listen and talk with one another of what that might be.

But right now, we will spend some time in prayerful reflection, and then we will close our time with a song. Afterwards, you may feel free to leave or simply sit in this space if you’d like, but as you leave I encourage you to do so in silence. Also, if you feel like you want to simply talk with someone…please know that I am available as well as Char Hochstetler, our campus counselor. But also be talking with each other about what you are going through.

And as we now go to a time of prayer, I recall the words of Psalm 88:

“O Lord, God of my salvation, when, at night, I cry out in your presence, let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles…”