My word for 2025
I am beginning this new year in San Antonio, Texas, in a Presidential Renewal program with a cohort of 11 private college presidents who are in our second or third terms in this role, and eight of our spouses.
We share a passion for our unique missions and our students. We have all persisted beyond the median duration for a college or university president, which has decreased to five years. It is a comfortable group. No story is too weird to be shared, and our secret sauce is laughter.
My word for the year is RENEW. When this cohort met for the first time in person last June, we were each challenged to discern three renewal goals for the period of June to January. Mine were to:
- Take up a new handwork hobby. I took up needlepoint, and I delight in the colors and texture of the yarn in my hands as I lay down stitches and watch a vibrant design take shape. Working with my hands calms the chatter in my mind.
- Adjust some aspects of how my office is functioning. There are so many things that I cannot control in the world, but I can craft my most immediate environment.
- Make a clear plan for a study leave away from campus. Renewal is an ongoing investment, and I’ve committed to a plan – thanks to my supportive and capable leadership team and board.
God is making all things new. (Revelation 21:5) This must be a hard thing for us to believe, because the scripture goes on: “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Often it feels easier to me to stay stuck than to make things new.
Even God’s love renews itself. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)
Renewal is part and parcel of the God-filled life. It is the stuff of life – we see it in the turning of the earth and the seasons and in death and birth. And it is hard and scary.
My renewal plan includes spending three weeks in a small bungalow in the Sonoran desert, mostly without Kevin. This frightens me a little, which I take as a positive sign. Also, my sister Tina lives only 40 minutes away.
I want to devote the time to kindle – for me, at least – a renewed vision for faith formation at Goshen College. I am bringing with me a small collection of books. One of those is Divine Gravity: Sparking a Movement to Recover a Better Christian Story, by Mennonite pastor Meghan Larissa Good. She wrote this book in 2024 in response to:
a palpable sense of tension and confusion across Christianity. . . it’s almost impossible to miss the rumbling beneath our feet. Something, we can’t help but suspect, is about to go down.”
What if we at Goshen College took this moment to renew our clarity around how we form faith in our campus community? And while we’re at it, faith in what, exactly?? Be assured, it will build on our vision and mission, being rooted in the way of Jesus, shaped by Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, and integrating active love for God and neighbor.
Along with stillness, the desert and the Holy Spirit, I trust that something new will emerge.
I leave you with two touchpoints that are part of my renewal process. First, this song that brought tears to my eyes last month in Sauder Concert Hall, by Over the Rhine:
And lastly this, from a blessing for new beginnings, by Irish poet and priest John O’Donahue:
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
Rebecca Stoltzfus
P.S. Curious about my prior words of the year? You can read those posts here: