Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2020

BY THOMAS WHITE The transforming nature of a Cedarville education best occurs in person. In order to have the best opportunity to preserve the vibrant, residential, life-transforming Cedarville experience, we have taken serious precautions during this pandemic. Some might even say that we are being overly cautious. I would agree, but this approach will help us have a successful semester. In a chapel that seats about 3,600, we are only allowing 500 to attend in person and not engaging in congregational singing. At outdoor chapels with physical distancing encouraged and where it’s possible for more than 3,500 to attend, we are still requiring masks for singing. At the first signs of symptoms, we isolate, and then implement quick contact tracing that quarantines any close contact even before a positive diagnosis. The mindset behind this philosophy comes from Philippians 2:3–4. These happen to be my personal verses for the year and the heart of the attitude encouraged in our sermon series through Philippians, titled “Know Jesus, Know Joy.” These verses state the following: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." From these verses we draw three mindsets that guide how we think about and can rejoice while living with such restrictions. 1. HUMILITY Shifting data and conflicting information adds to the frustration of decision- making in the midst of a global pandemic. We constantly seek good data to make informed decisions, yet we often find conflicting reports. For the first time ever, science faces the public scrutiny of every potential finding that is then disseminated HEART OF THE MATTER 2 | Cedarville Magazine