U.P. Protestant Ministry

Remarks of President Edgardo J. Angara
during the 39th Anniversary Celebration of the U.P. Protestant Ministry
read for him by Chancellor Ernesto Tabujara
on 23 November 1986
Diliman, Quezon City

I am happy and honored to join your congregation in this celebration of the 19th Anniversary of the Protestant Ministry on campus.

"A Ministry for Other," your anniversary theme, to me is a restatement of the Christian postulate of service. It calls for a ministry that is outward looking. It stresses that the congregation's love for God is not exhausted in contemplative worship. That love expands to inspire service to others.

Inherent in Christianity, as I understand it, is the spirit of service which is founded on love for others. Service is none other than Christian love in action.

Love in action as we all know is reflected in Christ. Our Lord suffered for love of men. And he died as one of us in order to gain for us the promise of eternal salvation. We do not know of any greater love.

Christ showed us that to serve is to be self-sacrificing. Not all of us, of course, have to suffer the extreme test Jesus Christ did in loving and serving others. Even so, to be self-sacrificing, to be compassionate and to live an active faith entails many difficulties. Undoubtedly, it needs personal commitment.

While you have accepted service as the responsibility of the congregation as a whole, it is based on the individual commitment of every member. Thus, the communal responsibility is only a reflection of the members' commitments.

The personal and communal responsibility is, I believe, greater and heavier among the members of the UP Community. Every member of the UP Community is here not for his own self-interest and aggrandizement. Rather, everyone of us, from the custodial worker to the President, is but a steward of the University. We all stand responsible for our students. We all are responsible for the knowledge we impart, the values they learn and the ideals they need for their future. We are custodians of those values and ideals, as much as we are the trustees of the University's books, libraries and other physical facilities. Ours are fiduciary duties rather than proprietary.

It is common place to say that we cannot transform society without transforming ourselves. That is true of society or it is true of the University. The University has become a national haven of knowledge, individual freedom and public service not on account of self-seeking and low minded men and women. The university is a great and beloved institution because of self-sacrificing men and women who are strongly committed to service for others.

And the most important example Christians can give is that of self-sacrificing, active and compassionate service. That is, service to others, service to the country, and ultimately service to God.