One of the most coherent statements to come out of last night’s GOP debate came  from former Utah governor Jon Huntsman.

Mr Huntsman clearly thought some of the other candidates needed a science lesson.

When you (other unnamed candidates) make comments that fly in the face of what 98 out of 100 climate scientists have said, when you call to question evolution, all I’m saying is that in order for the Republican Party to win, we can’t run from science.”

He went on to beg his party to let up on the issue.

If we’re going to win in 2012, we’ve got to make sure that we have somebody who can win based upon numbers of the math that will get us there. And by making comments that basically don’t reflect the reality of the situation, we turn people off.”

Though Huntsman chose not to name names, the indication was that he was speaking to Texas governor Rick Perry, who has a much different take on the whole “science” thing.

Shaped by 9/11

In the summer of 2001, Rebecca Adelman was fresh out of college, working a temp job and searching for a sense of direction. When terrorists struck the World Trade Center on September 11, the heart-wrenching footage of the wreckage, victims and first responders affected her deeply. �I felt this sense of urgency,� Adelman says. �I needed to make some decisions about what was going to happen in my life.�

Ten years and one Ph.D. later, Adelman explores imagery of the War on Terror as an assistant professor of media and communication studies at UMBC.

It�s often said that the events of September 11 changed the course of history. To some UMBC faculty, particularly those early in their careers, the attacks also changed the course of their life�s work.

As the UMBC community remembers the 9/11 attacks through campus programming and reflection, it also notes how those events fundamentally impacted UMBC students, faculty and staff across all disciplines and university departments.

Seth D. Messinger, associate professor of anthropology, was a Columbia University Ph.D. student at the time of the attacks. He considered a career studying addiction, until hundreds of veterans began returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq as amputees. �In 2004, my recollection is that there were 60 service members with traumatic limb loss,� says Messinger. �Today that number is over a thousand.�

Messinger specializes in the social reintegration of US military service-members following traumatic injury. His work explores how veterans recovering from limb loss refashion their senses of self and identity during rehabilitation. He asks, �How do you know you�re well when you�ve lost a limb?�

Jeffrey T. Mitchell, clinical professor of emergency health services, focuses on related questions. Namely, how can we support the mental health of first responders in crisis situations? Mitchell has become an authority on psychological first aid and stress management for emergency response personnel. His writing addresses topics ranging from suicide prevention in the military, to mitigating the psychological effects of terrorism, to mental health care in police departments after line-of-duty deaths.

Another UMBC professor developed a process that helps those first responders act more quickly. When letters containing a mysterious white powder showed up at media and government offices in the weeks after September 11, it took authorities about 48 hours to determine if the substance was anthrax. Today, a new process developed by Chris Geddes, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, with colleagues at UMBC�s Institute of Fluorescence, can quickly identify bioagents such as anthrax and salmonella. (see a video of the process here)

The impacts of the 9/11 attacks are not just far-reaching�nationally and globally�they are also deeply felt throughout the UMBC community. The UMBC Office of Student Affairs will host a series of commemoration events on campus to provide students with an opportunity to remember and reflect. For information on these programs, including a service project to benefit U.S. troops and a film screening with facilitated discussion, contact Fritzie Charne-Merriwether.

Read more about the events UMBC has planned to commemorate the anniversary.

(9/6/11)

Philippians 1:27-2:11 (NIV)

²⁷Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel ²⁸without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. ²⁹For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

^2:1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

⁷ rather, he made himself nothing

by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

⁸And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

by becoming obedient to death —

even death on a cross!

⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

¹¹and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Reflection

When reading, some of us tend to skip over the preface and go straight to chapter 1. We might be so used to doing that, that we don’t even realize that a book has a preface. Something similar can happen when we try to live out the calling. We can get caught up in what we are doing that we ‘skip over Christ’, forgetting the reference point for living as a Christian. Not so with Paul. Encouragement for him is sharing in what Christ has done and is doing, and the only way to live is following his example. Christ has to remain the focus throughout, the ‘preface’ of a called people, or we are left only with good deeds and intentions. Here specifically it is the divine humility that Paul is focusing on. God’s people are to be united, sharing in Christ’s humility and service.

Responding to the Transmission

Just like Paul, let’s be led into worship today and caught up into who Christ is and what He has done. Read over the section describing Christ’s humility a few times. Allow the Spirit to give us this deep desire to imitate our Lord in every way and especially in His humility. May this increasingly become the mark of who we are as His people.