With many students becoming more certain of where they are going to University, and more students going this year than ever (thanks to tuition fees), I thought it would be good to do an exegesis of Daniel 1, which has so much to say to people travelling to University for the first time.
Israel has been taken into Exile by the Babylonian empire. Daniel is picked out among the people as being of good character, on merit (v4) as is given the opportunity to study the language and the literature of the Babylonians, the period of training will last three years (v5). Daniel is not alone and has a community of people around him, for who this is a similar experience (v6).
During this process his very identity is challenged, by the change of is name to a Babylonian name (v7), there is also some who argue that he would have also had to become a Eunuch, which is interesting if you read Deuteronomy 23:1, so he would have be made ritually unclean if this was the case.
But although Daniel was able to accept some things, he drew the line with regards to others (v8) and refused to eat food and drink he considered to be ritually unclean. However, through testing, his faith allows him to overcome the obstacles, and remain clean (vs 9-16). The blessing for his obedience is amazing giftings (v17) and ultimately Daniel and his friends exceed in their studies (vs18-21) and become better than some of the locals.
When students go off to university for the first time there are going to be tests of the character, they are going to have to learn wisdom to know where to draw the line. They are going to have challenges to focus on all the other things that are going on around them, which may mean that their studies suffer. They are going to have to find friends who will help and support them.
Why am I so passionate about students, the answer is simple, I believe that for me the three years I spent in Huddersfield formed me in a unique way. I developed in so many ways, in terms of my character and it turned me from a boy into a man. Some might call it a liminal experience. But also there are things I did that I regret, I wish I had been more like Daniel in terms of knowing where to draw the line, and staying faithful to my beliefs. It was an experience that made me, but it is also one filled with deep regret.
I believe passionately that students have a unique opportunity while at University, but these times are easily wasted in two ways. The first is the road I took, not to get plugged into a church, not to develop good healthy Christian relationships that would get me through the tough times, like Daniel did. The other is to go the other way, to become so afraid of what the world has to offer that the line is drawn way to easily, the result was that witness is impossible because no relationships outside of CU/church ones are formed.
Now I am a big fan of student churches, my fear though is that in some cities (Bristol is a good example) many students all go to the same churches, these churches can become like safety bubbles, they become mono-chrome experiences, bland and unexciting. It would be great if students in cities could see themselves as servants of the church, not consumers. To go outside of the big student churches and engage and bless the variety of different churches (and communities) there are in any city. Why, because life as a Christian in post-Christendom is not going to be a molly-coddled experience. We need people who are prepared to step out into the world, and not get wrapped in cotton wool away from the reality of the world.
I have recently sent out a whole load of emails talking about the church plant I am part of to students coming to Bristol. I have made it clear that this is not an easy path, that it will not be a cosy church experience. I have sent out close to 50 emails, I have had just one response (in previous years I have no responses at all). Now if that one person came I would be happy, but why do so many take the easy road and not the hard?
It is my belief that Daniel chose the hard road, he chose to make life more uncomfortable than he could have done. It made him, and by Chapter 6 we read that he would become one of the most important men in the Empire, effectively the Prime Minister. It is important that students get involved in church first and foremost (and I know what will happen if they don't) but it is also vital that they allow themselves to be challenged and stretched.
