Accepting a special invitation
March 29th, 2006 by Ed Leonard. Popularity: 4%.Last week I accepted an invitation to conduct an Open ZAX session for a nearby chapter as part of their I-Week activities. I really didn’t need much time to think about it and to accept the invitation.
You see, last week marked the 30th anniversary of my I-Week and initiation. That week and our ritual made a life-long impact on me. As I shared with the associates and brothers, since I joined Lambda Chi, a day has not gone by that I have not been actively involved with Lambda Chi Alpha, whether it is at the chapter level or the international level.
I guess I took my oath seriously. I guess I was fertile ground in which to sow the seeds of Lambda Chi Alpha.
Over the last 30 years, I have spent 17 of them as a High Pi, House Corporation President, or Alumni Advisory Board member. That is, I have lived in the trenches with our student members because I want every new brother to have a better experience than I had, and I had a pretty darn good one. Additionally, I have spent 13 years either on the professional staff or Grand High Zeta trying to affect the future of our Fraternity.
Regardless of where I have spent my time, I have tried to live out, “Not for four years, but for life.” The reality is it was not just an invitation but a special invitation to celebrate 30 years in the bond. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate. Thanks!
March 29th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Amazing. It truly inspires me to see people continue to care about their organization beyond graduation!
April 17th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Bro. Ed -
I’ts me again (I just posted to your report about the San Antonio LCA events). I’m not familiar with the “Open ZAX” or with “I-week” (unless in that latter the “I” means “initiation”). Since this event was shortly before you journeyed down to “the heart of Texas” and the picnic where I met you, it’s clear and evident proof that you ARE indeed involved in Lambda Chi Alpha. Sort of what I wouldn’t at all mind being, myself!
Your third and shortest paragraph SAYS IT ALL! I too took it seriously, and I believe that I was fertile ground for the seeds. I just haven’t had opportunity to bear fruit within the fraternal organization itself, mostly from having lived most of my life in locales without a nearby Zeta or colony. Nevertheless, I firmly believe that the teachings of Lambda Chi Alpha as illustrated thru our Ritual DO indeed bear fruit in my daily living and my on-going journey of faith.
I particularly trust that I myself sowed some purple green and gold seeds in the hearts of the Brothers in Clarksville, Tennessee, in the late 1990s, as I conducted the funeral for a member of the APSU colony who had died suddenly. It was one of the hardest funerals I’d ever conducted, but the Lord saw me thru it, granting me His Light. In the following months it appeared my words were in vain as the APSU colony got shut down. But. . . I can always hope that seeds WERE sown and the truths of LCA are now blooming in the hearts of the Brothers who heard that day. Better late than never. Or, as we say in Kairos Prison Ministry, in “God’s Special Time!”