I feel greatly privileged to have been asked to speak at this service. Our three daughters have all been St Margaret’s residence and staff members, and, at St Margaret’s found us two sons-in-law. We are enormously grateful for the environment St Margaret’s has provided. But more particularly, to Dr Peter Norris for the leadership he has given and the culture he has developed. He has set a high standard in terms of both what St Margaret’s offers and what is expected of the residents. Those who choose to live in a College with higher standards certainly benefit from it. As I say, we are very grateful.

I have discovered that one of the key roles of a leader is to develop people. Leadership is not simply about getting tasks done using people; it is about growing those people. These days the coaching staff of the All Blacks and Warriors and other such team, work on develop the players as people. They have always taught skills but now there is a realisation that they will be better sportsmen if they are also better people, so they strive to create men and women who are responsible citizens and good role models.

The idea that a primary function of leaders is to develop people rang true for me when I realised that that was exactly what Jesus did. Above everything else, Jesus came to die; to be a sacrifice for the world. But second to that, Jesus’ main focus was developing a group of 12 men. He had a very public ministry but increasingly as time went on, He focused His ministry on 12 men. As the rabbi (the teacher) He invested his life in those 12 men to grow them to the point where they could continue His ministry. In other words, Jesus sought to make them like Him. That is a very ambitious goal – creating people who could be like Jesus, could represent Him, could continue His ministry. Jesus taught them knowledge (the head) and he taught them skills (the hands) but perhaps more than anything, He taught them character (the heart). Universities excel at teaching knowledge and skills but character? Not so much. Obviously some students are very fine people and they stand out but the more generally, students are not known for their character.

We see character failure in the community all of the time – dishonesty, violence, self-centredness - including among university graduates. While we have focused on knowledge and skills, is it possible that we have neglected what Jesus considered to be of greatest importance? Is character more important than knowledge or skills? As a parent, I want my daughters to be successful. I want them to excel. I want them to be educated and informed. I want them to achieve at a high level. But far more important is what they are like as people. I don’t care about knowledge and skills compared with whether or not they are people of character – whether or not they are people of integrity and compassion and faithfulness.

It is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. It is possible to be highly knowledgeable, highly intelligent and yet to make foolish choices. Some of the cleverest people in the world make bad choices. Richard Dawkins? How valuable is knowledge or intelligence if wisdom is lacking? We have only to look at today’s Bible readings to see the importance of character.

The Sermon on the Mount, recorded on Matthew chapters 5 to 7, is often considered to be Jesus’ teaching at its most profound. And within that Sermon, the Beatitudes (Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc) are held in particularly high regard. And they are about character. In fact, here is Jesus’ formula for happiness. In recent years there has been a lot of research done on the causes of happiness. Wisdom might suggest we listen to Jesus on the subject. Jesus doesn’t mention knowledge or possessions or skills or achievements. Blessedness, or happiness, is based on character.

We don’t have the time to explore what each item means. It is obvious that most, if not all, conflict with the philosophy we encounter in society all of the time. Most are the exact opposite of what the world teaches. In fact, they are so counter-cultural that we struggle to even understand them. What does poverty of spirit mean? It is often explained as being aware of our great need for God and for salvation – aware that we are sick and in need of healing. Jesus said that He had come not for the healthy (or those who think they are healthy) but for the sick. It is those who know they are sick who seek healing and so it is perhaps not so puzzling that Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” because those who seek forgiveness or seek healing or seek to be transformed by the Spirit of God will be forgiven, will be healed, will be transformed while those who are convinced they are OK will miss out purely because they thought they didn’t need it. Blessed are the poor in spirit – those who know they need help.

God honours the humble and lifts them up but brings down the proud. Our culture values confidence and strength. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who know they are needy. What is meekness? It is most certainly not weakness and yet our society sees it that way. Meekness is gentleness, humility, the willingness to cooperate – as opposed to the need to always be in charge.

The merciful receive mercy. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – for what is right. How many people today crave what is right; crave following God’s way and seeing God honoured? And so on. Can I suggest that this passage is worthy of your reflection? According to Jesus, happiness depends on character – godly, God-honouring character; Christ-like character.

The prophet Micah also focused on character. The people had turned away from God. God asked, “What have I done wrong? I rescued you out of Egypt. I brought you into the Promised Land. What have I done that you now reject me?” A gulf had developed between God and His people. Micah asks, “How can I come before God? What should I do? What should I bring? Should I make a thousand sacrifices? Should I sacrifice my own children?” God had already explained what is required: act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. Anyone could make a show of religious acts. They can be superficial and insincere. What is genuine is what comes from the heart. Act justly. Do what is right. There is always the temptation to do what is expedient or self-serving. Do what is right. Love mercy. Treat people gently and compassionately. Forgive.

Walk humbly with God. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit – those who know their need of God, and of God’s mercy and of God’s teaching and leading.” “Walk humbly with your God”. Ultimately, this is what it is about. If we will walk humbly with God, open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we will be transformed to become more like Jesus. If universities are not strong on teaching character, this is where a college like St Margaret’s or a church or all of us as individuals, can add another dimension. St Margaret’s motto urges us to set our minds on higher things. We can go beyond the knowledge and the skills to things more important. I was interested to hear – but not surprised – that a recent independent review commented that St Margaret’s, alongside the academic, the cultural and the sporting – developed the personal attributes of good citizenship i.e. character. Dr Norris last night quoted Hubert Ryburn as saying, “The task of the university is to produce graduates; the task of the College is to produce citizens.” But God calls us to set our minds on higher things still. It is not just about being citizens; but about being walking humbly with God. Not just about being good citizens within society but being citizens of the Kingdom of God. Are we willing to walk humbly with God? New Zealand is proudly secular. We like to think we can be independent of God. But that smacks of arrogance. Jesus didn’t say, “Blessed are the arrogant.”

Real wisdom is found in walking humbly with God, knowing we need Him, seeking His forgiveness, studying His teaching, following His direction. Real wisdom leads to real happiness. Will we follow the way of Jesus Christ? May it be true that those who live in St Margaret’s have a broader education that includes character and includes godly character. May it be true that all university students learn more than knowledge and skills. May we be people of character formed by the Holy Spirit as we humble ourselves before God. As we serve as leaders in various capacities, may we go beyond knowledge and skills. May we want to develop character, godly character; Christ-like character. This is what God requires: people who will act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

The Reverend Dr Peter Norris, Master of St Margaret’s, Mr Hamish Wixon, President of the St Margaret’s Council, The Most Reverend Peter Cheyne, Moderator of the Presbyterian church of Aoteraoa New Zealand, Alumni gathered here, members of the St Margaret’s Board, welfare staff and other friends of the college.

It is a privilege and a joy to be here. Although I have never lived at St Margaret’s as a residential community for any length of time, I know something of the ethos and the standards of the College by association. By contrast, I was a residential student in both Christchurch and Oxford. I say by way of contrast because we engaged in pranks in the 1970s which I imagine would be unheard of here. I can remember the conversion of the entire room of a third floor student into a pond. Polystyrene was laid wall to wall and a garden hose was brought in. When the student opened their door at the end of the day of lectures he found to his dismay that his room was filled with water and there were lily pads, goldfish and a couple of frogs...

I can remember, also by way of contrast, being part of “water week”. During these seven days students would throw water bombs made up of tap water and paper, hoping to find a worthy target. Other college residents were worth ten points, a staff member was worth twenty, a member of another college was worth thirty points. And I’m ashamed to say that the patron of the College, the Bishop of Christchurch, was worth a hundred! This was all before my call of course.

Enough of my credentials.

I don’t imagine these things would be possible in St Margaret’s, at least not in these days with this Master, and certainly not during the time of “The Barron.”

We are here this evening because a group of women and men strove hard and long to found this College a hundred years ago. On the 12th of April 1911 with fifteen students, Miss Callender began the care of the community we are celebrating this evening. This was all possible because of the passion of the Presbyterian church in Dunedin for egalitarian education. These principles had been crucial to the founding of the University of Otago itself forty years before, on the 5th of July 1871.

Before looking at the College today, we need to enquire from where these first foundations came. Certainly not out of the blue or even due entirely to the qualities of the good people themselves at the time. Our answer can be traced in the clues left on the images on the coat of arms of this College. Taking each of these clues in turn we find ourselves journeying backward in time through layer upon layer of heritage, values and hope.

Firstly, at the crest of the coat is presented Edinburgh castle. The founding of Dunedin itself on the 1st of March 1848 is represented here. Dunedin is the Gaelic word for Edinburgh and the settlers in the 1840s brought with them to a new land the very best of their energies and the highest of their hopes: a Presbyterian view of the world and a belief that education is the key to progress and to Christian civilisation itself. Dr Susannah Grant in her book about St Margaret’s “Vision for the Future,” discovered that prior to the castle being presented on the coat of arms, it had in fact been suggested that a “true lovers knot” be featured. This was thought to be appropriate for single women. However, in due course the Royal College of Arms in Scotland and the Lord Lyon took a dim view of this and Edinburgh castle took the place of the knot, not surprisingly perhaps.

We move further back in time now by looking at the images below the castle, which are a Latin Christian cross surrounded by five doves. This is iconic of the Sainted Queen of Scotland after whom this College is named. The cross and the doves are her royal ensign, taken from the coat of arms of her own household, the Anglo Saxon House of Wessex, through her father King Edward the Exile and her uncle King Edward the Confessor. You can place Margaret in history by noting that her husband Duncan Canmore, King of Scotland, was the son of King Duncan of Scotland who had been murdered by Macbeth. Many have celebrated Margaret because she offers a hugely positive alternative role model to that of the Machiavellian Lady Macbeth, at least as Shakespeare described her.

Margaret would have been thought to be a fine role model for everything that the Presbyterian educators who founded Dunedin and this university, wanted to hold up and stand for.

During the later stages of the eleventh century, Margaret, in extremely difficult and primitive circumstances, strove to bring in new forms of education for women and the poor as well as literacy across the board. She lobbied hard for and achieved the liberation of English slaves who had been captured in border wars. She was powerfully family orientated and loved her children with a passion, that later saw them contribute to the progress and development of Scotland in equally significant ways after her.

In and through all of these qualities there was Margaret’s faith base. She herself had been educated and formed by Benedictine monastic communities in Europe and held a great veneration for the prayerful scholarly and residential life that derived from St Benedict to the very end of her days. She had a difficult and temperamental husband in Malcolm III, but somehow found a way of expressing what today we would call tough love in and through that vortex. When she was canonised by the church in the century that followed, it was for all of the qualities of this special character she came to be. She is presented in a strong, authentic way in the great window of this dining hall. The stained glass pictures the faith light in her eyes, and the royal bearing of her person. Here is a person dedicated to good scholarship, to community life and to justice for those to whom it has been denied.

In 1096, three years after Margaret’s death in 1093, the same Benedictine faith community of scholarship and missional hope that had nurtured Margaret, founded the University of Oxford. Oxford is the oldest university in the west, apart from Bologna. In fact there are two colleges in Oxford, All Souls and University College, who claim to be older than Bologna, saying they have documents describing their foundation in 825. However, for some reason these documents have never been made public... And so we begin to discern how deep are the taproots of spirituality, learning and community that lie in the rich ground of the past, that have grown up into the spirituality, the learning and the community that is St Margaret’s College today.

Delving deeper into this rich soil, tracing the further reaches of the taproot, we come to some of the influences which came to shape St Margaret long before her birth. She had been named Margaret, meaning pearl in Greek, after the example of St Margaret of Antioch who died in 306. Margaret of Antioch was known for her faith, compassion and courage and was thought to be a suitable role model for the baby girl, who grew up to become the sainted Queen of Scotland. In fact Margaret of Scotland is the first person to bring the name Margaret to Britain and the name spread from her example later when names came to be chosen for girls, because of her faith, compassion and courage.

This tradition itself can be traced further back in time, to the influences that shaped St Margaret of Antioch, in the form of Jesus of Nazareth three centuries before her. The word pearl, which shapes the name Margaret, was chosen by her Christian parents because it comes from the Greek word margaron, presented in the New Testament as a Greek word in the Gospel according to St Matthew, Chapter thirteen, verse forty-five. Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God as being like a merchant who sells everything they have to purchase a “pearl” of great price. The pearl is a symbol of an immeasurable treasure: that is the values and spirituality of God’s love and justice in the world and potentially within every human being; in all that lives and breathes. And so it came to be that two women named Margaret carried this hope quite literally with them when ever their names were used or thought of.

A further and even more ancient clue to the influences that enrich the culture of this college from over two thousand years of history, is found in the college motto: “Altiora in votis”: “Set your heart on higher things”. This view of the high aspirations of the heart for the highest forms of wisdom are celebrated in the New Testament which had shaped the St Margaret’s, the Benedictine tradition of scholarship in community and of Presbyterian inspired educational aspirations. Similarly in the Epistle to the Romans, Paul of Tarsus says “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. In his Second Letter to Timothy he says “bring the books, especially the ones in parchment” Here is the theological seedbed of the faith: books that recorded and communicated the hope and the love that was to come through in the Christian community as it bore the wisdom of Christ around the Mediterranean sea. These parchments may have been the early forebears of the gospels themselves. Here is a transforming vision that sees the mind in the heart and heart in the mind: the calling to pray, to read, to think, and to act in community.

But this breakthrough in consciousness and gospel based learning did not come out of the blue either. It can partly be traced back centuries before in seed form, to the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament. One small example, one amongst thousands from this ancient Middle East context, can be found in The Book of Proverbs, chapter three.

These words and many like them, represent a tradition which emerged between the sixth and the tenth centuries BC and later became a kind of greenhouse for Jesus own parabolic teaching.

And so we see that, taken together, the generic influences that contributed to the shaping of the St Margaret’s College vision derive from a flow of spirituality and hope that is over two and a half thousand years old.

We can now return to the St Margaret’s story, noticing all that confluenced and shaped the original vision for the college.

One hundred years ago, the Reverend James Chisholm, a founding council member described the essential meaning of St Margaret’s, representing as it did at the time a much older ethos, in this way.

In the decades that followed Miss Callender, Miss Fairbaird, Miss Barron, Miss Shand, Mrs Ryburn, Mrs Kent Johnston, Mrs Wilson, Mr and Mrs Miller, Dr Bennett and now Dr Norris all sought to embody this vision in the way they offered hospitality and the way they influenced the life of the college.

The college vision from 2008 encapsulates this tradition for today.

A university course, cannot by itself, provide the kind of inner or holistic formation that is represented here in this residential community. Only a community of interest dedicated to this rich heritage, specifically and intentionally, can hope to communicate through its own life, the values, the ethos and the transforming grace that makes so much difference to the whole person, as opposed to the cerebral cortex alone. Here at St Margaret’s, as we have seen, an ancient heritage flows through meeting guests at weekly formal Sunday dinners, weekly academic breakfasts, arts and science breakfasts, language groups, mentor groups, study assistance and community service projects.

The current Master, the Reverend Dr Peter Norris, describes the effect of all this on the students he sees today

In particular it is the community facing ethos with its concern for social responsibility and the common good that will make the most profound difference of all when students of St Margaret’s become alumni and move out into the challenging world around them. Aotearoa New Zealand needs this commitment to the wellbeing of others and an ethos of self giving and servant leadership more than ever. We are being diminished by private cyberspace worlds, by materialism, by an obsession with security and by the pursuit of individualistic narcissism. Only formation through a community that lives for something else can form people in a higher, greater way. This is important because alumni will be driving much of what our country thinks and does in the not too distant future.

As has been said

In fact I would say that the conduct of alumni begins to influence society at large within a decade these days. The effect of a university and of its residential contexts flow very quickly now into the wider community. What an extraordinary potential and responsibility is represented here.

And so we see that from over two and a half thousand years ago, through the wisdom tradition of the Old Testament, through its fulfilment and embodiment in Jesus of Nazareth and the gospels, through the life and witness of St Margaret of Antioch, through the Benedictine heritage, through the courage and example of St Margaret, Queen of Scotland, through the priorities of Presbyterian Christianity in Scotland and then in Dunedin, and finally through the very foundations of this University and College, a light continues to shine; a light to illuminate and warm and invigorate the world.

It is clear to us all this evening that we celebrate one hundred years of college life during, what history will show to be, a golden age in the long story of St Margaret’s. This is in great part due to the long term work of the very able college council and in particular due to the ministry of an exceptional Master. Dr Norris has brought to the role of Master all the depth of the faith and love and hope of his vocation, in a way that makes community and scholarly life here quite remarkable. This is indeed a serendipitous shaft of grace in the shifting sands of fluid modernity. Dr Norris asked some students the other day what they thought of the large stone koru figure in the quad outside the common room, hinting, tongue in cheek, that it might be an abstract representation of himself! To his surprise several students thought it was! But certainly the unfolding greening energy of the koru is true to his spirit and to the efoliation of wisdom as well as love within these walls.

I can do no better by way of summation of all of this remarkable story, with a quote I love very much from the education of young Arthur by Merlyn, as it is described in the book by TH White “The Once and Future King”

Altiora in votis.