Pulpit reflections by the sea

One of the most well-loved personages on the Silliman University campus is Dr. Proceso U. Udarbe. He has become an institution by himself. He is an amiable church pastor, a part of every person he has met. His sermons behind the pulpit touch the worshipper to the core. Going to Silliman Church when he was its active minister was always a joyful experience for they reaffirmed to the faithful listener the goodness of the Lord, and urged the wayward listener back to the fold.

I remember how fiercely, during the martial law years, church pastors, priests and invited lay guest preachers from government or media, spoke of political and social unrest and of battling the forces of evil in the military and other high places behind the pulpit to be relevant to the times. But many were not enthused over such impassioned deliveries. They wanted to hear words that would quiet their fears and anxieties; they wanted a refilling of the vacuum in their minds and spirits.

Activism was high and rife on the Silliman campus in Dumaguete City during the martial law years. Dr. Udarbe was appointed acting president during those years – a tough job it was, "it was no picnic" related Marlen I. Dejaresco in a personal account of Udarbe’s life and influence during times of crisis.

This is not to say that he did not touch on rankling issues during the dictatorship; today, his allusions to misdemeanors committed by government offices and powerful people are subtle but obvious.

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Pulpit Reflections by the Sea, Udarbe’s sixth book of sermons, reflects his profound familiarity with theological issues that are couched in the everyday language understood by students and the learned and mighty. The sermons make good reading as they were good homilies pleasant to listen to. They make clearer such concepts as the resurrection, the cost of discipleship, understanding the Bible, the divinity of Jesus, the burden of our responsibility for our sins.

An interesting sermon is "Survival Kit for the Year 2002." Udarbe says we need in our survival kit (in man-made shelters), first aid equipment, a good antiseptic, band-aids, drugs for fever, colds, stomach pains, and for the oldsters, an adequate supply of maintenance pills.

But our shelters need not be only physical, but more so, spiritual. We need non-perishable foods, food that lasts, food that does not spoil. "We must have an adequate supply of what our Lord meant when he said: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God."

A "spiritual cellphone" is a must in the kit, and this is the practice of prayer.

... Now prayer is not a kind of battery that we use in times of emergency. Our practice of prayer is a confirmation on our part that we’re dealing with an ever-present God with whom there is a direct line. Trouble is sometimes we turn off our spiritual cellphone, we lose contact, or God cannot reach us."

The book carries sermon-stories on Christians who have made amazing pilgrimages of faith, whose lives have been great examples of living in trust, faith, and hope in the Lord. Special friends of the author, dead and still living, are Rev. Angel B. Taglucop, Corazon M. Torrevillas (yes, that’s my mother), Angel and Naomi Alcala, Cirilo del Carmen Sr., Eufrocina Dagani, Dr. Cicero Calderon, and Dr. Federico N. Florendo Jr. The book’s preface, written by Dr. Noriel C. Capulong, is a tribute to Dr. Udarbe’s late wife, Leonora, who had, like her husband, played an important role in changing the course of people’s lives.

These people have acted as "bridges" to hook others to the Lord by the example of their faith, generosity and love of others.

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Another unique feature in the book is its containing hymns whose lyrics were written by Dr. Udarbe himself and set to music by Elman Caguindangan, Silliman Church organist, and Grace Tabada, coordinator of the UCCP New Hymnal Project. (The printing of the book, by the way, was made possible by a donation from Zonito Torrevillas, a Silliman alumna.) That Dr. Udarbe would write poems – a talent only lately discovered – attests to his creative talent as thinker, preacher, spiritual adviser, lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and his fellowmen.

Dr. Udarbe was born Oct. 29, 1926 in Camalaningan, Cagayan province, and grew up in Cabadbaran, Agusan. He worked as a security guard to support himself through the ministry course at Silliman’s College of Theology and still graduate magna cum laude. He pursued graduate courses in the Central Methodist College in Missouri, San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California, Harvard University in Cambridge. He served as pastor of Silliman Church for 13 years.