Our daughter, Eden, recently graduated from the University of Dayton. As part of the commencement address, President Eric Spina riffed on the university’s mission statement: Learn. Lead. Serve. He spoke about the importance of their continuing to learn and grow in knowledge and compassion, challenged them to use what they have learned at Dayton to become the next generation of leaders, and how crucial it will be for them to use their gifts and talents to serve one another, their communities, and the world.
These were good words for an arena full of graduates on the brink of new adventures and discoveries, and equally important imperatives for family and friends in the room. Humans are wired to be in a continuous cycle of learning, leading, and serving. Maya Angelou famously said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
One of the misconceptions we often stumble into is when we reach certain milestones in our journey—confirmation, bar and bat mitzvah, graduation, vocational success, and retirement—and we think we are done learning, leading, and serving. But these are not occasions to matriculate out of learning and growing in faith, hope, and love. Rather, they are steps across a threshold into a new territory in the house of Love!
If you haven’t noticed, many of our weekly Bible study sessions are wrapping up for the spring and will be on hiatus for the summer. This isn’t because we believe that learning stops with the school calendar—quite the opposite! Instead, we hope these summer months will provide fresh opportunities for all of us to encounter God’s activity in a variety of alternate ways. Get outside. Read a book. Attend a concert. Jump into an online Bible study. Nap. Journal. Travel. Meet a friend for a delicious beverage. Each of these moments provides occasions for self-care, as well as instances to learn something new, create new patterns, and care for others.
I stumbled on a poem/prayer from Meta Herrick Carlson some weeks ago and I can’t stop reflecting on the power of her words. It is intended for graduates but has encouragement and fuel for us all.
You have been shaped by the requirements of progress and adolescent freedom,
but these statistics and awards are not all of who you are. Not even close.
Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not,
we are helping God keep the promises that extend beyond what you can do and earn in this world.
We remember your first and forever name: Beloved Child of God.
No matter how far you wander in any direction, we will remember what is already and always true.
You are already and always enough. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.
You are more than one thing to God and to us. So graduate from some things, but not everything. Not this.
Dear friend, wherever you find yourself during this season, I pray that you continue learning, lean into leading, and seek ways to be a servant. Not only are these at the heart of the Christian story and call, but this is also where we discover our deepest joys as we encounter the living God.
Even more than that, I hope you can join the generations in saying, “I praise you God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14.
Leaning into whatever is next,
Pastor Lowell