For graduates everywhere, this is an exciting season of celebration and many transitions.
It is a time to anticipate the future as well as reflect on the past. It is a time to experience the satisfaction of accomplishment and yet it is also an occasion of loss of the familiar. Above all, things change upon graduation and there is an abundance of advice from many sources about life and how to live it.
Of all the wise and helpful words that can be shared at graduation time, I believe there is none more basic and none more easily forgotten in the busyness of life, than something I learned even before I completed kindergarten.
You probably even know the song. It goes like this, ‘Jesus loves me this I know…? I am loved and accepted by God no matter what career path I take; no matter how much I achieve or how much money I make; no matter if I go to college or go to work; no matter who I marry or if I marry.
These simple words, ‘Jesus loves me this I know?? assure me that God will love and forgive me no matter what mistakes I make along the journey of life.
And above all, they let me know that God desires to have a loving relationship with me. God is faithful and will always be there for me.
When I base my life on this fundamental trust in God’s goodness and grace I am free from having to always prove my basic worth and value as a person.
I am free to mold my life around God’s will and purpose, and to follow Jesus? example.
I am free to do everything I can to grow in love towards God and others (see the Great Commandment in Mark 12:28-31).
I am free to try new things and to fail and learn and be all that I can be.
And the best news of all is that I am free to do this not so God will love and accept me, but because of it.
God never promises we will have an easy life if we stay close to him and follow his way, but he does promise that our life will have purpose and depth, and that we will not be alone. That is enough for me.
Recently I shared with the graduates at Calvary Lutheran a word of blessing and challenge. I have adapted it from something I found called simply ‘A Franciscan Blessing.?
For me it captures what is different about a life lived with and for Jesus. It is about so much more than just being religious.
It is a different way of going about life that goes deeper. It is not the easy way, but I believe it is God’s way and I hope you will consider it no matter how long ago you graduated, or if you ever did.
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. Amen.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.
May God bless you with the assurance of his amazing grace, that you may always know that nothing can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
The Rev. Jonathan Heierman is pastor of Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church.