Our daughter Kirsten completed her courses at Baldwin-Wallace this past December, and so is technically graduating this spring. But we are not going to the ceremonies, by her choice. “Mom,” she said, “I don’t want to go through graduation. I’m done, I have things to plan, I’m busy right now with work and everything else.” She has a job, is planning a wedding, and working on moving to England this summer. In her mind, college is already far in the past.I am not a big fan of graduation ceremonies. For some reason they always make me sad. They are a bittersweet time, marking a stage of life that will never come again, yet celebrating the completion of a lot of hard work and effort. The high school graduations of our daughters were both meaningful and I’m glad I was there. But I am not regretting a missed ceremony this spring.
The word graduation stresses the completion aspect of this time. Commencement, on the other hand, reminds us that this is just the beginning. That is more how Kirsten feels. With her education done, she is ready, and more than ready, to move on.
I always think that the disciples never really had a graduation or even a commencement ceremony. They went straight from being followers to leaders. The crucifixion and resurrection were earth-shaking and world-shaping events for them. They brought to an end their time of training and thrust them into mission and ministry. They didn’t have time for a ceremony—they were busy doing things right away.
It is this hectic time of the early church that we are especially looking at this spring. What was going on in their lives? How was Jesus present to them? How had the world changed because Jesus was risen?
And what does this mean for us as disciples? Do we ever graduate? Do we ever commence? We are in the same place as the disciples were who first saw the empty tomb. The good news is always fresh. Jesus is always with us. We have a story to tell others. We never really graduate, because we are never really done. We are always commencing. There is always someone new to share with, a new mission calling to us, a new way of discovering that Jesus is alive and among us.
We will be confirming a group of eighth graders in the coming month. Too often confirmation is looked on as a kind of graduation, and not a commencement. There should never be such a moment in our Christian walk, when we think, “I am done.” We are always beginning. Our theme music is not Pomp and Circumstance, but Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. Every morning is Easter morning from now on. Jesus is alive. Nothing will ever be the same again.
