Of all the disruptions that our country has faced with Covid-19, I think one that touches about every home in some way or another is the cancelling of commencement ceremonies and graduation activities. In a nod to missing this rite of passage, many media outlets are presenting grads with celebrity addresses and columns. One of the most creative I’ve seen so far: John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” web program where he brought on Steven Spielberg, Oprah, Jon Stewart, and Malala Yousafzai to personally answer questions posed by current grads. I know other outlets, like Facebook, have produced gradstravaganzas with other world-class achievers. But I got to thinking about celebrity commencement speakers. And then I thought: What about God? What would God say to the graduating class of 2020 considering what this class is facing?
My mind got to having some fun with that exercise, then my mind started writing down the exercise. So…
With His wonderful sense of humor, I can hear God opening with a joke, like most speakers do. And I can imagine it being something like: “I know. You were expecting me to look like George Burns or Morgan Freeman. This glowing cloud will have to do.”
I can imagine God stating that He has very much looked forward to seeing you as part of this year’s graduating class, that He has looked forward to this moment in time in that He has known you since you were knitted in your mother’s womb (and longer).
I can hear God saying to you that just like other children of His who graduated, in their case from wilderness wanderings to move into a promised land, that you are His treasured possession.
God might point out, however, that today’s grads, rather than wandering out of the wilderness, appear to be embarking into the wilderness, taking the first steps in your new era of life while our globe faces one of the worst things a fallen world can dish out: a contagious and deadly disease. I can hear God reassuring you by quoting words from His own Son: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. I can hear God following that up with a predictive word spoken about His Son: He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases. At that point, God might simply pause and let those words sink in.
God might mention that He’s actually been giving mini-graduation speeches to individuals and groups for a long time…from Moses, to Gideon, to Jeremiah, to Jesus’ apostles. In each instance, the “graduates” were at a critical juncture in life when God was calling them to some great task. And like graduates today, or any day, these people were timid, nervous, and felt very inadequate. But in every graduation speech to these people, God gave them a rock-solid promise: He would be with them. And he is saying that to the class of 2020 today. You are no doubt nervous, timid, and perhaps feeling inadequate for the tasks before you. For college and many high school graduates you may be wondering if there will be a job for you. For college-bound high school graduates, despite all your planning and acceptance letters and making that tuition deposit, you may be wondering if there will be a college there for you. And if so, what will it be like? God might say to you exactly what he’s said to others facing similar unknowns: He will be with you.
And of course, God might announce to you helpful gifts available to you as you take steps into world-wide disruption, gifts in fact, that have been given to you by God, your commencement speaker (a la Robert Smith, CEO of Vista Equity Partners, commencement speaker at Morehouse College in 2019, who erased all the student debt of the graduating class).
God’s Gifts:
- Wisdom: A gift God gives generously, and which may be your most practical gift in navigating worldwide disruption.
- Joy: Something God arranged to actually be forged out of difficult circumstances, a forging that will give you perspective for enduring those difficulties.
- Peace: This gift is readily accessible and it’s not like any peace you’ve ever seen. This peace provides a miraculous calm that is hard to understand.
- Comfort: This gift is part of God’s DNA and is a necessity for this world; it’s a gift that you will naturally want to share with others.
- Courage: This will give you the bravery to step into the unknowns.
- Strength: As a follow-up to courage, this gift will give you the fortitude to accomplish anything you step into.
- A Transcript: And of course, God will give you a copy of His notes. However, God’s commencement address is a Cliffs Notes-like version of everything He wants to share with you; the full version of all He’d like to share can be found between Genesis and Revelation.
I can hear God reminding you that if you allow Him to work with you and through you that you will be able to accomplish far more than if you worked alone, that you and God together can accomplish even more than you could imagine in your loftiest, wildest dreams.
Through all the upcoming uncertainty and blind navigation, I can hear God assuring you, as He did through Jude, that He will keep you from falling.
And in closing, God would quite naturally give a benediction, and it might be the benediction that we often hear as a wishful prayer. But in this case, it’s God saying it to us not as a wish, but as a promise:
I will bless you and keep you.
I will make My face shine upon you.
I will be gracious to you.
I will turn My face toward you.
I will give you peace.
Then God, the ever-gracious guest, might express appreciation for the invitation and thank everyone for listening.
Now, throw those hats!
Appendix:
Genesis 17, 18
Psalm 139:13
Ephesians 1:4
John 16:33
Isaiah 53:4
Exodus 3:6-12
Judges 6:11-16
Jeremiah 1:4-8
John 14-17
James 1:5
James 1:2-4
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
Ezra 7:28
Judges 16:28
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Ephesians 3:20-21
Jude 1:24-25
Numbers 6:22-26