A Graduation Message

This weekend at least one ELCA seminary is celebrating graduation - and I happen to have a soft spot for a lot of this year's graduates. Although I don't miss being a full-time member of a seminary faculty even a little bit, I do miss the students. It was a joy to experience their passion, intelligence, curiosity, frustration, honesty, doubts, and hopefulness on a daily basis. I miss that. I miss learning with and from them. Even when the traditional (if unhelpful) faculty/student divide had the potential of creating an awkward wariness, many of them were among my most respected colleagues and good friends. It's a wondrous thing to see them, now, spilling out into the church as leaders and pastors and missionaries and teachers. I felt the same way last year at this time and, in response to a request from a regular F Word reader, I wrote A Message To The Graduates. He wanted to know the top five things I'd say to a graduating class. I gave him 10. They still work, I think. So, for all you seminary graduates out there, getting ready to follow wherever Jesus leads, remember... 

1. This is God's gig. 

Don't ever forget that everything you are being called to do happens within the framework of God's dream for the world. God made the world. God loves the world. God is at work in the world today. In fact, God is on a loving mission to save, bless, heal, set free, and reconcile the world. And God works through ordinary people to get that done. That might not seem like the best plan but it's God's plan. And God will see it done. In fact, God has already seen it done. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven has come near!" And, make no mistake, it IS coming. It comes to us every single day. Let this fill you with hope and energy and courage and joy. Let it be the first thing you think about every morning and the thought that blesses you before you fall asleep each night. 

2. Jesus has left the building. 

That doesn't mean Jesus isn't "in" the building when we get together, as the church, to swap stories about what God has been up to and to share the Lord's supper and to encourage each other in our callings. But Jesus came in the first place because "God so loved the world." You will be tempted for all kinds of reasons to get caught up in building, maintaining, growing, renewing, serving, or (worse yet) working for "the church" (by which I mean the institution). You will be SURROUNDED by people - in your congregations, in your synods, and across the institution - who ARE caught up in those things. Resist this temptation with all your might. And remember this: You do not serve a temple god. God is on the loose out there! Jesus calls us to follow him to the crossroads (Matthew 4:12-22). That means you, too. Your job "in here" is to make sure the church (by which I mean the people!) is equipped for mission & ministry "out there." (Read Ephesians 4:11-12 as often as you need to be reminded of this.) But that's just your job. And there are LOTS of jobs you could do. But your call, as a disciple & follower of Jesus, is to BE the church wherever you live & play & shop & vote & invest your money & serve on the school board & march for justice & love your neighbors. Don't mix the two things up. Don't let the JOB (or your paycheck or your pension or any of the things that come with it) become more important than your CALL. 

3. You are in the change business. 

Because that's the business God is in. Jesus did not send his disciples out to maintain museum-like buildings, prepare predictable sermons, or facilitate mind-numbing meetings about insignificant and distracting issues. Show me one time when Jesus got all worked up about whether or not they knew the proper way to hold their hands during public prayers or what that little dish is called you put the Communion wafers in. And he sure as hell didn't give them permission to coddle people. Jesus sent his disciples out to cure the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons! And they were to begin this work among people in "the house of Israel." Your job, within congregations and institutions, is to be a change agent among the people you are called to serve. And THAT means in every single thing that you say and do you are to be setting people free...free from sin, death, and the devil...free from the past...free from tradition...free from fear...free from ignorance and prejudice and intolerance...free from any and everything that could kill them...so that they can love God and serve their neighbors...so that, through them, God can change the world. Do not blunt this message. And do not underestimate its power! Expect God to work miracles through these words. Expect congregations & institutions to be turned inside out. Expect people's lives to be transformed. 

4. Change begins with you. 

No one will believe a single thing you say about freedom unless they see you living like a free person. And no one's going to care how much you know "about" God...unless they believe that you KNOW God. First of all, this means they have to be able to see and know YOU. If you picked up a mask along the way of earning this degree, smash the damn thing to smithereens before you leave this campus. Be a REAL person...because, by God, that's the only way ANY of this stuff will be real to people through you. It might take counselling for you to get there. It might take hanging out at the local pool hall on the weekends. I'm pretty sure it'll mean ditching the title and the collar and the "god voice." Do whatever it takes. But, second, this means that God has to be REAL to you. Real enough that you're willing to do whatever it takes to get the good news out. Real enough that you're willing to put your career and your life on the line for what you believe. Real enough that you're willing to tell the truth - about the Bible, for example, and about what a radical Jesus really was and about the way he loved MOST the people we find it easiest to hate. Real enough that you're willing to LEAD even when you feel like running away. It's possible that you've spent so much time reading and writing ABOUT God over these last years, that you've forgotten God is alive and at work! Maybe you've done so much talking about God that you can hardly believe God might have something to say TO you and THROUGH you. You might be afraid, especially out loud, to ask questions like "What is God up to here?" or "What does God want us to be doing in this situation?" or "What do we hear God saying to us about this issue?" Don't be. Those questions - and a willingness to really wrestle with them - will be the most important thing you take with you into every single situation. 

5. Being a change agent within "the church" can be the most grueling job on the planet. 

Something has to die in order for there to be new life. Some people and some congregations simply do not want to live. And hardly anybody - especially those with institutional power - ever really wants to die. This will be more painful to you than I can describe. And even the "good" changes will be hard. There will be grief. And, at every single step, you'll need to be ready for a fight. 

6. It can be the most rewarding. 

People's lives will be changed forever. And so will yours. 

7. #5 and #6 can happen within moments of each other. 

Take the long view. Keep your eye on the prize. And remember your call to follow Jesus. Sometimes it's the only thing you have. 

8. No one has all the answers. 

You may not want to hear this right now but you're probably the last generation of church leaders to be trained the way you've been trained. The reality is that "the church" as we know it is dying...and needs to die. No one really has any idea what will replace it. And I know you've just spent somewhere between 2 and 10 years working to get to this point. But the hard truth is that your degree has not prepared you for what you're about to face out there. The good news is that your degree proves you're teachable. So, if you're wise, you'll respect the people you're going to serve. You're going to need them. You have a few things to teach them. But they have far more to offer you. You will very rarely be the smartest, most gifted, most courageous, most generous, most creative, or most faith-filled person in the room. Be thankful for that. And you will never know more about the context you are called to work in than the people who live there. We don't know exactly what lies ahead. But we do know that we can no longer act like the church = pastor + building. Pastors & professional church leaders can no longer pretend like they are "expert Christians" (i.e. the only ones with anything important to say and the only ones qualified to "do ministry"). And lay people can no longer afford to pay someone else to do their job for them. We need to work together as we go forward because God plans to do big things through us...plural. Let's act like it. 

9. Listen to the questions. 

Jesus didn't have a "one size fits all" approach to people. He answered the questions people had, whatever those questions happened to be. Can you heal me? Where is the well that will never run dry? Is it my fault that something's wrong with my child? Who is my neighbor? Why weren't you here when my brother was dying? What should I do about paying my taxes? Is there more to life than collecting "stuff?" Is God listening? The education you have received here has been pretty good at teaching answers to questions that people were asking 500 years ago. Maybe they're still asking those questions in the place you'll be called to serve. But probably not. In order to find out, you'll have to dive into the context. Imagine, as you go, that you are a missionary called to serve in a foreign land...because the truth is, you WILL be a foreigner wherever you go. Prepare to learn a whole new language. Respect the culture. Get yourself a good guide. And trust that, even if you don't know the answers to the questions people today are asking, God does. The "good news" Jesus came to bring es so WAY bigger than "your sins are forgiven." Ask the Holy Spirit to speak the good news that people really need to hear through you. You'll need Her. 

10. Love is the bottom line. 

Let yourself fall in love with the people, their neighborhoods, and your new context. Nothing you say or do will make any difference unless you do. Love changes people. God's love has changed me. I know it has changed you, too. (I know this because you survived seminary and there can be no other explanation for that!) And love is, finally, the bottom line: "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" 

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Congratulations, everyone! I'm looking forward to working with you in this church for the sake of God's dream in & for the world. Have a GREAT weekend!