From the Pastor for June, 2011

Congratulations to the ten graduates of high school and college that are named in this newsletter.  The Bethlehem family joins their parents and teachers, families and friends to express our joy and pride in their achievements.  Our thoughts and prayers go with them on their graduation day and in their future plans.

In addition to school and family graduation activities it may be rewarding in the future to experience another special event known as a baccalaureate service. It is a religious service held at an educational institution or off-campus site.  For example, I gave the baccalaureate message to seniors graduating from Ankeny High School in Iowa a few days before graduation.  At First Lutheran in Iron River Michigan it was customary to invite graduating seniors from West Iron High School to gather at First for worship, a special message, and luncheon in their honor.

The ready information from the Internet indicates that “the Worthington Area Youth Ministers Association  invites the community to the Worthington High School Baccalaureate worship service at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the gymnasium. Members of the senior class will lead their classmates and community members in a service focused on celebrating Christian faith and encouraging students to continue to seek God after graduation. Plan to attend to show your support to graduates. Seniors should meet outside the gym at 6:45 p.m. and wear their gown without their cap or cords.

This annual ceremony is student-led and features the gifts of several senior students. Every senior is welcome to help plan the event. Some students participate in a worship band, read scripture passages, share messages or lead prayers. Other students design the program or Power Point presentation for song lyrics. Local youth ministers help students plan during homeroom or lunch periods, but the students do the majority of the work. Some years the students will ask clergy to be involved with the worship, but other years the students decide to run the entire service on their own.

Plan to make attending the Baccalaureate service an annual event for your family. What a wonderful way to show graduates that you care about their faith journey!”

The Baccalaureate service originated centuries ago and is coming back to numerous college and high school communities.  An idea worth pursuing for next year would be a Baccalaureate service at Bethlehem for our own graduates or an inter-faith Baccalaureate service, or religious service held at an educational institution  in Elgin hosted by sponsoring groups.

To leave you with a bit of inspiration from a Baccalaureate message given by my former pastor Mark Raedecke at Susquehanna University PA, here is his closer.

“Sharon Daloz Parks writes, ‘I have observed, among some of the most talented (graduates), many simply have been lured into elite careers before anyone has invited them to consider the deeper questions of purpose and vocation.’

I think that it is difficult to graduate from a place like Susquehanna University without having encountered those deeper questions. On the outside chance, however, that you have reached this juncture without having considered them, let me urge you to do so now, better late than never. What do you want your life to mean? How are you going to make a difference? How will you invest what the poet Mary Oliver called "your one wild and precious life?"

Have you listened deeply to your life, to your passions, your hopes, those things that touch you, move you, and make your heart sing? Can you imagine yourself being satisfied investing the only life you get in something less than that?

If all you are interested in is making a killing, I pity you. 

If you are interested in making a living, I respect you. 

And if you are interested in making a life, I salute you.