LCU “Commencement” Reflections: And so it begins?

Photo by Jodie Merritt

The 2020 and 2021 LCU graduation ceremonies are in the books. What a great day it was celebrating all of the accomplishments of our students. I am so proud of them all. (However, there were some students who I was extra proud of because I really didn’t think they would graduate, for a variety of reasons. Wow, I love those stories. I love their perseverance.) Well done.

It is this day that I live for as a professor. I regularly tell prospective students and their parents that when they step onto the campus of LCU as a new student, I am already planning for and thinking of this day. I begin with their “end” in mind. I am focused on the end of their LCU experience when they walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. That is the goal. But it’s not really the end.

Graduation marks the ability to meet the requirements in order to receive a diploma at the end of this stage of a student’s journey. Graduation is awesome. It is a celebration. It is a giant relief of stress, pressure, and weight. No more assignments. No one telling us what books to read. We finally find ourselves at the finish line of this leg of the journey. But time at LCU is just that, a leg, a short chapter in a long story. It does mark the end. In reality, it marks the beginning.

Commencement isn’t a ceremony that celebrates “finally being able to make it to the end” like a marathon runner crawling to the finish line. Whew!! On the contrary, commencement means beginning or start. It’s the celebration of the next chapter. It’s the gun the fires marking the start of the next race! What are you going to do now?

What really matters after your LCU education, formation, and training is what happens AFTER this day: the next chapter; the next leg.

Mathew records Jesus saying at the conclusion of what we call the sermon on the mount, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock (7:24). As students and especially as Christ-followers, it matters what we put into practice instead of what we just know and understand. As disciples of Jesus is matters how we live today and tomorrow, not just what we accomplished yesterday.

It is a privilege to be able to be a short part of the lives of these students. I am so honored. As a professor, I have taught (and learned with) some incredible people over the last four years (and the last 20). How cool is it that I can rub shoulders with servant leaders in the Kingdom of God? What a joy!

So commencement means: On your mark. Get set. Go and make disciples.. .live your lives in ways that honor Jesus in everything you do (no matter what degree you received). Fully engage in the Kingdom of God as his leading servants. Be a part of bringing light to darkness, rightness to wrong situations, joy to despair. And do it creatively, with all the energy that Christ brings.

Know this: I am cheering you on toward love and good deeds. You got this!!!!