Graduation and Ascension

May 11, 2010

Dear St. Paul’s Family,

This Sunday afternoon, the Cherokee community will gather at Washington High School to celebrate the graduation of the Class of 2010, including eight from our own youth group. We’ll cheer as they walk across the stage, receive their diplomas, and have their tassels turned to signify a new era. I’m certain that the school did not coordinate this weekend’s graduation festivities with the church’s liturgical calendar. But there does seem to be a connection between the commencement addresses typically heard at graduations with the speech that Jesus gave the disciples on the first Ascension Sunday.

Commencement speeches often seize the significance of the moment and challenge the listeners to rise to the occasion. They call the graduates to see themselves as part of a global community, wherein they are part of the solution for the world’s ills. The speakers widen the graduates’ gaze beyond their own social circle, and tell them, in offering their unique gifts and abilities, they can be part of something greater than themselves. Here are some of the more notable ones offered in recent history, and listen for these common elements:

This is the straight truth. The righteous truth. It's not a theory; it's a fact. The fact is that this generation -- yours, my generation -- we're the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this stupid extreme poverty, where, in a world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it's belly. (Bono, University of Pennsylvania, May 17, 2004)

My good friends, we are all waiting. We are waiting, if not for the Messiah, as such, we are waiting for the messianic moment. And the messianic moment is what each and every one of us tries to build, meaning a certain area of humanity that links us to all those who are human and, therefore, desperately trying to fight despair as humanly as possible and--I hope--with some measure of success. (Elie Wiesel, DePaul University, June 15, 1997)

Whether our world is to be saved from everything that threatens it today depends above all on whether human beings come to their senses, whether they understand the degree of their responsibility and discover a new relationship to the very miracle of being. The world is in the hands of us all. (Vaclav Havel, Harvard University, May, 1995)

And then, there is this speech, offered 2,000 years ago, during a commencement ceremony on a mountain top. Assembled were students of Jesus’ traveling seminary, who had spent more than three years learning, practicing, attempting, failing, and trying again. For this simple band of common people, the world had changed. They were no longer fishermen and tax collectors, they were world-changers-in-the-making. And their time had come. When Jesus stood before them, before he took off into the clouds, he gave his address:

This is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Like all great commencement speeches, Jesus seized the moment. He told the disciples that there were challenges ahead, and that they were to carry the gospel of God’s love to the furthest reaches of the earth, beyond their small social circles. But along the way, they would not be alone, for the Spirit would come upon them. They would receive the Spirit’s power and comfort to achieve great things for the Kingdom, and participate in God’s ongoing project: the healing of the world and redemption of all creation.

This Sunday, we’ll celebrate the lives of these young men and women who forge ahead into an exciting new future. But we will also hear Christ’s commencement address for ourselves, calling us to new commitment and challenge.

See you Sunday!

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA 51012
Ph: 712-225-3955
http://www.cherokeespumc.org




VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Ahoy, mates! Sign up your children for another exciting Vacation Bible School! “High Seas Expedition” takes place from June 14-18 (please note the correct date; previous announcements were incorrect), 9am-12noon, at a cost of $7 per child (ages 3 through completed 5th grade.) Register this Sunday at the VBS table, or simply drop by the church office. Scholarships are also available for anyone in need. The deadline for registration is now this Monday, May 17.

THE NEW COMMUNITY FLOWER GARDEN AT ST. PAUL’S
Plots are available now and you can sign up by contacting the church office, and you can begin planting your flowers. Help turn a portion of our newly acquired property into the beautiful New Life Gardens of Piety Hill.

LAWNMOWING SIGN-UP
Help keep the north lawn trimmed and clean every week throughout the summer. A sign-up sheet is available outside the church office, and we will provide you with the lawnmower and the gas. For more information, contact Al Henn.