Invocation
JACK KUSZAJ: Please join me for a moment of silence before our invocation. Spirit of good endings and better beginnings, as we gather here to celebrate the remarkable journey we have shared with the Wheaton College Class of 2009, we are acutely aware of our blessings. The privilege of teaching and learning in this place, the freedom to challenge ourselves and each other, the courage to step out of our comfort zones and risk the big questions; questions of meaning, of relationship, and of responsibility.
But most of all, we're grateful for the blessings of community, of friends, family and the extended Wheaton community gathered here, and for those who are with us also only in spirit. There is no book that can teach us what we have learned from each other, especially from those whose experience and perspective differ dramatically from our own. Community, diversity, freedom and risk-taking--these are the hallmark of a truly higher education.
Grateful for these gifts received, we ask today for the additional blessings of balance as we straddle the community we have been and the diaspora we are about to become.
We look around us at the people who have held our hands and worked our nerves faithfully for four long, life-changing years, and surely our hearts skip a beat. Yet we also look ahead with joy, anticipation, and ultimately with the confidence that we are all prepared for the future we are about to inherit.
As faculty and staff, family and friends, we know that we have done what we can to enlighten, cajole and inspire. Today we need an extra portion of grace because the time has come for us to trust, let go, and be inspired in our turn.
As the Class of 2009 moves on to the great adventure beyond the Wheaton Bubble, grant them courage, love and joy in abundance. Protect them from cynicism and complacency, and keep them ever mindful that the world is theirs, but that they are not the world.
The blessings they have received here come with strings attached. May they always consider the impact their personal and professional choices will have on the world and the people around them, and may they work tirelessly to leave that world better than they found it.
They have been a blessing to us. Now we bless them on their way. Amen.
