The Hope and Joy of the Journey
Horace W. Fleming
Baccalaureate Sermon, Mercer University
Willingham Chapel
May 9, 2008
From where I usually sit on the platform at our commencements, I have a clear view of the graduates seated before us in the center sections of the auditorium and the faculty, who are seated on the right and left sides of our graduates. As our graduates’ names are called, each walks forward and passes across the platform in front of me. They take their diploma and shake the hand of the president. Now and again, I turn back in time to catch a smile on the face of a faculty colleague as a name is called. And I see another colleague following the names carefully in the program. I see another make a comment to a seat-mate and then both look up and watch with pride as a graduate crosses the platform. It is at these moments that I sense what has occurred here, the sharing that has taken place among us. And I see smiles on the faces of parents, grandparents, other family members, and friends. I wish that each of you could take my seat tomorrow and see what I will see.
I want to share with you a short verse.
Some people come into our lives
and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never ever the same.
Some people come into our lives
and quickly go . . . Some stay for a while
and embrace our silent dreams.
They celebrate the true essence
of who we are . . .
and have faith in all that we may become.
Some people awaken us
to new and deeper realizations . . .
Throughout our lives we are sent
precious souls . . .
meant to share our journey
However brief or lasting their stay,
They remind us why we are here.
To learn . . . to teach . . . to nurture . . . to love.
Some people come into our
lives to teach us about love . . .
the love that rests within ourselves.
Let us reach out to others
and feel the bliss of giving
For love is far richer in action
Than it ever is in words.
Some people come into our lives
and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never, ever the same.
Graduates, the people who have come into your lives and traveled with you on your journey to this time and place are seated around you this afternoon—loving parents and family members, friends, and teachers.
I believe that the purposes of higher education are two-fold: first, to learn for the sake of learning, to enrich our lives through understanding of the world around us and, second, to gain the skills and hone the talents necessary for making our way in life and sustaining ourselves. At Mercer, however, we value equally a third purpose: that of aiding you to further explore your spirituality and to consider your life’s work and purpose as a calling. And to this end, we have provided you a number of opportunities to link classroom and laboratory learning with real world issues and experiences. I have been inspired as I have heard some of you relate your experiences in our recently-inaugurated Mercer on Mission program, by the way that you have taken advantage of our service learning and leadership programs, by opportunities you have taken to serve in student government, and by the work many of you continue to do in your home communities and churches.
George Herbert writes this, in his poem The Elixir.
Teach me, my God and King,
In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything,
To do it as for Thee.
Psalm 15 that was read earlier is a call to the kind of life we should lead, one that is forthright, truthful, compassionate, faithful to God’s teachings, and one that is centered on others, not upon ourselves. In our reading of Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, we heard the command to not only to heed God’s call in our own lives but to live out our faith so that others may see clearly in word and deed our acts of faith.
In Galatians, Chapter 6, we are called to restore those who have fallen and do it with humility. We are called to bear one another’s burdens and bear our own with grace.
And we are called to witness and to teach in all good things and not to be weary in well-doing, for “in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
The call is to a life of service. Indeed, the happiness and the joy of our journey in life are actually the by-products of the kind of life we live, not the goals and not the destination.
My wife and I have two children, a daughter Susan (the oldest) and a son Patrick. By the time each of them was ready for college, we had hope—like all of the parents here today—that that we had taught them well—that we had taught them the value of faith, hard work, honesty, and compassion, to work hard, to learn, to care about others, and to find the kind of life’s work that would give them joy and purpose, to heed God’s call in their lives.
Our daughter Susan convinced us that parenting was not so difficult after all, so when she was ready to leave for school, we didn’t think she needed to hear more advice from us. She was ready for that stage of her journey. On the other hand, when our son Patrick was ready to leave home for college, I—perhaps a typical father dealing with a typical son—thought that maybe I had forgotten to tell him something that I should have. But I couldn’t think of what that might be. So I just said to him: Always remember who you are. I don’t know how I came up with that. But I am happy to report that both Susan and Patrick have found their callings, and we are pleased. Susan is a CPA practicing in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She spends considerable time as a volunteer helping to manage an animal rescue program there. Patrick is a captain in the U. S. Army and will soon be leaving for his second tour of duty in Iraq.
There comes a time when we parents have done all we can. When I told Susan and Patrick that I was giving these remarks today, Susan had some thoughts for me. Patrick sent an email: “Do a good job, and remember who you are; you are Patrick’s dad.” There is a lesson in that for me—and for all of us parents and grandparents. We should always bring, in our own lives, honor to our children, as they honor us.
There are too many things that can turn us aside from our missions. Among the most destructive is what we too often experience around us: a lifestyle of self-indulgence and an attitude of arrogance.
If I like it, it's mine.
If I can take it from you, it's mine.
If I had it a while ago, it's mine.
If I say it's mine, it's mine.
If it looks like it, it's mine.
If I saw it first, it's mine.
If you're having fun with it, it's definitely mine.
If you lay it down, it’s mine
If it’s broken, it’s YOURS!
So, who are you?
This we know:
You are made in the image of God. You are a child of God. You are precious in His sight.
You are a child of loving parents and grandparents.
You are a beloved sister, a beloved brother.
You are a loyal and devoted friend.
You are gifted.
You are a person of integrity.
You are a person who can be trusted.
You speak the truth and you stand for what is right.
You are a person of faith.
Your life matters.
And you are a Mercerian.
This, I believe, is who you are.
Recently, we did a survey of graduating students to learn what your plans are. Many of you are going on to graduate and professional schools. Some of you will enter military service. Others of you have jobs waiting for you. And some of you have wedding plans.
Seven of you are entering the Teach for America program, a highly-selective, highly-competitive program that places students in classrooms to work with young people in some of the more economically-distressed communities in our nation. One of you will join another five Mercer alumni who have preceded you in the Peace Corps. Another graduate will leave shortly after commencement for mission work in Uganda. Three others will begin studies for the ministry, and two others will enter the mission field—one to work in Appalachia and the other to work on a Native American reservation in the northwest.
Here is what two of these students have said about their calling to these endeavors.
“While at Mercer, I realized the vast inequity that exists in America’s public education system. I know that our generation can stop the cycle of poverty, and I wanted to do something to help these children who so often have no one working on their behalf.”
“After I leave this earth, I want it to be said that I’ve given all that I could to make our society better than it was when I came into it.”
To my faculty and staff colleagues: Well done! To all of you, well done indeed!
And now, our graduates, as we part, I pray that God will sustain you in all that you do; that tomorrow will be all you want it to be and that all your dreams come true. I pray that God will comfort you, help you to conquer your fears, and guide you in ways that will exceed anything you ever could imagine.
And, I want you to do this. I want you to:
Dance as though no one is watching
Love as though you've never been hurt
Sing as though no one can hear you and
Live as though heaven is here on earth.
God bless you on your journey.