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Presented by Wilma Lewis
Managing Associate General Counsel, Freddie Mac
Chairman, Board of Trustees, Moravian Theological Seminary
Members of the Board of Trustees of Moravian Theological Seminary, Dr. Christopher Thomforde, Dr. Frank Crouch, members of the faculty and administration, our honorees – the members of the 2008 graduating class of Moravian Theological Seminary, The Rev. David Wickmann, The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, our student speaker Mary Kategile, my parents and brother Juta, Walter and Warren Lewis, other distinguished guests, relatives and friends – good afternoon.
First, I would like to express my thanks to Dean Crouch and the Commencement Committee for the privilege of serving as the commencement speaker this afternoon. I am very pleased to be here and honored by the invitation. In view of the many jokes made at the expense of lawyers (all unfounded, of course), one might consider it rather curious to have a lawyer addressing individuals with theological training. Indeed, just recently, I learned of yet another warm and endearing tribute to lawyers. It went something like this: Two states – State A and State B – were engaged in a process in which they were selecting those people, entities or things that would occupy their respective state. State A ended up with the dubious distinction of having many toxic waste sites located in the state, while State B was blessed with an abundance of lawyers. The question arose as to how this result came to be – how did State A end up with all of the toxic waste sites and State B with all of the lawyers? The answer – that State A with its toxic waste sites was allowed to choose first. Suffice it to say, I am thankful to Dean Crouch and the Commencement Committee for choosing me for the honor of serving as the commencement speaker, and unlike State A, for choosing me first.
To our honorees — the members of the 2008 graduating class of the Moravian Theological Seminary — I extend warm congratulations and best wishes. We celebrate today an important milestone in the lives of the largest graduating class in the 200-year history of our Seminary. We rejoice with you as we witness your passage into the congregational, counseling, teaching and other ministries to which you have been specially called, and we give God thanks for your resolve to heed that call. Congratulations are in order as well for the members of the faculty and administration of the Seminary. As a result of their dedication and tireless efforts our graduates have received a solid educational foundation that has its roots in the Moravian faith tradition – a tradition which, as described in the Seminary’s mission statement, is “centered in Jesus Christ, grounded in Scripture, ecumenical in spirit, committed to community, and focused on missional leadership.” And finally, I extend congratulations to the family members and friends of our graduates who have encouraged and supported them along the way in order that they might reach this day. We have much to celebrate and for which to give God thanks on this most joyous occasion.
I tend to think of graduations as both a culmination and an inauguration — the culmination of a particular phase of one’s journey through life, and the inauguration of a new and usually more challenging phase. It is on occasions like these that we often reflect upon the past — with its many accomplishments and lessons learned — and contemplate the future and what may lie in store. It is a time to look to the past in celebration of what you have already reaped, and then to the future in anticipation of what you have yet to sow.
And, in looking toward the future, there is much left for you to sow. Indeed, as you stand poised to embark on the next phase of your journey, a world filled with incredible opportunities, but also monumental challenges, awaits you. When I had the privilege of serving as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia several years ago, I became acutely aware of the magnitude of the problems that plague our society because those problems often manifested themselves in some form of criminal activity. The problems of our society are found in the lives of the rich and the poor, black and white, the educated and uneducated, the young and the old, the upstanding and the downtrodden, the famous and the unknown, the great and the small, the churchgoers and the non-believers. As daunting and seemingly insurmountable as the problems often seemed, however, it was gratifying and inspiring to see the transformations in people’s lives and the positive changes in communities effected as a result of the individual and collective actions of ordinary citizens, including members of the faith community.
Society’s issues and problems will undoubtedly land at your doorstep through the lives of the congregants whom you shepherd, the students whom you teach, the clients whom you counsel, and the larger communities that you serve. In the words of Roy Pearson, you will encounter “the beaten and the broken, the hungry and the harried, the sad and the sorrowing, the lost and the lonely.” There will be those who may have lost their grip on life’s meaning; those who are soured by the thought that life has not bestowed on them the living that they deserve; and those whose actions reflect a jealousy of the blessings that God has bestowed on, or the work that God has done through other people. Yes, as you look to the future, an incredibly challenging world awaits you -- one that is in dire need of your service and that can be positively influenced by your actions.
But pondering the past and contemplating the future are not enough. The renowned poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” The key component of your reflections should, therefore, be an element of introspection – a careful examination of what lies within each of you.
As you engage in your personal self-examination, it is my hope that you will search and find within you INNER STRENGTH — the kind of inner strength that compels you to develop and use your God-given talents to achieve your greatest potential in pursuing the ministries to which you have been called; the kind of inner strength that embodies the will to make good things happen. I speak of an inner strength that fuels the drive and motivation that will cause you to assume not a passive, but a proactive role in helping to positively influence the lives that you touch — especially those of our younger generation. You can influence those live by helping to define the path that they will take, the choices they will make, the character that they will bring to life’s tasks, and the principles that will shape their world. In other words, I hope you will find an inner strength that will be a catalyst for the kind and caliber of service that will contribute in a meaningful and constructive way to addressing some of the ills of our society, and that will make a positive difference in the small corner of the world that you touch.
I hope that you will search and find within you COURAGE — the courage to face the tough challenges; to weather the inevitable storms; and to rebound and press on despite setbacks and disappointments. I hope you will find the kind of courage that will permit you to allow the high moral principles, values and standards that are ingrained in your character to guide your actions and shape your world; the kind of courage that compels you to do the right thing, despite the inevitable temptations and even when you stand alone; the kind of courage that gives you the will never to compromise your well-grounded principles and values, and what you know to be true — always remembering the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
And finally, I hope that you will search and find within you a deep and abiding FAITH in God Almighty — a faith that will keep you ever mindful of the popular refrain that the will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you; a faith that allows you, when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges, to recognize that with God all things are possible; a faith that allows you, as the saying goes, to “turn weakness into strength, obstacles into stepping stones, and disaster into triumph.” It is my hope that you will find within you the kind of faith that will allow you to echo the words of Eugenia Finn:
I shall have faith though a mountain may stand,
Seeming impossible; at His command
I shall go forward expecting that He,
Who promised a pathway, will clear one for me.
I shall have faith though an ocean may rise,
Hiding the opposite shore from my eyes.
I shall not falter, for I have been shown
That God never fails to take care of His own.
I shall have faith, placing all I hold dear
Under His care; there is nothing to fear;
Night has no terrors; storms cannot appall;
Shadows are veils that the sunbeams let fall
Dawn scatters darkness; it brings a new day
And I shall have faith because God walks my way.
I hope that as you enter this next phase in your lives — as you open new doors, venture into uncharted seas, and confront new challenges — that you will allow what lies within you to be your constant companion, inspiration and guide. This world needs the best that you have to offer. Drawing upon all that is within you, you undoubtedly will be able to give your very best, and the very best, in turn, will come back to you.
I thank you and may God bless you all.
Wilma A. Lewis |
