2010 Commencement Address

"It’s All About Connections" 
(John 15:5-12)

Presented by Rev. Dr. Glen Stoudt '77
Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology (2004-2009)

I wish I could adequately describe the depth of connection I feel within this seminary community ... to me, like other realities that hint of divine possibility, the best I can possibly do here this afternoon is approximate in our imperfect language the essence of the very breath and pulse of God present among us.  But even though that’s my task today, and admittedly my calling in ministry, it’s not mine alone.  We are a church full of ministers, clergy and lay alike; and sitting among us, right here in the front pews are this year’s graduates of our beloved seminary, with whom we gladly share this calling.  Because no matter what shape our callings take, whether we teach and write, preach and pray, counsel and guide, organize and shape, each of us is charged with this same humble role ... to find meaningful expressions of divine love, in both word and deed, that will excite the minds, touch the hearts, stir the souls, and transform the lives of God’s people. 

Yes, I wish I could adequately describe the depth of this connection I feel with each of you right now, because today you and I together stand on the threshold, over which opens up a world full of divine possibility to experience and express.  That’s our task; that’s our calling; that’s our life-long connection with God and with each other.
 
And we’re in good company.  Throughout the Christian gospels, we hear Jesus doing this very thing, in all kinds of settings and circumstances, and always with great care and grace.  It seems especially pertinent in John’s gospel, where “Word” is the very first name attributed to the Christ.  “In the beginning was the Word.”  And like in Genesis, this Word, God’s active voice, creates life and light, by merely speaking them into being ... and we are the beneficiaries ... we human beings are invited into partnership with the very Word who calls us into being.

By the time we get to Jesus’ farewell address in John’s Gospel, his commencement address of sorts, we’re well acquainted with the integrative power of the incarnate Word – this binding, knitting, weaving, relationship-building capacity of divine love in human expression – and of Jesus’ clear desire to empower us with its purpose.  So when we hear Jesus’ metaphor of vine and branches, we’re already convinced that life is all about connections, beginning with our own connection to the Source of life.  It’s all about connections, and always has been, from the very beginning.

When each of you, like so many of us, first walked through the doors of Bahnson Center, how those connections were going to take shape may have been a mystery, but with each passing day of our years spent here, we awakened to the inevitable:  The Holy One was using our seminary sisters and brothers to help fashion the counsellors, chaplains, pastors, educators, spiritual directors, and faith leaders each of you is becoming.  Some of those personal connections have become friendships which will last a lifetime; others have emerged as future colleagues with whom you will continue to share professional insights and discoveries; a few will remain only a source of memory, reminding us of shared worship and table fellowship, of kitchen conversations and hallway laughter, of quiet prayer and surprising compassion; while others reminding us of animated classroom discussions, heated theological debates, and seemingly irreconcilable doctrinal differences.

Part of what I’ve learned during my years here, is that whatever I might think or believe about something – about anything – there appear to be endless alternate perspectives which co-exist with my own; and it seems like God intends it to be this way.  It’s like everyone of us is a branch unique unto itself, yet every branch is connected to the same vine ... and therefore intertwined out of divine necessity with each other.  And I’ve realized it’s never really been a competition for theological truth ... but rather a collaboration of spiritual discovery.  Your disagreeing with me is, in truth, a gift to me (and vice versa), because it broadens and refines my worldview.  And by God’s grace, our differences show me a better way to include you and all others as partners in this journey – yes, even those I disagree with most.  All because we’re connected at the core of our being, every branch unique, yet every branch connected to the sacred Vine.

Which brings us around again to this reading from John, this Word from Jesus:  I don’t know what you make of this metaphor, the idea that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  For many Christians it helps affirm the vital and necessary connection between God and us, a bond through which everything is possible and without which we are nothing.  It’s a curious image for sure, and certainly one that teases our theological process [or at least, it should].  Because Jesus reminds us that God’s sacred life-force flows through an intentional network of vine and branches, and that sustaining these connections is essential.  Arguably, this may be life’s ultimate purpose:  We are made for relationships.

Regrettably though, for too many, and far too often, this good news is reduced to a singular, private connection between “me and my God,” between “me and Jesus,” between “me and my own people;” and the relational nature of the whole plant – the whole creation – is too quickly forgotten.  Or equally regrettable, that these divinely inspired connections are described solely in exclusive and self-serving terms – that somehow it’s more about “being Christian” than about “being connected.”  Barbara Brown Taylor writes it this way in her recent book, An Altar in the World:  “I am not in charge of this house, and never will be.  I have no say about who is in and who is out.  I do not get to make the rules. ... I am a guest here, charged with serving other guests – even those who present themselves as my enemies.  I (may) resist them, but as long as I trust in one God who made us all, I cannot act as if they are no kin to me.”

  Whatever the gospel writer and Jesus may have meant by “true vine,” and by “fruitless branches being cut and thrown into the fire,” and by “bearing fruit and becoming disciples,” we simply must never overlook the obvious here.  When I give myself permission to see the themes of connection and inclusion here, I awaken to ever expanding possibilities of what Jesus suggests when he talks about branches “abiding” in the vine.

Seven times in these few verses, Jesus encourages us to “abide” (to dwell, to experience our core connection).  Seven times Jesus instructs us to abide in the vine, to abide in his love for us, to abide in God’s love for all.  What Jesus is pointing to here for the Christian community, can and must be applied to the whole of creation.  The fundamental connection which animates all of life is our “abiding” in the Divine.  And as Jesus observes, when branches ignore this connection, we whither, we fall away, we crash and burn.  But when we attend faithfully to this essential union, then Jesus promises fruit-bearing and productivity beyond our wildest imagination.  And from Jesus’ own perspective, the “Father is glorified by this.”
 
When I look out on this graduating class, I feel blessed beyond words to have been connected with you during these few years, and to realize that among Christian sisters and brothers of many different traditions and persuasions, we have intertwined our branches with branches from other faiths.  We have been able to see in each other a common connection to the sacred Vine, the Word of life, the Source of love.

So as you cross this threshold to go forth into your varied ministries, remember these blessed connections you experienced here, and hold tenderly this precious gift you received.  Nurture it, cultivate it, tend it with the Creator’s love, and open your hearts to where it will blossom and bear fruit.  Because no matter what shape your calling takes, you are charged with this humble responsibility – to find meaningful expressions of divine love, in both word and deed, that will excite the minds, touch the hearts, stir the souls, and transform the lives of all God’s people.

May it be so, and may you be blessed.