Gathering Words at Graduation

Here are opening words for a time of graduation. They come from A Preacher Musing.

Opening Words for a Graduation Celebration

We gather this day,
to acknowledge a threshold moment—
a thin place
between what’s been and what’s to be—
between what’s been studied, learned, and accomplished,
and all the more there is to study and learn and do.

It is so very good to mark growth in celebration,
and then so very good as well,
to celebrate having further to grow—
to note a mile-marker on the longer way
and to take joy both in the distance traveled
and the distance yet ahead.

Bless this liminal time and space
and those who stand in thresholds
looking back and looking ahead.

May it be with a sense of both gratitude and anticipation.
May it be with an awareness
of how we grow our life long with our whole person—
our minds, bodies, spirits, and emotions.

And may it be with a profound sense
of what it means to place our way
(where we’ve been and where we’re going)
within the way of Jesus.


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