Sterling College Class of 2019
The Invocation
Katherine Cavassos, Landee Gutshall, Allysa Hershey, Kaitlynn Little, Mike Merriweather, Estephany Moncada, Rolando Phalen, Abby Reed, Shelby Stowe, Micah Watney.
Dear Lord,
In the words of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar of Mark 10, I cry out to you on behalf of these 2019 Sterling College graduates:
Jesus, son of David, Have Mercy on them!
Not for silver or gold, not for success, but for Mercy, oh Lord, we invoke you. For myself too, O Lord, have Mercy as I pray this prayer and invoke your presence here today: Father, I bring before you these graduates of 2019, and I pray upon them our SC Verse of the Years: Ephesians 2.10. I pray that they would come to know that they are Your workmanship:
Created in Christ Jesus to do good works
which You prepared in advance for them to do.
I pray that they would know that you created them in your own image
That you created them male and female, so as to reflect this image here on earth.
I pray that they would know that they are being transformed more and more into your Image, as Paul tells us, the more time they spend with you, gazing at your Glory. (2 Cor. 3.18).
I pray that they would know that their present troubles will be vastly outweighed by an Eternal Weight of Glory that you have place upon their shoulders, and that they would begin to recognize this Weight— this divine Image — -resting upon the least significant person around them. I pray that they would recognize this Weight — in more and more ways, and in more and more people as they grow closer to you:
As Kaitlynn Little did, when she ran a marathon for a 6-year-old girl who could not walk, and placed her trophy around the little girl’s neck.
Or like Mike Merriweather, who attempts to reflect your glory not just on the football field, but in the choir, and in your demand for racial reconciliation.
Or in Estephany Moncada, as she reflects your concern for those struggling academically or writing research essays for demanding English professors, or for those will be needing a legal voice in their struggle against oppression.
In Abby Reed and Rolando Phalen, who run for your glory because you made them fast,
and Micah Watney who sees your glory in the strange and awful characters he invokes on stage.
In Landee Gutshall who sub-creates your Creation at the end of a paint brush
or Catharine Cavassos who sees the Weight your Glory in the developmentally disabled.
In Alyssa Hershey who sings your Glory in six languages — and through a French Horn,
and Shelby Stowe, who calls us to play Chess and eat Donuts for both your glory — and our fun.
Father I pray for these and for every graduating senior — -that they would continue to offer themselves back to you as your poems, your workmanship, your creations. I pray that they would discover, as they walk off this campus, the good works which you have prepared each one of them to do.
I pray that this would become for them, in the words of your servant Gary Thomas, a Sacred Search — -a search not just for a career, but a search for sacred relationships; relationships in which the Weight of your Glory is recognized.
And finally, I pray, as our chaplain, Dean Jaderston encouraged us last night, that these graduates would not go out from here like the lame beggar in Acts 6, crying for gold and silver, but like Blind Bart, in Mark 10, crying for healing and restoration of your image in their lives.
I pray this In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen.
