As several hundreds of gathered friends and family stood to sing “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty who rules all creation”, a procession led by one of the largest graduating classes in the past 10 years of VST history made its way to the front of Shaughnessy Heights United Church. Although not all were able to attend the evening’s ceremony, thirty-four graduates from across Canada and the US, as well as one graduate from New Zealand, earned Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees preparing them for various forms of pastoral and public leadership in Church and society. Many are ready for ordination and various lay ministries, while others have plans to continue on in graduate and doctoral studies.
The Reverend Dr. Edwin Searcy gave a powerful and timely convocation address, speaking candidly of his ‘chronic, manageable, and incurable’ cancer diagnosis, reminding graduates that: “energy to live richly in the midst of grief and ache, loss and anxiety does not come from having reserves of cash or plenty of smarts or good connections with the right people. Energy to live into the future comes from placing all your bets on God… It is as simple and as risky as speaking and acting and living all the while trusting that the future is God’s.”
This sense of the risks of faithful Christian leadership was echoed in the words of the Reverend Dr. Richard Topping, who gave the final “text to the graduates” in the form of several of Jesus’ parables. From these “immoderate and risky” texts, Topping warned our graduates:
“Don’t let yourself be house-broken, domesticated; don’t settle for anything less than giving your life to the great crisis of the in-breaking Kingdom of heaven.”
With the VST choir’s rousing rendition of Ken Medema’s spiritual, “Lord, Listen to Your Children”, which first brought the graduates, and then the whole congregation to their feet to clap and sing along, Convocation proved to be a spirit-infused sending of VST’s 2012 graduates onward into the promise of their emerging aspirations.
“Bless now, O God, the journey” the gathered community sang as the graduates recessed out of the sanctuary that evening. Indeed, our fine graduates of 2012, may your journeys be blessed with the always un-anticipatable, ever-surprising, and unquestionably faithful presence of God.