Parish Missions

Valedictory and Commencement

This is the season of valedictories and commencements. The root meaning of one is farewell; the root meaning of the other is beginning. Yet traditionally both look back as well as look forward. This Sunday’s Scriptures invite that dual imagery.

The Scriptures’ valedictory cannot simply look back. Though tradition is to be valued and has much to teach us, it cannot be allowed to stifle the future. The disciples in Jerusalem understood that reality. The dispute that arose over the ritual of circumcision caused “no little dissension and debate.” It was in fact a deeply divisive issue. But a ritual of the past was not to short-circuit the harmony of the community as it moved into the future. Turning to the realization that change can often be directed by the Holy Spirit, the fledging community decided to move forward.

We have a lesson to gain from that experience. Today in our Church and in society there are issues of great import that cause dissension and division. We can learn from our ancestors. Calm deliberation and compromise promote the kind of decision making that safeguards peace and well-being. Whether the conflict arises from debate over liturgical changes or from disputes on how to approach the immigration issue, little is accomplished through acrimony and hostility.

Learning lessons from the past in the face of present conflict made its way into the first commencement address of the season delivered by President Obama at the University of Michigan.

So before we get too depressed about the current state of our politics, let's remember our history. The great debates of the past all stirred great passions. They all made somebody angry, and at least once led to a terrible war. What is amazing is that despite all the conflict, despite all its flaws and its frustrations, our experiment in democracy has worked better than any form of government on Earth.

Looking back can be helpful in learning how to move forward. Dissension and division are inevitable, but history has taught us that neither will bring progress without compromise and conciliation.

Looking forward is what really engages the human imagination. St. John’s imagery in the Book of Revelation offers a vision of a new creation, a new world that is governed by the Lamb of God whose message and mission is one of peace and reconciliation. Jesus’ farewell address in the Gospel is forward-looking as well, offering consolation in the peace he offers through his commandment of love.

Valedictories and commencements can offer guidance. But the words, whether human or divine, must be translated into action. The words will ring hollow without action. Years ago a very wise Sister of St. Joseph offered the image of the potter’s wheel that has always helped me understand the process needed for moving from vision to action. What I remember is…

A potter spins her wheel, and the wet clay experiences

both tension and control. The inner hand offers stability

and control; the outer hand offers tension and anxiety.

The potter’s craft needs both the control and the tension.

That image helps me understand that peace comes not from the absence of discord, but rather from a counter-balancing action that transforms the discord into harmony. It also helps me realize that both actions have the same source: two hands one body, one mind, one soul. The tension and the control are within each one of us, not simply a set of external forces. In a sense the potter and the clay share the experience.

Could that be the lesson of the seeming contradiction of valedictory and commencement? The looking back and the looking forward? Could embracing both sides of the conflict lead to compromise and conciliation? Considering the depth of conflict around us, anything is worth a try!

There is something incarnational in that image as well. In order to resolve the human dilemma, our God became one like us. In the Eucharist we celebrate the process reversed: we become one with our God in our communion. The tension embraces the stability. In this Eucharist the conflict finds its resolution. A lesson is learned. A vision is fulfilled.