“Tis the season of pomp and circumstance.” Currently and for the next several weeks graduation activities will fill the calendars. In two weeks, our youngest grandson, five years old, will be graduating from Preschool. His next adventure will be Kindergarten which meets at the “regular” elementary school. A significant passage. Our granddaughter graduates from elementary level schooling to middle school. How can that be! And our nephew graduates this weekend from Loyola University in Baltimore.
Graduation is full of both excitement and trepidation. Graduates are leaving familiar places and going to the unfamiliar. How might we frame this “growing” experience in the context of our faith?
In Celtic spirituality doorways and thresholds are sacred spaces, often referred to as “thin places” where God’s presence might be uniquely sensed. In Judaism, the doorway is a connection with God. Observant Jews touch the mezuzah as they enter their home and as they leave their home. Inside this object are the words from Deuteronomy to love God with heart, and soul, and mind. There in the doorway is God present for those who pass through in their going-outs and coming-ins.
That moment when the diploma is passed to the graduating person is another threshold, another “thin-place”. God has been present in their education and God will be present in the next step of their life journey. And God is rejoicing for this life event!
To all graduates – God be with you.
Rev. Cla
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