A Prayer for the Class of 2012

Father,

May the life of Christ the son inspire these graduates to use their degree not to keep their hands clean but to get them dirty, not to succumb to self-service but only selfless service, that they would combine critical thinking with compassionate living as they partner with Christ in redeeming and restoring the world one person at a time, one family at a time, one neighborhood at a time, and one nation at a time.

May your Spirit come upon these graduates so that the degrees they have earned would not cloister them off from the needs of the world but compel them to engage the needs of the world in the name of Jesus Christ by proclaiming good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, release for the prisoner, and to set captives free.

May You, Almighty God, gift them with the three smooth stones of faith, hope, and love that will enable these graduates to conquer Goliath-sized giants in the land such as poverty, disease, and tyranny, racism, sexism, and classism, addiction, desperation, and oppression, consumerism, narcissism, and egotism. May the degree they worked so hard to acquire propel them not toward a career through which they earn a paycheck, but toward a vocation through which they build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

This we hope, this we pray, this we believe, this we pursue in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who used his degree, his status, not to be served but to serve by giving his life as a ransom for many. Amen!