O Great Mystery,
We have traveled a long road
To bring us to this day.
Here at this crossroads,
at this way station,
we pause to reflect
on the road behind us,
and the road ahead.

We thank you O Lord, Our God, ruler of the universe,
who has granted us life, who has sustained us,
and who has helped us to reach this season, and this point of the journey.

As we pause, we give you thanks
For this moment
For the day and the life-giving rain,
For the celebration of mothers,
and of the gift of life and love.
For the celebration of accomplishment
with family and friends;
For the pomp, the circumstance,
the skirl of the pipes.
For the joy of the day
and the celebration of the moment.

But here, in this moment,
we also look back on the road behind us,
and we give thanks to you,
‘God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way…’
For the journey our graduates set out on years ago
For the learning,
the growth,
the openness to new experiences,
new understandings
the faculty who brought instruction,
the staff who supported them in their need
the semesters abroad, the internships downtown
For the friendships, the relationships,
the late nights
the deep conversations,
and the not-so-deep ones
For the times of joy and of sorrow,
of triumph and defeat.

We know that the way has not always been easy,
At times, stony has been ‘the road we trod,’
and our feet became weary.
We have seen tragedy and grief,
Injustice and hate,
Long borne pain, welling up again.
But on that stony road,
we have also found traveling companions
who have borne us up
who have walked together in solidarity,
who have fought for justice,
who have lived out love,
who have embodied compassion,
who have affirmed our common humanity,
and our common journey, together.
This is the ‘hope that the present has brought us.’

And so, in that hope, on this day we give thanks
For the road ahead,
For the difference our graduates will make
For the creativity they will offer
For the gifts they will share
For the wisdom they will continue to acquire
For the passion they will bring
For the imagination they will employ
For the fearlessness with which
they will face the future
and the many challenges it will bring
For witness they will make
to justice, to peace,
to inclusive community
For the way they will change the world itself.

And so, O God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,
who walks beside us on all the roads of our lives
we pray that in all their journeys
they may continue to be
beacons of hope and promise
to a broken world
a world in need
a world waiting for them.

And let us say: Amen.