PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

June 12, 2022

GRADUATIONS 2022

Sunday, May 29, Diane and I attended our grandson’s graduation from Northridge High School.  The commencement was held outside at the school sports field.  I have to admit that as we were getting out of the car in the parking lot near the field it did cross my mind about the possibility of the ceremony being an occasion for a mass murder.  This prospect was reinforced when I heard the sound of sirens not far from the school just after we took our seats.

Saturday, May 7, we attended our granddaughter’s graduation from the University of Indianapolis.  It too was outside at Key Stadium.  Never once during the day did the possibility of a mass murder cross my mind.  Why the difference?  Between the two graduations 21 students and 2 teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Mrs. Theresa Grossman, an English teacher at Northridge High School, gave the commencement address.  She prefaced her remarks by noting that she was giving the third draft of what she was about to say.  The one she gave was influenced by the mass killing in Uvalde.  The same conditions with which the graduating students had to cope during the pandemic were in part contributing factors that motivated the killer.  Those graduating had lost a great deal of their high school experience because of the school being locked down.

Mrs. Grossman made reference to an article by David Brooks, Some People Turn Suffering Into Wisdom, in the April 21, 2022, issue of the New York Times.  In the article Brooks outlines the process by which a person gets on with their life after a major loss.  “Suffering is evil, but it can serve as a bridge to others in pain.” (David Brooks, New York Times)  The graduating students can use the suffering and difficulties that they experience during their high school days as a bridge to others and a bridge to reach out to others who are going through difficult times.

In the Book of Isaiah the Suffering Servant is described as follows: “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hid their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.  Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.” (Isa. 53:3-5)

The Gospel of Matthew refers to this passage from Isaiah to describe Jesus: Matthew 8:17.  Jesus and His Father experienced loss, pain and heartache like those directly impacted by the mass killing in Uvalde, Texas, and other mass killings that have become all too frequent.  As the 23^rd Psalm says, when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we have no need to fear for the Good Shepherd is with us and his rod and his staff will comfort us (vs. 4).

When I graduated from Horace Mann High School in Gary, Indiana, in 1959, the city was not the safest place to live.  We all knew the dangers and accepted them as a part of reality.  Therefore, to be safe we learned to not be in the wrong place at the wrong time, to be aware of our surroundings and to know for what to look out.  The dangers did not stop us from living rich and full lives.

Even though we live in dangerous time we can still have rich and productive lives if we take seriously the dangers, take appropriate precautions, and have the assurance that the Good Shepherd is with us.