On Holy Ground. La Sierra University Conferring of Degrees Ceremony June 10, Randal R. Wisbey, President-Elect

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1 On Holy Ground La Sierra University Conferring of Degrees Ceremony June 10, 2007 Randal R. Wisbey, President-Elect President Geraty, Provost Trenchard, Members of the Board of Trustees, esteemed faculty, beloved parents, family and friends who have supported these graduates in their academic and spiritual endeavors, I greet you, and express to you my pleasure at being invited to speak at this important service. And specifically to you, the members of the La Sierra University Class of 2007, I congratulate you, and join your professors and family in rejoicing with you as you have reached this significant milestone in your formal education a moment that serves as not only a conclusion, but as the gateway for all that lies ahead. In Michael Ondaatje s marvelous new novel, Divisadero, his heroine, Anna, in a moment of self-understanding, notes, Everything is biographical, Lucien Freud says. What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross. 1 This morning, I invite you to journey briefly with me, as we consider the truth of this passage. For I believe that Ondaatje is right: Everything is collage. We indeed embody the hidden presence of those we have known, and we contain them for the rest of our lives. The title of my address is taken from the book of Exodus. When we join Moses in the third chapter, he is standing in the midst of a great desert, caring for his father-in-law s sheep. There, under the glare of the sun, he has had years to reflect upon his life. The stories of his mother s bravery and commitment to see him live, his adoption by Pharaoh s daughter, growing up in the midst of unimaginable splendor, and then, in a flash of righteous anger, murder. The prince becomes a fugitive, sheep his unruly companions. Beginning with verse one of chapter three, we read: Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led it to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a blaze from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing, but the bush was not being burnt up. Moses said, I must go across and see this strange sight, and why the bush is not being burnt up. When Yahweh saw him going across to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush. Moses, Moses! he said. Here I am, he answered. Come no nearer, he said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your ancestors, he

2 said, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. At this Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 2 Here, in this short paragraph, we come face to face with mystery. Moses, looking across the desert, sees a bush on fire. As he moves closer to investigate, he notes that the bush does not burn up, the fire does not weaken. Standing close enough to feel the heat of the flames, God speaks. And Moses covers his face. Have you noticed how God usually speaks out of the ordinary experiences of life? Often, this does not occur while we are at church. I believe it is safe to assert that most of God s most profound and history-changing encounters come during the common experiences of life. Graduates, Moses experience reminds us that when we see the unusual in the midst of the mundane, we should not continue business as usual. It may be that God has ordained this experience to be life-changing for you and those around you. 3 With the command, Take off your shoes, for the place you are standing on is holy ground, God quickly and reassuringly reminds him who he is. For not only does he stand in the presence of God, he is now being given a mandate to serve. It is a duty, a calling, and in the verses that follow, Moses will do his best to convince God that he is not worthy. Yet God will have none of Moses excuses. Moses will return to Egypt, will face his fears, will learn to trust in the power of God, and will deliver his people from oppression. God nearly always speaks in the context of what he has done in the lives of those who have gone before us. When He encountered Moses, He did not give him an assignment independent of what He had done through those who had preceded him. God s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob made hundreds of years earlier will now involve Moses in His ongoing activity to fulfill the covenant made with Moses forefathers. Today, graduates, I am privileged to remind you that your life is a part of God s eternal purpose. The great problem with our present age is that we have come to expect immediate satisfaction. We want, and expect, results now. And in the process, we too easily forget that we are part of something grander, something bigger, something that may not be accomplished in our life it may take another person or another generation. And when we do have the satisfaction of seeing something completed, it should be accompanied by a moment of reflection as we consider all who made it possible for this to occur. 4 Throughout the coming years, Moses will continue to stand on holy ground. He will not be alone. And when he is full of fear, when he is overwhelmed, he will remember God s promise that he continues the work of those who have gone before. His life experience now includes not only his past, but the past of all those who in faithfulness went before. He is surrounded by the very presence of God and he knows, he knows: We indeed embody the hidden presence of those we have known, and we contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross. 2

3 This morning, as you step across this platform to receive your diploma, you do so particularly well prepared to serve the needs of a world that is crying out for the attention that you can give. As graduates of La Sierra, you have been transformed by the mission of this significant university as you have been encouraged to seek truth, enlarging human understanding through scholarship. Through a broad liberal arts curriculum, and the mentoring of dedicated Christian professors, you have been blessed to know yourself. And in the context of vibrant worship and experience, you have known the joy of serving others, contributing to the good of the global community. Our world is one of remarkable promise and tremendous need, a world that must be embraced in all its beauty and horror, a world that needs what you as committed and educated citizens will daily bring to it. I was recently introduced to a book that helped me to better understand the world in which I am called to make my home. If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World's People, written by David Smith, brings home the reality of the more than six billion people who currently make their home on this planet. This enormous number can be difficult to grasp, and so Smith, an award-winning and highly respected geography teacher, imagines the world as a village of just 100 people. Doing his best to keep all existing human demographic ratios the same, he provides an understandable picture of our world that is nothing less than extraordinary. In this village of 100, we find the following people: 60 Asians 14 Africans 12 Europeans 8 Latin Americans 5 US Americans and Canadians In this village 49 are Female and 51 are Male. 82 are Non White and 18 are White. Our village is also young, with 39 of the 100 under the age of 19. When it comes to religion, we learn that 33 are Christian and 67 are Non Christian. The world that David Smith helps us to understand is a world that is marked by great injustice. 5 of the 100 villagers control 32% of the entire world s wealth, and all of these 5 are citizens of the United States. In this village: 20 earn less than a dollar a day 80 live in substandard housing 24 have no electricity 50 are malnourished and 1 is dying of starvation 33 are without access to a safe water supply 1 has HIV 3

4 In our world education is sorely needed, yet few have access. Of the 100, 67 are unable to read, and 1 (only 1!) will have a college education. At times we all feel that our own lives are marked by difficulty and challenge, but imagine this: If you have never personally experienced a war, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of physical torture, or a famine, you are more blessed than 500 million persons in our world! If you are able to go to church, mosque or synagogue without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion persons in our world. If there is a meal waiting for you, if you are dressed and have one pair of shoes, if you have a bed and roof above your head, you are better off than 75% of the people in our world! If you have a bank account, some money in your purse or wallet, even a few pennies in your coin box then you belong to 8% of the well-provided people in this world. No matter how poor you might feel at this very moment, in this village, as young adults living in the United States, you are the wealthiest of all. 99% of the world would like to trade places with you. 5 In the current issue of Vanity Fair, there is a terrific interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in which he reflects upon the incredible need and vast richness of Africa. He provides a remarkable insight too often lost on those of us in the west when he says, Ubuntu is the essence of being human.... We say a person is a person through other persons. You can t be human in isolation. You are human only in relationships. 6 If we take seriously this definition of what it means to be human, we quickly know that we begin to change the world when we focus on giving, rather than receiving. We begin to change the world when we open our eyes to the incredible gifts that we have and, with determination and commitment, choose to use these in a manner that does not cause destruction and pain to the earth and all who make their home here. When, with humility, we recognize that, in wrapping our hearts and arms around those we can care for, We indeed embody the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly, and we contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross. This morning, here, at the intersection of this beautiful campus behind us, the reminder of God s grace, set against the backdrop of a larger world that needs what this campus can so brilliantly provide. Above us, a village that is now being built, houses made of earth and water and concrete a village that will be echoed in Darfur, the result of the vision of students and faculty here on this campus who desired that their faith and practice intersect with the pain and agony of the world a village that serves as the cornerstone (and pride) of the United States winning SIFE team! And in the middle of 4

5 these two realities: grace and creativity, intersects the Pathway of the Just, a daily reminder for those who live and work and study here that we are not alone, that many have gone before us, and by their humble witness call us to live lives of sacrifice and significance, never forgetting the way our world is indeed transformed. This bright commencement morning, I am convinced that Ondaatje s Anna is right: We indeed embody the hidden presence of those we have known, and we contain them for the rest of our lives. No matter your degree, no matter your life background and experience, no matter your fears and the disasters of the past, I believe you are called to live your life on holy ground, aware, wide awake to the promise that is all about you, secure in the knowledge that God is before you and behind you. His dream for your life is far bigger than you today can ever imagine, and your life s collage made up of all who have touched your life who have challenged you to dream who have awakened in you a sense of right and wrong those who have, by their need, roused your compassion all of these will continue to make you who you are. So, Graduates, go forth, prepared to do great things, secure in the knowledge that you are ever in God s presence your feet secure on holy ground. And when the challenges seem too numerous, when you are overwhelmed by your apparent inadequacy, remember the lesson that Dr. Suess taught you when you were very young: Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better - it's not. 7 1 Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero, p Exodus 3:1-5, New Jerusalem Bible 3 Henry T. and Richard Blackaby, Experiencing God Day by Day, p Experiencing God Day by Day, p David Smith, If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World's People, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Vanity Fair, July 2007, p Dr. Seuss, The Lorax 5