Parents' Prayer at Graduation

Here’s a prayer of blessing offered by parents at Canadian Mennonite University’s Baccalaureate service in 2014. It references 1 Kings 19:9-23; Matthew 11:2-6.

Prayer for Graduates
(references 1 Kings 19:9-23 and Matthew 11:2-6)

God of Elijah; God of John and his disciples; God of each one of us:
Thank you so very much for questions: What ARE we doing here?
We are up here this morning with Elijah in a high place
            a place reached after years of hard work, long nights,
            some sweat, some tears, some anxiety, some exhilaration;
Years of being asked questions with the expectation of finding answers.

Up here in that high place, poised to
            step out and step into… whatever is next.
And You ask another question:  What are you doing HERE?
Lord, I pray that each of these grads
            having drunk deeply from the wells of knowledge
            so abundant in this place of learning
will hear your question of them today
and will have learned the wisdom to do as Elijah did –
to watch and listen and to wait
            in the face of uncertainty and adversity
            even in the face of certainty
            through the mighty winds and unsettling earthquakes
            and the passionate fires of their living;
May each have learned
to watch and wait and listen for your still small voice:
            to comfort them when they are distressed
            to distress them when they become too comfortable;

            To open their eyes to the many signs and wonders
                        that daily proclaim your active presence
                        in their lives and in our world;
            To open their hearts to those blind and lame and leprous ones
                        for whom You have a heart;
            To keep asking questions of faith and life
                        of meaning and purpose
                        of justice and peace
                        of Your will and Your love.
Wise ones through the ages have taught us
            that such earnest seeking after You
            and Your lifegiving Presence
            is the beginning of Wisdom.

May the love of learning being celebrated by each grad here today
blossom into that deeper and abiding wisdom.
            For this this day;
            For the next day;
            For every day.

AMEN.  May it be so.

~ written by Paul D. Bergen of Edmonton, Alberta for the 2014 Baccalaureate service at Canadian Mennonite University.