May 17: Graduation Sunday: Faith, Farewells, and the Next Chapter

The Holy Gospel according to John, the 17th chapter.

Glory to you, O Lord.

After Jesus had spoken these words to his disciples,

he looked up to heaven and said,

Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,

since you have given him authority over all people

to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

And this is eternal life, that they may know you,

the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

I glorified you on earth by finishing the work

that you gave me to do.

So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence

with the glory that I had in your presence

before the world existed.

I've made known your name to those

whom you gave me from the world.

They were yours, and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything you have given me

is from you, for the words that you gave me,

I have given to them.

And they have received them and know in truth

that I came from you, and they have believed

that you sent me.

I'm asking on their behalf.

I'm not asking on behalf of the world,

but on behalf of those whom you gave me

because they are yours, all mine are yours.

And yours are mine, and I have been glorified in them,

and now I am no longer in the world,

but they are in the world.

And I am coming to you, Holy Father, protect them

in your name that you have given me

so that they may be one, as we are one.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

You may be seated.

Good morning, everyone.

What a blessing on this graduation Sunday

to have enough seniors in our graduating senior class

who want to share a word that we need

two separate services on Sunday to fit them all in.

So part of our seniors gave their sermons

during Youth Sunday back in April,

and we have three seniors who are gonna give

senior sermons just after I finish today.

Now, this is the final Sunday of our Acts series

that we have been going through,

and so in the spirit of that series,

I've been thinking a little bit about

the reading for our day.

This reading comes from the very end of Acts.

It features Paul's wondering about the reluctance

of his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters to believe,

and it features his confidence

that God's grace does extend to all,

Jews and Gentiles and everyone in between.

It's an ending to the book of Acts

that I think displays a profound sense of hope

that the gospel will spread, that the church will grow,

and that God's love will be known throughout the ages.

Now, in so many ways, I see the words of this Acts passage.

I see the prediction that Paul makes fulfilled

in each baptism that we celebrate

on every Confirmation Sunday

and hereto on each Graduation Sunday.

The grace of God continues to find new generations of people,

especially when we, the community of saints,

find the strength to be courageously vulnerable

and authentic with our young people.

That's my apologetics, by the way,

for why I'm such a goofball.

And so what I mean by this is simple.

We have to show our young people who we are,

our strengths, our faults, everything.

We have to show them if we hope to pass down our faith.

You all, as a congregation, have done this,

and I think the strength of our youth ministry

and the strength of this senior class testifies to it.

And so a word to our congregation on this Graduation Sunday.

You, we all together, we are the church.

And we share still today that same task

that is the core theme of the book of Acts,

to spread the gospel so that all might know

the love and forgiveness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

Our challenge as a church, as the church,

as trite as this may sound,

is to continue to write the next pages of the book of Acts,

to make space for the grace of God to show up in our lives

and in our community and throughout the world.

And to our graduating seniors today,

I can't say this enough times,

I can't say this loud enough, God loves you.

And so do we here at St. John's.

And so no matter what it is that you face,

no matter what you go through in your lives,

no matter what questions that you have about faith or life

or anything in between,

this will always be a place for you to land.

May you be comforted by the promises of the gospel

and challenged by the witness of Jesus.

He did it for you.

And the Holy Spirit will meet you in this

and in every moment, even those confusing

and difficult and trying moments,

so that you too can live out God's love for others.

Thanks be to God, amen.

At this time, I'm gonna invite all three of our seniors

to come up, actually, Connor will be first,

and then Meredith and Cora can meet me here.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Connor Towns, I'm a senior

at the North Carolina School of Science and Math,

and I will be attending UNC Chapel Hill in the fall.

Go Tar Heels.

What is the path to success?

Well, according to Dr. Michael Connor, my grandfather,

it's a wide road with many lanes.

This has been one of the most pressing questions for me

when making really any decision, but especially college.

If you value academic success,

then you'll do what it takes to get good grades.

If you value social success,

you might sacrifice studying for a test

to make some more memories with your friends and family.

If you value financial success,

you might find a mix of both,

creating a satisfactory profile both on paper

and through relationships.

But why do we have to choose?

According to the most basic teachings of economics,

our world is one of unlimited wants

and very limited resources.

This scarcity creates a need for choice.

In this scenario, you can't spend all of your time

studying or with friends or running your business

and still get the best of all three.

There's always a sacrifice, and we've all made them,

even if we don't think about it.

For instance, even coming to church a day

costs us all something.

In my case, another hour of sleep.

But most of the time, the decision we make

is the one that we deem the best in that moment.

While I could have slept in,

I thought an hour would be better spent

celebrating myself and my fellow graduates,

and my life continues all the same.

I cannot say the same about college.

While we've all had to make decisions before,

this is the most consequential decision

we've had to make on our own.

It's not our parents choosing for us,

it's not our teachers choosing for us, it's us.

And as we've stepped into adulthood,

this is a choice we've all been burdened with.

And this leads back to our definitions of success.

Some of us chose a school because it saved money,

and set us up to maybe put a down payment

on the house in the future.

Some of us chose academics, where good grades

and meeting good professors will set us up

for success in academia or the workforce.

And even a party scene or a school's location

can make a difference, as some aspire to form connections

that form those lifelong friendships

that keep you grounded.

While all of these on their own are valid choices

to plan a future around, none of us can bank

on finding that perfect medium that gives us

the best of all three.

The same applies to future jobs, places to live,

and even where we choose to get breakfast.

There are always going to be trade-offs

on the path to success.

However, God gives us one path to follow,

where many journeys can lead us to the same destination.

In Joshua chapter one, verse eight,

God commanded Joshua to quote,

keep this book of the law always on your lips.

Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful

to do everything written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.

God tells us that no one vocation, major, or college

will set us up for success in the Lord's eyes.

Money or degree can't bring you closer to God.

You won't get closer to God unless you intentionally choose

to dwell in a fruitful relationship with him.

When I was little, I told my mom I didn't believe in God,

that I only believed in science.

Enlisting the help of then-pastor Danielle,

I was given The Children's Version of A Case for Christ

by Lise Trebell.

While I did think it was a good book,

and he made a lot of great points,

I think I just started saying what my parents,

grandparents, and faith leaders all wanted to hear

to just get them off my back.

Not that I didn't believe parts of the Bible were plausible,

the things that Christianity and science were teaching me

caused a divide that I didn't know how to bridge.

While I'm still in the lifelong process

of forming my beliefs, I think that the more I learn

about nature, our universe, and the human race

have shown me that there has to be a force

behind everything we can do, feel, or think.

There's a reason that I've met all of you,

and that y'all are all sitting in the same row as me

on graduation Sunday.

There's a reason that each one of us,

both in this church and across the globe,

survived the one in 400 trillion chance

that we would end up as we are today.

Every day past birth gives us chances

to appreciate the statistical improbability,

and God calls us to make sure that we fulfill that grace

and give thanks always.

When my grandmother, whose family emails

could probably serve as a sermon on their own,

heard that I was writing this speech,

she shared a quote that I will cherish for years to come.

Frederick Buechner, a prominent American theologian,

said, quote, the place God calls you to

is the place where your deep gladness

and the world's deep hunger meet.

We are all called to help others

while fulfilling our own desires for our lives.

God's given us free will for a reason.

We all have choices to make.

We can choose to sin.

We can choose to dwell in those places

that pull us farther away from God.

But God is banking on the fact that we will choose better.

We will take his teachings and apply them to our own lives

so that we are better people than when we started out.

And Jesus tells us this.

Jesus knew that people were flawed,

and he knew that even the people

that society looks down upon have value.

I think in our important time,

when so many people are marginalized,

politics are polarized,

and our world is genuinely fractured,

that we need to make this choice

to see the light of God in everyone,

no matter their skin color, creed,

or even where they're from,

especially where they went to college.

Even if I'm at UNC, although it's gonna be hard,

I'm still gonna be able to see the light of God

and a Duke graduate.

And I think St. John's has set us all up

beautifully to do this.

St. John's has helped me develop amazing relationships

with both God and my fellow youth members.

I even spent the first few years of my schooling here.

However, I made my own sacrifice.

I've missed countless youth groups, services,

and memories with friends and family

to pursue my dreams of academic success.

I was given the wonderful opportunity to attend NCSM,

a public boarding school located in the Triangle.

And while that has consumed most of these past two years,

St. John's has always been special in my heart.

Each and every one of you supported myself

and all of these graduates in every decision we've made.

We've never had to feel that we've had to hide away

or make a decision in secret.

You've always been able to come to this congregation,

these people, and this community for advice and guidance,

if not from God, from people who have wisdom

and experience to share.

Thinking about the sacrifices we make in life,

I'd like to take a moment to thank my parents,

my sister, my grandparents, and my friends for their support.

You all, although you didn't necessarily push me away,

you did let me find my own path,

and I can't say thank you enough for that.

I know that it would have been great

to spend the last two years here,

where I could have made a lot more memories,

and I think sometimes I regret that.

But I know that God set me on this path,

and that you all are just him telling me

that that was the right way to go.

On behalf of myself and my fellow graduates,

I'd like to thank this entire congregation

for supporting us all through our faith journeys,

and especially to Dr. Mitch Siegel

for the Bible trivia and candy bars.

Thanks be to God.

Thank you.

Good morning everyone, my name is Meredith Williams,

and I'm a senior at Salisbury High School

and I will be attending the UCW in the fall.

When I was growing up, one thing my mom always told

my sister and I was that

everything happens for a reason.

At the time, I understood it as just a phrase people say

to make difficult situations hurt a little less

or feel a little fairer.

But as I've grown older, strengthened my faith

through confirmation, mission trips,

and greater involvement in the church,

I realized it means something much deeper than that.

I've come to understand that everything happens

according to God's plan.

I did not grow up in this church.

I first started coming here

when I began confirmation in fifth grade.

And over the years, this church has become

such an important part of my life and faith.

Through confirmation, mission trips,

worship, and the people here,

I slowly started to understand

what it really means to have a relationship with God

and to trust him even when life feels uncertain.

Growing up, I've always struggled with overthinking

and worrying more deeply than most people probably realize.

A lot of times, my mind turns small situations

into much bigger ones because I constantly think

about every possible outcome

and everything that could go wrong.

I've always felt like I needed

to have everything figured out ahead of time

so that nothing unexpected could hurt me

or throw me off course.

When things don't go according to the plan

I created in my head, I tend to panic

and immediately start questioning myself.

I replay conversations, decisions,

and situations over and over,

trying to understand why things happened the way they did

and what I could have done differently.

I think a lot of my anxiety comes from wanting reassurance

and answers in a world where we can't always know

exactly how things will turn out.

I want reassurance that things will work out

before they even happen.

I want answers immediately and not patiently.

And sometimes I become so focused

on controlling every detail of my future

that I forget that my life is not fully in my hands,

but in God's.

Another thing I've realized through my faith

is how much of my life I spent putting pressure on myself

to succeed in everything.

Growing up, I've always felt like I needed

to make all A's, perform well in sports,

and constantly prove that I was doing enough.

A lot of my self-worth became tied to how successful I was

or whether I felt like I was meeting expectations

I set for myself.

If I underperformed in a game, match, or meet,

got overwhelmed with school,

or felt like I wasn't doing my best,

I would overthink it for days and convince myself

that one bad moment could somehow affect my entire future.

I think I became so focused on trying to control

every outcome and avoid failure

that I forgot that my value does not come from perfection.

Through my faith, I've started to realize

that God is not asking me

to have everything perfectly figured out all the time.

He is asking me to trust him, work hard,

and remember that my identity is rooted

in something greater than grades, achievements,

or how well I perform.

One of the biggest examples of this recently

was the college process.

For a long time, I really wanted to go

to the University of Tennessee,

and I truly believe that that's where

I was supposed to end up.

I had imagined my future there for so long

that it became my plan.

So when I didn't get accepted

and was offered the Bridge Program instead,

I felt disappointed and confused

because it felt like the future I had pictured

for myself was falling apart.

After that, I committed to UNC

because it seemed like the next best option,

even though it was somewhere I never imagined myself going.

But after a few months passed,

I started overthinking everything again.

I kept talking to my parents and friends

because UNC didn't have a criminology major,

which is what I truly wanted to study.

Eventually, after much prayer, conversation, and reflection,

I decided to switch and commit to UNCW instead.

Looking back now, I realize how much time

I spent trying to force my own plan to work

instead of trusting where God was leading me.

Every step that changed felt stressful in the moment,

but now I can see that each closed door

and each redirection helped guide me closer

to where I'm meant to be.

If everything had gone exactly according to my plan,

I might not have ended up where I truly belong.

That's one of the biggest things my faith has taught me.

God's plan is often different from our own,

but that does not mean it is wrong.

Sometimes the moments that confuse us the most

end up shaping us, teaching us,

and leading us exactly where we need to go.

I've learned that trusting God

does not mean we will always understand why things happen,

but it means believing

that he sees a bigger picture than we do.

Through mission trips and deepening my faith,

I've also learned that peace

does not come from controlling everything.

Peace comes from not always having to be in control

and trusting that God is already ahead of us

in every situation.

One of the biggest things that impacted me on mission trips

was seeing the people we were building houses for

still have so much faith and peace in God,

even with how little they had.

Many of them lived under tin roofs with tarp walls,

yet they still trusted God's plan for their lives

and remained grateful for what they had.

Seeing that made me realize

how small a lot of my big problems really were.

I spent so much time worrying about things

that felt overwhelming to me,

while the people we were serving

faced challenges far greater than mine

and still carried so much faith, joy, and trust in God.

That experience completely changed my perspective

and reminded me how important it is

to stop focusing so much on trying to control everything

and instead trust that God is working

through every situation.

Instead of always asking, why is this happening to me?

I started asking myself,

what is God trying to teach me through this?

As I graduate and move into a new chapter of my life,

I know there will be moments where I overthink,

worry, and fear the unknown,

but I also know that I do not have to carry

all those worries alone.

God already has a plan for my life,

even when I cannot fully see it yet.

My mom's words have stayed with me all these years,

but now I understand them in a completely different way.

Everything happens for a reason

because everything happens according to God's plan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Cora Wands and I'm currently a senior

at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

located in Durham,

and I'll be attending the University

of Colorado Boulder in the fall.

I've been thinking about this moment ever since I sat

in this congregation two years ago,

watching my sister give her senior sermon.

As I listened to the seniors reflect on their lives,

their faith, and how their relationship with God

had changed over time,

I never really thought it would be my turn, but now it is.

And it's honestly hard to put into words

what it means to stand here in a place

that has been such a constant in my life.

A church where I was baptized, where I grew up,

and where people have seen me through the highs,

the lows, and everything in between,

through the CDC, Wednesday nights, and BBS.

When James asked me to reflect on the past eight years,

I felt overwhelmed.

There were so many memories, so many stages in my life,

and so many experiences I could talk about.

But the thing that kept coming back to me,

the one thing that stood out to me the most

was relationships.

I've had so many different relationships

over the past eight years with my family,

my friends, my teachers, and my coaches,

and I've been grateful for every single one of them.

I know that may sound a little crazy, but I truly am.

Even the relationships that didn't last,

the ones that hurt, or the ones that taught me a lesson

I wasn't ready to learn.

And a big part of that comes from how people have seen me

and how I've seen myself.

Growing up here, I've always been known

as Millie's younger sister.

I've literally had people come up to me

and ask me how I was doing at the Coast Guard Academy.

And I've just fully committed to the bit.

Yeah, classes are hard, track's going well,

you know how it is.

And while I never really minded being mistaken for Millie,

it made me realize how often I was seen as someone else

before I was ever just myself.

But after my sophomore year,

when I moved away to boarding school, everything changed.

For the first time, I got to start completely fresh.

No one there knew anything about me.

No past, no expectations.

I wasn't anyone's sister first.

I wasn't defined by anything or anyone else.

I was just Cora, a daughter, a friend,

someone still trying to figure things out.

That experience showed me how much relationships

are shaped by perception,

how people see you and how you believe they see you.

And because of that, it's so easy to get things wrong.

It's easy to misjudge people, take things personally,

or let our insecurities shape how we see a relationship.

But through that, I've started to understand

the importance of grace, both for others and for myself.

And a big part of my relationship with God

didn't come from being alone.

It came from the people in this church.

This congregation is where I first learned

what faith looks like in real life.

Through the way you showed up for me,

supported me, and lived out your faith,

I was able to see what a relationship with God

could actually look like.

And even after I moved away, every time I came back,

I was reminded of that.

Coming home, even if it was just for a weekend,

gave me the chance to see God again through all of you.

Through the conversations, the familiarity,

and the sense of belonging, I was

reminded that my faith wasn't something I had left behind.

It was something that was built here and carried with me.

And that made me realize God isn't found only

in one place or one moment.

He's found in people, in relationships,

and in the community that continues to shape you,

even when you're not physically there.

And for me, that community has always been here.

I've been a part of this church for as long as I can remember.

Actually, longer than I can remember.

I started at the CDC when I was eight weeks old,

so I really didn't have much of a say in the matter.

And what's so special is that even now, years later,

the teachers I had back then still recognize me.

Every time I see them, we end up catching up.

And I'm always reminded of the weird little things

I used to do, like how I was always the last one to finish

my meals, sitting there while they wiped down the tables

and made me lift up my plate, or how I couldn't remember

my birthday for the longest time and was somehow

the last one in my class to finally figure it out.

And now, being on the other side of that,

helping out with Vacation Bible School,

I get to see those same little moments with younger kids.

I love coming back and seeing how much they've grown,

something I used to hate hearing when I was younger,

but now completely understand.

I also think about children's worship,

sitting on the carpet squares talking about the gospel,

and eventually being old enough to stay for the full service

and listen to the sermon, even if I didn't always

stay awake through them all.

So I'm sorry to the pastors for that.

But through all of those moments, big and small,

this church has been more than just a place.

It has been a constant.

It has been a foundation.

People grow up, move away, and start new chapters,

and life changes.

But this community remains.

St. John's is always here, physically and spiritually,

providing a place to come back to,

a place that grounds us and reminds us who we are.

And I think that's because God works through places

like this and through the people in them.

Just like this church has been a constant in my life,

God has been a constant too.

Even during the seasons when everything else

felt uncertain or changing, his presence never really left.

Sometimes I saw him in conversations here,

in people showing up for me, or simply

in the feeling of coming back and knowing I still belonged.

There have been times when I wasn't sure of myself,

when I didn't know what to do or where I was going.

But I always knew I could come back here to this congregation

and feel at home, not just because of the building itself,

but because of the people who are here, week after week,

showing up for one another and welcoming others

and with so much love and grace.

And every time I've left and come back,

it's felt like I never really left at all.

That sense of belonging, of comfort, and of being known

never fades.

And I think that feeling reflects something even bigger,

the kind of constant love and presence

God offers us throughout every stage of life.

I hope that's something all of us have experienced here,

because the community at St. John's

is truly something special.

I'm so grateful for everything this place has poured into me,

for the faith it's helped me build,

for the relationships it's given me,

and for the person it's helped shape me into.

And no matter where life takes us,

we carry places like this with us,

in our faith, in our relationships,

and in the way we show up for others.

And honestly, I was reminded of all of this

just a few days ago in my very last AP Stats class.

My teacher shared a deeply personal story

about growing up with a parent struggling

with mental illness.

And he talked about how when you're young,

it's so easy to feel like you have

to hide your struggles and family problems

from everyone around you.

You convince yourself that no one else could possibly

understand, so you keep everything bottled up

and try to act like everything is fine.

He reminded us that we never truly know the silent battles

people are carrying, and talked about the importance of grace,

or of empathy and grace, because everyone

is going through something we may never fully understand.

To be completely honest, I was very

tempted to rewrite this entire sermon after that class

and focus only on that message.

But I realized that may have been a little much,

especially considering that class was on Wednesday

and I'm giving the sermon today.

But sitting in that classroom during one

of my final moments of high school,

surrounded by people quietly tearing up together,

made me realize how meaningful genuine relationships

and community really are.

And I think one of the reasons this church has always

meant so much to me is because it has never

felt like a place where I had to hide parts of myself.

This church has always been a place full of grace, empathy,

love, and people who continue to show up for one another

through every stage of life.

And no matter how far we go, this place

will always be a place we can come back to

and feel like we never left at all.

Thank you, St. John's, for being a home to me

and to so many others.

Amen.