Good morning!

Greetings to you on this happy morning. Greetings in the name of Yahweh the Almighty, and in the Name of Allah, the Beneficent and in the name I personally know best, Jesus, the Companion. Greetings also in the name of beauty, art, creativity, wonder, memory, reason, and skill. Greetings from the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, where I serve 117 worshipping communities in Middle and North Georgia—56,000 men women, children, teenagers, and feisty seniors. Special thanks to Mr. Hirschfeld and the Board of Trustees for this kind invitation to be with you on this very special day.

I have been charged with the immense task of giving the graduation address. And, I have been given free range to choose my topic. That is a very dangerous approach, I have to say, especially when you invite a preacher to give the address. But, you will be comforted to know that in most places, when an Episcopal Bishop is asked the question, what would you like to speak about? The answer is usually I would like to speak for about 12-15 minutes!  

So let me use these precious moments to say that I am intrigued by your motto here at the Kent School: “Simplicity of Life, Directness of Purpose and Self-Reliance.” The statement goes on to say, “…so you may be prepared to contribute to the common good….”  Well done, Kent School! How timeless and altogether delicious your motto is. I hope it’s ok if I play with it a bit. 

What do we know about simplicity? We know that it’s not a simple thing! We know that to arrive at a simple life, an uncluttered life, a life consistently allergic to false charms, we have to work through the persistent temptation to be less than what we are. We will have to look deeply at ourselves and one another beyond what we have or where we come from, or even what we have achieved. And so class of 2023, my first point to you is to say that simplicity is really about seeing! Seeing yourself as you truly are. Seeing that you have inherent value, dignity, and worth. Seeing that you are, in the words of one of my favorite Jewish poets, “fearfully and wonderfully made.” That is true for you and for the person you struggle to love the most.
The most direct route to simplicity that I can think of today, is not only purging your life of too many things but knowing who you are and whose you are. Science teaches us that we all share a common ancestor. All the great spiritual traditions insist that we bear an uncanny resemblance to the creator of all the worlds. We are siblings, all of us. I belong to you and you belong to me. Any ideology that runs counter to that is a lie. We are forever linked. All divisions in the human family at the most fundamental and important level are ridiculous. We are members of a complicated global family. We are members of a complicated American family. We are nevertheless family. We must increasingly see ourselves and our siblings this way if we are going to see one another into any future worth having.

Pablo Picasso has told us that “…art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” Marie Kondo goes further and says “to tidy up is to say yes to joy.” And so if they are right, then what needs to be tidied and eliminated first, is in us. Simplicity requires that we purge from our lives and our endeavors, every hint of “…smallness, separateness, and superiority.” That is our work as we journey, starting with ourselves as we engage others. Fr. Sill has started us off here at Kent correctly with the call to simplicity.

And then there is the second movement in your wonderful motto, “directness of purpose.” Purpose is an ancient idea, as old as the scriptures and as new as the recent Harvard Business Review. The root of the word purpose is the word “fire.” Purpose relative to passion, is like comparing purple to lavender. I like to think of purpose as the deep well from which you and I make our offering to the world as we sustain ourselves. Purpose is the rocket fuel for living and doing. Purpose is an inexhaustible form of clean energy.

It was the directness of purpose that Howard Thurman, one of America’s greatest mystics, was pointing another graduating class towards when he said to them: You sitting there, with so much life in front of you. There is so much I want to say to you on the matters of love and life. Finances and vocation. But the best thing I can say to you is this, pay attention to the Sound of the Genuine.” “There is something in every one of you,” he said, “…that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and in others. You are the only you that has ever lived; your idiom is the only idiom of its kind in all of existence and if you cannot hear the sound of the genuine in you, …you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls….”

The directness of purpose is conceived when we hear the sound of the genuine. What do we know about this Sound of the Genuine? It comes by hearing. “A small still voice…” simultaneously from within and without. It moves us toward freedom and calls us beyond our comfort zones. That is why we muffle it when we begin to hear its comforting terrifying whisper. The biggest enemy of directness of purpose is the fear of being different. And yet scripture emboldens us to live into being “God’s peculiar treasure.” One of the great dangers of our times is too many of us choose convention over the sound of the genuine—over directness of purpose. Think of it, we would not be sitting here right now were it not for someone who knew in his bones that despite what the coffers and the critics said, a school could rise up out of this river bank! 

Dear Class of 2023, on behalf of those here who love you and want the best for you, tame your fears and control the traffic of your mind, make time to listen to the symphony in the silence which is the soundtrack for the sound of the genuine. Make this a regular habit and you will figure out how to run the race that is set before you. And please bear this in mind, the reward of money or notoriety is not guaranteed if you do this, but you will have something the world cannot give or take away, you will be authentically you. And that beloved, is enough.

Self-Reliance is the last movement for us. Though I have to confess, it feels a bit counter-cognitive to celebrate self-reliance on a day like today. The truth is so many have contributed to today. There’s Mom and Dad. Grandma and Grandpa. Siblings and friends. The staff, faculty, and administration team. The board, the benefactors, and the alumni. A deep ocean of gratitude is owed by you today. Take a moment and call out silently or aloud those names for whom you are most grateful.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu used to say, “What do we have that is not gift?” What do we have that is not gift? We have been helped by many to become self-reliant. So now the question is what do we do with the self-reliance we enjoy? The danger in becoming self-reliant is becoming self-absorbed. We must not become self-absorbed! So, how do we solve the eternal equation of living an other-centered life? If I had that answer, I would have a New York Times best seller. 

But what I can share is a story that helps me understand this balance. When I was eighteen years old, one week after graduating from high school, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy. In pretty short order, I was on my way to Flight School and then Search and Rescue Diver School. Each day there were miles and miles to run. And when the running was done there were miles and miles to swim. Sometimes even tied to a partner as we swam against the current. But each morning we ran eight miles in formation. For me, it was always around the fourth mile that the cramps would come. The demons would come, too. You know the ones? The thoughts. ‘Just stop. It’s ok to quit. Why care about this anyway? You don’t owe anybody anything.’ And what I learned to do, especially when the pain, doubts, and even selfish thoughts would visit was to watch the person in front of me. Watch his foot rise and then strike the ground. Listen to the rhythm of his boot hitting the sand. Yes, it is true, I was responsible for myself and the increase of my grit and endurance. But it was another’s example that helped me to rely more fully on myself. Even to discover the fullness of my own potential. But then I realized also, it was possible that the person behind me may have weaknesses or doubts as we ran the course. And that maybe they needed me to be the kind of self whose foot was rising and striking the ground.

All of us are responsible for ourselves, but that responsibility in God’s genius and mischievous economy accrues to the strength of the entire group. None of us have been given strength, brilliance, or creativity for ourselves. That is not how humanity best works. All of us have been given gifts for the whole. There is no real life abundant without this understanding and pursuit. 

That is what your motto says, that we are “…prepared here to contribute to the common good.”
Dr. King said once, “…that many men have remembered themselves into obscurity, but only one man has forgotten himself into eternity.” Today as you go from this place, with our hopes, and our pride, do something in this world that will make the next generation stronger, kinder, and more generous. Leave the planet a little better than you found it. You can do it. The ONE that is IN YOU is truly greater than any adversary. We are pulling for you.


Class of 2023, I salute you and pray with many others, that our real, able, good, and generous God will continue to bless you.


Now go get 'em!
 

The Rt. Rev. Robert C. Wright
Bishop, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta