After years of working hard, the
ceremony of Graduation gives each University student a chance to
recognise their success, and a sense of closure. It also accompanies
at least one motivational speech about facing the future, and the
challenges and rewards it may bring.
Graduation is a ceremony which marks
the past and points ahead to a hopeful future. So I have found myself
comparing it to Holy Communion in church.
Holy Communion only exists because of
what Jesus achieved in the past, and the biblical command to practice
it is joined with the instruction that it should keep Christians
looking ahead into the future, when Jesus will return. It marks the
past, and points ahead to a hopeful future.
Those are some obvious similarities, so
how about a few differences? Graduation celebrates personal
achievement, yet Holy Communion celebrates what none of us could have
achieved ourselves. Students graduate with a level, a grade, so that
there are different levels of success among them. The Bible tells the
followers of Jesus that all come to His table to eat and drink as
equals, because no one of us has earned salvation more than another.
Students are divided by strength in a certain area, but Christians
are united by the weakness we confess.
All that I know about Graduation
ceremonies I have learned from paper and friends. I chose to not
attend my own. When I was deciding whether I would attend, I gave
more weight to my friend's description of a dull and anti-climactic
experience than my culture's expectations and etiquette. Very
un-British of me, I know.
I find Communion much easier to attend,
and do on a regular basis, for at least two reasons. One is that, by
comparison to the small section in history that my Graduation focuses
on, it is bigger and therefore more important. Another is that I want,
I desire, to give credit to God, whereas I didn't feel the need to
give that much credit to an institution. I had already given my
thanks to the tutors who taught me, and the friends who worked
alongside me. But as much as I have already thanked God, I will
continue to do so for the rest of my life.
Image source: http://www.promota.co.uk/SOFT%20TOYS/Magic-Kingdom-Stanley-Graduation-Teddy-Bear-26cm/58951
I didn't attend my graduation either. It seemed to be a pompous ceremony all to celebrate me and my achievement - a chance for my parents to have a photo on the wall they could be proud of. I'd rather they were proud of me for who I am than because I passed an exam! I don't need a ceremony to celebrate me and I don't need a silly costume which has no relevance to anything in order to show a status I have apparently achieved. I went to uni to learn; the 'getting' of a degree was simply to show employers that I have the ability to learn, not to designate a new status.
ReplyDeleteI have never compared graduation to communion before. I can see where you're going with it, it's an interesting comparison!