This week will see the celebratory moment of graduation across our state and our country. Students from all across our region will be receiving their High School diplomas, tossing their hats in the air, and then pondering, pining, or preparing for their next stage in life. For some this will be continuing education in college or trade school, for others, it will mean entering the workforce, and for a select few it will be entering the armed services. This week will be filled with speeches and well wishes from so many people in these young persons’ lives. And I have wondered what advice I would give this generation of young people before they embark on these great and daunting new stages of their lives.
The greatest advice I can give our graduates is simply this: try and have the empathy of Jesus Christ. Empathy is defined in the Bible with two words, “ὁμόφρων συμπαθής” which in English means harmoniously sympathetic. The longer definition is “Suffering or feeling the like with another while having compassion for one another in one accord.” This Biblical principle can be seen throughout scripture with God empathizing with his creation, sharing in its sufferings and challenges. Christ walked with earth so that all of humanity could know that their Creator had dwelt and experienced life among them. This is such an important quality to process as a Christian. Yet empathy is a trait that we have long since neglected within our culture in today’s world. Why do we think that is?
Perhaps one answer for this neglect is that to see another person’s plight in light of our own leads to brotherhood & sisterhood, which is not convenient for the plight of the powerful in this world.
Christ sought to bring a small piece of the Kingdom of God into being among us in this world. He then tasked his followers to do the same after he had ascended into heaven, calling upon them to create a community of faith in their societies based on universal love and grace for all peoples. The byproduct of this endeavor would be the Christian church, though the goal has never been to create a church, it has always been to bring a worldwide understanding of God’s love. If every person is a child of God and has the opportunity to be transformed by his grace, then there is a common bond between all persons who walk this earth.
Empathy allows for a person to see another’s plight as one similar to their own, to try and place oneself in the shoes of the other. By doing this we lose the ability to see others as less than ourselves, or even as enemies. Instead, they become fellow broken souls and sinners just like us. Empathy is something we need to desperately resurrect in our hearts so that we as Christians can truly stand out within this world. It is a quality that removes the dangers of pride, arrogance, hate, or judgment. Because they become replaced with sympathy, compassion, familiarity, and love.
To our graduates, please learn from past generational mistakes of Christians. Do not see those who disagree with you as enemies, do not see others who come from different lives and strangers, and do not give in to the partisan division and devilish sectionalism of the past. Instead, rise above all the petty differences between those around you and see one another as equal participants in the work of God.
Instead of pursuing man’s work, we must get back to doing Christ’s Kingdom work. Maybe it will be this new generation that gets us back on the right track.
Godspeed Graduates!
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Pastor Mike McVey
Minister – First United Methodist Church, Fairfield TX
ACS Chaplain – United States Coast Guard, Station Galveston TX
Chaplain – Texas Game Warden Service, Freestone County, TX
