Recently Kevin accepted a job at Dowling Catholic High School where he will be teaching Biology. He and his fiancee Lexi will be married in July.
Kevin is the personification of our mission at Wartburg. A first generation college student with no faith background, Kevin leaves us having made the most of his time on campus. This is his Senior Chapel message.
Luke 15: 1-7
Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
~~~~Message:
This is a common reading in the New Testament, and I've heard it in combination with the parable of the lost brother. This reading is provoking, and really proposes an absolute. It states that "It is better to bring one lost sheep home than to tend for the other 99 and forget the lost sheep". Furthermore, the Lord and heaven rejoice more harmoniously over one redeemed sinner than over 99 righteous. I was discussing this text with a friend the other day, and she mentioned that she didn't like the scripture. She stated that this scripture wasn't fair. I was inclined to her point of view, and totally understood her stance. But I have chosen a different understanding of this scripture. Experience is everything, and a wealth of my life experiences were spent as the lost sheep. I come from what was a broken home, riddled with abuse of all forms. Relationships broken, and no upbringing in a faith community. In fact, I have been working toward my first baptism during the last year, and will have that honor on the 13th of April.
Am I bitter about this past? No way. I know that the Lord my God has a plan for me, just like for each one of you. I spent many years lost, battered, beaten and broken. Little did I know that it was the best of bonding time, because when we are at our lows, that we are at the cross. Where better to bond with our Lord than at the cross? During international choir tour, at a church in Saraspatek, Hungary, when our God finally revealed to me the wonderful work he had been doing in my life, I knew I was saved. The amount of power and love I felt poured down on me at that instant was overwhelming. I saw all of the ways God had carried and nurtured me, in a flash; an instant play by play put right before me.
Since that moment, I have known that the Lord is my rock, and my faith has not floundered since.
I reflect on the lost sheep parable, and I think about a post I put on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. The support, from members of my hometown and those from Wartburg, was simply overwhelming. Truly the Heavens are rejoicing at this lost sheep who has been found; and that rejoice is spilling into the earthly realms and onto my Facebook page (or I am a little too deeply thoughtful, spiritual, and maybe slightly egocentric in thinking that all of heaven is rejoicing for the likes of me).
What I see when I look at myself is a product of love. Love driven into my bones from my family, hometown community, the Wartburg college community, the faith community I have become a part of here at Wartburg, and ultimately, God. I did not deserve any of this. In fact, I have done, and am probably still doing things to justify stripping away my privileges and praise. That is grace. God is gracious. He doesn't care if we have earned his love, or earned his forgiveness. It is simply given to us, whether we want it or not. I am so lucky and loved to have received this grace and can't thank God and my supporting community enough.
So where do I go from here? Where does the community and God go from here? Really, this is a defining moment in my collegiate experience. Here, I am allowed to testify how I have been changed by the love of God, and what I intend to do as a result of that change. Jesus is a teacher. I originally chose education as a career path and undergraduate study because it was what I needed to do to meet financial deficiencies a few years back. I had intended switching majors and doing something entirely different. Still, the Lord has steered me back. There is an old saying, "Hindsight is 20/20 and more often than not foresight is simply blind guessing". In hindsight, my choice, unknowingly divinely influenced, has put me in a position to "pay it forward". That is exactly what I intend to do and that is exactly what my students, friends, family, faith community, and future spouse deserve. Not because they have earned it, but because I love them. It is my duty as a disciple of Jesus to pay that gracious love forward. Thank you God, Wartburg, and all of my friends, family, and loved ones for your grace. You have instilled a sunrise in my heart, the light of the Breaking Dawn gleams in my heart. Amen.
