Good morning. Welcome to Monday and a grace-filled week ahead!
As you have seen on the news or know “first hand” from neighbors, friends or your own family, we are in the midst of high school graduation. It’s been a crazy spring for our seniors. I’m glad they’re getting to celebrate. I’m impressed by the creativity of the commencements. There have been many different venues with various plans of graduate presentation. But the “bottom line” has always been the same, “Congratulations”, “We’re Proud of You”, “Our Hearts and Love are with You”.
At Spring Valley we’ll echo those same sentiments as we celebrate our seniors this week. We have eight great graduates. We’ve watched them grow up, several from nursery all the way through high school. Now we host a special Sunday to give thanks for them and to congratulate them on this “big step” in their lives.
On this Senior Sunday our seniors will assist in leading worship. We’ll hear from several of our seniors about how life has been, where their path goes from here, and how Spring Valley has been part of their journey.
Unlike other Senior Sundays of past years this one will be “virtual”. We’re grateful to those Seniors who will leading In worship via screen technology. As the first generation to grow up fully immersed in this “new world” maybe it’s witness to how their lives and our faith continue forward creatively through new venues.
Our Scripture for Sunday is Philippians 1:2-6, 2:12-13. It seems an appropriate choice for the occasion. In this text the Apostle tells the Philippians how dear they are to him. He gives thanks for how they shared the life of Christ together. He prays that as they continue ahead they will live out their own salvation “with fear and trembling”, knowing that God is at work in them both to will and to do God’s good pleasure. All the Apostle says to the Philippians we could say (and will say) to our graduates.
This Scripture is rich with a heart of love and a prayer for the best ahead. As we do on every Monday I encourage you to “immerse yourself” in that desire of the Apostle for the believers. Read and re-read the Scripture, silently and aloud. Write and re-write the text from several translations. Paraphrase in your own words. Let the voice of the Scripture speak through you!
After all the difficulty we’ve experienced these past several months it’s a “gift of grace” to rejoice with the seniors and their families in our church. I look forward to doing that with you as we spend time in this text.
Even as we pray the best for our graduates, we too can live in ways we “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling knowing that God is at work in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.” I’m glad we can reflect on and claim that grace together!
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for our seniors. They are a blessing to their families and our church family. We are grateful to celebrate this wonderful milestone in their lives with them. Even as we do, open our minds, eyes, and hearts to how Your grace has been present in the life we’ve shared together. Lead us into the deep promise of Your love in Christ that is ahead. For that provision and your grace that guides us, we give You our thanks and praise in Jesus’ name. Amen