In this Issue:

Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

Archbishop Tutu and Bishop Sauls call Berea graduates to action

From the Bishop

News and ideas form across the diocese

People, Parishes and Passions across the Diocese

Part of the Heart of our Mission

Faith Matters: St. George's Day

Love First, Knowledge Second: Baccalaureate Address to Berea College Class of 2005

Commentaries

Reflection: As others see us

X-ercizing: What causes revelry?

Editoral: The 'use and abuse of the Bible'

Who's in charge here? One bishop's perspective

Diocesan Calendar

Past Issues

Archbishop Tutu, Bishop Sauls call Berea graduates to action

By Katerina Longfeld

Berea College graduates were called to action by a pair of Anglican bishops who addressed the class at baccalaureate and graduation Sunday, May 22. The Rt. Rev. Stacy F. Sauls, Bishop of the Diocese of Lexington, spoke to the class of 2005 in the morning, in an address entitled Love First, Knowledge Second. (Read address in its entirety on Pg. 9.) Bishop Sauls received a standing ovation, the first ever given for a baccalaureate address, according to Berea officials.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was the commencement speaker for the afternoon ceremony. Appearing to lead seamlessly from the earlier thesis that it is not what you know but how you feel – “everything yields to love” – Tutu told the graduates that as love leads them to what they feel, they will see what needs to be done and use their knowledge to go into the world and “do it.”

“God has a dream,” he stated, reflecting that God is presently being flustered by “conflicting requests from down below,” as if he has “lost his copy of the divine plan — if indeed, God ever had a plan.” “We have agreed to be God’s partners,” he told the gathering, emphasizing that his partners in overcoming apartheid were ordinary VSPs —“Very Special Persons,” who are “generous in spirit.”
“God doesn’t send down lightning bolts,” he said, “he sends you.” This is how God performs “miraculous transformations.”

“He looks down at this awful mess, he weeps, he smiles — and he sends a Eula Hall to be a partner in transformation. (Hall, recipient of an honorary degree, is Director of the Mudd Creek Clinic).
“To you, his graduates, he says ‘here are my people; help me.’ He sees all as family. All are insiders. No one is on the outside.”

The Archbishop flung his arms open wide, and then wider as he emphasized, “He wants to draw all — All — ALL…until they are held in this incredible embrace All — All — ALL, including Saddam Hussein, and Osama bin Laden and George Bush. God Says ALL.”

Advocate Online Staff

© 2005 The Episcopal Diocese of Lexington

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