Graduation Homily at Trinitas Christian School
May, 26th, 2011; Reverend Uriesou T. Brito
Students of the Trinitas graduating class of 2011, board of trustees, faculty, parents, grandparents, ladies and gentlemen, the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Graduates, I want to address briefly the kind of life that you are expected to live as you leave this great institution. You have been equipped here to defend the Christian gospel in a way that very few have. Therefore, your responsibility is greater because you have been given much.
As you enter into this new phase of your lives, your duty to become apologists for the faith once delivered (Jude 3) is a duty that befits kings and queens of the kingdom. And this royal duty is most clearly manifested through the praise and adoration of the Triune God. The first mission you have as those sent out into the world is to reveal how highly exalted is the God you serve. Your duty is to ensure that your song of praise is a song that is heard with every word you speak and with every action you take. Your lives must continue to be testimonies that the angelic worship that occurs day and night in heaven will continue on earth. “The songs coming down from heaven are to blend with your song going up from earth.”[1] You are this living sacrifice; this sweet and pleasing aroma of grace in the world. Your royal song of praise must go on.
And though all celestial bodies, all earthly creatures bow in reverence and wonder at their Creator, as the Psalmist declares, you are the culmination of God’s creational orchestra. You are His greatest creational joy. You were created to be not only human beings, but also doxological beings whose chief end is to glorify God. He is your everlasting telos. There is no greater joy than exalting the Father, Son, and Spirit in this life. You are the crowning piece to this great Trinitarian masterpiece. God created you so that your lives would become reflections of the life He has shared in all eternity. God created you so that through your eating, drinking, singing, rejoicing, weeping, and loving you will join the unending doxology of creation.
But though the God you serve is exalted above all, transcending all things, He is also near. He comes to you daily; to Help and Guide through your weekly duties, but He comes to you most gloriously in the gathering of worship on each Lord’s Day.
My exhortation to you as you begin a new part of your journey is to increase your love for Christ’s Bride. St. Paul says that the foundation of this love is in the assembly of the saints in worship. Do not forsake the sacred assembly! Though all of life is sacred, God places a fundamental centrality in your participation, in your communion with brothers and sisters in the faith on the Lord’s Day.
Theology must not be an abstraction. It must be absorbed into your bodies and lived out in the Church and the world. In the words of Professor John Frame: “Theology is the application of the Word by persons to the world and to all areas of human life.” (p. 79.) You will begin to apply your theology most fully when you see the riches and mysteries of Jesus Christ present in His Bride, the Church.
So, begin this new journey by living your theology in the midst of your assembly in love and honor; by gathering each Lord’s Day with an intense fervor to see the Triune God exalted: to worship the Father as the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth; the Son as Light from Light and True God of True God, and the Spirit, as Comforter and Giver of Life.
May the God who receives all praise and honor cause you to be men and women who delight in nothing more than to see all of creation singing the eternal song of praise.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Charles Spurgeon, Treasure of David.
