May 18, 2002
1:00 P.M.
Griffin Chapel


It is my privilege to welcome graduating seniors, your families and friends, faculty, staff, and others to the 39th Baccalaureate Service of Eckerd College.

Arriving at this day has probably not been easy for anyone here. Those of you who are seniors have worked hard to achieve this day and your families have worked with you, even sacrificed for you, to make it possible. Your classmates and teachers who have lived and worked with you, and in some way contributed to your education here at this school, find their reward today in your accomplishment.

The purpose of this baccalaureate service is not so much to celebrate personal achievement; rather, it is to recognize that the education Eckerd College provides is grounded in the great moral and religious values of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The service is also an opportunity to express, both individually and as a community, our gratitude for a gracious providence that has led us to this happy moment of high achievement.

Even more importantly, it is the occasion to emphasize that the knowledge and skills that the College seeks to impart to its graduates are worthwhile only so long as they are placed in the service of values that ennoble the human condition and contribute to the well-being of all.

This is particularly fitting for an institution committed to an education centered on Judeo-Christian values and related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church. You know, as Eckerd College graduates-to-be, what those values are. One of my own favorite expressions of those values that ennoble the human condition is from Matthew 25. 31-40:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit in state on his throne, with all the nations gathered before him. He will separate men into two groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, "You have my Father's blessing; come, enter and possess the kingdom that has been ready for you since the world was made. For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger you took me into your home, when naked you clothed me; when I was ill you came to my help, when in prison you visited me." Then the righteous will reply, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you drink, a stranger and took you home, or naked and clothed you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and come to visit you?" And the king will answer, "I tell you this: anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me."