Today is Friday, May 24th, 2024; Karen's Korner #5130
If it fits into my schedule, I like to attend our local school's baccalaureate and awards night annually. I really enjoyed this year's baccalaureate message. It was given by Clarion's First Methodist Church pastor, Craig Luttrell.
Here are some of the highlights of what he had to tell the seventy-plus Clarion-Goldfield-Dows graduating seniors.
His title "Two Points":
"'Listen up, maggots! You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else, and we are all part of the same compost pile. Listen to me! We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. You have to consider the possibility that there is no God, or if there is, God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, He hates you. We are God's unwanted children? So be it!'
"This is one of the fashionable, modern ways of looking at existence, courtesy of Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club. If you have not yet encountered such a worldview as of yet, you certainly will. Perhaps some of you already embrace such a view of yourselves and others. I am the result of cosmic happenstance and while I can create some sense of meaning and purpose while I'm here, there is really nothing particularly unique or all that important about me.....or you....or anybody else, really. It's a rather trendy philosophy and many people have embraced it.
"This is one of the perspectives of self, the world, and reality you have been or certainly will be invited to embrace. I would like to propose an alternative view---one that I believe will most certainly help you as you move into the adulthood portion of your journey. And that perspective, as found in Psalm 139, is this: 'Oh Lord, You have searched me and known me.......You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me...For it was You who formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.'
"According to this worldview, you are special. You are a beautiful and unique snowflake. While you are indeed made of the same decaying organic matter as everything else, you have been fearfully and wonderfully made from that stuff. You are unique and special. I believe with all of my heart that every one of you is a unique and special creation of the God who loves yo so much, and it is my deepest desire that all of us would embrace that truth. But even if you don't believe that part of it--that you created or made, so to speak--I certainly hope you at the very least embrace the un unique and wonderful part.
"So, listen up maggots: You are fearfully and wonderfully made and you will find more happiness in life if you don't focus exclusively on yourselves.
"Those are my two points."
**
(If you would like a copy of his entire speech,
I have it and could email it to you!)
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