Bob Stillerman

It’s Graduation Sunday, a day when we look back with fondness on the people and the places that have shaped us, and through the eyes of our graduates we exude hope for the world that will be.

Imagine you are a poor fisherman, or a day laborer, or just someone who we’d identify as food-insufficient in 2024 – that means you are someone who isn’t 100% sure where your next meal is coming from. And imagine you’ve been walking for days, traversing the hilly countryside of the Golan Heights.

These coffee grounds can be combined with steaming or dripping water, converted into a tasty bean juice, and shared with the humans with whom they now occupy the same ecosystem. And I’d like to believe that the energy, or the umph, or what John might call the logos/word these coffee grounds create in others will ultimately be transformed into acts of love and service.

I want you to think for a moment about significant events in your life. I’ll share a few of mine: a driver’s license (second try!), high school, college, and seminary graduations, an ordination day, a wedding day, the birth of our three children, the funerals of grandparents, just to name a few.

Last week, an important emissary for an African queen finds himself seeking good news in a faraway land. He is accomplished in every way, but his accomplishments are invisible in this strange place. His tongue, and his wardrobe, and his darker complexion betray him as an outsider to important Romans

We’re human. And sometimes what we give, be it our actions, our words, our time, our treasures, are not always received as we intended. But sometimes, we get it right. Sometimes we give in a way such that our praises make everyone, especially the intended receiver, better.