For as long as I’ve been at Carthage, there has been a sincere and concerted effort to be a welcoming and inclusive community- but when it has come to important events like Baccalaureate, the school has emphatically embraced its identity as a school of the Lutheran church. But tonight was the school’s first truly Inter-Faith Baccalaureate, an amazing event which was designed by – and for – students and staff of a wide range of faith traditions.
It began much as other such services have begun – with campus pastor Kara Baylor at the podium, speaking warm words of welcome. But within a very few minutes, a Jewish student was at that same podium, reading a passage from Isaiah in both English and Hebrew. And a few minutes after that, one of Carthage’s Muslim students spoke some inspiring words about what it has been like for her to spend the last four years at Carthage. There were, of course, Lutherans and Catholics and other Christians participating as well- but it was the presence of those non-Christians with them on the dais that made tonight’s Baccalaureate so remarkable, so different for any that had come before.
I don’t know if anyone was troubled by tonight’s service- feeling as though Carthage was somehow being untrue to its history or identity or legacy …. but for me, it was just the opposite: it was a powerful statement that the school was making about how it truly valued the wide diversity of its student body and the various faith traditions represented within it. Actually, my understanding is that for quite some time now, Carthage’s student body has been exceptionally diverse in comparison some of its sister institutions whose student populations are predominantly Lutheran. Most of the years that I have taught at Carthage, there have been more Catholics than Lutherans studying there- and in recent years we have seen more and more students (and faculty as well) who are not just non-Lutheran, but also outside of the entire Christian experience. Carthage, for whatever reason, has long been a crazy quilt of various beliefs- so tonight’s service was actually an honest acknowledgment of what and who Carthage, in fact, is and has been for quite some time. And what happened tonight has nothing to do with believing less what you yourself believe- or somehow muting it … but rather making sure that everyone feels welcome and included at the table, which, after all, is what Jesus was all about.
A lot of beautiful words were spoken tonight, but my very favorite part of the evening came at the very, very end when the Carthage Choir sang the James Taylor song “Shed a Little Light.” I had never heard this song until I heard Mr. Taylor himself sing it at Ravinia a couple of summers ago, and it was nothing less than thrilling to sit at the grand piano and accompany the Carthage Choir as they sang these stirring words:
Let us turn out thoughts today to Martin Luther King,
and recognize that there are ties between us.
All men and women living on the earth,
ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood.
That we are bound together
in our desire to see the world become a place in which
our children can grow free and strong.
We are bound together
by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead.
There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist.
There is a hunger in the center of the chest.
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist.
And thought the body sleeps, the heart will never rest.
SHED A LITTLE LIGHT, O LORD.
SO THAT WE CAN SEE.
One of the things I like most about these lyrics is that there is a sense of grappling to say it in a way that will connect with just about anyone – it acknowledges that there are many ways to think about and talk about Coming Together and Changing The World. And there is no doubt in my mind that if we are going to save this planet for our children and our children’s children, then we must come together. Last night gave us one more little peek at what such a world might look like.
(pictured above: Carthage’s string quartet plays as various speakers- and members of the Carthage Choir- listen. Pictured below: various moments from the program.)
