Photo: 2009 Valedictorian - Davis Good

The famous quote by William Shakespeare declares that “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”. I love this metaphor, but today I want you to think of the world instead as an orchestra, where all the men and women are musicians. Each have their own instruments, all of which produce different timbres and volumes, representing each person’s distinctive gifts and personality. It seems that every group of friends has its dramatic strings, its bold brasses, its mellow woodwinds, and its dynamic percussion. This graduating class is definitely no exception, and although the instruments here are so diverse, they work together to create music.

What allows this motley ensemble to create music, and what makes our music more valuable than others? Each of us has a beautiful instrument, but our ability to create music depends on following the written score and the conductor. The score of life is the Bible, the absolute foundation of the orchestra, written notes from the composer of life itself. The conductors, at different stages in our lives so far, have been our parents, pastors, teachers, and all others who have kept us at the correct tempo. The famous conductor Leonard Bernstein once said “I’m not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer.” That is the exact goal for which our guides and our guardians have striven. They have interpreted and taught God’s truth to the best of their ability, so that our lives, our music, might exemplify and glorify His nature.

Class of 2009, we musicians are about to receive an independence we have not previously experienced. The conductors are moving farther away from the orchestra pit, so we ought to be moving our noses closer to the score and keeping our instruments in tune with our fellow players. Life after high school is not the time to freestyle but to recite what we have learned while remaining bonded with other believers. It is imperative for us to hold on to our foundations, but, at this time, it is also important that we learn to play our unique instruments with greater skill and freedom.

It will be tempting to stray from God’s plan for our instruments. One danger, of which we are all aware is straying from God, which most of us will be careful not to do. The more subtle and less mentioned danger is straying from our instrument. Reading from 1 Corinthians 12, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”

So, as we mature in skill and knowledge, we must not forget those distinctive gifts and personalities that God has instilled in us. The bassoonist cannot play the cello any more than the cellist can play the french horn. Only when we are ourselves can we be most effective for God. However, being ourselves is not all there is. I was blessed with some wise words this week; “Faith and excellence are what change lives.” Both faith in God’s plan and an excellent performance of His will are required to impact this world, the same way a great musician must be both technical and expressive.

Augustine Christian Academy has taught us both technique and expression. Now we bid the school a bittersweet farewell at the end of this movement of God’s symphony, but at the same time we eagerly turn the page in expectation of the challenges and blessings before us. We trust that our school, our families, and our churches have prepared us to be excellent. That combined with faith in God and in ourselves will see us through the coming challenges. We also trust that God will teach us humility as we embrace the coming blessings.

So, the class of 2009 plays its final chords and becomes the class of 2013. With God’s help we will begin the next movement of His symphony and perform it in faith and in excellence, so that our audience might listen to His music, understand His heart, and come into relationship with Him. In a world where all the men and women are musicians, the Bible is our score, the great commission is our theme, and we will use what has been taught us, as well as what was born in us, to play this symphony mightily. Thank you for everything, Augustine Christian Academy. From your class of 2009: “Vale!”

• Posted: Tuesday, May-26-2009
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• This post was filed under School of Rhetoric and tagged with: Class of 2009, Graduation, and School of Rhetoric.