The May 23, 1934 issue of the Pharos tells us that it is the custom of Wesleyan for the president to deliver the sermon at Baccalaureate. It also states that, “this service is always very impressive the more, perhaps, because it is more intimate than the major commencement ceremonies.”
The community is gathered to give thanks, to say farewell, to offer encouragement, and to send the graduates forth into the world. Up until 1972, all of the presidents of the college had been ordained Methodist ministers, so it makes sense that they would want to preach the main sermon at this occasion.
The first year that full college degrees were given was 1906. Records are a bit spotty much before 1930, but I am still digging through the piles of records to find more. Here is a list of what I have gathered so far as to who spoke, and the title of their sermon when available. There are some blanks left to fill in. Oddly some of the blanks are the most recent years as the archives are in transition while the library is being renovated! There is a LOT of history there!!!
Presidents Wier, Doney, Fleming, McCuskey, Broyles, Scarborough, and Martin preached a lot of the Baccalaureate Sermons throughout the years. I am in hopes that somewhere in those boxes or files I may yet come across transcripts of those to share.
In the last 50 years or so there have been many given by Bishops, and Alumni who are pastors and/or Trustees of the College.
This year one such person will speak. Joseph Kenaston, class of 1981, is a pastor and a trustee. He has shown leadership qualities throughout his life — President of the Community Council 1979-80 and President of the Senior Class 1981. His sermon will be titled, “A Therefore Moment.”
Litany of Commission
Since 1978, the Baccalaureate Service has included a Litany of Commission written by Dr. Sidney T. Davis, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Christian Education and former Dean of the Chapel.
Dr. Davis, himself a graduate in the class of 1936, has been an inspiration to many throughout the years. A faculty member from 1947-76, Dr. Davis mentored and inspired many church leaders. He continues to inspire present and future graduates of the college through the use of this Litany of Commission.
The President:
Members of the graduating class of _______, you stand in the midst of those who are the Wesleyan of today: administration, faculty, staff, fellow students, families; you also stand surrounded by an unseen cloud of witnesses who have given to all of us a rich heritage in love of learning, devotion to truth, concern for people.
Graduating Seniors:
We gladly take this heritage as our own this day. We pledge ourselves to its preservation.
Wesleyan Community:
We rejoice in your commitment to the excellence of great traditions. We support you. We pray for your success.
The President:
You have lived and studied among people of faith. Without the undergirding, strength and courage of faith in God, the Wesleyan community would never have been born and could not survive. Take faith and let it daily be your companion.
Graduating Seniors:
We take heart for we have seen faith at work. We would be people of faith and receive it as our own: Faith in God, faith in our fellow human beings, and faith in ourselves as persons of God.
Wesleyan Community:
We, too, are people of faith and know its sustaining power. May it be yours: Faith to keep you strong, steady and serving.
The President:
Go then, for there is now a noble commission given to you. Because of the special gifts with which you have been endowed, because of the nurture of those gifts by the spirit of Wesleyan, you are hereby commissioned to go out into the world to make a difference, to change it for the better, to enrich it with your own brand of creative goodness, to redeem it when it falters. Go then, and God go with you!
Graduating Seniors:
We accept our commission. We dare to go because we must. God grant that we shall be of good courage, and be faithful to the trust invested in us by our families, by Wesleyan, by the Church, and by God
All
Amen.