Headmaster's Address for the Class of 2026

Seniors, I have to be honest with you. I wrote you each a letter that you received on Thursday morning. I then shared another letter with you all at dinner on Thursday night. And now I am standing here to share one final word with you before you walk across this stage.

I’m running out of things to say!

But I have the microphone, and I love you, so I’d like to offer two final thoughts.

You are less than one hour away from becoming entirely ordinary again.

You have been a Senior all school year. Our youngest students see you in your blazers and they think you hung the moon. You spoke in Noonday Prayer, you painted your parking spots, you chose the Homecoming Week dress up themes, you let us all wear jeans and college shirts for a week, you were honored at AT&T stadium, you have had parties and dinners and dinners and parties.

You might even be a little tired of it by now.

All of these things were good.

But at around 3:30pm today, you become ordinary again.

And that is a good thing.

Because God uses ordinary people.

That was Final Thought Number One. Here is Final Thought Number Two.

Leslie Newbigin, a Scottish missionary and theologian who wound up serving as a Bishop in the Church of South India, was once told the following by a Hindu scholar he encountered:

I can’t understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion—and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don’t need any more! I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it.

The Christian Scriptures are not a collection of compelling one-liners to live by, though you will find plenty of words of wisdom in them. The Christian Scriptures are not a collection of books aimed at telling you exactly how to live your life. The Christian Scriptures are not even primarily a collection of texts that tell the history of our faith.

So what are they?

The Christian Scriptures are what God has chosen to reveal to humanity about Reality Itself. They tell us what is. They are not the Christian story, or a presentation of Christian theology, or a handbook for Christian folks.

They are the story of Ultimate Reality. And through them, God himself beckons us to get on board with Reality. At the center of Reality itself is the Triune God.

Holding all things together.

Holding You together.

Up to this point, you have been in the good hands of your parents, and your church, and your school.

I want you to remember always that you leave this place in the hands of the One who held you before your parents even knew that you existed.

Now, let’s graduate.