Montgomery Academy Baccalaureate

本站收录: 2026-05-22

[00:03:23]Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory.

[00:03:38]in a shelter for glory.

[00:04:28]Gloria Glor is glorious.

[00:04:39]Gloria, glorious.

[00:07:01]Heat. Heat.

[00:08:06]Please. Bow your heads. Dear heavenly father, as we stand here today, ready to close one chapter and begin another, we pause with gratitude for everything that has brought us to this moment. For the memories we've had, the friendships we've built, the lessons we've learned, and even the challenges that have helped us grow. As seniors preparing to step into the future, may we have the courage to chase our dreams, the strength to face uncertainty, and the wisdom to stay true to who we are. May we never forget the people who supported us, encouraged us and believed in us along the way.

[00:08:41]Help us to move forward with kindness, humility, and confidence, knowing that each of us has something valuable to offer the world. And no matter where life takes us, may we always carry the spirit of the class with us. The laughter, the perseverance, and the hope we share today. With thankful hearts and hopeful minds, we celebrate this moment together. Amen.

[00:09:24]Heat. Heat.

[00:09:41]Heat. Heat.

[00:09:51]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:01]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:11]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:21]I am here.

[00:10:41]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:51]Heat. Heat.

[00:11:01]Heat. Heat.

[00:11:27]A responsive reading. Psalm chapter 90:es 1-2.

[00:11:32]Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

[00:11:46]You turn us back to dust and say, "Turn back, you mortal."

[00:11:57]>> You sweep them away. They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning.

[00:12:09]For we are consumed by your anger. By your wrath we are overwhelmed.

[00:12:20]>> For all our days pass away under your wrath. Our years come to an end like a sigh.

[00:12:38]Who considers the power of your anger?

[00:12:40]Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

[00:14:08]Let me run through a field in the night.

[00:14:11]Let me soul in flight. Let me sway like the shade of a tree. Let me swirl like a cloud in the storm on the sea. Wish me on my way.

[00:14:30]I want to flow, want to rise, want to spill, want to grow, and a grow on the side of a hill. I don't care if the train runs late. If the checks don't clear, if the house blows down, I'll be off where the weeds run wild, where the seeds fall from this mountain.

[00:14:53]Then I'll start to catch a ship that'll sail me a get caught in a wind. I'll just have to oy till I'm flying away.

[00:15:19]Oh, let me leave behold.

[00:15:45]Born awake without wondering why.

[00:15:48]Finding myself in a place for the sky.

[00:16:10]Let me lose all control like a wish in a well free as the sound of a sea in a shell.

[00:16:22]>> I don't know. Maybe I'm just a fool. I should keep to the ground. I should stay where I hunger like this.

[00:16:34]But I can't think my past. All I know is somewhere on a river long.

[00:16:45]And I have such a river inside.

[00:16:56]Let me let me soul.

[00:17:11]Wish me my way.

[00:17:19]Want to flow to the side of a hill.

[00:17:27]Want to shift like a wave rolling on a path I've been traveling up.

[00:18:38]A reading from Isaiah 55:es 6- 11. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord that he may have mercy on them and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sewer and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

[00:19:36]I want to express my appreciation to our student speakers and readers today. Uh thank you so much Jackson, Rob, and Mac for your leadership.

[00:19:45]Good morning and welcome to our annual balorate service here at the Montgomery Academy.

[00:19:53]This is a special day.

[00:19:56]We look forward to this day each year, but we look forward today for what is in store for the class of 2026.

[00:20:08]And it is my sincere hope that this is a day seniors that you will remember for the rest of your lives.

[00:20:18]I love this service. Uh and I love the fact that our chorus sang so beautifully today. Thank you so much, Miss Kimbro, Dr. Wac, uh for your leadership and thank you singers for sharing your talents with us in this special moving service.

[00:20:34]This morning we are delighted to welcome to our campus the Reverend Mark Waldo Jr. to serve as our balorate service speaker this year. Reverend Waldo was raised here in Montgomery was the fourth of six kids. His father was the director of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension for almost 30 years and his mother was a noted curator of neighborhood gardens.

[00:21:00]He attended Indian Spring School in Shelby County and went on to major in music education at Transennsylvania University. Following a year on the staff at Coventry Cathedral in England, he entered Virginia Theological Seminary. After his ordination, he went on to serve parishes in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and right here in Alabama.

[00:21:22]He is currently the associate director for the PA for pastoral care at St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Montgomery. Reverend Waldo, thank you so much for being here this morning. It is an honor to have you here to give these words of encouragement to our graduates.

[00:21:39]Welcome.

[00:21:46]So, is this a speech or a sermon? I think I'll go with sermon. So, let us pray.

[00:21:54]Gracious and loving God, strengthen our hearts to hear your word. Strengthen our hopes that we might follow your will and open our lives that we may serve you with peace. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.

[00:22:09]So, I was asked to submit a transcript of my sermon before this service. Uh, I admitted to Carolyn Brian that I haven't written a transcript in over 30 years of ministry. So, um, she'll get to do it by AI or something like that to transcribe this. I asked if the passage that we would hear today, which we heard so eloquently read, would be from Isaiah 55.

[00:22:47]And I knew the minute that Mr. McWills asked me to speak here today, uh, which passage I would use from the entire Old Testament. Because if you were listening carefully, you would have heard an invitation, an invitation to God, but excuse me, an invitation from God for us to take his word and not return it to him empty.

[00:23:19]Just as the rain comes and waters the earth so that the sewer may sew seed and the seeds may sprout, just so may my word come forth and it not return to me empty.

[00:23:36]You and I have an opportunity to live our lives to use an expression I used to use with my younger children at the time. A show and tell.

[00:23:48]Lord, you gave me this and this is what I have to show for it. Lord, tada.

[00:23:58]I did a little homework on Gen Z. Um, just so I might sound slightly re uh relevant. I'm I'm a boomer. Okay, you can call me that if you like. And boomers love stability. We uh don't particularly like change. And um we have faith in institutions.

[00:24:21]That's a tricky one these days. Uh we also have a workplace fidelity. Am am I wrong, boomers? Uh you know what I'm talking about.

[00:24:32]Gen X who might qualify some of the parents in the room prefer the in they're more independent resourceful and somewhat dubious of institutions generation Y the electronic age and one comment was that they put purpose over profits I I'm not sure that's exactly true in Alabama but but it's still an interesting notion but Gen Z that that's you all I believe um the definition was hyperincclusiveness alert to mental health dis diversity and radical authenticity well there's a notion isn't it radical authenticity in other words I'm guessing that you have a healthy skepticism of institutions ions of politics that seems um superficial.

[00:25:36]Marketing should be relevant not just uh distracting.

[00:25:42]You want authenticity in your relationships and you expect the church to be authentic and relevant.

[00:25:54]That's where it gets tricky because many of you are probably associated with a church or a congregation or a community of faith. And in this day and age, hearing words that you relate to might be somewhat challenging.

[00:26:12]That's why I picked Isaiah 55 because in that verse, God is inviting you and me into an authentic life. A life that delights him because it delights you. And I don't say that as if it is all about individualism. I say it because I think as people who value authenticity, you know what is blessed by God and you know what is selfish and self-centered.

[00:26:47]God delights in us when we delight in that which he has given us.

[00:26:54]So, I kind of liken it to giving a pale and a shovel to a child on the beach and that child, that young toddler takes and creates something there on the beach and is so proud to show it off. I I I know that seems a bit sophomoric, but I would love to imagine that each of us in our own lives have an opportunity to turn around to show God what it is that we have come up with with that which he has given us.

[00:27:32]It might rain tonight. I understand. So, we may be what in here if that's the case.

[00:27:42]I remember having served on the staff of Camp McDow, familiar to some of you. Um it was one of those summers a few years ago that was parched dry and it had been dry for over five weeks. In fact, the um water tank ran empty. And believe it or not, the entire camp up there in Winston County had to bring in bottled water to to cook and serve the children.

[00:28:10]But then it rained.

[00:28:13]And when it rained, something surprising happened. At least something I'd never taken the time to notice.

[00:28:21]Mushrooms.

[00:28:23]Now, in that part of the world, the the the heavy rains um brought mushrooms out all through the woods, all through the fields. They were everywhere. And um I became fascinated with it. I took photographs of the mushrooms and I continued to do it. People would find me lying my belly looking at it. I wasn't particularly interested in knowing whether they were edible or not.

[00:28:52]I was just fascinated to know uh how they grew and what they looked like at various stages.

[00:28:59]And to date, I I'm embarrassed to tell you this, but I have 21,32 photographs of mushrooms on my phone, and I'm happy to share them if you'd like.

[00:29:15]I have in those moments, I learned to delight in the world around me. I I have learned to delight in starry nights.

[00:29:23]I've learned to delight in new friendships.

[00:29:27]I've learned to turn to God and ask for strength in times of loss, in times of indecision, in times of a decision that has consequences far beyond myself.

[00:29:46]As God sends down rain upon the earth, so my word shall not return to me empty.

[00:29:54]I pray that you turn to his word in those times of fascination and delight of those times of loss, those times of indecision and choice.

[00:30:09]I think it's important to know there's a difference between happiness and joy. I wish you a happy life, but happiness is man-made.

[00:30:21]Happiness is something that you do to create the environment around you. And you may do it with the help of other people. You may do it with colleagues.

[00:30:31]You may do it just finding a book that you delight in.

[00:30:37]The difference between joy and happiness is that joy is momentary.

[00:30:43]It is cosmic. It is of God. And it may be one of those things that you don't know you're experiencing until it takes you out of yourself.

[00:30:57]I wish you a happy life, but I wish you moments of joy. There's a difference between forgetting and forgiveness.

[00:31:07]I pray that you don't forget anything, including today.

[00:31:12]But forgiveness is one of those things where you don't let the thing that has haunted you become the thing that weights you down.

[00:31:24]I had a dear dear sweet parishioner who I actually had the honor of burying just a few weeks ago.

[00:31:33]She told me a terrible story about a relationship that had gone very difficultly. And she uh began to cry and asked, "Well, how did you forgive that person?" You know what she said? She said, "I decided he had too much space in my mind. I let him go.

[00:31:56]And in letting him go, he had no more power over my heart.

[00:32:02]Forgiveness is letting go of the things that control you against your will.

[00:32:09]Forgiveness she was able to do but she would never forget. Finally, love versus apathy.

[00:32:18]The opposite of love is not hate. The opposite of love is not caring. I pray that you will always care and that love will rule your hearts.

[00:32:32]God said, "As the snow and rain come down from heaven and don't return until they have watered the earth, making it bring b forth seed and sprout, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

[00:32:48]It shall not return to me empty." I pray that you have a life in which you can refer to God. You can cling fast to his word and you can delight in that which it has taken root in your own life. So like the child on the beach to turn to God and say look what I've done.

[00:33:13]Tada.

[00:33:15]That is my prayer that you have a joyful, forgiving, loving and fruitful life today and always. Amen.

[00:33:56]Hallelujah.

[00:34:15]Heat. Heat.

[00:34:38]Heat. Heat.

[00:35:12]Gracious and eternal God, you have brought these graduates of the Montgomery Academy to this day of commencement, having endowed them with gifts of mind, heart, and spirit. And as your word declares in the prophet Isaiah, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty. Bless therefore these your servants as they prepare to go forth into the world. May the words they speak and the lives they lead accomplish that which you would accomp would be in accordance with your will. and be a delight in heaven. Grant them courage to seek justice, wisdom to love mercy, and humility to walk with you all their days. And the blessing of God Almighty be upon them and all who you have all who have nurtured them this day and forever more. Amen.

[00:37:27]Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land.

[00:37:32]Come and go to that land where I'm bound.

[00:37:37]Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land where I'm bound.

[00:37:46]Peace and joy in that land. Peace and joy in that land. Peace and joy in the land where I'm bound.

[00:37:56]Peace and joy in that land. Peace and joy in the land. Peace and joy in the land where I bound.

[00:38:07]Oh, what a beautiful city. Oh, what a beautiful city. Oh, what a beautiful city.

[00:38:22]G to the city. Hallelujah.

[00:38:31]Oh, what a beautiful city. Oh, what a beautiful city. Oh, what a beautiful city. 12 gates to the city. Hallelujah.

[00:38:54]Come and go to the land. Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land where I'm bound.

[00:39:04]Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land.

[00:39:10]and go to the land where I love.

[00:39:15]If you miss me from singing down here and you can find me nowhere, just come on up to bright glory and I'll be singing up there.

[00:39:34]I'll be singing out there.

[00:39:39]I'll be singing up there.

[00:39:43]Just come on out to bright glory.

[00:39:48]Yes, I'll be singing of air.

[00:39:52]>> Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land where come and go to that land. Come and go to that land. Come and go to that land we're about.

[00:40:15]Come and go with me to myior's house.

[00:40:24]Come and go with me to my Savior's house.

[00:40:34]Come and go with me to my Savior's house.

[00:40:43]Come and go with me.

[00:40:48]To my Savior's house.

[00:40:53]Come and go with me.

[00:40:58]To my Savior's house.

[00:41:02]Come and go with me to my savior's house.

[00:41:12]Come on.

[00:41:16]Come on to my house. Come on. Come on.

[00:41:25]Come on.

[00:41:26]To my savior's house.

[00:41:30]Come on, go with me.

[00:41:35]To my savior's house.

[00:41:39]Come on with me.

[00:41:43]To my house.

[00:42:08]Heat. Heat.

[00:42:18]gorgeous.

[00:43:06]Heat. Heat.

[00:43:25]Thank you.