One of the things South Africa kept pressing on me is that there is no such thing as reading Scripture from nowhere. We all stand somewhere when we read. Our social location, our history, our race, our experience of power or powerlessness, and the people sitting beside us all affect what we hear and what we fail to hear.

I want to congratulate you all, every single one of you, students and friends, spouses, alumni, teachers, administrators, children, parents, all of you. Everyone. Congratulations to all of you who are graduating on the hard work and the met deadlines and the missed deadlines, and the anguish and the joy and the, “What am I doing this for?” And the, “I’m not good enough,” and, “What do I do with it now?” And, “What comes next?”