Lenore, Nick and Jack, 2026 high school graduates everywhere, dear friends in Christ, grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Forty -four year ago, just five years after I had walked across the stage in my gray cap and gown for my high school graduation, I escorted my first tour through Norway. As I sat there in the high school auditorium on that June evening in 1977, I could have never imagined my future work. I didn’t speak Norwegian, I had never travelled outside of the US, and I knew few people beyond my close knit friends and neighbors in my home in southern Minnesota, but five years later, I was guiding a group of New York bred, Florida retired Jews through the fjords and valleys of Norway.  Surprisingly, I soon became known as a Jewish specialist in Scandinavia and for the next 11 summers, I guided only Jewish groups. I was even invited to join them on my first trip to Israel. No, I didn’t have any experience or education in travel, but I had a treasure trove of Norwegian jokes from my childhood which the Jewish groups loved.  Ole and Sven and Lena were their favorite characters and they adored a piece I called “A Letter from a Norwegian Mother.”

Dear Son,

I am writing this letter slowly because I know you can’t read very fast. We are all very well here. You won’t recognize the house when you get home because we’ve moved. It is quite nice and has got a washing machine. I put shirts in it last week, pulled the chain, and haven’t seen them since. Your father’s got a really good job now. He’s got 500 men under him. He’s cutting the grass at the cemetery. Your sister Lena has had her baby, but I don’t know if it’s a boy or girl, so I can’t tell you whether you’re an aunt or an uncle. Your cousin Torvald died last week at the brewery. He fell into a vat of whiskey. A couple of his mates dived in to save him, but he bravely fought them off. He was cremated on Wednesday, and it took a week to put the fire out. It only rained twice last week; once for two days and again for three days. I’ve sent you a coat, but it was too heavy for the mail so I cut off the buttons and put them in the pockets.

Your loving mother,

P.S. I was going to enclose $20 with this letter, but I had already sealed the envelope.

Well, I forgot to bring my collection of jokes on our tour to Scandinavia, so I felt obligated to use them this morning.

For all of us here, graduation is a time for reflecting on great endings and new beginnings.  This is especially true for our 2026 graduates. It is a time for grand farewells, and the initial strides along new pathways. It is also a wonderful time for preparing for life’s surprises.

Of course, there will be a fair deal of joking at graduation as well, often at your expense. Doting parents and grandparents, and aunts and uncles will recall your first day in first grade, when you sullenly told the teacher, “I don’t like school, and I just found out I have to stay until I’m eighteen.”  The teacher consoled you by sharing a little frustration of her own, “That’s not so bad.  I have to stay here until I’m sixty-five.”

The whole senior year and that final graduation day are tough for parents. They go to the ceremony as mothers and fathers. They come home as contemporaries, and after 18 years of child-rearing they are suddenly unemployed.  So, in case you haven’t noticed, they have spent the last year fretting about the lessons they’ve taught you, and in the process, they’ve examined their own lives and values.

This morning’s gospel of Jesus’ parting words to his disciples in St. Matthew’s Great Commission is a graduation ceremony of sorts and a final teaching lesson.  It is the word that I would like to share with the members, parents, friends of the Class of 2026. These three thoughts are drawn from Jesus’ hope for a great ending and a great new beginning for his disciples and the early church, and it is timely today as it was then.  First, find your passions, second, enjoy life now, and third, never underestimate the power of your actions.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” in more colloquial words- Find your passions and go.  That may seem obvious as you begin life anew somewhere else, but let me emphasize that you don’t have to know what you are going to do the rest of your life today. People are always asking you this, so you think you’re supposed to have an answer and get locked into it. But most adults simply ask question this as a conversation starter. They want to know what sort of person you are, and this question is just to get you talking.  I’m sure Jesus disciples had absolutely no idea what it meant but they dared to learn.

I certainly didn’t know what learning a foreign language would mean to me and my life when I began studying Norwegian in college.  I was merely honoring the language of my grandparents, but what a difference it made. If I were starting all over again, I’d say that my first priority was to learn what the options were. You don’t have to rush in to choose your life’s work. What you do need to do is discover what you like.  The author Kurt Vonnegut was once attributed to saying. “Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.” Be curious, try new things, explore new ideas, but never forget who raised you and where you are grounded.  I never forgot the accents and humor of my grandparents, and it opened doors that I could have never imagined.

Second, enjoy life now.  The ending of my travel career guiding tours in Scandinavia coincided with my call to ordained ministry, and there were no regrets about the change.  We all will experience different seasons and stages in life. Enjoying life is often viewed as a selfish act, and sometimes it is.  I am reminded of a little sign I saw by a teller in a discount store.  “I can only please one person each day. Today is not your day.  Tomorrow isn’t looking too good, either.”  For some people, enjoying life may be for their pleasure only.  So Jesus’ words to the disciples, “Teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you” may not seem so appealing.  We don’t like it when someone tells us to obey what they have commanded, especially as we’re heading off to college- even Jesus.  How can such a command be an invitation to enjoy life?

Jesus’ instruction to the disciples, however, was not a warning of life’s potential and imminent regrets and frustrations, or the lament, “If only I would have.” But rather it was the context for enjoying the fullness of the life God intended for you now. Consider the wisdom of Jesus’ teaching and commandments “Do not be anxious about tomorrow. Do not worry about your life.  Have no fear, little flock. I have come that you should have life and live it abundantly.” Yes, Jesus invited his disciple to obey his commandments so that they could enjoy a God centered life now, and so they would not be haunted by regrets later.  That is his invitation for you as well.  Enjoy God’s little blessings now- without regrets.

Of course, that may mean learning something new or making adjustments in your patterns an comfort level. When I first arrived in Norway in late December 1978, I didn’t know how to cross country ski. My poor Norwegian cousin was so embarrassed by this that he made a track in the backyard where I was to practice before he would let me out in public.  Then he taught me the single most important word I needed to know as a novice skier in Norway. “Utlendinger” which means Foreigner. If you were out of control on the ski trail and screamed that Norwegian skiers would part ways like the Red Sea. In the midst of enjoying life, you may need to learn something new first which you weren’t expecting.

Third, never underestimate the power of your actions.  Throughout the next years of life, you are going to meet many great teachers. You are going to be drawn in by many leaders. You may be captivated by other people’s dreams and visons.  But I also hope and pray that you will be inspired and encouraged by men and women of integrity and valor.  President John F. Kennedy said, “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”  With one small gesture you can change a person’s life, or, with one simple look you can send someone down the toughest spiral of confusion and hate.  The truth is, you are you—the only you in all the world and you can make a difference.  So, never underestimate the power of your actions, so make sure you follow teachers and leaders and friends filled with integrity.

Tourism in Norway has changed dramatically since I first worked there 44 years ago. Tunnels and bridges have transformed the country making the distances seem shorter. Regretfully, prices have gone the opposite direction.  Great cruise ship have taken over the majority of Norway’s ports, so much so, that they don’t really need an aspiring Norwegian -American comedian escorting groups through the fjords anymore.  Today, most tourists register on-line, watch videos and listen to podcasts. Any information they feel they need is available at their fingertips on their telephones. Yes, even the mighty glaciers have begun to disappear and recede as the result of change.

The disciples with Jesus would see changes in their world too, as well as opposition and persecution. That is why Jesus ended his commencement address with this final word, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Why is this such an important word?  It is a reminder that God has given you a steady presence of hope in Jesus Christ, and hope is more than optimism. Hope means God is with you in trouble and in triumph and in transition. If God is with you, regret will never have to be the last word.

Class of 2026, dear friends, our Savior invites you to be blessed with a great ending and great beginning  So find your passions and go, enjoy life now, and never underestimate the power of your actions. And remember, that Jesus and his abounding hope and resource, will be with always, to the end of the age. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.