Presbyterian College: Commencement 2008

More Than a Number

I love numbers.  That should come as no surprise to our graduating seniors.  Having experienced the liberal arts at PC, you recognize that all aspects of life have a connection with numbers.  Numbers are in music:  Leibniz once said, "Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that it is counting." Numbers are in literature:  In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare wrote, "They say there is divinity in odd numbers ..." Numbers are in science:  Einstein told his students, "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics.  I can assure you that mine are still greater."  Numbers are even in theology:  Genesis reminds us to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28).  Numbers are everywhere, from the 122 credit hours you needed to earn your degree to the 122,000 email announcements that you have received and reviewed this year as fellow "proof monkeys."

Numbers are fascinating.  Consider the ways we try to describe them:  Rational and irrational numbers, real and imaginary numbers, positive and negative numbers – and, best of all, prime numbers.  For example, for most of you graduating seniors, your parents welcomed you into the world in 1985 or 1986 … and the very next year, 1987, was a prime number.  So this year or next year, you will turn 23 - another prime – but after 23, when does the next prime occur?  24, 25, 26, 27, 28 - why, you’ll be 29 years old before you’re in your prime again.

Yes indeed, I do love numbers.  But listen carefully: You are more than a number.

That’s right: You are more than a number at PC, because you are part of our campus family.  I am deeply honored to teach among colleagues who care enough about you to go beyond simply viewing you as just another ID number.  Like many of them, I have students at the beginning of each semester fill out index cards, giving me the chance to get to know them better.  For example, I taught Cody Mitchell in calculus in the spring of 2006.  Among the things I learned about Cody that semester were his favorite book (Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea), his hobbies (hunting and fishing), and his favorite Christmas gift from the previous year (a new pair of waders).  I also taught Juliana Antonelli and Nathen Head in trigonometry their first semester at PC, the fall of 2004.  When I asked about their hobbies and interests, Nathen wrote, "Juliana." Juliana wrote:  "I think Nathen is trying to read this." Seriously though, Nathen wrote about playing drums, and Juliana wrote about dancing – and now they are making beautiful music together as husband and wife.

You are more than a number, and that will remain true throughout your life.  Do not let circumstances sway you in this belief.  In difficult times, remember the words of C. S. Lewis:  "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains." There may yet come moments when you start to doubt, but hold fast to the truth you have learned, and let God turn your doubt back into faith.  As Dostoevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, "It is not as a child that I believe and confess Jesus Christ.  My hosanna is born of a furnace of doubt." When life tests you in your own furnace of doubt, do not despair -- God will be with you in every storm.  Listen to these lyrics by Tony Wood and Kevin Stokes:  "Sometimes He calms the storm, and other times He calms His child." Wherever you go and whatever you do, you are more than a number – you are a child of God, a unique individual with not only a bright future but also a fierce determination to persevere through any rough weather.

You are more than a number – at PC, in the future, and especially in the eyes of God.  You are truly one of a kind, just as God created you to be.  The psalmist marvels, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" (Psalm 139:13).  God knew you and cherished you as an individual even before you were born.  And God understands everything about you; as Jesus notes in Luke 12:7, "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered."  Now, that may be easier for some of our heads than for others, but what an impressive demonstration of God’s care for each and every one of us.  In fact, one might argue that the basic message of the Gospel boils down to God’s saying, "You are more than a number."  After Jesus tells the parable of the one hundred sheep in Matthew, He says, "I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off" (Matthew 18:13).  And who is the one sheep?  It is every individual in the world.  Indeed, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son - because to God, each one of us is more than a number (John 3:16).

So let me urge you always to remember that you – and every person whom you will meet throughout your life – are of infinite worth.  In a world of infinitely many numbers, you yourself will always count.  Here is my prayer for you:  "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."  Those are verses 24-26 from the sixth chapter of the Old Testament book of – Numbers.

Thank you and God bless.