They sum up all that the student has accomplished, and there is a diploma to prove it. School is over. No more tuition to pay either. But we know that graduation ceremonies are not the end of the story. In fact, they are the beginning of another stage of life.
Weddings are like that too.
They are not just the end of courtship but the beginning of married life. A recent book for newlyweds is not called Getting Married, but Becoming Married. Every day we come to God with our shortcomings and failures, asking for forgiveness. Every day God gives us the gift of a new start. Recently, at one of our seminaries, I asked the faculty about their goals for seminary graduates.