Rev. Barbara C. Harris A Baccalaureate, by definition, is a farewell sermon to a graduating class. Passage not only from one status in life to another, but passage from one context of life to another. Passage from the largely, though not entirely theoretical and logicladen environment of academia into the complex, politic mainstream of our culture and society where theory comes hard up against practicality and pragmatism and where often it is in conflict with the basic human concept of hope. Much of our society is filled with a sense of sentiment and nostalgia. Many long to recall and celebrate the past.
Time makes ancient good uncouth.
And if, indeed, your years of study here are to take on real meaning, you must keep abreast of the truth of our times and the reality into which you are moving. We know this is a time of crises, a time of transition, a time of disease. For many this is a time of hopelessness and despair. Signs of hopelessness are all around us. Moreover, the proliferation of movements for change and respect have tended to create a very confusing picture of conflicting rights, interests and limits of individual freedom and communal responsibility.