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In this time of farewells and beginnings, I've been dwelling a lot on theologians Francis and Edith Schaeffer鈥檚 major and minor themes for the Christian worldview. The minor theme is that all of creation has turned away from God, and no matter how hard we try, we will always live in an extremely broken world alongside extremely broken people inhabiting extremely broken bodies. Many of us are going on to enter into various humanitarian fields. Praise God for that. But knowing the minor theme is knowing that no matter how much progress is made, it will never be enough to undo all of the brokenness.

The major theme, on the other hand, is that though we turn away from God, God refuses to turn away from us. God exists. God is glorious beyond our comprehension, and God created the world. Therefore the world is glorious. We are glorious. And life is not insignificant. This isn鈥檛 really new to us鈥攚eek one Christian Mind course鈥攂ut what is striking to me isn't that these themes exist, but how game-changing they are in teaching people to understand better how to be good artists.

Major or Minor Themes as Christian Artists

Ignoring the minor themes in art makes for art that slaps a Spider-Man bandaid on the amputated wound of God's people. But art without the major themes drowns people in hopelessness. It doesn鈥檛 point people toward God鈥攂ecause either people think that God doesn鈥檛 exist, or He exists but He鈥檚 too far above us irredeemable scum for it to mean anything.

So though every work of art doesn't have to hold both themes exactly and equally, over the course of an artist's life, their portfolio ought to reflect both of those truths. Some of God's portfolio pieces include the stories that He tells through our lives. 

Overcoming Hurdles and Finding Undeserved Grace

Thinking about my time here at Covenant, I see those major and minor themes. The fact that I'm standing on this stage right now is miraculous. And if you're one of those people who helped drag me across the finish line鈥攜ou know. I arrived here a profoundly struggling freshman. There were wounds I knew I needed to work on, and there were wounds I didn鈥檛 know even existed.

I thought, however, that by my senior year at the latest, if I was a good Christian girl, said my prayers, and tried really hard, I would be an easy-to-work-with, Dean鈥檚 List student who astonished everyone by how she overcame all the hurdles she came in with.

Well, I worked on myself, I prayed, I fought really, really hard鈥攁nd I am not even close to overcoming all the things that I need to. I could do a year-long sermon series on all the times the mercy of my professors rescued me鈥攂oth from situations entirely of my own doing and entirely out of my control.

Me graduating is so much more a testament to my one-of-a-kind, forbearing, godly community than it is of anything I ever did. And somehow, there's nothing more fitting than this. Just as I didn鈥檛 deserve all of the grace my professors extended again and again and again, we don鈥檛 deserve the ways that God pursues us when we continually do things that break His heart鈥攁fter promising Him, 鈥淥h, I鈥檝e learned. Next time I鈥檒l do better, Jesus. I won鈥檛 do that again.鈥� But deserving was never the point. We do not obey God; therefore we are His worthy image-bearers. We are His worthy image-bearers; therefore we obey God.

A World of Beauty, Silliness, and Love

A triumphant Covenant ending might have fed into my ego鈥攊t might have created a good American success story. But the American success story is not God鈥檚 success story. God鈥檚 story doesn鈥檛 make sense. But why do we need it to make sense? Why shouldn鈥檛 the gratitude towards the people who got me here today outweigh any of the shame that I have, that I didn鈥檛 get here the way that I wanted to? There have been so many incredibly healing stories over these past four years. You all have loved me in ways I didn鈥檛 know to even ask for, and I鈥檝e discovered that this world is filled with so much more beauty, so much more silliness, than I ever knew.

But when I think about what Covenant has given to me that I would like to give to anyone who needs it, it鈥檚 an understanding that our stories may be beautiful, and it may never be because we got our crap together and earned it. Every day will be a repetition of sinning, repenting, growing closer to God, and realizing more things that we have to repent of鈥攁nd sinning again, sometimes in the exact same way as before.

Should our stories be worth telling someday, it will be because Jesus loves us better than we love ourselves and will not abandon His sheep in their vulnerability. No matter what happens from here on out鈥攈ow much we accomplish, don鈥檛 accomplish鈥攚e cannot despair, because this is God鈥檚 show, and we just get to be cast in it!

So to end us off, I would like to recite the first verse of one of my favorite hymns that I cling to in this time, and I hope that it will give you comfort:

鈥淥 Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee.
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.鈥�

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