Congratulations Fall 2020 Graduates!

Emmanuel College held its first fall commencement ceremony on November 21, 2020 for 24 students who completed their baccalaureate degrees. Parents, relatives, and friends gathered at the John W. Swails Center to congratulate the newest graduates of Emmanuel College. 

The Fall 2020 valedictorian was Macy Drew Linder, a Kinesiology major who will be attending Augusta State University next fall as a part of their Occupational Therapy Master’s program. 

This year’s commencement speaker was EC alumnus, Dr. Gary Moon (’75), who currently serves as the director of Conversatio Divinia: a Center for Spiritual Formation at Westmont College and as a Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Spiritual Formation at Richmont Graduate University.

Dr. Moon shared four great questions of life, and how Jesus would answer each one. 

1.         What is real? 

To most of the world, the answer is simple. It’s what you can see and touch. Jesus answers that God and his kingdom are the ultimate reality and what you can count on. Graduates were challenged to trust the invisible treasure of God’s kingdom and not the tangible. Dr. Moon shared that we live at the intersection of two landscapes: one is visible, the world of our physical senses; the other invisible, the spiritual realm of Christ’s kingdom. 

2.         Who is well off? 

The world answers that those who have it made are the persons with the most stuff. 

Jesus answered that those who are well off are alive in the kingdom of God. To be alive in the kingdom of God, you have to come to terms that your true identity which is to see yourself as an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe. The people who have it made are not necessarily the ones with  dream vacations, new cars, or fine houses, but instead, are those whose deepest desire is for invisible things like love, significance, the warmth of relationship, peace, and the security that we can live forever through Jesus Christ. 

3.         Who is a good person? 

Jesus answers that a good person is someone who is soaked in agape love – selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love Good people love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength and love their neighbors as they love themselves. 

4.         How do I become a truly good person? 

You become a truly good person by placing your confidence in Jesus Christ and becoming his student. 

“This is your commencement,” Dr. Moon said. “This is the beginning of becoming a lifelong learner in the class of the rest of your life with Jesus as your teacher through the moments and movements of each day.”

Dr. Moon concluded by encouraging graduates to live an “Emmanuel” kind of life, a God With Us life.