In another ceremony to celebrate the great milestone of graduation, Oxford High School seniors and their family members attended the annual baccalaureate ceremony June 7 at the Performing Arts Center.
A baccalaureate is a religious sermon given to a graduating class.
Sponsored by the Oxford/Orion Ministers Association, the baccalaureate featured songs of worship, scripture readings and inspirational words spoken by students and local pastors.
Senior Laura Wilson spoke to a little over 50 of her classmates about how a verse in the book of Proverbs describes the road the graduates are about to take.
‘If you look in the Bible in Proverbs 4:25-26, it says ‘let your eyes look straight. Fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm,?? she said. ‘If you use God as your direction and follow Him in everything you do, you’re always going to find the right way.?
Sometimes, Wilson said to the graduates, that they will feel like they can control their future and will be lead astray, but that they must trust in the Lord.
‘We’ve learned a lot in school. We learned to forgive, we learned how to respect each other,? she said. ‘But most of all I think we’ve learned through sharing experiences with each other how to trust…always remember that God is in control.?
Pastor Dave Gerber, from the Lake Louise Church of the Nazarene in Ortonville, delivered a sermon on how the students need to be ‘revolutionary? and ‘make a difference.?
‘Revolutionaries are passionate about something bigger than themselves,? he said. ‘They’re willing to risk everything for what they believe in.
‘There’s nothing God can’t do and if you are an emissary of God, filled by God, empowered by God, (then) there’s nothing you can’t challenge and change.?