The Episcopal Church Faith Formation Department’s Office of Youth Ministry and Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministries have been collaborating with youth ministers, campus chaplains, and young adult ministers around the church to curate resources, ideas, and liturgies to help celebrate those who are graduating from high school and college.
Available Celebrating Graduation resources include prayers and blessings, service videos and virtual choirs, worship bulletins and scripture, as well as a collection of resources and ideas for celebrating 2020 graduates during this pandemic.
As graduation season began in the midst of closed school buildings and online learning, partners in ministry indicated that they wanted to collaborate and pool resources to help everyone have a meaningful celebration. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry also wanted to send a message of hope, love, and encouragement to those who are graduating and marking special transitions in their lives, saying, “I thank God for you, thank God for your fortitude, for your doing the work, for your staying the course as they say, for your finishing the race as the Bible says. It has not been easy. And we thank God for you, and say congratulations to you.”
Watch the Presiding Bishop’s message here.
Congregations, ministries, and dioceses may find these resources helpful as they look for ways to honor graduates missing out on traditional spring rites of passage.
These rituals and liturgies are designed for marking time through the liturgical year, for sharing the common story as Christian souls engaged in a mortal journey on Mother Earth. During this time of isolation in a pandemic, please make sure that, in addition to the graduates, the rising seniors also know that they are valued in appropriate and helpful ways.
You can find the resources on https://lessonplansthatwork.org/celebrating-graduation/. This is a work in progress and new resources will be added to the page. Please share ideas, resources and stories of celebration in your ministry context by contacting Bronwyn Skov, or Shannon Kelly.