{"id":4406,"date":"2014-04-29T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-29T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=4406"},"modified":"2014-04-28T21:47:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-29T02:47:00","slug":"graduates-challenged-to-imagine-what-the-world-could-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2014\/graduates-challenged-to-imagine-what-the-world-could-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduates challenged to imagine what the world could be"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eighty degrees, two certificates awarded during university\u2019s fourteenth annual Commencement Exercises
\n<\/strong>
\n<\/em>Winnipeg \u2013\u00a0Make the future a figment of your imagination. That was the message delivered to 80 graduates at Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s graduation service this past weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith in God compels us to imagine what the kingdom of God in our wildest dreams could be,\u201d Rev. Don Friesen said during his address at the event, held on Sunday afternoon, April 27, at Immanuel Pentecostal Church. \u201cImagination looks at the world as it is, and seeks to reshape that reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friesen, who was the lead pastor at Ottawa Mennonite Church for more than 30 years before retiring in 2012, encouraged graduates to envision human community as a place to find hope and healing \u2013\u00a0a place where fears and prejudices diminish.<\/p>\n

\u201cImaginative visions will help us to become, as a hymn expresses it, a welcome \u2018promise of the new humanity,\u201d Friesen said.<\/p>\n

It was an inspiring message delivered toward the end of a weekend filled with reflection, laughter, and tears as graduates and families enjoyed stories, songs, presentations, and meals along with CMU faculty, staff, and current students.<\/p>\n

During his valedictory address, Scott Sawatzky (BA, Four-Year, English Major) said that studying literature at CMU had taught him the difference between \u201ceasy meaning and difficult, nuanced, complicated meaning.\u201d Easy meaning is what children are so often given, he explained, while good literature, like life, rarely offers such clear direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is to say that, as we move from the academics and relationships that have marked our studies here at CMU, let us never forget to revisit and rethink what we\u2019ve learned, to see old things with new eyes and new things with old eyes,\u201d Sawatzky said. \u201cLet us enact what we have learned here in a way that is never static but always grounded, never satisfied but always loving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Presiding over graduation ceremonies for her second time as President, Dr. Cheryl Pauls conferred 78 undergraduate degrees, two Master of Arts degrees, and two certificates in Biblical and Theological Studies \u2013\u00a0one at the undergraduate level, and the other at the graduate level.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/a>
President Cheryl Pauls with Scott Sawatzky (left)
and Justin Rempel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pauls also awarded President\u2019s Medals to Sawatzky the valedictorian as well as Justin Rempel (BA, Four-Year, English Major) in recognition of their qualities of scholarship, leadership, and service.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a time of celebration,\u201d Pauls said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his time at CMU during a chapel presentation at the end of the school year, Blayne Stobbe (BA, Three-Year, English and History Majors) said he came to the university uncertain of what he was looking for.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am leaving CMU with the opposite,\u201d said Stobbe, who plans to become a teacher. \u201cI am leaving with answers to some of my questions, but with many more poignant and tough questions to work through and a drive to discover more answers. \u2026 I am leaving with a passion to learn that burns more brightly than when I began.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the same chapel, Danielle Bailey (BA, Four-Year, Biblical and Theological Studies and Social Science-Counselling Majors) shared how CMU\u2019s community had changed her in profound ways.<\/p>\n

\"CMU's<\/a>
CMU’s Class of 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy professors, mentors, and peers kept encouraging me to think about pastoral ministry. I scoffed, but slowly this Anabaptist theology began seeping into my bones, and gradually I decided to listen to the voice of the Spirit, speaking through the people around me,\u201d said Bailey, who was offered a part-time position as pastoral associate at Springstein Mennonite Church in Springstein, Man. after completing a practicum placement there as part of her degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been openly welcomed and encouraged to use my leadership gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Graduation Service was the last of a number of events that occurred during graduation weekend, including a gala dinner on Friday, April 25, CMU\u2019s annual In Gratitude presentation and Spring Concert on Saturday, April 26, and the Baccalaureate Service the morning of April 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eighty degrees, two certificates awarded during university\u2019s fourteenth annual Commencement Exercises Winnipeg \u2013\u00a0Make the future a figment of your imagination. That was the message delivered to 80 graduates at Canadian Mennonite University\u2019s graduation service this past weekend. \u201cFaith in God compels us to imagine what the kingdom of God in our wildest dreams could be,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,5],"tags":[520,38,521],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4409,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4406\/revisions\/4409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}