 your faculty, staff, students, board members, family, friends, and especially our dear graduates, whom we are celebrating today. I welcome you to the celebration of all that you have accomplished in your journey at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Graduates, you are completing a challenging course of study. You have deepened your understanding of the ways of God and gained greater understanding of your particular calling as leaders, participating in God's reconciling mission in the world. Your journey at AMBS has given you the challenge and the gift to learn how to think biblically, theologically, pastorally as peace builders, how to adapt and improvise as leaders, announcing hope against the backdrop of global upheaval. Our sacred text reminds us to mark the important events in our lives, to hold festivals that praise God because of God's steadfast love and faithfulness that is always at hand. So we give thanks to God today. Dear graduates, we thank God for you and we celebrate all that you have accomplished in your persistence and hard work. We celebrate you for all the ways that each in your own way enriched this learning community. And we celebrate in anticipation of the ways that you will apply what you've learned here in the world by the power of the Holy Spirit as witnesses to the redeeming love of God shown to us in Jesus. Let us pray together. O God, creator, redeemer and sustainer, we thank you for this day. We come to you on this day that is a culmination of achievement and yet a day of commencement, the first day of living more deeply into a vocation, a way of living in the world as people who live by faith and in hope, who bear witness to God's love and grace, God's peace and justice. Teach us to call those around us to be tender toward the inbreaking of God's Spirit that brings healing, hope, renewal and joy. Today, as we pray, we do so with the awareness that our entire lives are before you. Come be among us, gather us together in your spirit as we worship and celebrate all that you have empowered our graduates to accomplish and all that you will yet accomplish through them by the grace of our Lord Jesus. The scripture reading is John 13, three through 17. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things in his hands and that he had come from God, was going to God, got up from supper, took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus answered, you do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand. Peter said to him, you will never wash my feet. Jesus answered, unless I wash you, you will have no share with me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, one who is bathed does not need to wash except for the feet, but is entirely clean and you are clean, although not all of you, for he knew who was to betray him, for this reason he said, not all of you are clean. After Jesus had washed the feet and put on his robe and had reclined again, he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, slaves are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. We will read the same passage in Amharic. We will read the same passage in Amharic. We will read the same passage in Amharic. We will read the same passage in Amharic. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Nelson O'Kanya as the 2024 and AMBS commencement speaker. Dr. O'Kanya is known the world over as a leader deeply committed to disciple making and leadership development. He is the president of World Serving Leaders, the non-profit division of the Center for Serving Leadership based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And he also serves as the chair of the Global Mission Fellowship, a 74 member global network facilitated by Mennonite World Conference. Previously, Dr. O'Kanya served as a pastor and the president of Eastern Mennonite missions. A trained executive and leadership coach, he holds a master of divinity degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary and a doctorate in intercultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Dr. O'Kanya lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with his spouse, Carmen Horst O'Kanya, who is pastor of James Street Mennonite Church and their two sons, Barak and Isak. Please join me in welcoming Nelson as he brings us the message, the great reversal, the impact of leadership on culture. You made it, right? Congratulations. Whatever it took for you to get here, you are here. You crossed over and we celebrate you for that. President Borsha. Dean, faculty members, board members who are here, staff, students, members of the community and you graduates. Today, we gather here to celebrate your achievement. You have worked hard and you are here today. And so for that matter, we join together to celebrate you as you mark the transition. From this beautiful campus, where you are shaped and formed and equipped to a more fuller engagement into ministries and leadership of various sorts in your communities and around the world. When President Borsha invited me to speak at this commencement, I was in South Africa training with our partner there, Oscar Suvali. As he does the work in mediation, election monitoring, and I came alongside of him to do leadership training. Dr. Borsha said, and I'm gonna quote here, you would be free to say whatever you believe to be inspiring to our diverse group of students as they move into leadership in the church and other service related organizations around the world. And so when he said, I'll be free to choose, I wondered how do I make that choice? But I believe that there was a place. Actually, when I received the email, I had just completed visiting a settlement outside of Soweto, which is a Southwest township, short Soweto, where the epicenter of the freedom movement in South Africa began among students, which was famously depicted in the movie Sarafina, if anybody saw that in 1992. In that place, as I watched what was going on in this small settlement called Cliptown, Cliptown, South Africa is a debilitated place, dilapidated its place. There's so many things going on there. I saw power lines, live power lines lying on the ground, tapped from a transformer across from the shopping centers, no toilet facilities, no running water, buckets outside, children walking long distances to go to school. I stood there with a friend that is a community leader, but also another student, a friend of mine who is doing a PhD in theology. As we reflected on what we were seeing, I could not help but connect with the irony of it all. I grew up in one of the, actually the second largest slum in Nairobi called Madari Valley. And there we had the same exact thing that I was seeing in front of me. But that was way back in 1990s and 20s, early 2000s. But here we are in 2024. The irony of Cliptown is that this place is where the Freedom Charter was signed in 1955. The Charter that now formed the Bill of Rights in the current South African institution, I mean constitution, what happened to Cliptown? So I was wrestling with these questions. Leadership had abandoned it. And I began to imagine what is possible here? Can something different happen in this place? So I was wrestling with the whole notion of leadership and what leadership can do. Leaders and leadership can do to change situations like that. That's when I received that email. And so within that framework of imagining what is possible, John 13 jumped right at me. And I took my phone, as we have them these days, and read, and I'm sure the biblical scholars would love this, I read it many times. I read it many times trying to glean what is this text about. And then it jumped at me. Look at what's happening, what is possible here? Now for the last four years, I've spent time around the world in the leadership space with pastors, with military leaders, yes generals and police captains. I've spent time with governors. I've spent time in social sector, training in Africa, in Asia, and here in the United States. So I know one or two things about leadership. And I began to reflect on what kind of leadership would change a situation like this. So today I am going to be drawing this reflection from a number of sources. I'm going to read scripture, which has been read to us before. I'm going to refer to some biblical scholars who have made some commentaries on the book of John. And then I'm also going to draw from personal experiences as well as social sciences, especially in leadership and organizational theories that we have seen before. And so those are kind of my sources that I'm going to bring into this conversation this afternoon. Let me begin by referencing one of the scholars that has really caught my attention. Edgar Schein, with Peter Schein in their book, Organizational Culture and Leadership. Peter and Edgar have proposed or advanced theory of culture that talks about the multi layers of culture, particularly what they call the artifacts, the things that you see when you go into a culture. And then espouse values that people practice in cultures. But more importantly, what is deep in terms of conceptualization, what are some of the assumptions that form what you see? Now, that is the one that you will never see because it's deep. Actually, they say it recedes into the subconscious, but it has a driving force on what you see. So as I reflected on this, I was drawn to a number of stories that I am going to share with you this morning. The first story I want to share with you about leadership and maybe some assumptions that have shaped the leadership comes from a friend, now I will call him a friend of mine who teaches at the University of Notre Dame now. He used to teach at Duke Divinity School, Emmanuel Cattangoli. Manuel Cattangoli is a Ugandan. I think he's both, he had a hood parent and a tootsie parent from Rwanda or Burundi. But Cattangoli wrote a book when I was pastoring a church outside of Washington DC in Maryland, a capital Christian fellowship. And when he wrote the book, NPR, National Public Radio, figured out that he needed to appear for an interview. And the book was called Mirror to the Church, the Christian faith, the resurrection faith after the Rwandan genocide. And he said this in that interview. In the case of Rwanda, the blood of tribalism ran deeper than the waters of baptism. And when I heard that, I said, who is that? I want to find this guy. So I called him at Duke, I was a pastor, very unassuming, so I called him at Duke and I said, I'm a pastor here in DC and I'm wondering, he actually answered the phone, which shocked me, I didn't expect him to do that. So I asked him, can you come and share with our congregation about what you just wrote about the Rwandan genocide? And he said, I will. So we had him come to DC and we had about 500 people gathered from 45 different nationalities listening to the stories that he was sharing with us about the genocide. But most recently, I've been reading his book, The Sacrifice of Africa. And in that book, I have a few quotes here. I want to follow him a little bit to see how this is shaping my sharing today. And so in Katongole, like myself, has been plagued and wondering about the wars and the violence that he experienced in his motherland, continent of Africa. And he wondered, is there something deeper than what we're seeing? Is there a script? Are there some assumptions here that we need to examine? And then he came across a book entitled King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild, published in 1999. And in that book, Katongole discovered something. King Leopold II of Belgium had owned a land in Congo. The second largest African country with a vast amount of resources. And I was speaking this before the generals and the police force and some ministers in DRC last year in three locations where we're talking about this. And so Adam Hochschild looked at that at what King Leopold had done. And Katongole quotes him and says, King Leopold's Ghost is a story of personal ambition, greed and brutality, violence, set in the context of colonial Africa history. The violence and the brutality in Leopold's Congo were not simply isolated or pathological exceptions committed by a few of a zealous colonial agents. They were part and parcel of the rubber economy, which was the very rationale and more than both in its design and implementation. Thus, a metaphor for Africa raising the key issues, not only foundational narratives but of transmission and reproduction of social memory. How has this shipped how people remember and what they think about leadership? He continued more importantly, at the heart of Africa's inception into modernity is a lie. Modernity claims to bring salvation to Africa, yet the founding story of the institution of modern Africa ejects Africa itself. This story has shipped colonial Africa and continues to ship and drive the success of institutions, the nation state. He concludes weirdly, this is why a new future in Africa requires much more than strategies and skills to solve the problem of nation state politics. It requires a different story that assumes the sacred value and the dignity of Africa and Africans. And is thus able to ship practices and policies or new forms of politics that reflect the sacredness and dignity, end quote. A new story that forms and ships people's memories, how people think and conceive reality. A new story, that story is the story we see in John 13. John provides that story to us. It was read to us already, so I will not take a long time to read it again. But we are told that around the Passover, the time that the Jewish people reflected back to this story of liberation, this story of freedom, this story that allows them to be set loose from hard labor, more bricks, less straw, that story of liberation. They celebrated that every year. Interestingly, Monday began the Passover, right? A story of liberation, a story that our people reflect back on. In that context, John tells us, Jesus moved out of the public ministry and draws his people into this small space. I don't know what it looks like in the upper room. So John 13 to 17 is this interaction with Jesus, with this intimate group of people that he brought together. As we celebrate this time of liberation, in fact, John, for those scholars here, you're all here, I see you. You know how that happens in John, Jesus dies on the same night, right? The lamps are being slaughtered, which is different from this noctis. He is the Lamb of God that takes away sins of the world. Jesus draws these people into a new reality, an alternative narrative, a narrative that turns leadership upside down. So what does Jesus do in this? Jesus, as they begin to eat, gets up, and does the unthinkable, it begins to wash the disciples' feet. In the synoptics, we read Jesus already said in Luke 22, and Mark 10, and Matthew that leadership is service, leadership is service, leadership is service. And Jesus begins to wash their feet. And so in here, we see a model of leadership that is not motivated by greed, violence, plunder, self-serving, but by giving others. In leading like Jesus, Ken Blanchett, Blanchett and Hodges write, the most persistent barrier to leading like Jesus is the heart motivated by self-interest, self-interest. As I travel around the world, I was told that there are places where people would get to do leadership. They say it's our time to eat. No, it's not your time to eat, it's your time to serve Jesus' ass. It's your time to serve. It's your time to serve. The service that is motivated by love. Because the text says Jesus loved his own, and he loved them all the way, all the way. And knowing his love for the people that he served, he laid down his life for them. Now self-interest, humble service, guided, shaped his assumption of leadership and the practice of leadership. Jesus invites them into this space to shape them differently, so to speak, to equip them, to give them a different narrative of service. In his commentary on John, F. F. Bruce sheds light on some of this reversal, he writes, a who substituted, subsisted in the form of God, took the form of a servant. By doing so manifested the form of God on earth more perfectly than would otherwise been possible. I like what he says next. The form of God was not exchanged for the form of a servant. It was revealed the form of God was not exchanged for the form of a servant. It was revealed in the form of a servant. The form of God was revealed in the form of a servant. Jesus loved his disciples. He loved them to the end. He humbly served them as a servant. Not only did he do that, he actually gave his life for them. Here one more biblical scholar that I'm gonna read. So he's a Samaritan, all right. Richard B. Hayes writes on this, death. Jesus' death is depicted by John in a manner closely analogous to Pauline thought as an act of self-sacrifice, sacrificial love that establishes a cruciform life as the norm for discipleship. As the norm for discipleship. A cruciform life that cannot be so, so, so far away from what I've seen the leadership practice be around the world. The cruciform life, he actually notes, the call to lay down one's life may be broader, may have broader implications than those explicitly articulated in the new commandment. Right, Hayes? Along these lines, I argue that the cruciform life of selflessness laying down one's life ought to be the form of leadership. And Abaptists know that, right. Hayes again, the love in question is not merely personal affection. It's expressed in servanthood for those members of the group as definitively modeled in Jesus' act of foot washing. So here we go, a clear sense of identity. Jesus knew who he was. He had a clear sense of identity. He knew where he'd come from and he knew where he was going. Therefore, this is important for leaders. When we get into leadership for what we can get, whether it is time to eat or to be validated, that form ought to be reversed. That's why I call this the greatest reversal. That's what Jesus shows us here. He has a clear identity. He knows who he is. He does not need to prove anything to anyone. The Father knows him. He knows the Father. He does this unthinkable thing. And therefore, so how does a serving leader lead? Because the accusation is that if you're a serving leader, you're more of a doormat that people just walk over you. We don't see that in this text. Actually, we see Jesus doing something very different. He leads while serving Peter. He serves while leading Peter. He does not get out of the role. He tells Peter, if you resist, of course, in leadership change, some of us have been part of that changing, leading change in various sectors. There is a resistance. If you have not yet seen it, you will. But I believe you have. There's going to be resistance. But how do we overcome that? How do we overcome that? Jesus shows us a way here. Ron Heifetz in his book, Leadership, one of his books on leadership. He has written many of them. But I have it quoted here. I'm not gonna read it. He says, people don't necessarily resist change. But say they resist loss. So if you're going to lead change, think about that. And probably this is what's going on here. Peter is wondering, is losing something here? What is going here? This is not supposed to be done. But Jesus says, what, now this is my reading. I can make some harmonitical move here. Jesus is saying, you know, this here, I'm offering you something much better, a relationship with me. And if you don't want to participate in what I'm doing here to bring you into that, to show you the way, then you don't belong here. And then Peter says, okay, now do it my way. Jesus, no, no, no. We're gonna do this here. This is a good conversation taking on. There's a place in John 13, a model of leadership. And how do we change when the resistance is there? Graduates, I don't wanna take a lot of your time, but this really caught my attention very deeply. Because as I see you, as I look at you, and I remember, I was just in the Philippines last month, with 26 congregations, integrated minority churches of the Philippines. And all the pastors and the leaders in the bishops. And I was looking at them, and this is much smaller, I mean, a newer congregation or a newer church in the Philippines and Indonesia, and I was looking at those pastors. How are you gonna approach leadership? Jesus showed us a model. This model, friends, does not promise. I wish I didn't have to say it, but it's a costly model. We've seen leaders who have followed that. Dr. Martin Luther King. We've seen leaders who have followed that. Father Romero in El Salvador. So he offers us a new model, a new modus operandi. So what is the path forward? This is why it's complete. Friends, you have been shaped on this beautiful campus with an abaptist value in theology, ethics, biblical interpretation, leadership, and all that. As you go, I pray that you may love deeply, all the way, that you may love deeply the people you serve, and that you may serve them humbly. Go forth in that call and serve the world that God so loves. Congratulations, amen. Please, this afternoon, to present the 22 individuals who comprise the 2024 graduating class of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Four candidates will receive the graduate certificate in theological studies. One candidate will receive the graduate certificate in spiritual formation, spiritual direction. Four candidates will receive the master of arts in Christian formation. Six candidates will receive the master of arts, theology, and global Anabaptism. One candidate will receive the master of arts, theology, and peace studies. And six candidates will receive the master of divinity. Thank you, our soon to be graduates, for choosing AMBS as a place to learn and continue your preparation for ministry and peace building. Our community has been enriched by your presence among us. We send you forth with God's blessing and pray that God's spirit will empower you for the ministries to which you are being sent. At this time, I invite President Dave Bushart to come to the podium to confer the certificates and degrees. President Bushart, I now present to you 22 candidates who have followed courses of study prescribed by the faculty of the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. By action of the AMBS Teaching Faculty and the Board of Directors, they are hereby recommended for their certificates and degrees. Will the candidates for the graduate certificate in theological studies and the candidate for the graduate certificate in spiritual direction please stand? Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Board, I confer upon you the graduate certificate with all the rights, privileges, and obligations pertaining thereto, of which the diploma you will receive shall be written testimony. May you use these rights and privileges as befitting disciples of Jesus Christ, servants of God, and ministers of the church in the power of the Holy Spirit. Will the candidates for the Master of Arts in Christian Formation, for the Master of Arts Theology and Global Anabaptism, and for the Master of Arts Theology and Peace Studies please stand? Upon recommendation of the faculty and by the virtue of the authority vested in me by the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Board, I confer upon you the Master of Arts with all the rights, privileges, and obligations pertaining thereto, to which this diploma that you will receive shall be written testimony. May you use these rights and privileges as befitting disciples of Jesus Christ, servants of God, and as ministers of the church in the power of the Holy Spirit. And now will the candidates for the Master of Divinity degree please stand? Upon the recommendation of the faculty and by the authority bestowed on me by the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary Board, I confer upon you the Master of Divinity degree with all the rights, privileges, and obligations pertaining thereto, of which this diploma you will receive today shall be a written testimony. May you use these rights and privileges as befitting disciples of Jesus Christ, servants of God, and ministers of the church in the power of the Holy Spirit. At this time, I'll invite the graduates to stand as a group and begin to prepare and walk as we rehearsed. They will come forward. So go ahead and begin making your journey around the room. They will be coming forward in a little bit as their names are called. I ask you to please hold your applause until all the graduates have returned to the seats. After that, we will stand and create an exuberant and joyous ruckus for all of them. I will read each name, including those who are not able to be here today. Deborah J. Coates in absentia. Colleen Avila Geyer in absentia. Elia Giselle Gwiti, Carrie Ann Mast, Christina Elizabeth Raybergen, Mizgana Alamayo Ischete, Janeth Kaby Magiri, Talasha Kym Yoder, Jonathan Wesley Zirkel, Bethlehem Zekala Roba, Addis Kidan Kitacho Abriham in Ethiopia, Andalwika Zego Balca in Ethiopia, Israel Tesfaye Berhe in Ethiopia, Aschalo Asefa Fikadu in Ethiopia, Diriba Amanu Sori in Ethiopia, Indunge Asefu, Elena Marie Dubkowski, Isaiah Wondley Friesen, William David Funk, Matthew Craig Peterson, Suzanne M. Short, Megan Wiebersch. And now, let us stand and make a joyful noise to celebrate the 2024 graduates of AMBS. You may be seated. Celebrated hymn writer Adam Tice, who received a Master of Arts in Christian Formation from AMBS in 2006, wrote the text of the choral piece that a group of faculty and staff have prepared for our graduates and guests. Adam began writing hymns during his AMBS studies at the encouragement of Dean and Professor Emerita Rebecca Slough, including the text for every word and every breath. May these words invite all of us into the fullness of Jesus' life and being and into the newness of God's creation. God of endings and middles and beginnings. Thank you for what has been for the gift these graduates have been to the AMBS community, for their humility, humor, insight on learning, for music and food and testimonies and laughter shared and foreshared tears as well. How blessed we have been. Thank you for what is, for this celebration of work accomplished, papers and projects to finish, or nearly so. Tests taken, boxes checked off, for the pleasures of graduation, many wads worth bells ringing in joyful cacophony. Applause given and received, smiles so big, they make our cheeks ache. And thank you too for what is yet to be, for plans unfolding, calls emerging directions clarifying, for strengthened and strengthening ministry and all the ways your kingdom is coming here and now in ways large and small through the hands and hearts and minds of these beloved ones. We name them before you now and trusting them into your care. Deb, Giselle, Carrie, Christina, Miscana, Janet, Talasha, John, Biti, Adiskadan, Andawake, Israel, Ascalio, Dereba, Ndungae, Elena, Isaiah, Billy, Matthew, Sue, Megan, bless them. Bless them in ways they can recognize and know in this moment. Bless them in your hidden ways that go beyond their knowing. Bless them so thoroughly that they can never go where your blessing is not. So that when their sense of themselves as leaders feels tentative or uncertain, you will draw them near to the one who rightly claimed the authority you gave. And when they are tempted by authoritarianism, no matter how subtle, you will draw them near to the one who stooped to serve. Bless and strengthen them for the paradoxical leadership this world so desperately needs. And guard them, God. Protect them from what would do them harm. Heal in them what needs healing. Strengthen what is newly emerging. Guide their decisions and actions and most of all, whisper to them today and every day, you are my beloved. In you, I am so well pleased. We pray all this in the name of Jesus, the Christ, our teacher and leader, and through the power and companionship of our advocate to your own Holy Spirit. Amen. The recessional, you are welcome to join us in the lounge in Waltener Hall for a further time of refreshment and fellowship. Graduates, please receive this benediction. Go into the world doing what the Lord requires, living with kindness and justice, and with the grace of God, you are welcome to join us in the lounge in Waltener Hall for a further time of refreshment and fellowship. Graduates, please receive this benediction. Walking your path humbly with God. May you know the strength and tender mercy of God, flowing gently, covering you with love and grace. As God's beloved children, go in peace and joy as friends of Jesus and you will be blessed. Amen.