Our Covenant at General: Reflections from Matriculation

To matriculate into a school is to be claimed by that school as a child.  The word matriculation comes from the Latin “matrix” or “womb”. It is commonplace to refer to a school as our “alma mater”, which literally means our “our nourishing mother”. Tonight, you formally join this community of learning, to which you, and all of us, have been called by Almighty God.  When we matriculate, or when we call a school our “alma mater”, we signal our adoption into a new family.

Adoption is one of the primary theological metaphors used by the Church to interpret the work of God’s grace that is at play within the sacrament of baptism.  In baptism, we respond to God’s offer of love and affirmation with promises.  These promises, made on or own or on our behalf, are ways that we acknowledge that by being adopted into the family of God we commit to live a life that is shaped by the character (the virtues, we might say) of this new family.  

The promises made in baptisms, like the promises you make tonight, are theological promises.  They are promises which rely not on your moral or spiritual capacities, but on God’s generous grace.  

Tonight, you will promise to live a life that is in keeping with the statues and rules of this seminary, to engage in studies and to perform duties that cultivate a life that reflects the ministry of the Gospel.  

But as with any theological covenant, the seminary is also making a promise to you tonight, though one that has often gone unsaid in past years.  As your alma mater, General commits to offer you a place for nourishment and growth.  General  places you alongside siblings who will be your biggest supporters, defenders, and guides.  General invites you into an ever growing family of fellow students, faculty and alumni, and she calls you to a future where you will one day serve as a mentor and a friend to future generations of matriculants who are yet to come.

by the Very Rev. Michael DeLashmutt, Ph.D

Adapted from the Dean’s Matriculation Invocation on September 30, 2021