Laura Pierson - Student Response 2019

Spring Semester, Freshman year. The year is 2015. The classroom is Founders Hall 102. The class: Core Biology. 有一位非常聪明的教授，下课后还留在教室里回答学生的问题，随时与人交谈. Once the larger crowd had cleared out, a few curious students were left, 所有关于家庭作业的问题都得到了解答——就像在康考迪亚学校经常发生的那样——一场关于信仰的谈话爆发了. The professor was Dr. Rod Soper，他被问到的问题是，“你为什么是路德教徒?” His answer, to summarize, was this: “A system in disarray will never self-correct, 它必须由自身之外的一种辅助力量来作用. 路德教同意这一点，我发现它在自然和救赎中都是正确的.”

A helping force outside of itself.

Friends, family, graduates, faculty and staff of Concordia University Irvine, I am honored to be standing before you on this day. 今天是我们所了解的一切和知识为我们准备面对的一切之间的基石. 几年前，我们进入了康科迪亚的校园，每个人都以自己的方式陷入了混乱. Today we stand as changed people, helped and guided by this university, this community, forces outside ourselves. 今天，我们最后一次站在2019届毕业生的同事和朋友们的面前.

Over the past several years, 我们有很多学习和成长的机会, to be challenged and to be changed. 我们被要求参加人类的伟大对话，不仅仅是为了获得分数, but to prepare us to be meaningful members of our world. 我们被要求向外看，并寻求如何通过倾听与我们自己不同的意见来帮助我们, 以及我们如何在某种程度上成为听众和提示者，从而促进思考，而不是扼杀想法.

Through the prompting of incredible faculty and staff, through all you have learned, 我希望你们每个人现在都确信一件事:你们是伟大对话的一部分. 这个叫做“伟大的对话”的东西有很多名字, one of the most infamous being the Core Curriculum. Through this curriculum, 我们不得不在课堂内外努力解决一些最持久的问题, questions you are familiar with, three of which I’d like to ask you today. What is goodness? What is truth? And what is beauty? Through mind-boggling term papers, 熬夜学习变成了清晨的墨西哥卷饼早餐, 通过与我们尊敬的教职员工的对话, 我可以自信地说，我们今天将带着对这些经久不衰的问题的精确答案离开, and more importantly, 比我们几年前准备的问题更精细.

So let us begin with this: what is goodness? 让我先说，我认为我们现在都知道，最好不要试图提出一个简单的, concise answer to any of these questions. 如果它很简单，我们的核心数学学期论文将有一页长. But we know that that was not the case. No, 这些问题同时有一千个答案，也根本没有答案, 但我们知道，谈论它们仍然很重要, which is what I’ll do today.

So, Goodness. 在过去的几年里，我们在康科迪亚遇到了太多的美好. 我们找到了在痛苦困苦时可以依靠的朋友. 我们向教授们学习，他们在不懈地寻求对我们有益的东西时，既给予恩典，又保留恩典. We have come to know that math, philosophy, biology, theology, 英语和历史可以引导我们更好地理解善良，这对我们如何与周围的世界互动很重要.

We have been asked the question, “What is Truth?“虽然我们可能花了数年时间寻找这个问题看似难以捉摸的答案, 正是在探索中，我们发现了“小t”真理，这些真理支撑着我们，并促使我们提出新的问题，使我们更接近最终的真理. 我们已经发现，当苏格拉底说承认自己一无所知的人是所有人中最聪明的人时，他可能并没有那么疯狂.

And finally, “What is Beauty?“我只能依靠这样一个现实:当你看到美时，你就知道它是美, 在过去的几年里，我从这群人身上看到了如此多的美. I have witnessed students praying together, making music together, studying together, teaching and learning from each other, showing grace to one another, and encouragement at the toughest moments. The ride has truly been beautiful.

Through all of these questions and all of these years, 康考迪亚教会了我们如何成为伟大对话的一部分. We may still feel like we are systems in disarray, 但我很有信心地说，我们已经通过协和女神找到了帮助我们的力量. 我们受到的压力和挑战是我们从来没有想过会有一个好的结果, true, and beautiful--an outcome that does not end today.

So now that we are equipped with these questions, all of this knowledge and more, in what manner are we to continue? 毕业生们，这个世界迫切需要真、善、美. I believe that it is not only our privilege, 但我们现在有义务把这些东西带到我们的世界.

The future looms a greater void now than ever before, but we need not be systems that are in disarray. We have found help here through this university, 通过我们彼此建立的关系, the ancient and modern books we have engaged with, through our selfless professors and mentors. In the same way we have been helped, 我们现在要继续互相帮助, to ask questions and to listen, to love and sacrifice, to seek goodness, truth and beauty, and rejoice in them. This is how we are to continue to lean on each other, to help and seek helping forces outside ourselves.

And finally, we know that we have the ultimate helping force, a God who is the source of all things good, true, and beautiful. A God who reminds us in Isaiah 41 not to fear saying, “I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.他领我们到这地方、现在又领我们经过这地方.

That same God is not only a helper, but Scripture also, 弥迦书6:8说，是神指示我们何为善. 这节经文用一个问题提示我们，并给出了答案, saying “And what does the Lord require of you? 行公义，好怜悯，存谦卑的心，与你的神同行.“在过去的几年里，康考迪亚在坚持这些爱和谦卑的教导方面做得很好. 康科迪亚教会了我们所有这些东西，还有更多. But perhaps most importantly, Concordia has taught us to ask questions, to respond with justice, to be merciful, to speak humbly, and to seek to become ever more wise, honorable, and cultivated citizens. So it is with that humility that we continue. 正是带着这种谦卑和荣誉，我们加入了欧文康考迪亚大学校友的行列, and with them, that we bring questions, ideas, goodness, truth, and beauty into the world. 所以，2019届的同学们，让我们现在走，让我们继续伟大的对话.