A May/June Blessing Service for High School and College Graduates
(This blessing service should be announced beforehand so that everyone eligible may be present. Readers should be prepared.)

Priest: (Perhaps at the end of an abbreviated sermon) I would like to invite all young people graduating high school or college to come forward. (They will stand next to him facing the congregation.)

Dear friends, please look closely at these young people. They have all achieved special milestones in their lives and will be moving on to study or pursue a career, some leaving our parish family to do so. At this moment, let us join hearts and prayers to bless their journey and wish them well. (All turn to face the altar.)

Loving God, you understand the hearts of your children. Look with love upon us as we come before you in one family of faithful. We ask your blessing upon (names) who have arrived at an important juncture in life’s pilgrimage.

As a gift to us they came with their families to our church. Now they will be a gift to all they will meet. We thank you, the Giver, for their accomplishments, for the hours we have shared together, and for the times of still greater achievement and joy, yet unknown, but sure to come.

Reader 1: The first reading is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, which tells us in poetry that there is a time for everything and that God is with us in all seasons. It can serve as a reminder of our Lord’s steadfast presence in the midst of change.
 

1. There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven:
2. a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3. a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4. a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5. a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6. a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7. a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8. a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.


Reader 2: The second reading is from I Corinthians 13 which reminds us that God is love and love is the most important part of the answer to every one of life’s questions. As we move on, perhaps far from hometowns and familiar faces, we remember that a loving heart is a place where God dwells.

1. If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8. Love never fails.

Priest: Lord, we rejoice that we are, each of us, special to you, that our names are written in the palm of your hand and that our place in history, our purpose for existing, is known within your heart. We are grateful for that long line of holy people who have inspired us by their faithfulness. They, by their very lives, teach us not to compromise our destinies but to live in You.

A Litany of Hope
Deacon: That God be a lamp unto our feet as we travel through life, let us pray to the Lord.
Youth: Lord, hear our prayer.
Deacon: That He keep at our side His angelic messengers as those who accompanied the holy ones of days past, let us pray to the Lord.
Youth: Lord, hear our prayer.
Deacon: That we who stand in a trinity of time – past, present, and future – always praise and worship our God, Lord of time itself, let us pray to the Lord.
Youth: Lord, hear our prayer.

Priest: Leader to life, Path to truth, our Lord Jesus Christ: You led Joseph to Egypt, and the people of Israel through the Red Sea, and Moses to Mount Sinai, and his people to the land of promise. Now we pray Lord, lead us in peace on the journey before us. Save us from the visible and invisible enemy, for you are our way and our truth and our life.
(Hovhannes Garnetsi, 13thc)

Priest: (To the youth) May the blessing of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit be upon you in this new chapter of your life; may you always see in all that happens, in joy as well as in sorrow, God’s presence and purpose. Amen.

(In blessing them as they leave the chancel, a small cross may be traced on their foreheads or they may be given the kiss of peace.)