As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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I can’t tell you how many graduation ceremonies I’ve been to where I’ve been bored to tears by the long reading of names of the people who are graduating.  I know that sounds a little brash of me to admit, but who among us hasn’t been there?  At most graduation ceremonies we are there to support someone (or perhaps a few someones) we know, but the rest of the names fall on deaf (and bored) ears.

At my own graduation ceremony from Seminary last week, it struck me how the long reading of names was NOT boring– it was because I knew each one of the people well.  Have you ever read Romans 16:1-16?  I mean really read it; not just skimmed over it?  It is a list of Paul’s friends to whom he sends greetings.  I often think this passage is terribly boring because I don’t know these people from two thousand years ago, but in truth Paul drops just enough hints about them that we get a little peek into just how special these friends are to him.

At the end of the day, the truth is that God knows every person on every list, and he knows and loves them more than any human ever could.  I know this much: the next time I’m at a graduation ceremony and the next time I run across a list of names in the Bible, I’m going to try to read it with God’s eyes– all the while remembering that he loves me just as much as he loves each and every person on each and every list.

I welcome your thoughts at http://ministrygeek.net.