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"Caring Across Differences":
Written By Annika McClintock
2024 Multi-Faith Baccalaureate Wesley Senior Student Speaker
On May 10th, Hamline University, in collaboration with the Wesley Center and the Multi-Faith Alliance, hosted the annual Multi-Faith Baccalaureate Service. This year's theme for the service was Caring Across Differences and we celebrated our Hamline graduates with a ceremony that included diverse religious expression.
Rabbi Esther Adler, Associate Chaplain of Jewish Life at Hamline University
Acting/interim President Kathleen Murray
The service began with an invocation by Rabbi Esther where she spoke and beautifully played the flute. She was followed by a welcome by Acting/Interim President Kathleen Murray. Then Rev. Steve Richards offered words of congratulations on behalf of the Hamline University Board of Trustees and Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard, pastor of Hamline Church UMC, offered words on behalf of the Minnesota Annual Conference of the UMC.
Rev. Steve Richards, Hamline University Board of Trustees Representative
Pastor of Hamline Church United, Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard
Student Leader of Muslim Student Association and member of the Multi-Faith Alliance, Fatuma Mohamed '24
Throughout the service, there were participatory readings led by Fatuma Mohamed '24, the Muslim Student Association Student Leader, and the rest of the Multi-Faith Alliance (MFA). The words for this reading came from an original poem entitled "Mosaic," written by Shani Casper '26, member of Jewish Student Life and the MFA. Sherri Orr also lead us in two wonderful songs, "What Will Your Life Say" & "Arise and Shine," a song written by Sherri Orr specifically for Hamline Unversity students.
Sherri Orr performing during the service.
Mosiac*
Mosiac*
Shani Casper '26
Shani Casper '26
We are a mosaic
of joy
of beauty
of love.
We are each a piece
of this wondrous mosaic world.
Our pieces may be beautifully different
from our neighbors and from strangers
but each are placed together
with the mortar of connections.
We are a mosaic
of chaos,
hanging in there
and peace.
Our connections may be
small like our favorite shoes and food
or big like our faiths and the
language we speak
but it’s there amongst our differences.
We are a mosaic
of dreams
of tears and
laughter.
Four students read excerpts from four different sacred texts. Iris/Sam Eichinger '25, The Odyssey; Hafsa Ahmed '24, the Qu’ran; Tacherra English '24, the New Testament, and Naomi Breazeale '24, the Hebrew Bible.
Student Communications Manager and Student Leader of Christian Campus Ministry Annika McClintock '24
Former Director of the McVay Youth Program, Jane Krentz
The 2024 Multi-Faith Baccalaureate service also featured three impactful speakers: a senior student representative, a faculty representative, and a staff representative:
Wesley Senior Student Speaker: Annika McClintock '24, Student Communications Manager of the Wesley Center & Student Leader of the Christian Campus Ministry
Staff Keynote Speaker: Jane Krentz, Former Director of the McVay Youth Program
Faculty Keynote Speaker: Professor Suda Ishida, Communications Studies Department Chair and Professor
Communications Studies Department Chair and Professor Suda Ishida
Rev. Dennis Oglesby, Jr. who passed away suddenly, one month after this service. Our love goes out to his family and Camphor Memorial UMC where he was a beloved pastor and leader.
This service ended with a beautiful call to action and blessing delivered by Rev. Dennis M. Oglesby, Jr.
We were devastated to learn of the sudden passing of Pastor Oglesby on Sunday, June 16th, Father's Day. This beloved pastor of Camphor Memorial UMC was known as a loving pastor who challenged his congregations take the love of God out into the community. He will be greatly missed by Camphor and the MN Annual Conference.
The Wesley Center extends our condolences to Pastor Oglesby's loved ones and congregants as we reflect on the incredible impact he had on many communities.
The 2024 Multi-Faith Baccalaureate service was a beautiful way to celebrate our graduates and include diverse religious and spiritual words, prayers, and music. This service is a very special tradition of the Wesley Center and Hamline University and is a way to bring students, families, staff, and faculty of different cultures and religions together to celebrate commencement and practice Caring Across Difference.
Congratulations again to all of the 2024 Hamline University Graduates!
*The program also featured another original poem, written by Raine Lentz '25, Student Leader of HU Mindfulness and Meditation, Member of MFA, and McVay Student Lead, entitled "Connecting Across Differences":
Carrying Across Difference
Carrying Across Difference
Raine Lentz '25
Raine Lentz '25
When I was a child, I had no concept of hate.
Not because it didn’t exist in my world, but because I knew it by a different name.
To me, hate was called pity,
Or mercy,
Or love for thy neighbor.
Wrapped in pretty words of scripture,
I was taught to condemn the beliefs of others.
I closed my ears to anyone who would tell me otherwise.
Closed ears became closed doors, so I lived inside.
When I was a child, I had no concept of ignorance.
I thought I knew so much more than I did.
It was easy to find bad people if I looked in the right places.
I understood why people were bad.
Like the snake from Eden, there was no saving them.
Now I find good deeds when I’m not looking.
I find joy in the places I was taught to fear.
I don’t understand anymore why people do bad things.
Maybe that means I grew up wrong, but I’m okay with that.
We all only have what we know,
We all only know what we’ve been taught.
But I’ve never known kindness like the stranger I met at a mosque in Miami.
I’ve never known community like I do now, surrounded by people I almost never met.
It was a Catholic monk who taught my friend that she didn’t need to carry on believing in a God she couldn’t feel.
It was a stranger downtown in a conservative city who offered to buy me a meal after I hurt my foot on the sidewalk.
I truly believe that there is more love in the world than we can see.
Now that I’m older, I have a different concept of home.
Give me any definition, and I’ll tell you
I’ve found that with people I didn’t know.
I’ve heard
Over and over
That we’re stronger because of our differences,
Not despite them.
But words are just words until you live them.
You can know something without feeling it.
Now that I’m older, I feel a lot.
And I have a concept of hate.
I call it what it is.
But I don’t see it as much as I used to.
Now that I’m older,
I find love where I’m not looking.
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