MAC Graduation 2023
The pews towards the front of the St Andrew’s Cathedral remain empty, waiting expectantly to be filled. After much chattering and activity, the Cathedral is hushed. The musicians move into place, seated at the grand piano, saxophone at the ready, song leader at the microphone.
The first notes of How Great Thou Art ring out and our 2023 Graduation service begins.
The congregation stands and sings as the graduating students process down the centre aisle, singing and smiling to family and friends as they make their way to those empty pews. Behind them follow Anglican Deaconess Ministries’ Interim CEO, Maryanne Davis; Dr James Dalziel, Dean and CEO of the Australian College of Theology (ACT); and members of the faculty of Mary Andrews College. At the conclusion of this rousing hymn, Rev. Di Morgan offers up a prayer of praise.
Maryanne Davis, Interim CEO of ADM, gives an Acknowledgement of Country and welcomes everyone to the Graduation.
An Acknowledgement of Country and a warm welcome is given by Maryanne Davis, interim CEO of Anglican Deaconess Ministries, extended to Rev. Simon Flinders, Archdeacon to the Archbishop, to Rev. Kara Hartley, the Archdeacon for Women and to the Rev. Caroline Andrews, the Chair of the Anglican Deaconess Ministries Board – all there to give their support to our students. And of course a welcome to all the families and friends who have gathered to cheer on those who have finally reached their day of graduation.
Karen Ray, one of the faculty, extends another welcome, this time to Dr Louise Gosbell, who until very recently was MAC’s Principal. Students and the faculty know Louise well and have been looking forward to this opportunity to hear her give the Graduation Address. She does not disappoint.
Louise blends her personal experience with God’s Word and gives a powerful challenge to all present. She has made some very hard decisions over the past year. It has been a year of many tears and much prayer, as she has wrestled with the decision to resign as Principal in the light of her ongoing ill health.
Dr Louise Gosbell gives the Graduation Address
Louise grabs our attention with her first sentence - ‘How do you go about making a big decision in your life?’ She talks candidly about her own life and the way she has walked with her Lord over the past year in making very hard decisions.
Her address is so pertinent to the 17 students graduating that day. Their studies have ended, now what?
Louise refers to a book that has been especially influential for her. Emily Freeman’s The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions. She shared three important principles from this book for students as they face this next stage of their lives: In this decision, am I being pushed by fear or led by love; we don’t journey alone; we wait with hope.
Undergirding Louise’s talk was the Bible passage, Ephesians 3:16-19. She concluded that this was the most important thing we pray for all our students, that they will grasp this love of God.
It was wonderful to be able to present Louise with flowers and pray for her as she ventures forth into this year, depending on her loving God as she makes decisions.
It was so appropriate to respond by all in the Cathedral singing, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Then one by one our students received their award. First the Certificate students, then the Diploma students and finally our very first Graduate Certificate students. Each came forward wearing the scarf of the colour that signified her particular award. Each came to stage to the applause of all in the Cathedral. A handful of students were unable to come in person and as their names were read out, they too were applauded.
Dr James Dalziel from the ACT and Rev Jill Williams, Interim Principal of MAC presented the awards. These presentations provided an opportunity to hear about our connection with the ACT, to hear interviews with two of our graduates and to hear from the Rev. Dr. Keith Condie, who explained the importance of the Graduate Certificate of Pastoral Care for Mental Health and excitedly welcomed its very first graduates.
A highlight of the service was hearing from two of the Diploma of Ministry graduates, Lucy Burdett and Jennifer Boyd.
Rev. Marge Mills interviews Lucy Burdett
Lucy Burdett (now Zeppel) came to faith later in life, married later in life and now works as a chaplain at Wesley Mission. Her life has completely turned around in the last 12 years. Persistent friends asked her to church. She eventually went and encountered the love of Jesus in an amazing way. Her desire to know more led her to study and now she feels far more equipped in her role as a Chaplain at Wesley Mission. She found all the subjects, but especially the Pastoral Care subjects so helpful in the sphere of ministry God has led her into.
Dr Nicole Starling interviews Jen Boyd
Jen Boyd had a very different life experience, being surrounded all her life by adults who knew God and were always caring for others in practical ways. Jen began by doing two Pastoral Care units, but caught the study bug and continued on to gain her Diploma. She said her studies both encouraged and challenged her. She also enjoyed doing the assignments as these gave her time to think and they were very practical. She talked of the honesty of the lecturers and the way they generously shared their lives. There were so many ways College helped her in caring pastorally for others while recognising at the same time that she didn’t always need to have her own life all worked out.
The service concluded with prayer for the students, commissioning them in their next stage of God’s service and with the hymn In Christ Alone.
The students processed out of the Cathedral during that hymn, excited, encouraged and challenged, with their various Certificates and Diplomas in their hands. They are all now more equipped for whatever areas of ministry – formal or informal, paid or voluntary – God leads them into.
