Pepperdine Caruso Law 3L Commissioning Service

We hosted our 11th annual 3L Commissioning Service at Pepperdine Caruso Law last week. Like many of the best things at our school, this was the brainchild of a student. In 2012, 2L Raija Churchill proposed that the last Wednesday night Dean's Bible study of the year model the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) as a send-off for our graduating 3Ls. After an online service last year due to Covid, we were thrilled to be back in person this year at the specacular new Light House on Pepperdine's main campus. I was honored to give two gifts to each 3L on behalf of the law school:

This first gift is a Pepperdine Caruso Law tee-shirt that incorporates (1) the lesson of Matthew 14:22-33: Jesus calls us to leave the comfort and safety of our "boats" and go where he is calling us, even if it seems impossible, like walking on the water; and (2) the song by We The Kingdom, Dancing on the Waves (the nickname of Pepperdine's athletic teams is Waves) — the shirt captures part of the chorus of the song, with God saying to us:

I'm reaching out, I'll chase you down
I dare you to believe how much I love you now
Don't be afraid, I am your strength
We'll be walking on the water, dancing on the waves

The second gift is to encourage our 3Ls to live the lives that God has called them to after they graduate: a paperweight to keep on their desks to remind them (on the top) of their time at Pepperdine Caruso Law and (on the bottom) a single word — the most powerful word that Jesus talked about and modeled for us — forgiveness. I shared several of the forgiveness stories I have chronicled on this blog, including this, this, this, this, and this.

The highlight of the evening was when our faculty spoke words of life over each of the graduating 3Ls (kudos to 3L Tyler Clark for beginning this wonderful tradition):

My wife Courtney then gave a powerful commissioning prayer for the 3Ls:

The 3Ls closed the evening, as they had each of the Wednesday night Dean's Bible studies this academic year, by leading everyone in singing the Doxology: