In uncertain times, faith carries us

Rev. Robert Molsberry thought he was finished with college. “I’d like to tell you my son is gainfully employed and his student loans are paid off, and that my daughter has a great job and is engaged to a doctor.”

 

“I’d like to tell you this, but I can’t.” Instead, his son is underemployed and his daughter, a social worker, drives an old car and calls her mother daily, wondering what she’s going to be when she grows up.

 

“I lie awake at night, fretting about these things. A parent’s work is never done,” he said during Heidelberg’s baccalaureate service which returned to campus after several years at Trinity United Church of Christ.

 

A native of Iowa, Molsberry, left a quadriplegic 12 years ago following a hit-and-run accident, became Ohio Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ in 2007. The essence of his message: “Life doesn’t always go as planned.”

 

“Life is uncertain. We can’t be as confident or as certain as we once were,” he said. This also applies to one’s careers. Molsberry himself is in the midst of his sixth career.

 

In uncertain times, many people return to the Bible as a last resort. “Although the Bible raises more questions than it answers, it invites you to go with God on a pilgrimage of discernment. …

 

“We will never be abandoned by the one who beckons us to the future.”

 

Molsberry told the graduates the most common Scripture phrase, “Do not fear,” applies to their journey. He encouraged them to be bold. He also had a special message to parents of the graduates.

 

“Parents, chill. They’re going to make mistakes. They’re going to move back into your basement. But they’re also going to surprise you. And it’s all OK.”

 

Heidelberg presented Molsberry with an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree during its commencement ceremony.

 

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