Commencement exercises for the Concordia Seminary, St. Louis graduating class will take place Friday, May 20.  The public is welcome to attend.

The day’s events will begin at 10 a.m. (CDT) with the Theological Diploma Service in the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the Seminary’s campus. Theological diplomas will be presented at this service to all graduating students eligible to receive a call as a pastor or deaconess in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). Rev. James W. Voelz, the Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Professor of New Testament Theology and graduate professor of exegetical theology, will deliver the sermon.

Commencement will take place at 7 p.m. (CDT) outdoors in the Seminary’s Main Quadrangle, weather permitting. Academic degrees and honors will be presented during this ceremony. Four special honors also will be given for exemplary service in the church:

• Christus Vivit Award: Mr. and Mrs. Peter Faris Peck of Ballwin, Mo.
• Distinguished alumni: Rev. Dr. Ronald D. Rall (’73, ’83, ’06) of St. Louis, Mo.; and Rev. Arthur Simon (’56, ’57) of Bowie, Md.
• Doctor of Divinity, Honoris Causa: Rev. Ralph Blomenberg (’81) of Seymour, Ind.

In addition to receiving the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree and serving as the chairman of the Seminary’s Board of Regents, Blomenberg will deliver the Commencement address.

This year’s graduates will be joining more than 6,000 called leaders currently with the LCMS around the world and more than 12,500 individuals who have received degrees from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis in the school’s 177-year history.

“Over the years of Seminary commencements — this is my 12^th — I’ve come to realize that we’re not simply recognizing academic achievement. We are ceremoniously passing earthly leadership of the Church to the next generation,” said Concordia Seminary President Dr. Dale A. Meyer. “Older people are on the Commencement stage; younger people are receiving recognition of their academic preparation and going forth with the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
“Each age its solemn task may claim but once. Make each one nobler, stronger than the last” (The Lutheran Hymnal, 483).

Commencement exercises will be available via live stream starting at 6:30 p.m. (CDT) May 20 here or www.csl.edu/live.

About Concordia Seminary

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit www.csl.edu.