Graduation Address, Wartburg Theological Seminary, April 2017

Timothy Wengert offers a biblical, theological, and confessional reflection on the meaning of success in ministry with particular reference to the poetry of Emily Dickinson and a hymn text by Elisabeth Cruciger. This article is based on a commencement address at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. In the midst of the darkest moments of abandonment, ministers can find comfort in the one who shouted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me,” and thereby rent God’s heart from top to bottom. Ministry means committing your spirit to the one who committed himself into God’s merciful hands