Commencement
It’s officially graduation season! And with it comes a barrage of open houses, laughter, tears, well wishes and the mandatory commencement speeches. Having had family members (including myself!) tapped to give one of these speeches on occasion, I have an appreciation for what a challenge it is to say something significant, succinct, touching, and funny in 12 minutes or less over a crappy PA system in a gym or outdoor stadium! There are a million ways commencement speeches can go wrong, but when they go right they can be amazing!
A week ago, at the commencement for North Carolina University’s class of ‘26, native Tar Heel and professional musician Eric Church gave what’s being called the speech of the year. At least a dozen friends and fellow musicians have shared this with me over the past seven days, and now I’m sharing it with you! (You can watch it here, or read the transcript here.)
Eric Church chose to hold a guitar for the entire speech and draw a parable between the six strings of his guitar and what he calls the “six pillars of life.” A guitar has a low E, A, D, G, B and high E strings. Your life has: Faith. Family. A Spouse. Ambition. Community. You.
Here are a few excerpts from his thoughts about the Low E and the High E string:
Your faith is the low E of your life. The thing that sits at the very bottom of you. Your belief about what this life is for, what you owe, what holds the universe together when science reaches the edge of its own explanation, and shrugs. The people who tend to their faith in ordinary seasons do not come undone in extraordinary ones. They still hurt. They still sit in hospital waiting rooms asking unanswerable questions at three in the morning.
But they have a foundation to return to.
The world will try to untune this string. Through busyness, through slow accumulation of a full schedule, a full inbox, a full life.
Listen to me. Tend to your faith.
Not just when you’re broken, but when you’re whole.
And one about the small, high string at the other end of the guitar, representing your selfhood:
This is the thinnest string. It’s the highest note. The one that carries the melody,
that single line above the chord that everyone in this room recognizes and takes with them on the way home. It’s also the one bent most easily by outside pressure.
You were made uniquely, wonderfully, distinctly.
There’s a sound only you can make, a voice that has never existed before you and will never exist again.
A contribution only you can bring, a way of seeing that belongs to only you.
The world does not need another cover song. It needs an original.
If you have a graduate in your family or circle or friends, take the time to bless them with your time, affection, some good gifts, and some good words as well. God has given our graduates extraordinary gifts and potential to bless this world!
– Pastor Gregg