HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY
From: Mira Yardemian
Public Relations Director
Mexique Street, Kantari, Beirut
P.O.Box. 11-1748
Riad El Solh 1107 2090
Tel: 01-353010/1/2
01-349230/1
Beirut, 25/06/2007
Haigazian University Baccalaureate Service 2007
"There are several areas of your life you can ruin, and if we put our heads
together we can come up with effective ways to ruin each area, including
personal health and well-being, family and friends, country and society, and
environment and world," said Rev. Nishan Bakalian, Haigazian University
Campus Minister, facetiously to the graduating class of 2007 during the
Baccalaureate Service, on Sunday, the 24th of June 2007, held in the First
Armenian Evangelical Church in Beirut.
A large number of graduates and their families participated in this
ceremony, a service of dedication and thanksgiving, which began by the
graduating class walking through the church sanctuary during the
processional hymn.
The service began with a call to worship by John Sagherian, Haigazian
University Board Member, followed by a hymn of praise, "Our God, Our Help in
Ages Past", and the prayer of invocation.
In his word of welcome, the President of Haigazian University, Rev. Dr.
Paul Haidostian, invited the graduating class to pause and say thanks to
God.
"Proper preparation for life and work can never be complete and
meaningful without the proper openness before God," Haidostian noted.
Several graduates took part in the service: Rana Merhi and Sylva
Bardakjian read biblical selections, Lily Malky shared her reflections as a
student with the audience, while Shoushan Artinian on the cello and Vartan
Agopian on the piano played J.S. Bach’s "Arioso".
"How to Successfully Ruin Your Life" was the theme of the message of
the day, delivered by Rev. Nishan Bakalian, who brought the example of
"Jesus Christ who successfully ruined his life at a fairly young age, paying
the price for taking on all of what we call human sin." He also included
several examples of people who have made their modest contributions for the
betterment of Lebanon in the past year.
Rev. Bakalian concluded his speech by motivating students to follow
Jesus’ steps. "I do take Jesus and his words very seriously. I do want to
‘see the kingdom of God come with power.’ And I want to do it the right way,
even if it means being considered a ‘failure’ in the eyes of the world; by
thinking of my (as yet unconceived) grandchildren as I live my life; by
spending my energy, not entertaining myself, but doing something that
matters – to the Lord and to the world he loves. And I wish that each of you
the same – to live a ‘successfully ruined’ life, by the grace of God,"
Bakalian noted.
It is worth noting, as Rev. Robert Sarkissian, Vice-Chairman of
Haigazian’s Board stated in his introduction of the speaker, that after 7
years of unwavering service to Haigazian University as its Campus Minister,
Rev. Nishan Bakalian will be leaving Beirut, and heading back to the United
States with his wife, Maria, as Pastor of the Armenian Martyrs’
Congregational Church of Greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, beginning Sept.
1, 2007.
A prayer of dedication by President Haidostian followed, after which
Wael Bahnan and Taline Chakerian read the pledges of the graduates to carry
the light of truth, freedom & service to the world: "We, the class of 2007
of Haigazian University, in receiving this light, pledge to hold high the
light of truth, to defend the light of freedom, and to spread the light of
service to our communities, our country and our world".
While the graduates shared the flame among fellow-classmates, the
President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near
East, Rev, Megrdich Karagoezian pronounced the benediction, whereupon the
class of 2007 marched out the sanctuary with the recessional, each carrying
a light out into the world.