Issac Yoo-Sung Hong awarded Knox College Gold Medal, and other Convocation highlights
Dr. Frank Yamada
“What we need today – in this world of increasing polarization of opinion, of the insistence that things should be my way or the highway, in this world where there are only winners and losers – what we need today is for the Holy Spirit’s powerful in-breaking work to disrupt our own idolatrous narratives of left and right, liberal and conservative, so that God might forge among us understanding. That might be God’s true miracle, a sure sign of the falling of God’s Holy Spirit upon us,” said Frank Yamada at Knox College’s 174th Convocation on May 9, 2018. Dr. Yamada, Executive Director of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, gave the Convocation address, titled “When the Holy Spirit falls…,” based on Acts 10:44-48.
Dr. Yamada concluded his address, “In light of the Holy Spirit’s falling in these texts and in the history of the church, here is my three-fold prayer for you, the graduating class of 2018. First, I pray that you will invite and embrace the often-disruptive and life-giving work of the Spirit in your life and ministry. . . . Second, I pray that you will be open to the ways in which God is seeking to renew and innovate what we mean by church through the in-breaking of God’s Spirit. . . . Finally, I pray that your embrace of God’s Spirit falling upon us may help you to hold on to the mystery of God’s presence in the world in these fraught days for the church.”
More than 350 friends and family members gathered to celebrate this year’s graduation of Knox College’s Degree and Lay Education students. Including those awarded in absentia, Knox conferred degrees, diplomas, and certificates upon 25 graduates, including: eight receiving the Master of Divinity Degree and the Diploma of the College; one receiving the Master of Divinity Degree with Honours and the Diploma of the College; two receiving the Master of Divinity Degree and the General Assembly Certificate; one receiving the Master of Divinity Degree; and one receiving the Master of Divinity Degree and the Sangjoon Hall of Theology Certificate of Ordination (fulfilling denominational requirements for ordination in the Korean Evangelical Church of the Americas). One received the Master of Theological Studies Degree and the Special General Assembly Certificate; two received the Master of Theological Studies Degree; one received the Master of Religious Education Degree; and two received the Master of Pastoral Studies Degree. These were Knox’s first graduates from the Master of Pastoral Studies program, which began September 2016.
Four received graduate degrees: one the Master of Theology Degree, one the Doctor of Theology Degree, and two the Doctor of Ministry Degree. Knox also recognized five students who completed the doctoral degree awarded at the University of St. Michael’s College in November 2017, and two Lay Education graduates.
Issac Yoo-Sung Hong receives the Knox College Gold Medal, presented by the Rev. Linda Patton-Cowie, Knox-Ewart Graduates’ Association President.
Issac Yoo-Sung Hong, graduating with a Master of Divinity Degree, received the Knox College Gold Medal. Each year at Convocation, the graduating student with the highest academic standing in the program receives the Knox College Gold Medal. Find a complete listing of all 2018 prizes and scholarships here.
At his first Convocation as Principal of Knox College, the Rev. Dr. John Vissers welcomed all gathered to the Knox College Chapel. “It is fitting that we do this on the eve of Ascension Day,” said Principal Vissers, “for it is our prayer that you, the graduates of Knox College, will exercise thoughtful, visionary, Christ-centred leadership that is empowered by the risen and ascended Lord, the only king and head of the church.” He congratulated the graduates on their achievements and thanked all those who made possible those achievements, as he noted that “it takes a community” to raise a pastor, faith leader, spiritual care-giver, or theologian. He concluded, “Class of 2018, may the risen and ascended Christ equip you and empower you for every good work.”
Convocation Day events also included a Graduates’ Lecture titled “Leaving Christianity: Current Reality and Implications” by Stuart Macdonald (co-author of Leaving Christianity: Changing Allegiances in Canada since 1945); a celebratory luncheon to honour our 2018 graduands and reunion guests from the 2008, 1993, 1978, 1968, 1963, 1958, and prior graduating years; and a tour of Caven Library and afternoon tea with Principal Vissers for reunion guests.
Visit Facebook for additional photos of this year’s Convocation day events, and watch the Convocation service on Knox’s YouTube channel.
