Rituals are central parts of our lives. They encourage us through the different seasons of our lives and help to move us from one chapter on our journey to the next. Through ritual we build community, we make transitions and mark important events in our lives, we remember and reflect on our joy and sorrow, and we create and sustain identity. For people of faith, ritual is something that sustains us week in and week out as we come together with our communities and tell the story of our salvation.

Each school year begins and ends with rituals – move-in day, Welcome Week, the first days of class, opening convocation. Each semester ends with pancake night (my personal favorite), final exams and projects, the telling of stories, the celebrations of accomplishments and a ritual that moves us from one season into the next.

Unfortunately, like so many other things in our lives right now – our rituals of ending this school will not be the same. There will be no moving out of dorms and apartments en masse, no talk about which Study Abroad or International Mission trip you’ll be leaving on soon. For folks that are graduating, your ceremonies have been postponed until August. We don’t get to feel the sense of closure that we need as we transition from one season to the next.

Below are a few rituals that you can do in right where you are that will help you to close out this semester, and maybe for some of you your time at Belmont.

1. Labyrinth – A labyrinth is a tool that Christians have used for hundreds of years as a way to guide and structure their prayers, helping give them direction and structure, and helping them to feel like they are on a journey. You may have access to a labyrinth at a retreat center or church nearby, but you can also use this finger labyrinth. 

• As you work your way from the outside to the inside of the Labyrinth, reflect on your experiences this semester – both the joys and challenges.
• When you reach the center, think about what you have learned about yourself, about others, about God.
• As you work your way back to the outside of the labyrinth, consider what you want to take away from what you have learned – what will shape the way that you understand God, relate to other people, the way that you are in the world?

2. Final Exams – Use your final exams or assignments as a place of reflection. You may find the following questions helpful as you reflect back on all you have learned. Do this for each of your courses as you close out the semester.

• What have you learned?
• How have you changed because of this course?
• What will you take with you?

3. Journaling/Reflection – Find somewhere where you can be alone and quiet. Give yourself at least 15 minutes, but maybe up to an hour to think about your time at Belmont. Whether you regularly journal or not you may find it helpful to look back over this school year and reflect on relationships – good and bad, experiences – good and bad – and ask these questions:

• What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about others?
• How have you changed? What will be different for you moving forward?
• What will you take with you from this year?
• What were some meaningful or impactful relationships?
• What do you want to celebrate about the year and how you have grown?

4. Gratitude – Think about friends, professors, club advisors, campus ministry folks who have been an important part of your journey. You might consider writing a letter of gratitude to these people, expressing how they have left an impact on your life over the last year(s).

5. Grieve Your Losses – If you are a senior, you may want to take a few moments to grieve what you what you have lost. Recognize and acknowledge what you have lost, allowing space to feel whatever sadness, disappointment, or even anger that naturally arises.

God is With You. These are just small ways to reclaim some sense of ritual that we have lost, and take time in the midst of the uncertainty of our present to remember that you are not alone. As you close your time of reflection, end your time in prayer – offering thanks for your Belmont experience and the events, people and places that shaped it. As you move into the next chapter of your journey, whether that’s into summer school, an internship, grad school or your first “real job” know that the God who has walked beside you here at Belmont goes with you and will never leave you or forsake you.