On Monday, I had the joy of visiting with the Chelsea Group in the Sparrow Conference Room. This is The General Theological Seminary class of 1970. From 1989 onwards, the class has been meeting annually, except for during the COVID interruption. It is an exceptional class of distinguished clergy, who love the Church and love […]
Today we have the opportunity to hear from CACS Communion Sabbatical Visitor, the Rt. Rev. Dr. George Okoth of the Diocese of Mara in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. He will share with us a talk on “Current Topics in the Diocese of Mara” in the Lettie Pate Evans Room from 12:45pm – 1:45pm. Bagged […]
The Board Meetings, which will be held in Chelsea, New York, in early November, are crucial. There is considerable success to report. For VTS, we have marked our Historic Bicentenary appropriately and powerfully. The campus is ready for a third century of service. For GTS, the hybrid MDiv is an amazing success, with GTS students […]
I arrived in 2007. Apart from COVID, VTS has participated in the Luther Bowl every year. This is the gathering of flag football teams from the regional seminaries. When I recently met the Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry, who served as dean and president at Trinity School of Ministry before his return to the UK, he […]
Today we celebrate our annual Giving Day to raise money for the mission and ministry of VTS through the Annual Fund. On campus and online, we come together to celebrate an important truth: God calls us to accomplish together what we could never do alone. Today your gift of any size has even more impact […]
There is, of course, an advantage in the traditional form of worship. You come to Chapel and you know exactly what will happen. And this is part of the joy of liturgy: the form becomes so familiar that you end up focusing entirely on God and not on what is going on. Yet sometimes it […]
One joy of my role is that I am the one who gets the feedback. Sometimes it is critical; sometimes it is exceptionally positive. This email was sent to Vice President Linda Dienno (and I was on copy) from Dianne Audrick Smith. Dianne gave me permission to reproduce the email in today’s commentary. “It was […]
The Rev. James Farwell, Ph.D. is an extraordinary voice in the liturgy world. His scholarship is deeply thoughtful; he combines respect for the Ordo and the deep patterns and forms of the liturgy with an insightful exposition as to the reasoning behind that shape. He does his work with graciousness and humor. Back in May […]
Naturally the hard work of our Historic Bicentenary is still very much on my mind. It was a week full of activities: the official number of events is 37, inclusive of all worship services and the meetings for the Alumni organizations. Today, I want to recognize our worship leaders. The Rev. Dr. Shawn Strout worked […]
Today, I want to highlight a new book. Edited by Herschel Wade and Christopher Poore, Looking for our God: Voices of Color Speak from Virginia Theological Seminary is a collection of 26 contributions (some sermons, some poetry, some articles). It is a powerful book. Passionate reflection meets hopeful analysis; it is a compelling and thoughtful […]