Date: May 9, 2022
This is the week of Commencement and the Board Meeting. We welcome Bishop Rowan Williams into our midst as the Commencement speaker. It is truly an honor to have him with us. And Trustees are making the journey to the campus. We will be discussing General Theological Seminary and of course the regular business of the Seminary; for example, we need to pass a budget.
The most important people of this week are our graduating seniors. When the Associate Dean of Students, the Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D., preached at the Commissioning of Spouses and Families service last week, she documented with humor the extraordinary journey of our seniors. From cold pizza in a tent to the Welcome Center Library to the Deanery schoolhouse to the pandemic and Zoominary, this is a group of students who have navigated the complexity of the campus and the complexity of the world.
All students are formed at a certain time within a certain context. Some were shaped by the DC Sniper and September 11, 2001; others were shaped by the Chapel Fire, and this is the class that was shaped by a global pandemic. Interestingly, every class acknowledges the significance of the context of formation; and perhaps, rather surprisingly, they find grace in it all. And herein is an important theological truth: God uses our context – however hard – to help us grow. As we live through this week, may we all find some grace in our shared journey.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President