Date: March 29, 2023
Listening and learning from the past is a moral obligation. The present will only be different if we confront the past. The future will only change if we are aware in the present of precisely what has happened in the past. This is true at the level of families; this is true at the level of congregations; this is true of all of us all of the time.
We make the Commemoration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a priority because this is vitally important work. Our country, our church, our immediate congregation, our seminary, indeed our own personal lives must engage with the past. I am deeply grateful for the Rev. Dr. Joe Thompson who has created an important set of events for this moment. We are delighted that Dr. Lerone A. Martin is delivering a lecture tonight.
Granted I have been away a great deal recently (just ask my wife). But note, I am back for these events. This is a moment that I must not miss: this is an important moment for me. Please enter fully into this important journey.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary