Date: April 8, 2026
Yesterday’s Faculty meeting was briefly interrupted by a solemn request – to pause and pray for peace in the Middle East. The moment reminded us how fragile the world feels just now, as headlines carry news of renewed conflict and human suffering. Discussion stopped; silence settled; and, together, we turned our thoughts outward, toward those caught in fear and uncertainty, lifting them to God’s mercy. It was a necessary interruption – one that wove global grief into the work of the Faculty meeting.
Stepping outside afterward, the contrast was almost startling. The campus looked radiant, touched by spring’s full renewal – the magnolias open, the cherry blossoms catching the light, the grass newly tended and impossibly green. Much of that loveliness is owed to campus contractors from Rupertt, whose quiet diligence shapes the beauty we enjoy daily. Their work, steady and unheralded, allows the grounds to speak of hope and resurrection even as the world groans elsewhere.
It is this mingling of sorrow and gratitude that seems the work of prayer just now. We hold before God the anguish of violence and the wonder of blossom; we lament human cruelty while giving thanks for creation’s generosity. To pray for peace amidst beauty is not contradiction but vocation – the call to live with eyes open to both the suffering and the grace that coexist in every season.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary.