Date: December 16, 2024
On Friday, the semester formally came to a close. Some students will be heading out to celebrate the rest of Advent and the Christmas season. The campus will be quieter.
As I was reflecting with the Faculty last week, this has felt like a regular semester. We have had so much additional activity for a long time – 2023 was “Marking the Bicentenary”, 2018 to 2023 was the Bicentenary Capital Campaign, the affiliation and ATS visits have dominated 2022-2024, and 2020-2022 was the pandemic. This was the semester where we received our largest incoming class ever. We taught students. We enjoyed worship together. There was a regular pattern in this moment.
It has also been a difficult semester for some. I had a medical procedure. Staff and Faculty have handled loss and major challenges. Things are rarely smooth and for some of us this semester has been brutal.
So, we pause at the end of all this hard work. We acknowledge the total experience has been mixed. And we give it all to God.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary