Date: July 27, 2021
Beginnings are sacred times. We stand on the threshold of the new, and cannot see or predict what lies ahead. If we can stay open amidst the uncertainty, these liminal times can be times when we feel powerfully the presence of God who says, “I am doing a new thing.” It is important to be able to rest in this uncertainty, this “beginner’s mind,” without too quickly grasping, controlling, or seeking to put everything in the boxes of “what we know.”
We are nearing a momentous time of beginnings at VTS, for in one week’s time our new class of students and their families will be arriving on campus, and in one week more our August term will begin. An enormous amount of work has gone into selecting and gathering this group of students, and in creating an orientation that will ease them into this time of beginnings. In August term we introduce our new students to various aspects of life at VTS: worship, community life, course work. We will hold orientation sessions for groups within our new student body, such as international students, commuter students, Pathway to Ministry, and Anglican Studies students. We will introduce students to resources such as the Bishop Payne Library and the Academic Resource Center, and make sure they get to know the Center for Anglican Communion Studies and Lifelong Learning. But amidst all of this, we hope there is enough space for new students to really arrive, to let their souls catch up with their bodies, to process all of this newness and find it life-giving.
The Rev. Ruthanna Hooke, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Students
Associate Professor of Homiletics