Date: May 8, 2023
So papers are submitted. Senior grades are in. Juniors and Middlers are planning to head out. The Seniors are focused on commencement and moving. It is a significant season. Some concern continues to bubble around the system because it is not clear where the graduate will land. So, it is an unsettling season – one where plans are hard.
All this uncertainty runs parallel with the joy of commencement. This is a major achievement. One has made a significant journey – written many papers, and attended many courses. It would be good to mark this moment with the joy it deserves.
So, I invite our seniors to do the hard Gospel work of allowing yourself to be anxious and simultaneously allow yourself to be full of joy. Much of life is this combination. It is a good spiritual discipline to do this work now.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary