The Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Admissions is the external face of General Seminary among prospective students of all types. The right person for this position must be energized by theological education, the work of the church, and the education and formation of Christian leaders, lay and ordained.
Two primates of the Anglican Communion made a historic visit in New York City yesterday on the campus of General Seminary. The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and the Most Reverend Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church both attended the seminary’s Convocation, receiving the degree of honoris causa. Williams lectured to the community earlier in the day and Curry preached at Evensong.
A few years ago, I saw a woman falling down on her knees in a church’s thrift shop as she found a pair of trainers on sale. She cried loudly, “thank you Lord! I needed a pair of shoes and here they are! Oh thank you, thank you Jesus!” seeing this, another woman shopper said, “I used to be able to pray like that.”
Nobody about to be baptized promises to make regular retreats. Neither does anybody about to be ordained. The annual parochial report wants to know your Average Sunday Attendance, the number of children in your church school, how your number of baptisms stacks up against your number of funerals, and the vector of your balance sheet, but it does not demand to know whether or not the parish schedules retreats or quiet days for its members, or keeps them informed about opportunities for these experiences in other communities.
“With words heralding a vision of a land without violence and walls that are only of salvation, Isaiah stirs our souls with an encouraging and hopeful vision. May sacred Scripture help us to see our Bible heroes in the faces of displaced children—and may we have courage enough to care.”