I asked the Very Rev. William L. Ogburn to be the officiant; Mr. Buck McDaniel was the organist, choirmaster, and of course the director of chapel music. Alumni gathered on the campus. We had a choir to lead the worship. Faculty were in their stall. We are embarking on Evensong. This is a time honored ritual in this place. Everyone knew exactly what to do; it was moving and powerful. Anglican worship at its best.

Afterwards, the alumni and I gathered in the Seabury Auditorium. We had a great conversation. What is the future for GTS? I listened and I learn.

There is no question that one strength of GTS is its alumni. This place has formed literally countless priests and lay people. They have made a difference. Let us remember when we frame our narrative of the GTS past, it is a past that includes hundreds of thousands of human lives that have been cared for by a priest, who listened to a dying parishioner, heard the confession of a tormented soul, and loved countless couples into the sacrament of marriage.

The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and President of The General Theological Seminary