Video Messages from the Deans at the end of Spring 2020
May 18, 2020 – Deans Moore, Stone, and Hickman-Maynard offer their words of thanks and well-wishes to the School of Theology community at the closure of the spring 2020 semester. The transcripts are posted below for those needing to follow along.
Dean Moore Transcript:
In the Spirit of the living God, I greet you today. In the Spirit of the loving God, I shout my love for you – my care for your losses and my hopes for your lives as pandemic continues. These months have been an unexpected Sabbath time in which we were forced to be still and reflect on ourselves as a globally connected community. In Sabbath-time, we remember the future that is promised but not yet here. Sabbath is an opportunity to pause and discern what is most important.
We jumped quickly into the urgent needs of a pandemic, making adjustments that were so urgent we could hardly think about them; we could only do them. We now know that the pandemic will continue for a long time, even as we ponder how and when to re-open and live carefully as we await surer treatments and a vaccine. What has this Sabbath time taught us?
- We have learned all over again that horrific injustices are built into our society, threatening whole communities, especially communities of color, immigrants, prisoners, and seniors. How are we going to change public policies and actions to respond to these injustices?
- We have learned that isolation is hard, and it affects people differently. We have also learned to connect in ways that transcend isolation, whether by zooming or phoning. How might we continue to isolate for the wellbeing of others while making ways to be together?
- We have learned that many people have had to live sacrificially, either by choice or by the necessity of preserving their jobs. How can we thank these people while providing the supports they need to thrive?
- We have learned that people can be inventive in hard times. Families have created new bonds with their children; faculty and students have developed new ways of teaching and learning; people have reached out to their neighbors to share grocery shopping and bits of joy. Can we continue these practices as we move into new moments of pandemic and post-pandemic?
- We have learned that some losses – illnesses, deaths, lost jobs, lost opportunities and celebrations – are deep and lasting. No words or actions can erase them. Can we continue to hold people (including ourselves) in prayer and acts of kindness?
- We have learned that we can live simply, and simple living can be restorative, not just to us but to the earth, which is enjoying some respite from our extreme carbon emissions and pollution of the air and waters. How can we continue to live simply for the wellbeing of our souls and the planet?
As you enter a summer of caution and virtual gatherings, I hope Sabbath will touch you with its Holy stillness and hope for the future. I love you!
Dean Stone Transcript:
Hello there everybody. It’s hard to believe this spring semester has finally come to an end. And I couldn’t be prouder of the students, staff, and faculty who rose to the challenges thrown at them with just a few days’ notice. I’m especially proud of our graduating students, and I’m thankful for their family and friends who have supported and guided them along the way, often when there were more questions than answers. And when there was way too much distance.
Finishing graduate school or a doctoral program is always a major accomplishment, but this spring, in addition to other challenges and obstacles you might have been facing, you did it in the midst of a global pandemic with most of our population in lockdown, with little access to libraries, no chance to have a live, physical conversation with a fellow student in the Community Center, no opportunity to work on a paper or finish your reading in a coffee shop, and no possibility of stopping by Pub Night to gain sustenance for the journey . . . with me! How did you pull it off!? Congratulations, and I can already see (I don’t have to imagine) the tenacity, patience, flexibility, courage, and creativity that characterize your theological vision and religious leadership.
For those of you returning in the fall, let’s enjoy the summer. I hope to do some fishing, writing, and movie watching. But there will also be a lot going on at the School this summer. Next year is our accreditation self-study year and we will be preparing for that. We’re hoping to start up 3 faculty searches over the summer. And, of course, we are still in the middle of a search for a new Dean of the School of Theology.
While I plan to enjoy the summer, seeing you in person in the fall is something I am already looking forward to. And make no mistake . . . seeing you in person is still very much the plan. Of course we will offer remote participation options for those who cannot make it to Boston, feel uncomfortable coming to Boston, need to self-quarantine, or are immunocompromised. But if the last few months have taught us anything, it is that the value of a residential education has increased not decreased. So we will be working hard over the summer to make adjustments to our teaching technologies and our classroom spaces on campus so that we can be physically present and in living color together.
Enjoy the summer! And thanks again for your incredible resiliency this past semester.