Dear alumni/ae and friends,
In his The Mood of Christmas and Other Celebrations, theologian Howard Thurman offers his reflections on the Advent Season, saying it “is the brooding Presence of the Eternal Spirit making the crooked paths straight, rough places smooth, tired hearts refreshed, dead hopes stir with newness of life. It is the promise of tomorrow at the close of everyday, the movement of life in defiance of death, and the assurance that love is sturdier than hate, that right is more confident than wrong, that good is more permanent than evil.”
I am reflecting on those words as another semester concludes here at VDS, as the students depart for a short break, and as the faculty and staff prepare for a “spring” that begins at the top of January, when the afternoons are dark at 4:30pm and when the cold makes the walk from the parking lot to the building seem unbearable. The break can seem far too short and the work in preparation for the next semester may appear far too overwhelming.
It is Thurman who reminds us that resting in the promises of things we cannot see and in the assurance of things we cannot perceive, is the work of people of faith. It is an “active resting,” where even as our tired hearts and dead hopes take a much-needed break, we still look forward to the work of justice in the world. Advent is the promise of tomorrow, that new hope is being born in the most unlikely of circumstances. For this, we give thanks.
Best,
Yolanda Pierce, Ph.D.
Dean
Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair
Professor of Religion & Literature
