Honoring the Dwelling Place of our Community:

Final Commemorative Chapel Service in Graham Taylor Chapel

On December 14, 2011, the CTS community paid tribute to the space which has sheltered our joys, sorrows, and prayers for nearly the past century by holding a final, commemorative worship service in Graham Taylor Chapel. Professor Dow Edgerton delivered a sermon which was a modified version of the address he delivered as part of the New Building Dedication Weekend on October 21, 2011. At once poignant and humorous, Professor Edgerton's words revive the memories we all hold so dear and ease the burden of leaving behind our cherished space. You can read the full keynote address (later transformed into a sermon) below.

To view the liturgy of the commemorative chapel service, click here.

“Leaving this Place”

In Book 10 of his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius - and I know you have all been hoping we would talk about Eusebius today! – Eusebius records an address, a panegyric or praise speech upon the new church built in Tyre after the persecution of Diocletian, built through the zeal of Paulinus, Bishop of Tyre. He described the speaker as “one of those of moderate talent.” A lot depends upon how you say it, I suppose. It could be said as a kind of understated appreciation, “a person of moderate talent…” It could be damning by faint praise, “a person of moderate talent…” It could even be quite ironic, “a person of ‘moderate talent…’” (with head-shaking and rolling eyes) as if to say that even to use the terms “moderate” and “talent” was too much. The address itself in different parts must bear all three of these judgments, I’m afraid, including as it does some embarrassing fawning over the bishop and some truly pernicious theology, but the conclusion (to my ears) is indeed worthy of praise. There the speaker (perhaps it was Eusebius himself) depicts that splendid building as mirror of the living church, its materials and design, stone and wood and walls and walks, reflecting the community gathered, saved, and transformed by God into a temple of the Holy Spirit. The church building reflected back to them the mystery of their own life. Building, life, mystery…Building, life, mystery…

This winter we will depart the home that has sheltered our seminary for almost ninety years, and make a new home, not too far away, where we believe the future of our mission - proclaiming the gospel of God's justice and mercy - can flower and grow. We are leaving, and our absence will be palpable. As we will miss this place, we will also be missed in this place, which will now undergo transformation (which has already begun) because of our departure. These are, after all, places where we have lived, studied, taught, celebrated, worked, wandered, and prayed for so many years. Building, life, mystery…Building, life, mystery…

I first sat in this chapel in 1972. Others here today, I know, go back much farther, and perhaps can remember their first encounter here, and many others, as well, from the bowels of the basement to the top of the tower. Chapels and cloisters, library, and offices, classrooms and dorm rooms, courtyard and Garth, steep stairways and slow, creaking elevator (that sometimes doesn’t elevate!)… In the end, however, these buildings matter because of what has happened here, the life they have sheltered and held. They have been shaped by us as surely as we have been shaped by them. (Click here to continue reading).