As I sit in my corner office at the seminary, I am not quite thinking of this space as the one of critical importance to our future together. Rather it is the corner I can see from my window. This corner is physically at what is becoming a significant intersection but, more important is its symbolic significance as a crossroads. The intersection of 60th and Dorchester cuts between the past and the future, the academy, and the world, wealth and poverty, power and vulnerability. If you head East you will be standing directly in front of the coming Obama Center. If you head West you will soon find yourself in neighborhoods challenged by poverty and violence. Head north and you are on the road through a major university. South? On the way through what is emerging as a center of gentrification and maybe revitalization. CTS really does stand at a crossroads and it is from a corner of it that I write.
Imagining our future together, here, at CTS there are several opportunities and challenges which face us from this corner of the crossroads. The first is this: how do we as an institution mediate the powerful forces which are barreling from future down these roads? How do we remain true to our place as a school of theological education, while yet open ourselves to being a partner in the formation of global secular leadership? Following, though not far behind, is the question of how do we participate in the vibrancy of new economic development while, yet, keeping faith with the communities which will find themselves under assault from ever-present gentrification? Finally, how do we in our work continue to shine as a beacon of possibility in a world wracked with violence and hatred? In each of these questions about who we will be, there is opportunity and challenge. Unlike the vision of Daniel, no hand has appeared to foretell our future. It is ours to be made.
Gazing at this intersection and our particular corner of it there are many things about which I remain uncertain concerning our future. Of one thing I am sure; if we choose the path of wholeness and hope God will sustain us as a symbol of what might be when love wins. #TheNext.
