It has been a busy fall at the college, with a number of events and visitors enriching our life.
In September, the college community took its annual retreat on Lac MacDonald in the Laurentian Mountains. The community gathered for prayer, worship, and fellowship, and an extended discussion about the connection between liturgy and mission, framed by James K.A. Smith’s book, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit.
Later in September, we welcomed friends and supporters to the college for Evening Prayer and an afternoon reception prior to the first of this year’s Birks Lectures at the McGill School of Religious Studies. A good time was had by all, even if for some the reception was so much fun that the lecture slipped out of sight.
In October, the college Corporation held its annual general meeting. The main focus of the meeting was a chance to hear from our new and returning students about their vocation to ministry and their time at the college. First-year students Linda Moore and Tevfik Karatop spoke about the journeys of discernment that had brought them to theological education and how enriching they have found their experience at the college thus far. Third-year student Tyson Rosberg spoke about his year-long internship at the American Cathedral in Paris and how it enlarged his understanding of church and gave him new opportunities to take leadership roles in ministry.
On the last day of October, we welcomed the Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson to preach and celebrate at our Wednesday Eucharist, this one commemorating the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Dr. Anderson, a Lutheran pastor and member of the faculty at Concordia University, preached movingly about the quest for the truth that will set us free—and the ways in which our Reformation forebears got it right and the ways in which we continue to seek continued reformation in the church and world.
In early November, the college community gathered with friends and supporters for the launch of the latest book from our principal, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Zink. Christianity and Catastrophe in South Sudan: Civil War, Migration, and the Rise of Dinka Anglicanism is rooted in Dr. Zink’s research on Christianity in the world’s newest nation. The book launch was an opportunity to hear directly from the principal about his research and the story of Christian conversion that took place in southern Sudan in the midst of civil war—and buy the book at discounted rates!
In the midst of all of this, our regular cycle of classes and seminars continues, undergirded on a daily basis by our chapel services. We routinely welcome visitors to our Wednesday and Friday Eucharists as well as compline at 8pm on Sunday evenings during term time in St. Luke’s Chapel.