SFTS Fall 2021 Convocation Sermon

On September 9, 2021 San Francisco Theological Seminary welcomed students, staff, faculty, and community members to its 150th convocation ceremony. Rev. Dr. Jacqueline A. Thompson, the senior pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, delivered the sermon celebrating the start of a new school year.
Throughout the ceremony, the Seminary’s commitment to inclusive language for God and humanity was reflected as students and faculty members guided the audience in calls to worship and invocations.
Ahead of the sermon, the Allen Temple Women’s Chorus sang a spirited rendition of the hymn “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”
Introducing Thompson, Rev. Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina said, “All of us are here today because we said ‘yes.’ We said ‘yes’ to teaching. We said ‘yes’ to graduate school. You said ‘yes’ to coming and joining us on our 150th convocation. I want to thank you.”
In her remarks, Thompson utilized the imagery of the Bay Area’s many bridges to construct a metaphor. “Bridges are designed to connect places to other places,” she said. “Bridges—structures that have been built as a passageway to carry people from one place to another place. Bridges—things that are built so that we have access to things that we wouldn’t usually have access to if it wasn’t for a bridge.”
Continuing, she asked: “How amazing is it that there is a seminary that recognizes that part of its role should be to bridge all of the things that are divided in our society?”
“I pray, as you go into this year, that you are not deterred by the blocks that were set up by a pandemic, the blocks that have been set up by political disarray, and the blocks that have been set up even in our own personal lives.”
Before the service concluded, individual charges were delivered on behalf of faculty members, community members, administration and staff members, board members, and students. The final charge, directed at all audience members reaffirmed the school’s mission: “We charge you to be learners, sharing this provision of education with us and witnessing to our hope for learning, transformative education, and lives dedicated to service.”
Learn more about San Francisco theological Seminary at the Graduate School of Theology: https://www.redlands.edu/gst/

Видео SFTS Fall 2021 Convocation Sermon канала San Francisco Theological Seminary