As you know, we have been celebrating the Advent season- the season filled with hope and promise as we await both the celebration of the birth of Christ and his second coming. While we get to celebrate on Christmas Day each year, half of the equation is still left unsolved as we yearn for Christ to come and restore all things to Himself- to finish the good work started in each of us and His creation- to make all things new.
The beauty of being made in the image of God and stewarding His creation is that the GOOD in our lives points beyond ourselves and gives us a glimpse of that upcoming restoration. The love we have for each other mirrors the love God has for us. Whenever we have to wait for something, we have an imperfect, tiny sense of what it feels like to wait for the ultimate things.
In His providence and kindness, we are able to satisfy one of Portsmouth Abbey¹s long-awaited hopes today in the midst of this Advent season. The New Science Building is the culmination of years of planning, giving, and faith on the part of the monastery, administration, faculty, alumni, and staff- and you will be the first group to see it today.
I hope you take the opportunity to walk through this building and start to think how you might use it. After all, it¹s up to us- faculty, staff, and students- to put to good use the gifts God has bestowed upon us for the better good. I hope you are excited (I sure am), and I hope this glimpse of realized hope will propel our community into a joyous holiday season with friends and family.
