Seminary News & Events
Latest Updates
January 2025:
The School of Theology at Moravian University invites applications for three tenure-track positions at the Assistant Professor rank to start in July 2025.
This cluster hire is intended to attract the best candidates from a diverse pool to join us in working to build and sustain inclusive excellence. Candidates will demonstrate innovation in teaching and scholarship, competence to teach in multiple disciplines, including interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary content, and flexibility and generosity in addressing the needs of the new School of Theology. Experience in academic leadership, accreditation and institutional research, and grant writing is desirable. These positions are for: Tenure Track appointments with needs for teaching in the areas of 1) Religious Education or 2) Pastoral Care/Clinical Counseling/Chaplaincy or 3) Ministerial Leadership.
The successful candidates will have a record of or potential for research, teaching, and service. Candidates seeking a position in religious education should be familiar with multiple theories of Christian education and their theological and philosophical foundations. Candidates for a pastoral care/clinical counseling/chaplaincy position should be knowledgeable of historical and contemporary models of spiritual/pastoral care in a variety of contexts, including parish-based ministry, chaplaincy, and other non-profit settings.
New Academic Year Opens with Convocation on Aug. 29, 2022
Moravian Theological Seminary officially opens the 2022-23 Academic Year with the start of classes and celebratory Convocation Service on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022.
Convocation will be held at 1:00pm in the Saal and also will be available virtually as a Vimeo livestream (at this link). Vice President and Dean Heather Vacek will deliver the sermon and the benediction. The Order of Service follows below.
Moravian Theological Seminary
Opening Convocation
August 29, 2022
Order of Worship
Saal and Livestream
https://vimeo.com/event/2279117/495bac0ac9
Gathering music
Welcome and Invocation
Rev. Jennika Borger
Responsive reading of Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Rev. Dr.Melvin Baber
One: O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
All: You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
One: You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
All: Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
One: You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
All: Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
One: For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
All: I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
One: My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
All: Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
One: How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
All: I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end]—I am still with you.
Hymn “Immortal, Invisible” MBW #457 vs. 1-3
Welcome from President Bryon Grigsby
Adaptation of the Moravian Prayer for Education
Provost Carol Traupman-Carr
One: Divine Teacher, on this special day of new beginnings, to you we commend all who learn: infants tasting and touching, children exploring in play, youth testing and challenging, and adults continuing the quest;
All: For all the diversity of human study and knowledge—for science and art, for literature and drama, for labor and play—for all the teaching experiences of life,
One: In the disciplined mastery of subject and skill, in the reflection on life experience, in the practical wisdom of long years;
All: At every age and in every circumstance of life;
One: Bless our learning with your Spirit.
All: Give patience and understanding to those who teach. Give perseverance and openness of heart and mind to those who learn;
One: Spirit of truth, we celebrate life-long learning, inspired yearning, committed seeking, and honest doubting. We thank you for divine revelation and illuminated introspection.
All: Accept our sincere expression of gratitude for the love and patience of family members who are vital parts of our lives and who have done so much to get each of us to this threshold moment. Help us to clearly express our gratitude to them and help them to truly know how much we appreciate their efforts as we walk through doors to a new chapter of our lives.
One: Bless also those who have mentored us, guided us, and supported us so that this day of new beginnings could become real for us. May we make a commitment this day to opening our minds and hearts to all of the opportunities that are before us.
All: Bless our community this day. Amen.
Hymn “Make Me a Servant Lord” Sing to the Lord a New Song pp. 2-3
Prayer
Allison Berger
Sacred text reading: Jeremiah 18:1-11
Mikayla Sauerbrey
18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. 9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
Sermon
Rev. Dr. Heather Vacek, Vice President and Dean
Hymn “To God Whose Mercy Knows No Bounds” MBW #541
Benediction
Rev. Dr. Heather Vacek
Announcements
Rev. Randy D'Angelo
• Mondays at noon, Contemplative Prayer and Eucharist, MTS (room tbd) and Zoom
• Wednesdays 12:10-12:40 Combined worship with LTS, Saal and Zoom
• Thursdays dinner in the MTS kitchen 5-7 p.m., Worship with the University Undergrads - 7:15 p.m. Saal