Seminary Journal 2008 (August) - Virginia Theological Seminary

so provocative; so profound!
One dear friend of Martha’s and mine,
now gone, a shrewd person not given
to biting his tongue ever, once said
to me of her, “That is a wise woman
you have there as your dean.” And it
has been wisdom—wisdom as powerful
and yet as gentle as that we fi nd
celebrated in the writings of the
children of Israel—wisdom that
brings into being when nothing
…was there before—that has
typifi ed Martha’s presence
among us. Kathy Grieb was on
the mark in her sermon: Faculty
meetings do have their moments.
None of those moments,
however, has ever been found
when it comes to the leadership
that Martha has provided. I have
watched her and learned from
her. She truly listens. She weighs
things. She talks to others. None
of it is prepackaged. All of it has
been respectful of those of us
who teach here and who represent
in our diversity the breadth
of opinions and ministries found
in the church.
Hippocratic ethics for young
doctors inform them that one of
the duties of a doctor is to do no
harm. But to work to heal and
to help to thrive and to guide in
growth take a certain amount
of risk and incredible courage.
It means accepting as a challenge
what Miss Daisy Werthan
learned from her son when, in that
Jessica Tandy/ Morgan Freeman
movie, she ran the family car into a
ditch, much to the bemusement of her
neighbors, and then dismissed the
incident with the statement, “The car
just did not behave.” “Mother,” her
son said to her, “Cars do not behave:
they are behaved upon!” Guiding a
VIRGINIA SEMINARY JOURNAL AUGUST 2007
seminary involves being brave enough
to “behave upon” it. And how one
does that determines the way a dean is
remembered.
Our memories of Martha are the
wonderful ones of a person we will
always cherish. For in addition to her
presence as an administrator, there
was always her open door to her offi
ce, the cup of tea in her living room,
and countless dinners when she and
Don welcomed us into their home and
made the whole experience of dining
under the steely gaze of Bishop
Meade’s portrait relaxed and comfortable.
Martha has been our dean
and our priest: hearing what was on
our hearts, being near us and with
us when things have gotten as bad
as they could get, and cheering us on
when the good things have come.
There should be in the light of this
something in the history of this school
called “Martha Horne’s eucharistic
modus operandi.” This reference is
not a liturgical one. I refer to the way
that with Martha nothing ever passes
without some “thank you” from her.
In her world no one is ever taken for
granted. Nothing is ever seen
as being too little to be worth
mentioning with kindness and
appreciation. And her “thank
you’s” are gracious gifts.
One more thing has typifi ed
Martha’s presence here over
these years. It has been her
freedom to listen and having
listened, to ask what might
be called “the next question.”
Those next questions, often
challenging because they push
us to look into new corners,
open new doors, and try out
new ways of being who we are,
are the very things that have
set us faced towards the future.
And so many of those “next
questions” answered have
taken hold and with nourishment
and encouragement have
grown us into who and what
we are.
We are thankful for our dear
friend and colleague Martha
Horne. Her many contributions to this
school will infl uence it many years
into its future. She has helped us to
grow more and more into a community
that honors Jesus Christ as Prophet,
Priest, and King. We trust that she
and Don will keep us in their hearts.
We shall always keep them in ours.
29