Earlier this evening I attended the dedication service for Loma Linda University School of Religion’s new home. They moved across campus this past week to the newly completed Centennial Complex. It’s a state of the art facility. Check it out if you are in town.

As an adjunct professor for the School of Religion, it was an honor for me to be there among some of the brightest minds in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, especially my former seminary professor, Dean of the school, Dr. Jon Paulien.

During the service, former professors, Dr. Wil Alexander and Dr. Louis Venden led us in a responsive reading they wrote for the occasion. It can easily be adapted for blessing a house, a church, coffee shop, or another sacred space.

Out of wood and concrete,
out of dreams and sacrifice
the School of Religion is building a home
Out of the work of their hands
and hearts and minds
the School is fashioning a symbol and a reality.

May this space be truly a place of Meeting—
meeting one another
in the warmth and joy and openness,
meeting with one another
in courage and love and trust.

May all who enter here
trust each other so surely
that they dare to share the deep fires
that burn into anger as much as
the sweet spring water
that swells into laughter,
the slow erosion of wounded tears
as much as the soaring song

May these walls and rooms know silence
as at times happy, at times hurting hearts,
search inward each for its own small spark
of faith and hope and love
that might otherwise be snuffed out in noise.

May these ceilings hear the voices of all who enter here
as surely as those of all who teach and serve from here,
and the sounds of the Ipod, the quiet clack of the computer,
the printer,
and know that all are as holy as the shout of a million stars.

May the rain fall surely on this space
and the sun shine warmly through the windows,
the winds of the Spirit blow softly and bless it
as a place of joy and peace.