[see Inauguration Index for photo album, text of addresses]

PHILADELPHIA -- In a massive golden tent in the midst of a historic Philadelphia campus in East Mt. Airy, Philip D. W. Krey, the son of a church-loving Lutheran family, was inaugurated May 19 as the eleventh President of the 136-year-old Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP).

Honored as "one of our own" by faculty member Margaret Krych in a festive Inauguration booklet (Krey has served the Seminary as a Church History Professor and Dean as well as a co-director of its Urban Program), Krey was installed by Dr. Robert Blanck, chair of the Seminary's Board of Trustees. Looking on were several hundred faculty, staff, alums, seminarians and friends in an event marked by singing, pageantry and the stirring notes of a brass quintet. A processional to the tent featured representatives of several dozen academic communities, church and affiliated organizations from throughout North America and from as far away as India.

In an Inauguration address, colleague Timothy Wengert, Professor of Reformation Church History, said, "I can only assert that the President we install today is neither a shepherd nor a hired hand. Instead, you see only before you a voice, you hear simply a witness, not unlike the voice that cried in the wilderness and the witness that pointed and said, 'Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.' ...In the simplicity that marks the last chapter of John's Gospel, what does Jesus say? 'Feed MY sheep, MY lambs, MY flock.' For this flock never belongs to someone else but only to the Good Shepherd. What comfort this sentence gives! You are not the shepherd. Jesus is."

Cautioning the new President against the burnout that marks many administrative positions, Wengert said that "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You see, Master Philip, someone else has already died for the Seminary, its staff, its faculty, its student body, its trustees and alumni. You do not have to kill yourself in this position...."

Wengert referred to the new President as a witness to God's Lamb and the Good Shepherd who "gives voice to that very One who is the Word....May God hide from you both success and failure and instead put your true witness for us in your mouth and better yet on your fingertips. In your mouth for John the Baptist and John the Evangelist did not speak of their own accord but only at the behest of their Lord and Word."

Drawing a parallel between new President Philip and Philip Melanchthon, the reformer often referred to as the right-hand man of Martin Luther in the Middle Ages, Wengert said that just as Melanchthon had inspired polished speeches into the curriculum at Wittenberg, Krey had introduced a custom whereby all members of the community could ask their most troubling questions in safety. "You and your namesake Philip were both providing voice and witness, pointing the way to the One who is the Way, telling the truth about the One who is truth, and enlivening our mutual sharing in his Gospel of life.

"Let us all pray (to Almighty God) that you would in Christ lead us to good pasture beside still waters. That you would bless this school and its supporters. That you would give us ears to hear your gentle call placed in the heart and on the lips of your servant, Philip. But most especially we pray for thy whole church throughout the whole world, redeemed through the precious blood of the Lamb..."

The Inaugural Program featured music under the direction of Seminary Musician Mark Mummert and a program planned by the Rev. Dr. Gordon Lathrop, the Seminary's Chaplain. Dr. Katie Day, Associate Professor of Church and Society, introduced the President-Elect. Kirsi Stjerna, issued the charge to Dr. Krey. An executive with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Division for Ministry, Stjerna was representing the denomination's Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, an alumnus of the Seminary. Bishop Robert L. Isaksen of Krey's home New England Synod of the ELCA had a presentation function in the ceremonies. Symbols of the Presidential Office were offered the new President by H. Frederick Riesz, Jr., President of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and Jonathan P. Strandjord, Director of the ELCA's Theological Education Office. The Certification of Call to the new President was issued by A. Craig Settlage, Associate Executive Director of the ELCA's Division for Ministry. Scriptural readings were made by the Seminary's Student Body President Susan Ruggles and J. Paul Rajashekar, Dean.

In an Inaugural Address during an evening banquet, Krey organized his remarks around reflections during a recent train ride from Washington, DC to Berlin, CT. His message was sprinkled with literary references to Emily Dickinson's train topic poem, "I Like to See It Lap the Miles." He had been feted at a reception in Washington and then invited to Connecticut to lead a Seminary Sunday special event.

The address painstakingly took into account the cross-section of relationships and collaborations the Seminary is a part of, ranging from being part of the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries (with Gettysburg and Southern Seminaries), to cooperation with Episcopalians and the many denominations that are represented in the Seminary's Afro-centric Urban Theological Institute program for leaders who study part-time at the Seminary while they hold regular jobs.

"The vision from the window of a train is not the surreal view from a plane or a privatized view from a car but a communitarian view -- a good vehicle to talk about a vision for theological education in the northeast," Krey said.

As he gazed from the train at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the "elegant skyline of building and commerce," he said he was reminded that the Seminary prepares its leaders to make connections with institutions of culture, government and commerce "so that like the evangelist Philip, they will know when the Spirit calls us to draw closer to persons and institutions in authority." As he saw the urban train surroundings, he said he recalled "we do not lose our identity by being inclusive, by connecting and by addressing other institutions and leaders where theologically appropriate." Thus, alliances with groups like the Urban Theological Institute and the Urban Guild of pastors assure that theological education comes to all and leaders from all kinds of backgrounds are prepared to serve "with compassion and skill."

"I know from my experiences in Baltimore and other cities (where he has served as a pastor) that it is the backside that one sees from the train," Krey said. "Those vacant grafittied buildings, junkyards and factories are faced with vibrant communities and noisy assemblies singing Easter Hallelujahs to the risen Jesus around proclaimed scriptures, bread, wine and prayers. Many of these communities are led by our faithful graduates and leaders and graduates from the distinguished seminaries and institutions of higher learning represented here today....As seminaries we need to prepare leaders who will feel comfortable with and who can work in the midst of diversity and across cultures and languages."

A collection was taken at the Inaugural service to provide scholarships to seminarians studying in the Seminary's Urban Program. The proceeds went to a fund named for his father, the late Rudolf Krey, who served as a Lutheran pastor. Many members of the new President's family were on hand, including his spouse, Rene Diemer, the Seminary's Registrar, and his daughter, Jessicah, a Seminary junior. At the dinner, remarks from the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries were offered by Dr. Darold H. Beekman, President of Gettysburg Seminary (Krey is an alumnus of Gettysburg) and family remarks came from Krey's sister, Ruth (Krey) Stark. Two Seminary Presidents offered dinner remarks, the Rev. Dr. David L. Tede, President of Luther Seminary, and Dr. Faith Rohrbough, President of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Saskatoon and who once was Dean at LTSP. The Rev. Janet Jenkins, chair of the UTI Advisory Board, gave the dinner invocation and Bishop Roy G. Almquist of the ELCA's Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod gave the benediction.