Driving through Claremont on Sunday afternoon, I stopped off at the old campus of the Claremont School of Theology, where I spent many rich hours and days around the turn of the century. After a tussle with the Claremont colleges over the seminary’s plan to sell the campus, which needed millions in repairs, and underwrite a lively presence in Oregon, CST pulled up stakes a couple of years ago and moved to new digs at a United Methodist parish in Los Angeles.
It was posted no trespassing. I decided that if I was apprehended, I would ask Trump for a pardon. I attended CST for my M.Div. in conjunction with Anglican finishing work at Bloy House, which also occupied these grounds back in the day. As I wandered, I thought of bagels, M&M’s, and fellowship in the break room, Dr. Frazee’s church history class, Dr. Brenneman and the law and the prophets, and services in the beautiful if sometimes chilly chapel where, now, only some prayer books and hymnals remain. I can still conjure up the smell of these spaces and the feeling of expectation I had as a new season of my life in Christ began to take root.
