Andover Newton Seminary at YDS celebrated the Senior Sermon of Lillian Steinmayer, a third-year M.Div. student affiliated with Andover Newton Seminary and the United Church of Christ. Prior to her time at YDS, she studied Biology at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. She hopes to integrate her passion for biology into her spiritual work and is pursuing ordination.  

 

Through her sermon, Lillian taught us that “the deep and thorough study of the world, both around us and within us, is a holy study of our God’s divine creative love and power. When you hold that as true, then you may, you must, assert that God’s demands of humility, equity, justice, and care are also requirements of the scientific method.”

 

In reflection, Founding Dean Sarah Drummond shared that “Lillian’s Senior Sermon put out into the community a side of her that I’ve long known and appreciated: she loves science! And she gets others excited about science, too. The cognitive shift she needed to make in her first year now bears fruit as, nearing graduation, she is able to pivot between points-of-view even within a short message, allowing her love for God and creation to shine through sincerely and contagiously.”

 

The sermon may be accessed via the Andover Newton Seminary - Senior Sermons collection at Yale Divinity Library.