"We are here at the threshold.
We are here,

We who have crossed many thresholds already
To arrive at this space and time,
Coming out — from identities and locations that
didn't embrace the fullness of who we are;
Coming across — distances, boundaries,
discoveries that have beckoned us to deeper life
and challenged us to change;
Coming with — our loves, our partners, our children,
our memories, our knowledge,
our wisdom, and our willingness;
Coming to — our senses, our awareness
of the critical issues that threaten the well-being
of earth's creatures, communities, and cultures;
Coming again — to decisions, commitments, hopes,
determinations that we know matter.
We are here at this threshold,
the threshold of a house of study,
where minds and hearts are on fire;
the threshold of a house of spirit
where prayer and contemplation
take us deeper;
the threshold of a house of hope
for greater justice and compassion in the world;
the threshold of a house of history
that can inform our present lives
and link us to a communion that
crosses the boundary of death;
the threshold of a house of preparation
for the thresholds we will lead others to cross,
for the thresholds yet to come,
for the thresholds the world stands on —
poised, now, as always
between the possibilities of violence
and the possibilities of peace.
Come, let us cross this threshold
together."