Mary Lee Talbot
Staff writer
For many people, the Psalms are a favorite portion of Jewish and Christian worship. “They are vital for the rhythm of life for individuals and communities,” said the Rev. Frank M. Yamada, who will serve as chaplain at Chautauqua for Week Four. “They Cried to the Lord” is the theme of his sermon series on the Psalms.
“The most frequent form for a psalm is lament. When someone is sick and needs healing or suffers an injustice, they ask, ‘How long?’ ” he said. “They teach us how to pray when we are facing evil. But they are also full of praise and gratitude. They start with ‘help me’ and move to ‘your mercy endures forever’ — from need to gratitude. They are poetic and liturgical and have aesthetic beauty.”
He continued, “Each homily will take up themes within the psalm and explore its role in the life of faith for an individual and in communities of faith.”
Yamada will preach at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. His sermon title is “They Cried to the Lord — Praying in God’s Time.” He will also preach at the 9:15 a.m. Monday through Friday worship services in the Amp. His sermon titles include “How Long O Lord — A Lament Forgotten,” “The Beauty of Holiness — The Art of Prayer and Prayer as Art,” “Stilling the Waters of Our Soul — Relearning Trust,” “Search Me — Justice in a World Where Evil Exists” and “The Mercy of the Lord Endures Forever — Returning to Gratitude.” Yamada is the executive director of The Association of Theological Schools (ATS), a position he began in July 2017. He oversees the work of both the Association and the Commission on Accrediting. During his tenure, ATS has redeveloped the Standards of Accreditation, received over $50 million in grant funding to support the future of theological schools and their leaders, successfully navigated the association’s multiple programs through the global pandemic and partnered with the Lilly Endowment through the Pathways for Tomorrow initiative, which has granted $209 million to ATS accredited schools and supporting organizations. This funding supports schools as they make the changes necessary to pursue more effective and sustainable futures.
Prior to ATS, he joined the McCormick faculty in 2008 as associate professor of Hebrew Bible and director of the Center for Asian American Ministries. In 2011, he was elected as McCormick’s 10th president — the first Asian American to lead a Presbyterian Church (USA) seminary. His tenure there was marked by increasing diversity in the student body and creative engagement with the shifting realities of theological education. Yamada previously had taught Hebrew Bible/Old Testament for nine years at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
A Biblical scholar, Yamada has authored and edited books and articles on cross-cultural and feminist hermeneutics. He had been an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature, where he served as a chair and as a steering committee member of the Asian American Biblical Hermeneutics Group, the Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible Section, and the Committee for Underrepresented Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the Profession. In addition, he was a member of the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium and the American Academy of Religion. He co-chaired the managing board of the Asian Pacific Americans and Religion Research Initiative annual conference.
He graduated from Southern California College (now Vanguard University) and earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy from Princeton Theological Seminary.
