I chose my seminary mostly because of the community. It's so trite, really, but absolutely true. I felt that I could get as good an education here as at other institutions. I had a generous financial aid package (thank you!), and it is much closer to my parents than any other seminary I looked at. I could start in the summer term, which meant leaving my job sooner, a good thing. So there were plenty of reasons, but I wouldn't have paid much attention to them if the place hadn't felt good to me, welcoming and caring and cozy.
A seminary should always be welcoming because it is a community of God's people striving to do God's work. But the problem is, it's also an academic institution where one gets at least a master's degree. Those usually weed people out to some extent, see that they are made from the stuff of professionals in the field.
So we have a dilemma. We are a graduate school. The admissions department looks at a wide array of factors to tell who might be a good fit. But lots of the people who come here are supposed to be called by God. The admissions department has zilch to do with that, and less to say about it. I sometimes think God could come up with a better system for deciding who to call. A really good idea, for instance, would be for God to call only people who share my values and priorities, and especially my classroom manners.
Alas.
For some reason, being called to ministry--or at least going to seminary--doesn't mean falling in line with me. There are people who are "here to explore," which to me seems like going to med school when what you really want is to take a basic biology course. There are people who seem to be here to argue. There are people who just say things without wondering how people might take them. People who need to be in control. People who think they know the way things need to be.
These people's eyes are so full of specks I'm surprised they can see.
Why is it surprising almost every time I realize I don't have my way? It would be so much easier--for me--if people would just act the way I want them to.
Easier, but not better. If I went to a seminary where everyone thought and acted like me, I would be woefully and dangerously ill-equipped for ministry and for life, unless I could find a church full of me's too. But here, I'm learning about my own reactions to the bizarreries (a top French word) of people, what bothers me and what doesn't, why it got to me one day and not the next. Maddening though it can be, being in class with my classmates, especially those speckly-eyed ones I don't understand, is a more useful preparation for working with people than anything else we do here. For that, I am grudgingly thankful, and I hope over the next two years I can remove that "grudgingly" and give people the grace they give me.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Back in the Saddle
I have high hopes for this new school year, and one of those hopes is to be a better blogger, by which I mean a more frequent blogger. Luckily, I have set the bar exceedingly low over the past few months.
I'll start with a recap of what's happened since December, which I believe is when I last posted.
In January, I took a fascinating and fun class in Celtic Christianity. I learned the term "local theology," which I really like. It basically means any group's theology is going to be affected by other parts of that group's life, like the geography and sociocultural climate they live in. The class required us to pray four times a day using a book called Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumbria Community in Ireland. Or Scotland. Wait, I have the book right here. Turns out it's England. It was a practice I'd never done before and one I've returned to just in the last few weeks. That's been nice, and one of my high hopes is to continue setting that rhythm for my days. I'm also using Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. My mom's obsessed with that subtitle.
In the spring semester, I took Theology, Old Testament, and a wonderful class called The Bible from the Underside. We looked at Biblical texts that dealt with minorities, and it was a life-affirming and enjoyable experience. A friend and I worked together on the final project and wrote a Biblical edition of The Vagina Monologues. We may even put it on someday.
The ecological committee started a compost area by the student apartments, and it's looking great a few months in. My dad helped a lot with the design ideas.
In April, I went to D.C. for the Ecumenical Advocacy Days. The theme was lobbying for a faithful budget.
In May, I went to the Annual Recreation Workshop in Montreat for class credit. I took a Contemporary Worship workshop and another on film and faith. A few days after we finished the follow-up work on campus, I left for the Raleigh area to do CPE, which is Clinical Pastoral Education. I spent the summer at Rex Hospital as a chaplain intern. I certainly see why many presbyteries and other governing bodies require people to do it before ordination, and I learned a lot and had many more moments of enjoyment than I expected. It was a rewarding and meaningful experience. I'm also not eager to do it again, and I'm immensely glad to be back in Richmond.
The couples I know who are planning weddings number four. Those expecting babies are two. That may be a combined record. I preached at my home church three times this summer, and if you ever want a massive ego boost, I recommend it. It's a real blessing to try something new in a place where you have always had love and support in spades. (That came up a few days ago, and I said I never got that phrase, "in spades." My boyfriend said he thought it means you have so much of something that you can scoop it up in a spade. Works for me.) Also, I LOVE PREACHING! It's a convenient intersection of my several types of training.
In a few days, I will start my second year, with Greek, Preaching and Worship (by far the most exciting! See above), Teaching Ministry, and Church History. I'm also the clerk of the student government assembly, which is strange but is already getting me at least one free lunch.
Gosh, are you exhausted just reading this? I guess that's what happens when I try to cram in three-quarters of a year's worth of action into one post. But this brings us up to the present day, and I can now blog as usual.
About the casually-mentioned boyfriend: I met him online, and we met met in December. He is wonderful and great and things.
So, things will happen on here some more. I'm excited. It's good to be back.
In January, I took a fascinating and fun class in Celtic Christianity. I learned the term "local theology," which I really like. It basically means any group's theology is going to be affected by other parts of that group's life, like the geography and sociocultural climate they live in. The class required us to pray four times a day using a book called Celtic Daily Prayer from the Northumbria Community in Ireland. Or Scotland. Wait, I have the book right here. Turns out it's England. It was a practice I'd never done before and one I've returned to just in the last few weeks. That's been nice, and one of my high hopes is to continue setting that rhythm for my days. I'm also using Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. My mom's obsessed with that subtitle.
In the spring semester, I took Theology, Old Testament, and a wonderful class called The Bible from the Underside. We looked at Biblical texts that dealt with minorities, and it was a life-affirming and enjoyable experience. A friend and I worked together on the final project and wrote a Biblical edition of The Vagina Monologues. We may even put it on someday.
The ecological committee started a compost area by the student apartments, and it's looking great a few months in. My dad helped a lot with the design ideas.
In April, I went to D.C. for the Ecumenical Advocacy Days. The theme was lobbying for a faithful budget.
In May, I went to the Annual Recreation Workshop in Montreat for class credit. I took a Contemporary Worship workshop and another on film and faith. A few days after we finished the follow-up work on campus, I left for the Raleigh area to do CPE, which is Clinical Pastoral Education. I spent the summer at Rex Hospital as a chaplain intern. I certainly see why many presbyteries and other governing bodies require people to do it before ordination, and I learned a lot and had many more moments of enjoyment than I expected. It was a rewarding and meaningful experience. I'm also not eager to do it again, and I'm immensely glad to be back in Richmond.
The couples I know who are planning weddings number four. Those expecting babies are two. That may be a combined record. I preached at my home church three times this summer, and if you ever want a massive ego boost, I recommend it. It's a real blessing to try something new in a place where you have always had love and support in spades. (That came up a few days ago, and I said I never got that phrase, "in spades." My boyfriend said he thought it means you have so much of something that you can scoop it up in a spade. Works for me.) Also, I LOVE PREACHING! It's a convenient intersection of my several types of training.
In a few days, I will start my second year, with Greek, Preaching and Worship (by far the most exciting! See above), Teaching Ministry, and Church History. I'm also the clerk of the student government assembly, which is strange but is already getting me at least one free lunch.
Gosh, are you exhausted just reading this? I guess that's what happens when I try to cram in three-quarters of a year's worth of action into one post. But this brings us up to the present day, and I can now blog as usual.
About the casually-mentioned boyfriend: I met him online, and we met met in December. He is wonderful and great and things.
So, things will happen on here some more. I'm excited. It's good to be back.
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