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.