Guess it really is my turn to post something to the blog. It seems to often be forgotten in the midst of reading, research, and writing. Those must be the 3 R's of seminary.
Actually, after further consideration, I think it should be 4 R's for seminary education - the other one would be reflection. The list should be: research, reading, reflection, and of course, (w)riting. We spend a great deal of time researching to locate the appropriate materials, reading to gather insight and information, reflecting on what we have learned and experienced and where we have seen God at work, and then writing papers or sermons about those insights and experiences. (And then, of course, there is translating from Greek and Hebrew. But that ruins my list of R's so I'll give up that effort...)
Most of the juniors on campus have been accepted for CPE, so they know where they will be working this summer. This week the seniors received their first call synod assignments, which means that while they still need to interview with specific congregations and await calls, they at least know what synod they can expect to be living in soon as they graduate and begin their pastoral ministry. Now all of us middlers are anxiously awaiting the next round of announcements, which will be our internship assignments for next year. We expect those assignments to be announced around the first of April, so for the next month, the stress level will be high among all our classmates! While we are pretty flexible about location, some of our classmates need to be in specific areas and that just adds to their stress!
In the meantime, we just keep busy with our reading and other homework, and look forward to Spring Break, even though Ray and I plan on spending most of it right here at home. It's hard to believe we have already finished five weeks of this semester, and have just one more week to go before before the much-anticipated break. Which will probably be a very busy week as well, with plenty of homework, housework, and yardwork to do!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
Update, Feb 17
It appears that my last post got lost (lost in the mail? Operator error?). Life has certainly been busy, and there has not been a lot of time to update the blog. Another problem has been that our DSL has been on the blink ever since we got home. Hopefully, it was fixed yesterday and seems to be much more reliable than it was.
Class schedule for this semester is pretty tough - lots of reading, two classes requiring Greek translations and one requiring Hebrew translations. The transition back to seminary schedule has been a bit of a shock to the system, compounded by our arrival home only two days before classes started.
We have heard from a couple of people that we met in Mississippi, and talked about our experiences. We have also been asked to share with our field education church here, as well as with a couple of groups on campus. Talking about our experiences is good, but it can get a little emotional as well when you try and explain to someone who has not been there what it is really like. There are those who lost everything, but who remain hopeful. It does make it a little difficult for us to hear someone complain about everyday problems, though.
It's Friday night, the fourth week of classes are over, and we plan to do not much of anything for the evening. Sunday will be a big day - church, then home to watch the Daytona 500, and then back to church to meet with our small group. We are using the book Ordinary Joy, which is somewhat interesting, in that the author talks about ordinary joy in everyday life while we are still thinking about people to whom ordinary joy has become a truck delivering basic food supplies, or a blanket to keep them warm on a cold night. Our ordinary joy's would be extraordinary to many of the Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast.
Class schedule for this semester is pretty tough - lots of reading, two classes requiring Greek translations and one requiring Hebrew translations. The transition back to seminary schedule has been a bit of a shock to the system, compounded by our arrival home only two days before classes started.
We have heard from a couple of people that we met in Mississippi, and talked about our experiences. We have also been asked to share with our field education church here, as well as with a couple of groups on campus. Talking about our experiences is good, but it can get a little emotional as well when you try and explain to someone who has not been there what it is really like. There are those who lost everything, but who remain hopeful. It does make it a little difficult for us to hear someone complain about everyday problems, though.
It's Friday night, the fourth week of classes are over, and we plan to do not much of anything for the evening. Sunday will be a big day - church, then home to watch the Daytona 500, and then back to church to meet with our small group. We are using the book Ordinary Joy, which is somewhat interesting, in that the author talks about ordinary joy in everyday life while we are still thinking about people to whom ordinary joy has become a truck delivering basic food supplies, or a blanket to keep them warm on a cold night. Our ordinary joy's would be extraordinary to many of the Katrina victims on the Gulf Coast.
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