Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Still going...
If you have been checking for updates, we are in the final couple of weeks of classes. One paper has been turned in, one more due this week, and then about 3 more due next week. Then finals. For the next several days, we have no plans but to write, study, and maybe catch a little sleep now and then. We'll try and get some more updates posted once all the papers are finished and turned in. In the meantime, we are still going, but very busy.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Easter Greetings
How do seminarians spend a week of Spring Break that coincides with Holy Week? Well, we stayed pretty close to home. We have been able to shut off the alarm clock and catch up on our sleep, spend time in the campus library doing research for at least some of the papers due before the end of the semester, mow the lawn and trim bushes, run errands like dropping off winter clothes at the dry cleaner, getting the oil changed in the car and having it inspected. Fun stuff.
We also both got haircuts. For Ray that was getting a serious trim; for me it was a more substantial change. I've been letting my hair grow out for about the last three years, with the goal of donating to Locks of Love again. Locks of Love uses donated hair to make wigs for children with long term hair loss. (See www.locksoflove.org for more info on this worthwhile charity.) My hair just recently grew long enough that I was able to have 12" pigtails cut off that I will send in. So I am now sporting a new, bobbed 'do! Our thanks to our friend Gwyn, who graciously provides free haircuts to her poor seminarian friends!
Most importantly, we have been able to observe Holy Week. We worshipped at noon on Maundy Thursday at our field church, Good Shepherd. We were able to attend the Tenebrae Service at our home church on Friday evening, where we experienced the biblical Stations of the Cross - a very moving experience. Then back to campus for the Easter Vigil service in Christ Chapel last night. This is an incredible (but lengthy) service, beginning quietly in darkness at 10 pm for a retelling of salvation history and concluding festively after midnight in great light with a Eucharist service to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. This morning, we returned to Good Shepherd for contemporary worship. It has been a beautiful week of worship - an opportunity to remember the suffering Jesus experienced for our sake and a chance to celebrate the good news that his resurrection gives us the promise of eternal life.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
May you each experience the joy of Easter with your loved ones.
We also both got haircuts. For Ray that was getting a serious trim; for me it was a more substantial change. I've been letting my hair grow out for about the last three years, with the goal of donating to Locks of Love again. Locks of Love uses donated hair to make wigs for children with long term hair loss. (See www.locksoflove.org for more info on this worthwhile charity.) My hair just recently grew long enough that I was able to have 12" pigtails cut off that I will send in. So I am now sporting a new, bobbed 'do! Our thanks to our friend Gwyn, who graciously provides free haircuts to her poor seminarian friends!
Most importantly, we have been able to observe Holy Week. We worshipped at noon on Maundy Thursday at our field church, Good Shepherd. We were able to attend the Tenebrae Service at our home church on Friday evening, where we experienced the biblical Stations of the Cross - a very moving experience. Then back to campus for the Easter Vigil service in Christ Chapel last night. This is an incredible (but lengthy) service, beginning quietly in darkness at 10 pm for a retelling of salvation history and concluding festively after midnight in great light with a Eucharist service to celebrate Jesus' resurrection. This morning, we returned to Good Shepherd for contemporary worship. It has been a beautiful week of worship - an opportunity to remember the suffering Jesus experienced for our sake and a chance to celebrate the good news that his resurrection gives us the promise of eternal life.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Christ is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
May you each experience the joy of Easter with your loved ones.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Big News - Our Internship Assignment
The seminary made Internship assignments public on Friday afternoon. We did get an email sent out Friday night, but then a flu bug hit (for those of you who listen to Garrison Keillor, it was the "60 second flu bug" that he described a couple of weeks ago. It has to do with how fast it hits, not how long it last.) and we did not get the news posted here. Now it is Sunday and we are both feeling somewhat better, so here is the promised news.
Internship assignments, as you have seen from previous posts, are very much beyond our control. We, unlike many of our classmates, have known for a couple of weeks what site was being considered for us, but we could not talk about it. Below is the main part of the email we sent, with more explanation.
We began the process knowing that our only real input was asking to be placed somewhere near each other so that we could live together, but knowing that we would probably be at different churches, possibly in different towns, and that there were a couple of commonly used sites for married clergy couples that met these specifications. We had very little anxiety, because we knew there was just not much we could do about it and therefore, no reason to fret.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we were called into the Contextual Education office to discuss a special situation that had come up. It seemed that a congregation had been working on becoming an internship site where the intern would be shared between the congregation and Lutheran Disaster Response. The hitch - it was only one site. We were recommended by the seminary internship committee because of our experience on the Gulf Coast in January. We were excited about the possibilities, but very concerned about the fact that it was only one site. You see, internship is paid (sort of). The intern receives, in most cases, a housing allowance and a monthly stipend. Under many circumstances, the stipend covers your living expenses, and if you are single or your spouse is working, life is pretty good. When both of you are students and you look at a budget living off one stipend, life suddenly looks pretty dismal. We wanted to go, but were afraid of financial disaster. So, we spent an entire weekend worrying, praying, talking, avoiding, and praying some more. On Monday morning, we said Yes, but we will have to have more income so can one of us work part time, or can we supply-preach in the area, or something? Two days later, we were told that the site had found additional funding to cover the second stipend!
Now, after all that, where is this place? It is St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Mobile, Alabama. The site is a shared site between St. Paul's and Lutheran Disaster Response. We (both of us at the same place) will be working within the congregation and working for LDR in the area - which means the Gulf coast - very near where we were in January. Now you may want to know how did we managed that, but we didn't. Read the paragraph above again - this site wasn't a possibility when we went to Mississippi or even when we first came back. The only part we played in this was to say 'Yes' to an idea that was being pulled together.
Today it is official, and we can tell you all about it. As we find more details, we will post them on the blog. For now, we praise God that we have been assigned somewhere, with an exciting mission ahead of us.
Now, to answer a couple of questions that we have already received from our email: How long? Internship assignments are normally 1 year, roughly running from Aug 1 to July 31. Since this is a new site, they will not be ready for us until Aug 1, so our plans will be to move down there the end of July. Other questions: What will we be doing? Like most interns (or vicars, as many churches call them), we will be assisting the pastor at St. Paul's with normal things such as Sunday worship, Sunday School, and other parts of parish life. In addition, we will be working with LDR in the area with case work, visiting, preaching are area churches, and so on. Some of this is still being defined. Stay tuned for more, as we find out.
Internship assignments, as you have seen from previous posts, are very much beyond our control. We, unlike many of our classmates, have known for a couple of weeks what site was being considered for us, but we could not talk about it. Below is the main part of the email we sent, with more explanation.
We began the process knowing that our only real input was asking to be placed somewhere near each other so that we could live together, but knowing that we would probably be at different churches, possibly in different towns, and that there were a couple of commonly used sites for married clergy couples that met these specifications. We had very little anxiety, because we knew there was just not much we could do about it and therefore, no reason to fret.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, we were called into the Contextual Education office to discuss a special situation that had come up. It seemed that a congregation had been working on becoming an internship site where the intern would be shared between the congregation and Lutheran Disaster Response. The hitch - it was only one site. We were recommended by the seminary internship committee because of our experience on the Gulf Coast in January. We were excited about the possibilities, but very concerned about the fact that it was only one site. You see, internship is paid (sort of). The intern receives, in most cases, a housing allowance and a monthly stipend. Under many circumstances, the stipend covers your living expenses, and if you are single or your spouse is working, life is pretty good. When both of you are students and you look at a budget living off one stipend, life suddenly looks pretty dismal. We wanted to go, but were afraid of financial disaster. So, we spent an entire weekend worrying, praying, talking, avoiding, and praying some more. On Monday morning, we said Yes, but we will have to have more income so can one of us work part time, or can we supply-preach in the area, or something? Two days later, we were told that the site had found additional funding to cover the second stipend!
Now, after all that, where is this place? It is St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Mobile, Alabama. The site is a shared site between St. Paul's and Lutheran Disaster Response. We (both of us at the same place) will be working within the congregation and working for LDR in the area - which means the Gulf coast - very near where we were in January. Now you may want to know how did we managed that, but we didn't. Read the paragraph above again - this site wasn't a possibility when we went to Mississippi or even when we first came back. The only part we played in this was to say 'Yes' to an idea that was being pulled together.
Today it is official, and we can tell you all about it. As we find more details, we will post them on the blog. For now, we praise God that we have been assigned somewhere, with an exciting mission ahead of us.
Now, to answer a couple of questions that we have already received from our email: How long? Internship assignments are normally 1 year, roughly running from Aug 1 to July 31. Since this is a new site, they will not be ready for us until Aug 1, so our plans will be to move down there the end of July. Other questions: What will we be doing? Like most interns (or vicars, as many churches call them), we will be assisting the pastor at St. Paul's with normal things such as Sunday worship, Sunday School, and other parts of parish life. In addition, we will be working with LDR in the area with case work, visiting, preaching are area churches, and so on. Some of this is still being defined. Stay tuned for more, as we find out.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Waiting...
What Ray is not-so-subtly hinting at with his last entry about "Big news coming on April 7" is that our internship assignments for next year will be announced Friday afternoon. Right now, we - and all our classmates - are anxiously awaiting those announcements.
When you start seminary, you know that you face two years of classes, a year of internship in a congregation, then another year in classes. What you don't realize is how quickly those first two years will pass! It is hard to believe that we are now almost ready for internship. (I say almost because there are another four weeks of classes - and several papers and final exams - before this semester is completed.)
Last fall, we filled out internship applications and were interviewed by members of a placement committee on campus. Of course, we told them that we would prefer to remain here in town, so we wouldn't have to move. But the reality is that there are very few sites available within commuting distance, and those will go to our classmates who have pressing reasons to remain here - spouse's job, children finishing high school, etc. We can rent out our house, pack up, and move; and we expect to need to do so. Our situation is special, of course, because both of us are students. Fortunately, we have been promised that they can find us two congregations close together, so that we can live together and commute reasonable distances to work and worship. We know that they found appropriate sites for THREE couples in last year's intern class, so we have been very confident that they would locate ONE this year - since we are the only couple in our class.
We expected to have assignments by the end of March, but it seems it has been difficult to secure enough sites for everyone in our class, so the announcement was delayed until April 7. In the meantime, the placement committee works to match interns to congregations based on their applications and interviews - selecting the type of congregation and supervisor that will be the best match for each student.
Lest you think all the locations are in North and South Carolina, last year there were students from Southern Seminary on internship in a number of other places, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Now the tension is increasing dramatically for our entire class as we wait for the news.
So Ray is right: A big announcement is coming on Friday, April 7!
When you start seminary, you know that you face two years of classes, a year of internship in a congregation, then another year in classes. What you don't realize is how quickly those first two years will pass! It is hard to believe that we are now almost ready for internship. (I say almost because there are another four weeks of classes - and several papers and final exams - before this semester is completed.)
Last fall, we filled out internship applications and were interviewed by members of a placement committee on campus. Of course, we told them that we would prefer to remain here in town, so we wouldn't have to move. But the reality is that there are very few sites available within commuting distance, and those will go to our classmates who have pressing reasons to remain here - spouse's job, children finishing high school, etc. We can rent out our house, pack up, and move; and we expect to need to do so. Our situation is special, of course, because both of us are students. Fortunately, we have been promised that they can find us two congregations close together, so that we can live together and commute reasonable distances to work and worship. We know that they found appropriate sites for THREE couples in last year's intern class, so we have been very confident that they would locate ONE this year - since we are the only couple in our class.
We expected to have assignments by the end of March, but it seems it has been difficult to secure enough sites for everyone in our class, so the announcement was delayed until April 7. In the meantime, the placement committee works to match interns to congregations based on their applications and interviews - selecting the type of congregation and supervisor that will be the best match for each student.
Lest you think all the locations are in North and South Carolina, last year there were students from Southern Seminary on internship in a number of other places, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Now the tension is increasing dramatically for our entire class as we wait for the news.
So Ray is right: A big announcement is coming on Friday, April 7!
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