Seminary Weeks 4 & 5

I fear that these weekly updates are getting redundant. I’ve started trying to keep a running update (a ‘live blog’ if you will) of my day while I’m in class. Then I come back a few days later and give a recap of the day I already wrote about. I guess this format is a little different, I guess.

Irregardless (Which by the way may be one of my least favorite words in the English language. Not to mention one of the more useless words. It means regardless…just say regardless. I mean look, Microsoft Word’s spell checker doesn’t even recognize it as a word. Please…stop. And, yes, I used the word simply so I could type a short rant on its usage.)

As I was saying, regardless of my misgivings about redundancy, I will continue with this recap. I did not do a recap for week 4 so this week I’ll caver weeks 4 and 5 of my first semester at Memphis Theological Seminary.

Week 4 ended up being sort of a light week as far as homework, reading, etc. I had plenty of reading, but not nearly as much as previous weeks. I don’t think I had any writing to do that week. Can’t complain about that.

I still rally like my first class (Faith & Hope in the Interbiblical Period). Lots and lots of really interesting information. It’s not necessarily theological stuff, but it is information that will be really helpful. We are learning about events, people, beliefs, etc. that helped to shape the world, and more specifically the culture, in which Jesus lived. It is really interesting stuff.

For example: This week our reading deals with the 3 major religious groups of the Second Temple period in Judea. Those groups were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. Our readings dealt with the differences in beliefs, lifestyle, etc. It didn’t really talk about their origins, but it does give you a different perspective on those groups as characters (Pharisees & Sadducees anyway) in the New Testament. It also gives you an interesting perspective on their reactions to Jesus.

The Pharisees believed in resurrection of the righteous. They were also very concerned with purity laws. Because of their views on purity they saw Jesus as a sinner. After all, he habitually ate with tax-collectors and talked to and spent time with prostitutes. Because of this, for early Christians to claim that Jesus was resurrected was appalling to the Pharisees. Good stuff. (That was actually in some of my reading from last week.)

Last week in my Pastoral Care class I had to write a case study of a time I offered pastoral care to someone. That was a little difficult. Mostly because it had been 6 or 7 years since I’ve done any sort of pastoral care. I am enjoying that class. It seems to be the most reading intensive of my classes so far, but it’s fairly enjoyable reading.

I’m not sure I have anything to say about my Interpreting the New Testament class. I like the material. I love the professor. The class, though, leaves a little to be desired. There are 3-4 people in the class who feel like they have to comment (or ask questions) about everything that is said. Once they get going we end up completely off course. I don’t think we’ve actually covered what the professor planned even once in that class.

Last week we had a disruption of a different source: severe weather. About an hour and a half into class the tornado sirens sounded. We tried to continue with the lesson, but eventually a school official came and made us head for the storm shelter areas. I didn’t go. I left to go home. The weather was still 10-15 minutes away, so I decided to make a break for it. I raced the storms home and made it about 20-30 minutes before they hit Florence.

Formation for Ministry is still going well. Two weeks ago we had to turn in our class covenant. Each of us covenants to spend a certain amount of time in prayer and reading scripture each day as well as spend time on our physical and mental health and to take a Sabbath. This part of the class scares me to death. Making those kinds of commitments is hard. My fear is that I will promise to do it and then not follow through. Eventually I got over my fears and filled out my sheet. Here’s what I promised to do:

· 5-10 minutes in prayer, silence, or meditation daily

· 5-10 minutes reading & studying scriptures daily

· 90 minutes per week on my physical & emotional health

· Keep a Sabbath by resting (no work, school work, etc.) at least 4 hours. At first I said Sunday afternoons, but I think that will change.

· 30 minutes per week in relationship with someone marginalized.

So far I’m doing pretty well on most of them. I haven’t started the ‘mental & physical health’ stuff yet, but we got a treadmill today so let the fun begin!

Since I’ve done it every other week, I guess I’ll share my Formation paper from last week. We read Paul’s recounting of his Damascus Road experience and were asked to write about turning points in our lives. Here’s my take:

February 24, 2011

When I first read our assignment for the week and then read our scripture, my initial thought was, “Yeah right!” I’m supposed to write about a turning point in my life after reading about a blinding light knocking someone off of their donkey, or horse, or camel, or whatever Paul rode to Damascus; I’m supposed to relate a turning point in my life to meeting Jesus in a blinding light? I couldn’t even think of a ‘turning point’ in my life, much less something as profound as Paul’s experience. I quickly put away my assignment sheet for the week and started reading for a different class. The paper would have to wait.

A few days later I looked at the page again, this time I actually thought about my life. I began to reflect on turning points I have experienced. As it turns out, I’ve had my fair share. The day, at 16 years old when I decided to return to church after my family stopped going many years earlier. I’d call that a turning point. Six months later I answered an alter call while helping lead VBS at our church. Another turning point. I took my first part-time job as a Children’s and Youth Director. I decided to pursue full-time youth ministry. I decided to leave youth ministry. I led worship for the first time. I finally accepted God’s call into ordained ministry. All turning points. None as extreme as Paul’s Damascus Road experience, after all I did not have a vision of Jesus telling me to enter Youth Ministry, but each of them were profound for me in their own way.

Each of these experiences turned my life upside down. Each experience affected the person I am today. Each of them marked a point in when my life changed direction. I could list more. These are just the big moments in my spiritual life. There are many others, and this leaves out moments from my personal life.

I want to focus on one of these events. A few months ago I finally accepted that God was calling me to full-time ordained ministry. I felt this call for a long time; a few years. During all of that time, I could not accept that God would call me. I did not have the skills or the personality to pastor a church. God persisted. I resisted.

Our struggle reminds me of a couple of instance from the Old Testament of God calling and the unwilling recipient resisting. Moses had excuse after excuse when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God persisted. Jeremiah claimed he was too young when God called him to be his prophet. God persisted.

God ignored my excuses, too. And once again life turned upside down.

Thank God!

Well, that gets you caught up on my seminary experience. I have a pretty heavy load again this week. Lots of reading, plenty of writing. I guess I’ll jump back into it now.

p.s. – I haven’t forgotten about the COTY Awards. I still plan to do that I just have not had a spare moment lately. I’ve spent most of the last two weeks working out of the office. Hopefully I’ll get to do that in the next couple of weeks.