Well, exactly a year ago today I started my internship at San Jose Episcopal Church. It is hard to believe that so much time has gone by so quickly. In the 12 months since then, our son Joshua was born, my wife and I both quit our jobs and we packed the whole family and moved to Sewanee, TN for seminary (incidentally, I did finish my internship at SJE a few weeks after Easter).
Now I'm close to the end of my first term at seminary. It was excruciatingly difficult for the first eight weeks, but it has been wonderfully pleasant since midterms ended. There were so many unknowns and so many changes, it just took a while to feel grounded again. Life here is truly sweet and we've done our best to enjoy it. This past week Marti's mom came for Thanksgiving and we all had a great visit. I have been mountain biking two or three times a week and the kids spend lots of time outside - hiking and goofing off. We have finally found a place where we all like to worship... and believe me that is important! There are many options, but Marti and I could never agree with the kids on which place we wanted to go. Interestingly, we all enjoy the local Episcopal convent, St. Mary's, so that's where we have been attending for a few weeks now. The sisters are very nice and welcoming and the views from their clifftop perch are amazing. Anyway, it's just nice to be able to get the kids to church without resorting to WWF-style take downs.
We are just three weeks away from our Christmas trip to Jacksonville and we are all getting very excited. We can't wait to see all our old friends and spend some time at the churches we love so dearly. I have been on the phone with several Florida friends in the last few weeks and that just makes the prospect of going home that much better. We won't know our internship placement for next summer until February, but if all goes well, then we will have 11 weeks in Jacksonville starting in late May of 2010. That would so awesome.
Whenever I make a post on this "Christian Trek" blog, I feel like I should talk more about God. I think the most hopeful and useful thing to say about God and seminary is that God is in it with us. By that I mean that God, as revealed through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is in all that we do here. I was really disappointed when I first got to seminary and discovered that we didn't have a weekly "lets just sit around and talk about Jesus" class. Actually we do have that class, but it takes place according to God's schedule. It is a class that is taught with much more humility and silence than my urban, ADHD addled brain had expected. For instance, I see God's teachings in the sincere affection that we share in this community. I experience lessons in overwhelming hospitality from every person I encounter here at Sewanee. I am awed by the incredible good work being done on shoestring budgets by the small local charities. I was even schooled today at the convent, when one of the quietest and nicest sisters did a brilliant job leading the worship service - wearing her collar. This is a woman that I have known since the beginning of the term, she is in two of my classes, but I had no idea she was a priest. Please understand that I have been planning to wear my collar 24/7 - for the first 2 or 3 years following my ordination... so the thought of someone not "showing off" their clerical and scholarly achievements is a real blow to my desire to inflate my own ego. Clearly there is a "Jesus" class at Sewanee, but don't bother trying to study or be on time for it...
peace,
Jon
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
update
It has been a few weeks since my last blog and they have been good weeks. I did well on all my mid-terms and now I am preparing for finals. We are so excited about Christmas and the trip back to Jacksonville, it will be so wonderful to see everyone that we've been missing!
Another bonus of the last few weeks was that I got to visit with two of my favorite priests. Father Mark from St. Andrew's, Jacksonville was here for the DuBose lectures, which is the School of Theology homecoming. He stayed with us for a few days and we had some nice meals and great conversations. Then last weekend Father Steph from San Jose Episcopal in Jax was here for a Board of Visitors meeting. He took me and a few other seminarians out to dinner and we had a great time.
A week ago Saturday I interviewed for my clinical pastoral education (CPE), which consists of serving as chaplain for ten 40-hr weeks at a hospital, hospice, homeless shelter, etc. My CPE interview went well and I am being recommended for the program I want in Jacksonville. If I am accepted, we'll be in Jax all next summer. We were told to indicate two other choices, so we could end up in Naples, FL or I might have to commute to Chattanooga, TN. I don't think we'll find out which program we're in until next spring.
One of the other activities that preceed finals is signing up for our spring classes. I'm just going to take my core classes and I won't be taking Greek this time. I want to spend more time on the readings for my core work and I also would like to do some community service. It is surprising how little time is spent in actual ministry while you are at seminary...
One final bit of good news is that I will be attending the Diocesan Convention in January. I've been to convention for the past three years and I really enjoy them, especially because I get to see many people that I hardly ever run into otherwise. It's a bit of a diocesan homecoming and it will be neat to be there as a seminarian. Another plus is that the Dean of the School of Theology, here at Sewanee, will be the chaplain for the convention. He's a great guy and I'm glad that he and Bishop Howard are friends.
So, things are hopping at Sewanee! Everyone is pretty worn out and it's hard to believe that we're almost done with our first term of seminary. The seniors are already starting to make travel plans to interview with prospective churches. Some are also making plans to be ordained into the deaconate, which some dioceses do in December of the senior year...
life is good, blessings and peace to all,
Jon
Another bonus of the last few weeks was that I got to visit with two of my favorite priests. Father Mark from St. Andrew's, Jacksonville was here for the DuBose lectures, which is the School of Theology homecoming. He stayed with us for a few days and we had some nice meals and great conversations. Then last weekend Father Steph from San Jose Episcopal in Jax was here for a Board of Visitors meeting. He took me and a few other seminarians out to dinner and we had a great time.
A week ago Saturday I interviewed for my clinical pastoral education (CPE), which consists of serving as chaplain for ten 40-hr weeks at a hospital, hospice, homeless shelter, etc. My CPE interview went well and I am being recommended for the program I want in Jacksonville. If I am accepted, we'll be in Jax all next summer. We were told to indicate two other choices, so we could end up in Naples, FL or I might have to commute to Chattanooga, TN. I don't think we'll find out which program we're in until next spring.
One of the other activities that preceed finals is signing up for our spring classes. I'm just going to take my core classes and I won't be taking Greek this time. I want to spend more time on the readings for my core work and I also would like to do some community service. It is surprising how little time is spent in actual ministry while you are at seminary...
One final bit of good news is that I will be attending the Diocesan Convention in January. I've been to convention for the past three years and I really enjoy them, especially because I get to see many people that I hardly ever run into otherwise. It's a bit of a diocesan homecoming and it will be neat to be there as a seminarian. Another plus is that the Dean of the School of Theology, here at Sewanee, will be the chaplain for the convention. He's a great guy and I'm glad that he and Bishop Howard are friends.
So, things are hopping at Sewanee! Everyone is pretty worn out and it's hard to believe that we're almost done with our first term of seminary. The seniors are already starting to make travel plans to interview with prospective churches. Some are also making plans to be ordained into the deaconate, which some dioceses do in December of the senior year...
life is good, blessings and peace to all,
Jon
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Midterms
Well, our last midterm exam is tomorrow and then we'll all be ready to breathe a sigh of relief! Last week we had our midterm exams in Greek, the Creeds, and Spirituality for Ministry. On Monday we turned in our 8 page term papers for Church History and tomorrow is the mid-term for Old Testament. Then we get about 4 days to relax and start getting ready for finals in early December.
As a first year seminarian, at the mid point of his first term, I think I can safely say that seminary is not a sprint! This is definitely a marathon. This morning we took a break from studying for tomorrow's test to review some mission work opportunities that are coming up. The key to a successful missionary project seems to be advanced planning... so we are working on a trip to either Costa Rica or Honduras in the summer of 2011. It is weird to think that two years from now we'll still be here at Sewanee, especially since so many of our friends will have already graduated and be serving in parishes all over the country. It's like we're continually waking into this dream of seminary and future ordained life that for so long seemed so far away.
Midterm brings to mind another aspect of seminary: Christmas Break. It's getting so close that we can taste it. As much as I am enjoying seminary, I am so looking forward to going back to Jacksonville for a few weeks! I have heard from other students that when you go back everything is different. I think that will be partly true for us; someone else is living in our old home, we don't have the same jobs, we don't shop at the same places anymore, etc. But, I think that the love and fellowship that we shared with so many wonderful people in Florida will remain unchanged. I do believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder and I can't wait to go home.
My final thought for this midterm post is about prayer, particularly intercessory prayer. We spent about an hour discussing the concept of prayer for others today in class, especially praying for God to act decisively in the lives of others. I felt very well prepared for this discussion because intercessory prayer is a big deal in the Christian community at my home parish of St. Andrew's. When I say "big deal" what I mean is that St. Andrew's believes in the POWER of intercessory prayer and lives out that belief in regular communal and personal intercessional worship. I learned so much from my brothers and sisters there about God's wanting us to bring all our troubles and fears to the altar and to actively ask for and expect help. At St. Andrew's they taught me that God answers every prayer and that there will always be healing; sometimes it's physical, sometimes spiritual, often it is both... Jesus taught us to pray and ask God for help in all we do. St. Andrew's showed me how to pray for every situation by praying in every situation.
blessings and peace,
Jon
As a first year seminarian, at the mid point of his first term, I think I can safely say that seminary is not a sprint! This is definitely a marathon. This morning we took a break from studying for tomorrow's test to review some mission work opportunities that are coming up. The key to a successful missionary project seems to be advanced planning... so we are working on a trip to either Costa Rica or Honduras in the summer of 2011. It is weird to think that two years from now we'll still be here at Sewanee, especially since so many of our friends will have already graduated and be serving in parishes all over the country. It's like we're continually waking into this dream of seminary and future ordained life that for so long seemed so far away.
Midterm brings to mind another aspect of seminary: Christmas Break. It's getting so close that we can taste it. As much as I am enjoying seminary, I am so looking forward to going back to Jacksonville for a few weeks! I have heard from other students that when you go back everything is different. I think that will be partly true for us; someone else is living in our old home, we don't have the same jobs, we don't shop at the same places anymore, etc. But, I think that the love and fellowship that we shared with so many wonderful people in Florida will remain unchanged. I do believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder and I can't wait to go home.
My final thought for this midterm post is about prayer, particularly intercessory prayer. We spent about an hour discussing the concept of prayer for others today in class, especially praying for God to act decisively in the lives of others. I felt very well prepared for this discussion because intercessory prayer is a big deal in the Christian community at my home parish of St. Andrew's. When I say "big deal" what I mean is that St. Andrew's believes in the POWER of intercessory prayer and lives out that belief in regular communal and personal intercessional worship. I learned so much from my brothers and sisters there about God's wanting us to bring all our troubles and fears to the altar and to actively ask for and expect help. At St. Andrew's they taught me that God answers every prayer and that there will always be healing; sometimes it's physical, sometimes spiritual, often it is both... Jesus taught us to pray and ask God for help in all we do. St. Andrew's showed me how to pray for every situation by praying in every situation.
blessings and peace,
Jon
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