"Your entire life has been one long conversation with God about how you stand before him." --Rev. Klemet I. Preuss, in Letter 79 of What They Need to Hear: Sharing Christ with Family and Friends
Alas, it has been nearly 3 weeks since I lasted posted...
Time to wipe away the cobwebs and dust...
Things here at the monastery have been moving at a pretty good clip in the last month. A week ago, we had our pre-call interview with the seminary professor who's the Director of Certification and Placement (and who was one of my Old Testament professors this past quarter). It seemed to go well; I have the feeling that he has an understanding of my particular background/experience and program-- that I'm "not normal" (which I recall him mentioning and my wife nodding in agreement). When we finished in his office, we made an appointment to interview with the president of the Texas District in January, a month with a lot going on-- when Christmas break is over, I'm going to have to turn and burn, baby...
I will begin preaching in my fieldwork congregation in January and I have to have my TI (theological interview) done by the end of the month. And the winter quarter ends February 24.
The Monday after Thanksgiving I will start my new classes: Catechetics (taught by our Dean of Students, who will be one of my TI profs), Homiletics I (taught by my advisor), Theologia I: Baptism, and one independent study course, Theologia II: Preaching (taught by my assigned TI prof), for a total of 13 credit hours (+ 1 hour each week of New Testament Greek Readings and Field Education), really only 2 credit hours less than the fall quarter. Also in this coming quarter I will be on the chapel service rotation list.
Assuming my TI goes well (it should), I will be put on the call list at the end of this academic year and will, hopefully, know where God will be placing me after I finish out my remaining courses through the beginning of August.
I cannot believe we're already halfway through the month of November! It's nice to be on a two-week break between quarters! I've already finished one good read...
A professor recommended the book What They Need to Hear: Sharing Christ with Family and Friends, 90 letters written by a Lutheran pastor over 2 years to his ill and aging father-in-law who left the church after his wife died. I thought it was an excellent presentation of what being Christian is all about (with a Lutheran flavor). At the risk of proselytizing (again), I hope anyone looking in who has questions about God, church, Jesus Christ, heaven, suffering (Letter 50), my gravitation toward a third and final vocation as a pastor, just what it is I/we believe, etc., will check it out-- the letters are a page and a half (or less). The author guided his father-in-law back into his congregation with love, not judgment. (There were one or two places where I had to put it down to regain my composure before continuing on.) It's worth a look, even if you're only marginally curious about Christianity (and/or Lutherans).
As I was finishing this book off in my La-Z-Boy this morning, I was listening to my iTunes with headphones (because I have a working wife who has some hang-up about me blasting music while she's on the phone...go figure). I realized that I'm almost 54 years old and I still love listening to Triumph (the guitars-- man, like in their 70s standard Hold On, for example-- it's quite a ride)... And, speaking of being old, on Friday we will have been married for 31 years-- quite the prodigious achievement in a world that chases (its) tail...
So the beat goes on here in Hoosier country (where we've had a freeze the past three nights-- fall finally showed up), as I expect it does wherever you are peering in from. And whoever or wherever you might be, I hope you have come to grips with the election results and the direction of our country; yes, we shall anoint our new king in January-- but take heart, brothers and sisters, for God uses the most unlikely of his creations to accomplish the most wonderful things. If you have a minute or two, check out this very well-assembled commentary (especially item #4) posted November 9 by Baptist pastor J.D. Greear: Empathy and Charity: How Christians Can Respond to Election 2016.
That's it for now. I'll try to get back here a little more frequently...
С Богом!
P.S. And the Cowboys won their 8th game in a row yesterday! (I was in 10th grade the last time that happened.)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.