Saturday, September 03, 2005
More Orientation
Friday was another long day, with an even earlier start at 8:15. I walked and made it in plenty of time. We started this day in Bishops hall, where most of the classes are held. We received an introduction to the MDiv curriculum and a panel discussion by faculty on the facets Theological Education, focusing mostly on Biblical scholarship. We also heard information on the IT services and the Theology Library, which is the 2nd largest Theology Library in the US. The largest is at Union Seminary in NY.
After lunch, we met with our advising groups, which are also our Contextual Education groups, and our advisor. Dr. Smith is my boss, advisor, and Con. Ed. instructor. I asked him if that was a problem and he said it would be fine. It is a great opportunity to connect with a mentor, because he is a professor of Church and Community, which is my primary area of interest.
Then we met with our denominations. I got to be in the "other" group. I was quite happy there, because my UU tendencies mean I tend to be happier in a very diverse crowd. There were people that were non-denominational, Pentacostal, Apostolic, Brethren, UCC, DOC, and UU. It was fun and I was strongly encouraged, being "undecided" when it comes to denomination, to visit as many churches in the area as possible before getting too involved with any one. Both to see what feels good, bad, and ugly about the different service styles and theologies and to make an informed decision for next year when we have to do our Contextual Education in a church setting. Our faculty host was UCC and resembled Dick Cheney and kept making jokes about it. I thought that I would never get them confused because Dick Cheney can't smile without that crookedness and this guy smiled all the time.
Finally we got to worship. This one was a little harder to get excited about due to the sheer exhaustion of receiving so much information in the last few days. We sang "God is Here" (sequenced by Bob Sorem) from the regular Methodist hymnal, then "O God You Search Me" (sequenced by Bob Sorem) which was printed in the order of service, from some hymnal, not sure which, for the psalm. The preacher was incredible, he is a professor of preaching, and he had us laughing, crying, listening, and although he didn't take his interpretation of the text exactly where I would have taken it, I admired his powerful delivery, one of the best I've ever heard from a white preacher. After the sermon, we had a lovely communion service including the song, "Come and Fill our Hearts," and then closed with "Thuma Mina".
All in all, Orientation was an exhilarating, exhausting, uplifting, humbling, confidence-building, fear-inducing, centering, frazzling experience. But I'll never be a new seminarian again, and I am so grateful to have been a part of this week's activities, which I will remember the rest of my life.
After lunch, we met with our advising groups, which are also our Contextual Education groups, and our advisor. Dr. Smith is my boss, advisor, and Con. Ed. instructor. I asked him if that was a problem and he said it would be fine. It is a great opportunity to connect with a mentor, because he is a professor of Church and Community, which is my primary area of interest.
Then we met with our denominations. I got to be in the "other" group. I was quite happy there, because my UU tendencies mean I tend to be happier in a very diverse crowd. There were people that were non-denominational, Pentacostal, Apostolic, Brethren, UCC, DOC, and UU. It was fun and I was strongly encouraged, being "undecided" when it comes to denomination, to visit as many churches in the area as possible before getting too involved with any one. Both to see what feels good, bad, and ugly about the different service styles and theologies and to make an informed decision for next year when we have to do our Contextual Education in a church setting. Our faculty host was UCC and resembled Dick Cheney and kept making jokes about it. I thought that I would never get them confused because Dick Cheney can't smile without that crookedness and this guy smiled all the time.
Finally we got to worship. This one was a little harder to get excited about due to the sheer exhaustion of receiving so much information in the last few days. We sang "God is Here" (sequenced by Bob Sorem) from the regular Methodist hymnal, then "O God You Search Me" (sequenced by Bob Sorem) which was printed in the order of service, from some hymnal, not sure which, for the psalm. The preacher was incredible, he is a professor of preaching, and he had us laughing, crying, listening, and although he didn't take his interpretation of the text exactly where I would have taken it, I admired his powerful delivery, one of the best I've ever heard from a white preacher. After the sermon, we had a lovely communion service including the song, "Come and Fill our Hearts," and then closed with "Thuma Mina".
All in all, Orientation was an exhilarating, exhausting, uplifting, humbling, confidence-building, fear-inducing, centering, frazzling experience. But I'll never be a new seminarian again, and I am so grateful to have been a part of this week's activities, which I will remember the rest of my life.
