Holiday Decorating

Quite awhile ago, my friend Claire was describing the way her friends used to decorated their dorm room doors for Christmas.  They'd buy wrapping paper and bows and wrap it up like a big present.  I thought that sounded amazing, so we decided to do the same for our place. 

We have real candy canes taped up.  I suppose people could take them, but they're really old.

I, however, wasn't satisfied with that, so today, my friend Ruth and I ran around to dollar stores and bought more decorations to deck out my home.  It's nice to have little things to keep me in a cheery holiday mood as I slog through my finals.  Plus, my roommate might not be able to go home for Christmas, so I thought she should have a festive place.

I thought, since I hadn't really described where I live yet anyway, I'd share pictures of the results with all of you! 

And now, nothing but fun

I have had some incredible learning opportunities this semester.  I'm kind of amazed by all the experiences and I'm incredibly excited by all the things that are coming.  But, just in case you were all worried that I was too serious, I thought I'd post about all the mindless fun I've been having as well.  There are  a lot of pictures in this post.  Just a warning!

My Day at the UN, or how I didn't solve the world's problems but still learned a lot.

I was a politics major in undergraduate and I was saying this morning, I'm fairly certain that I still emit a slight aura of political wonk.  I love politics and see myself always being very involved in that world.  Religion and politics are obviously very closely tied, even when they shouldn't be, so it's still very much a part of my call to stay active and aware.  One of the things I love about being on the east coast is my proximity to all the things that any politics nerd would love.  While I haven't made it to D.C. yet, I did have the opportunity to check one thing off my list today:  I spent the day at the United Nations.

Father Richard Rohr

I am so neglectful. I have stories, pictures, updates, all of that waiting. But for now... I wanted to share this sermon from Father Richard Rohr. He was the keynote speaker for the Tipple-Vosburgh lectures that took place at Drew a few weeks ago. He is amazing, funny, and so very profound. So please do yourself a favor and take 18 minutes to watch it. He speaks about the future of Christianity, the roots of Christianity, and some truly incredible truths about who God is.

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan Friar, an inspirational speaker, and generally amazing.  He writes for Sojourners sometimes, and we were very blessed to have the opportunity to hear him speak.

More soonish.  I promise!  Just know that I am joyfully busy, doing well in my classes, and excited about picking the courses I'll be taking next semester. 

Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate,

Lots of school stuff to say, but I wanted to talk about something else for a bit.  I've been very saddened by the wave of bullying/homophobia/LGBT suicides making the news lately and I am happy to see people responding so strongly.  It's clear that we realize there is a problem, we realize that people are deeply hurting and a lot of wonderful people are working together to find a way to reach those people in pain. 

However. Obama's advisor recently said "And what is clear is that this depends on all of us. It depends on changing laws, and changing hearts. It depends on creating an environment in which our children feel safe to be themselves."

To which Dan Savage replied: (with more colorful language)
"Seriously. You can do a lot more than offer hope. You have the power to make it better. Right now. Suspend enforcement of DADT. Don't appeal the decision by a federal judge that declared DADT unconstitutional. Stop defending DOMA in court. Keep your promises. Make it better."

I would say much the same to the Christian community.  If we want the bullying, the hatred, the fear, the self-hate, all of it to stop (and we should) then we need to quit institutionalizing discrimination in the very places that should be taking about love and grace.  It's not enough to say we want the hate to stop.  We need to stop creating it.  And the moment that you tell someone they can't serve in, get married in, be recognized as equal in, the church, you are telling them they aren't as good as everyone else.  And you're telling the world that it's acceptable to treat or LGBT brothers and sisters like they are less than everyone else.  We cannot act surprised when our youth hate who they are, who God made them to be.  They hate themselves because  the church is telling them to every time we reaffirm our discriminatory practices.  This prejudicial attitude is costing lives, and I'm tired to being patient and waiting for the church to realize this isn't acceptable anymore. People who want a loving church, an accepting and open church, need to speak loudly so that our voices carry over all the hatred being spoken in Jesus' name.

Father John Dear

I have been so neglectful.  But I've been working very hard, and I know everyone prefers I focus on classwork.  In addition to my classes (Church History, Hebrew Bible, Exegetical Skills and Pastoral Formation), I am working two jobs. One is at the Alumni Office and one is supervising the Annual Fund student callers.  So yes, busy is a good word for me life right now.  But also joyful, inspired, exhausting and amazing.

I'm constantly amazed by the opportunities we have on campus.  Monday night, I had the privilege of listening to a lecture given by Father John Dear.  Father John Dear is... amazing.  He is a Jesuit priest who actively preaches the gospel of non-violence.  He has been arrested, thrown in jail (once for 8 months for pounding on a bomber plane with a hammer.  He was modeling how to turn swords into plowshares), but continues to do the hard work of peace.  Read his book "A Persistent Peace" or at least Google him.  He spoke about his own work, but he was there for the Henry Nouwen lecture series.   Henri Nouwen was an amazing spiritual leader who has many many books that you all should read.  Father John's main text was 10 Lessons from Nouwen on spirituality and peacemaking.  So I am going to write it all up for you to read right now, along with some of my favorite quotes.

Toes in the Atlantic

This weekend was one of those "let's escape" kind of weekends. I was anxious to see the ocean, and a fellow seminarian was having a house warming party, so we decided to crash the party and play on the beach. (Ok, one of us was invited and the rest of us were more than welcome, just so I don't make them sound inhospitable.)

First of all, I'd like to find out how I can get appointed to a church that quite literally sits on the beach. It was a beautiful church, a lovely little parsonage, and the view was spectacular. We didn't get there until after dark, but it was amazing to stroll along the ocean when the sun is down.  It also amazes me how close everything on the east coast was.  We had a great view of New York City and the lights they shine from the Twin Tower site around the anniversary of 9/11.  The lights hit against the top of the cloud cover and created a powerful beacon. I'm stealing a picture that Jeff took to show off how amazing it really was:

 I couldn't believe how warm the water was!  I have spent too much time at the Oregon coast, apparently.  I was excited to splash and play, even if I was wearing jeans and got soaking wet.  

Our hosts had made delicious Mexican food, we played games, and just generally had time to unwind from the slightly overwhelming first few weeks of school.  It was a very generous gift they offered us!

I always forget how spiritually centering the water is for me.  It's a place where I feel renewed.  Maybe that's the reason I keep choosing to live in cities than are only an hour from the ocean.  Nothing reminds me of God's power and constant grace than the steady but strong pull of the tide. I'm thankful for the opportunities to be filled up again.

Weekly Worship

We have chapel here at Drew three times a week.  Our classes are scheduled around it, so we have a break from 11:15 to 1:15. Attendance isn't required, but so far I've been to all of them.  It's a good refresher in the middle of the day, a way to spiritually center myself in the middle of all the academia. Plus, I really just like singing church songs.  We have different speakers each time, and so far they've all had wonderful things to offer us.

On Tuesday, we had a speaker  talk about the controversy surrounding the building of the Islamic cultural center near the site of the 9/11 attacks.  It's a sensitive issue, one that is causing a lot of pain and one this is, unfortunately, inciting violence in some places. He spoke about the long standing issues between Muslims and Christian, and Muslims and Americans. The service itself was beautiful, we read from the Qur'an and sang songs about peace.  After it, there was a discussion about the issue, we were invited to just talk about how we were feeling, what we thought should be done, all of that.  It continues to embarrass me that people like the pastor in Florida are the public face of Christianity.  We need to do more to show that he is not representing our faith or the words of Jesus.

This Wednesday, Rev. Dr. Gary Simpson spoke about the story in Judges about Gideon vs. the Mideonites.  He focused on the fact that the stream they were camped out near's name, when translated, means "fear." I can't do the sermon the least bit of justice, but it was incredibly moving and thought provoking. If you are interested, we have video of all of our chapels at the Facebook page.

Thursday was our matriculation ceremony.  There is a book that was signed by the first few incoming Drew Theological students, the book was "lost" in the archives for a few years, and found again. So our names are now a part of Drew's history.  It's official, we are real Theological students now.

In other news, I have a job!  I'm going to be working for the Parent and Alumni Office, doing general office type stuff.  It's the same place I worked as an undergraduate, so I'll be quite familiar with the work.  So, yay!

Definitely not procrastinating

As I was reading Top 10 Ways for Local Churches to Support Candidates for Ordained Ministry (which, by the way, is a very unwieldy article title), I realized just how blessed I am.  My home church has been doing all of these things without being prodded. I feel constantly surrounded by their support, and I know that's not the norm.  And it's not even because my mom tells them to! So thanks, Hillview, for being a model church.

I think I'm pretty homesick right now, which is frankly quite surprising.  I'm stressed, had sad news about a friend back home, and am realized that I'm just very far away. I know it will all pass, and I AM still very excited to be here, but I'm in a day-long funk right now. I'm allowed one or two, as long as they don't drag on. I'm ready for my brother to get out of his lookout tower in Oregon and come back to the east coast.  This is the kind of week where I would demand his presence for lunch or coffee.

Ok, I'm going to dive back into "Methods in Old Testament Study" now.  It's exactly as exciting as it sounds.

Hillview Sermon

On Sunday, August 22, I preached at my home church. I started attending Hillview United Methodist when I was one week old, and now they are sponsoring me for seminary. The pastor, Barbara, asked me to preach before I left for seminary. I wanted to give a sermon that provided a sense of who I was theologically and who I wanted to be as a minister. They recorded it, so I thought I'd share with you. It's funny to just listen to the audio, I feel like I sound very slow and flat, but I feel much more animated when I am up there, gesticulating and bouncing around. It's good to know where I need to improve though!

Just for reference, the verse for the week was: Revelations 21:1-2, 10, 22-25. And the song I refer to at the very beginning is "Up to the Mountain" by Patty Griffin. It's a gorgeous song. I've linked to it below, have a listen!

Grace Episcopal

Another Sunday, another new church. So far I've been to all the chapel services during the week. We have three, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and they are ecumenical with a strong Methodist flavor. They have all been amazing, and I'm sure I'll talk a lot more about them later. But it's been fun to explore a new faith tradition on Sunday morning. This week Claire (from North Carolina), Linzi (from California), Kristi (from Georgia), and Boram (from South Korea) joined me at Grace Episcopal. It is only a few steps away from my residence hall (Green Villa) so it was quite convenient.

Grace is a much more traditional service than Redeemer was last week, but I thought it was really beautiful. They had a great choir that sang this week's hymn, and the rector, Rev. Lauren Ackland, chanted/sang the communion liturgy. The service felt very blessed to me. Again, like last week, I found the tradition of the liturgy to be incredibly beautiful. We actually used the kneeling benches, which was new for me, and this time I did have wine at communion. I did take communion through intiction (dipping the wafer into the wine) instead of sipping from the cup, so it wasn't a totally foreign experience.

One of the things I loved about the service was the emphasis on silence. They observe silence in the sanctuary before service begins and take moments after the sermon and communion to allow for prayer. It sets a very peaceful, tranquil mood for the service. I've sometimes found it jarring to move from chatty hellos as everyone gathers into worshipping, and I thought having the silent atmosphere allowed an attitude of worship to develop more naturally. I do miss contemporary praise songs though, so I'm glad I get to sing them during weekly chapel.

I'm not sure where I'm heading next week. Perhaps the Catholic Church across the street, although I already don't like them for playing chimes four times an hour and playing hymns on the chimes every Sunday morning. My window is very close to the church, so I get a very loud concert. I'm also fairly sure I would not make a very good Catholic. So maybe I'll return to what I know and visit the nearby Methodist Church.

I have a job interview on Friday, so please keep my in prayer for that. I desperately need SOME way to support myself, so it would be great if this works out.

I plan to get pictures of my room/apartment/surrounding area tomorrow. We'll see. I should also do my homework at some point... but before that I have a game night to attend tonight. Snacks and board games, always a good time! And tomorrow night, FOOTBALL! GO BSU!! (No, I didn't realize I was a fan until someone was talking about how we were going to lose. Someone has to represent over here in Jersey.)

The Learning Process

Just a quick snippet of my week before I dash off for my room supply shopping:

Today in my Hebrew Bible study group (we break off for the last two hours) we had a long discussion about the necessity of gender-inclusive language, how honest or authentic it is to insert feminine language, and the ways that language can hurt people. It was a lively debate done in total love and honest search for better understandings. I'm really going to love seminary, this is my kind of world.

Also, today I finally learned how to open my campus mailbox. So now you all can start sending me mail!

And the Classes Begin!!

Oh man. So my classes this term are:

Church History I, followed by the precept for the class (which is essentially a smaller discussion group). The professor for the class seems very brilliant and very bouncy. She quite literally hops around the room. I can already tell I'm going to be overwhelmed by all the information presented, so I'm grateful that we have the precept to break it down and figure it all out a little bit. Our reading for tomorrow's class is fairly intense; it is called The Passions of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas. It is about the visions and martydom of an early Christian woman, her slave girl, and a few Christian men with her. So, in other words, we started with the fun stuff!

Pastoral Formation is a spirituality class. I think it's going to be a good "check-in" class for the first years, where we get centered after all the academic rigor makes our heads spin. We will be studying, among other things, Wesley's 3 Simple Rules. It's about time I studied that... I'm horrible Methodist.

Study of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament study, I won't actually be learning Hebrew. Yet.) is my Bible Study course. This class is going to be fascinating, I can tell already. I haven't done nearly enough study of the Hebrew Bible (Or First Testament, or Old Testament, or whatever else you'd like to call it.) I'm excited to wrestle with some of the challenging imagery presented in this part of the Bible.

Exegetical Skills is sort of paired with our Bible Study course. It helps create the skills for researching and understanding the Bible verses I will use when preaching. I'm pretty excited for this course, I can already tell it will lead to interesting conversations.

I have class Tuesday through Friday. I'm done by noon on Friday, so I essentially have a 3.5 day weekend. I'm sure I'll be grateful for that when I am working with a church next year. My two lecture classes (History and Hebrew Bible) are fairly good sized, about 45 students, but these are the "basics" and I know that other classes are much smaller as I move forward in my studies.

At some point I want to talk more about the people I'm meeting, the things I'm actually feeling, and all of that, but right now I'm just trying to make sure I remember to eat three times a day. It's a little crazy here at the beginning of the year! And hot. Really really hot.

Church of the Redeemer

I went to church with my roommate, Julie, Linzi, who is a first year Masters student from California, and Claire, an MA in Ministry first year from North Carolina. We went to the church Julie has been attending, Church of the Redeemer Episcopal. They are in Morristown, which is just a few minutes' drive from Drew. They were very deliberate about using inclusive language and very much identifies as a welcoming and accepting community. The church itself was beautiful. It was built in the 1850's, and it's amazing to worhip somewhere with that much history. I am really not used to Episcopal liturgy, but there is something very holy within the formal structure. This church does have grape juice available, and I was grateful for that because I don't think I've ever taken wine at communion. It was a lovely service and the people could not have been any nice.

I was very taken with one practice there. During communion, people bring up canned goods that go to a local food pantry. I loved the idea of tying communion with outreach in that way.

Next week we are venturing to another church. I think we are actually going to another Episcopal Church, this time the one that is literally in my back yard.

And Now I'm a Jersey Girl

Ok right, let's try this again, shall we? I am now in Madison, New Jersey and I'm starting my first semester at Drew University. I'm still pursuing my Masters of Divinity, just in a new place. Last year in Oregon, and at NHTS, was amazing. I learned a lot. I was also blessed with the opportunity to work at Sherwood United Methodist. I preached, led book groups, and was in fellowship with a truly wonderful group of people. And, if I were any good at updating blogs, you all would know that! But I'm not and I'm going to try to be, so let's start with a new school year.

I have survived orientation week!! There is a lot of information given out this week. I suppose it's all necessary, but it just feel very overwhelmed sometimes. I'm already amazed at the diversity of the school; the other day at lunch I ate with Joe from the Congo, Doug from Kenya, Boram from South Korea, and my other new friends from all over the country. I've found a good group of friends and it's nice to already have a support network, and people to explore this crazy new state with. Classes start next week, and I'm already impatient to start learning. They keep telling us how difficult the classes will be. That's such good news to me. We had to take a writing test this week to see how well we wrote academic papers. I'm a little nervous about the results, I have done enough writing that I SHOULD pass with flying colors, but we'll see.

It's hot here. The first few days were windy and rainy, but I knew that wouldn't last forever. My wimpy west-coast self is NOT a fan of this humidity. I feel gross and sticky all the time.

I made an IKEA run with a few of the girls yesterday. I needed quite a few things for my room, since I flew here and wasn't able to take much. That store really does have everything. Today was grocery shopping and I should be set up with food for a little while.

My roommate is a very very sweet girl. She's been awesome, running me around and helping me figure out what I need to settle in here. I'm blessed to live with someone that knows the ropes so that I'm a little less overwhelmed.

I hope to post pictures of my apartment and room soon, but I have a ton of space. It's a real apartment, I have a kitchen and living room and bathroom. My roommate's room is on the other side of the living room. My room used to be a formal dining room, we think, so there isn't a closet in it, but I have a wardrobe and a bigger closet down the hall. There is a lot of built in shelving and beautiful lighting fixtures. It's a pretty great place!

I'm heading down the hall to visit with some new friends in a bit, and I better get my room cleaned up just in case people stop by.