Pressing the "Reset" Button

I am taking a course this May term about spiritual guidance throughout a person's life. My professor (Dr. O) is very aware of the student population's mental overload from a year of other classes and is focusing the class in an experiential model of learning. Today Dr. O told us that he studied under Henri Nouwen who told him to spend 20 minutes a day in structured prayer and meditation. Anything more than that is difficult to sustain, but a simple daily routine will keep you walking with God through the ups and downs and sideways switches. Dr. O continued to say that as seminarians our lives are busy and often our personal spirituality gets dropped in the ensuing chaos. He encouraged us to press the "reset" button during this May term and re-center our lives on our relationship with God. So I'm doing that. Part of this reset is the realization that I have not kept up this blog. Blogging is a good way to keep accountability even if no one reads your blog, so I am hoping to update my blog at least once a week for the rest of the calendar year and then reassess.

By the way, if you haven't read any Henri Nouwen, he's a great writer. Go out and read any book by him. 

PTS video

Looking Forward

A few days ago the 2011-2013 course catalog came out. It's a little strange to be reading through it and saying "Oh! I want to take that!" only to find out it's being taught during the 2012-2013 year. I can't take everything I want to take; and it's a hard balancing act between PTS requirements, presbytery requirements, personal requirements, and interest. For example, I need to take a class focused on a Reformed theologian. Next year the two being offered are about Friedrich Schleiermacher's theology and a class about Calvin's theology and modern reinterpretations. Both classes would be great, and both would help in my future.

Play rehearsals are going well. My main costume is really pretty, and I found earrings online that match perfectly and were super cheap. We perform April 7, 8, 9 at 8pm and April 10 at 2pm. Call the seminary's speech office for tickets (free!).

 This Thursday we're starting our Lenten reflection series "Daring...". This series is being led by me but is an amalgamation of a lot of different resources with a splash of my creativity. We begin with "Entering" based on the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem as set forward by Luke. Works well for a first session. Preaching next Monday  on 1 Samuel 16: 1-13, Samuel anointing David. Works well because we're talking about callings in worship for Lent, and the Daring... series is focusing on Jesus' anointing next Thursday. Gotta love it when the Spirit pulls moving parts into harmony.

This summer I'm taking Hebrew, but I get time off for good behavior before that. Going to spend some time with the parents and attend a reunion of my college friends! Also going to take some time up in New York at the Holy Cross monastery, a Protestant Benedictine community.

Oh, and next year I'll be working at Christ Presbyterian Church. It's a very small church (15 members) focused on intentional community to make a difference in the members' lives and the community's life. They have a labyrinth as part of their church grounds. Awesome.

Summer Reading List

This summer I will be learning Hebrew and having already spent a summer learning a biblical language, I am preparing a summer reading list of books I want to read but don't have the time during the academic year. Thus far this is the list:

1. Dogmatics in Outline--Barth
2. Letters and Papers from Prison--Bonhoeffer
3. Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews--Allen
4. The Halachic Process--Roth
5. In Memory of Her--Fiorenza
6. Harry Potter 7 (again)
7. Birthing the Sermon--Childers

Lent 2011

PTS is doing daily Lenten devotionals.

Lent is pretty late this year. Holy Week is our finals' week. That's going to be fun for the student, faculty, and staff who work in churches or have loved ones who do.

Lent is about intentionality in our spiritual lives. Let's start by asking the question "What in my life is keeping me from getting closer to God?"

Reasons to love living in an apartment

1. My own kitchen 
2. People walk their dogs, and they let me pet them
3. Your own bathroom
4. Walking distance from a Barnes and Noble, Staples, and Whole Foods
5. Bus conversations
6. Entertaining
7. Playing Guitar Hero as loud as I want
8. Meeting classmates whose names I didn't know before
9. Not having a day lag with mail
10. Brewing my coffee my way
11. Watching parents teach their kids how to ride bikes
12. Sitting on my porch
13. Thrift shopping
14. Spending free time flipping through cookbooks
15. Couch
16. Artwork above the couch
17. Going to bed at 9pm
18. Having room to iron
19. Living and going to school in two different places
20. Baking bread

Valentine's Day

Today I had the opportunity to preach at Rider University's chapel this evening on "A Different Kind of Love" based on Ruth 1:1-18. It went well.

Rehearsals for the play are coming along. Still trying to get those lines down. "The ancient saying is no heresy. Hanging and wiving go by destiny."

I've been in my new apartment for over a week now, and my kitchen is pretty well furnished. Tomorrow I'll be making chicken chimichangas. Because I can. And because chicken was on sale last weekend.

That's about it for me.