2008-09-08 - 5:52 p.m.
Well, I can't say I ever expected to be saying this about my seminary experience, but I feel like Harry Potter. Something about the small school, living in dorms, studying something slightly exotic.... Oh, and I go to school in a castle. That may have something to do with it. No flying brooms though, mores the pity.
I just finished my first day of classes. Man, was it exhausting. It's like I'm working on a Masters degree or something! I have six classes, all in three hour blocks once a week. Two on Monday, two on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. Yes, I have no class on Fridays- I can use them to catch up on the tons of reading that I have to do. From looking at the outlines of the courses, it looks like most of them want you to do the reading- and then a journal on the reading. Then there's the two or so papers for each class. Interesting stuff though.
The classes are: Spiritual Formation (looks like a class on prayer. Part of our homework is a different method of prayer each week - we practice it, journal about it, and talk the next week about it), Public and Pastoral Leadership (which is the class that I'll eventually have a field placement in a Vancouver church for), Synopic Gospels (for which one of the required texts is the Bible. Makes sense, sure, but was hilarious to see on the syllabus!) Hebrew Bible, Introduction to Christian Worship, and the Christian Tradition (a history course). I had Spiritual Formation and Public and Pastoral Leadership today.
On a sadder note, I was sorry to hear this weekend of the death of Janet Bell, one of the grand ladies of St. George's. She had been very ill for a long time, so it was by no mean unexpected, but still sad. She was a very inspiring lady- for nearly my whole time attending the 8:00 service, she would be the server, and always did thing perfectly. I had the honour of learning under her, and I have to say that she was exacting about how things should be during a service. She was also continually involved in raising money for Ugandan Grandmothers, which is a program that we support at St. George's. I won't be able to make it to her service, but her death is the first reminder of what I've had to leave behind in order to come here.
