Category Archives: Studying

October 18, 2010 · 9:39 pm

Waiting

Today was a long day of waiting. 

First of all, I woke up way too early and was lying in bed waiting for the numbers on the clock to tell me I could get up.  Finally, I gave up on them and just got up.  4:30 am.

Then, though I knew that I did not need to arrive at the hospital before my aunt at 10 am, that time between waking and going seemed such an in between unproductive sort of time.  Oh, I guess I did get things done.  Suitcase is still open on the bed for the trip to Charlottetown tomorrow partly packed at least. In my rush to not be late, I arrived at the hospital a good 20 minutes before my aunt so had to wait till the ambulance brought her.  Then the real wait began.  It was very quiet.  Aunty was medicated and pretty much out of it.  Her bedside tray able became my computer desk and I began my essay. 

What a time to delve into the Chalcedonian definition.  Sitting beside a frail, failing human body that holds such a sweet person and not being able to avoid wondering at God’s choice to become fully human like us.  This is probably bordering on blasphemy but I wondered what would have happened if Jesus had become old.  Then I remembered the older woman all stooped and crippled that he healed and the woman with the haemorrhage – and then I realized that Jesus did not have the time to grow old but still he knew all the pain we suffer with age.

They took Auntie in before my thoughts got way too too far off topic and I took a  break and went home for a few hours. Unless a person wants to watch 3 hours of TV, there is not much to do in a day surgery waiting room.

Surgery seems to have gone well.  My prayers for my aunt are that the pain she was  having is reduced by the procedure.  It is hard to see her in such pain on one hand or too medicated to communicate on the other. 

The final waiting process – for healing – real healing, is likely still a ways into the future.  She is as tough and stubborn as any Dice.

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Filed under Dealing with stuff, Family, Studying, Theology

October 1, 2010 · 4:22 pm

Talking Theology

Here we go, Marc.  This is what my tweet a few days back was referring to. 

Warning: this is long.

One of the books I am reading as part of my Theology class this term is Freeing Theology edited by Catherine Mowry LaCugna, a book of essays by some leading female theologians who are attempting to look at theology from a new perspective – that of women in the Christian faith. These women are all of a Catholic persuasion, interesting enough since the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches take the most conservative and restrictive view of women in ministry. Out of adversity comes great strength; or maybe one could say that God uses what is of little account to confound the wise. That would be fitting with God’s economy I think.

These authors discuss a number of theological issues. The one we have been dealing with this week is the Trinity. The author discusses the historical background which gave rise to this doctrine and the heresies which they were addressing by their formulation. She gives a beautiful discourse on Rublev’s icon and states that the figures in the icon sit in a circle around the Eucharistic cup with space in this circle for the one meditating on the icon to enter into the communion of the three. She states, “This icon expresses the fundamental insight of the doctrine of the Trinity, namely, that God is not far from us but lives among us in a communion of persons.”(p.84)

Later she goes on to state, “The point of Trinitarian theology is to convey that it is the essence or heart of God to be in relationship to other persons; that there is no room for division or inequality or hierarchy in God; that the personal reality of God is the highest possible expression of love and freedom; that the mystery of divine life is characterized by self-giving and self-receiving; that divine life is dynamic and fecund, not static or barren (p.106)

As she discusses the doctrine, she also engages us in a rethinking of the creeds which describe the Trinity using very patriarchal language. It was, of course, the language and thinking of the era in which they were written but this language poses problems, namely the idea of God being masculine and of the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit being hierarchical. The early church fathers may not have intended to overlay the theology of the Trinity with hierarchy or solely masculine images for God but their language and thinking was patriarchal and so it reinforces this.

Not everyone in this class comes from a middle class, white North American culture and so there was some discussion as to the validity of LaCugna’s arguments and whether they really conformed to what has been said in the Scripture regarding the Trinity and the relationship between the three. Part of our discussion was an attempt to help this person see that disunity and inequality is more a sign of brokenness and sin than of some design by God for the way things should be.

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September 28, 2010 · 9:36 pm

What a day

I have discovered that it is less tiring to go away to work in an office where you work for 8 or 9 hours at a stretch than to be semi-retired. 

For one thing, you have a neat(more or less) schedule to follow at work and you don’t fit in more than it is possible to do in those 8 or 9 hours.  When one is doing a bit of this and then a bit of that and then taking the grandkids for a spell before rushing off to a meeting in the evening there is barely time to squeeze in the required assignment that has to be posted by the next day for the on-line class.   

And I do not have a receptionist to tell me when the day ends.

Ahh, the life of a pastor wanna be.

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June 19, 2010 · 4:13 pm

Done the class and heading home

This past week has been so full. My class took place from 8:30 to 12:30 Monday through Friday except for Wednesdays. I thought when I looked at the schedule that I would have so much time to just relax and enjoy myself. I envisioned joining one of my classmates for a trip down to Millennium Park and maybe a shopping spree or an evening of Jazz.

Not a chance.

I had papers to read and 5 short essays to write but most of all two sermons to prepare and get ready to preach. There was the long process of exegesis to go through before each sermon. Maybe it is better to have a limited number of commentaries to hasten a person through the preparation process – but I had a whole library! And it seemed there was always one book about the subject of the text that caught my eye and was begging to be read.

Each and every spare moment was full of homework. I saw an awful lot of the inside of Brandell Library this visit to Chicago but not much else.

Well, maybe I should qualify that a bit. I did have wonderful visits with my hosts, the Thorpes, even attending their daughter Christine’s son Peter’s graduation open house. What a joy to see this young man who spent a good part of January to March recovering from a head injury, graduate with his class. And there were two dinner’s out with Ruth and another friend – a Persian restaurant with such huge helpings that I had lunches for two days from the leftovers.

I did get in one long walk for exercise on the lovely campus of Northeastern University and yesterday I went shopping. By shopping in a mall yesterday I missed one of the most violent storms of Chicago so I am glad I was not downtown in the middle of Millennium Park after all.

It was a good visit. Three more credits under my belt. Some concerns about my next step in Greek sorted out. Also I’ve been psychologically tested and found to be at least crazy enough to continue towards my MDiv. I am, by the way, not only a 9 on the Enneagram but also an ISFP. In fact, I am such a strong introvert that I probably should not be talking to you like this!

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Filed under Studying, Travels

June 10, 2010 · 2:47 pm

Preparing and Peeling (or maybe the other way around)

Today I began to feel the aftermath of the day at the beach in Toronto.  The very bad sunburn mid to lower back has begun to peel.  Of course it is not just peeling.  First it blistered and then it itches and then it peels and will in time (not long I hope) dry up.  So it itches now in places I cannot scratch.

While I am a bit itchy, I am also trying to write an inspiring sermon.  The exegesis they ask of us is fairly demanding.  I will, however know a whole lot more about Hebrews than when I started.

I suppose I should get back to work.  I must be ready to preach this by Monday.  My theme sentence is meant to be handed in tomorrow. 

I wonder if I will get any Chicago shopping done this weekend?

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May 6, 2010 · 7:49 pm

Final exam has been submitted and now…

I have been introduced to Old Testament literature and now, that class is done. It was good, although learning on-line has certain drawbacks relationship wise. I missed listening in on really good discussion. And I learn a lot by listening in, even if I do not say a lot myself. I am just not one of those quick thinking encyclopedias of knowledge. It takes me a while to dig deep into the stuff that I store in my noggin. And then, alas, the conversation has often moved on to other topics while my archives have been searched.

I’ve done well on all my classes so far. I’m not sure how that has come about.  I’ve sort of surprised myself actually.  There are many classes yet to come that will continue to test my ability to think and reason. But, here I am at a stage in life where marks are an interesting way to measure one’s self against others who also took the class but not the goal of my studies at all. There is so much to learn. How can one have learned 70 or 80 or 90% of all that could be studied? Perhaps having lived a few years gives a person a bit of an advantage. After all I have lived with these stories from the Bible most of my life even if they were more often the romanticized versions than the real life dirty messy stories of real people from cultures we struggle to comprehend.

I still have a long way to go before I am done the whole seminary stint. A long way.

Today, I ran into a friend. We were having a family meeting with the staff at Mont St Joseph’s and low and behold, the new Spiritual Care Director is a guy I met at one of Leo’s staff Christmas parties. He’s recently finished his training at Luther Seminary and we’d had a good chat last year. So we got to compare notes with each other again. It’s always fun to meet another friend of a like age with common interests.

Older age is great. You achieve a certain amount of freedom as you explore life’s possibilities beyond the family raising years.

We will not speak of the aches and pains that go with it.

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April 25, 2010 · 5:07 pm

Saturday at Anglin Lake

It is Saturday morning and I sit in my cabin looking out of my wide window that overlooks the trees and the lake and once again I marvel at the wonder of creation and the creator. This place where I am staying attempts to preserve the natural ecology of this spot. There are no manmade beaches. The lake lapping up to the roots of trees cause the slow erosion around them tipping them towards it till they bow to the might of the water. The falling of the trees and the natural process of decay that follows provides cover for nesting birds and shelter for the fingerling fish from their ever present predators.

The lake ice is gone early this year and the loons have returned. Perhaps if it were not so snowy I would see them swimming by. I wonder what they think of this late spring snow and the wisdom of their early return?

The snow is still falling – or is it rain? It won’t last. The weatherman is promising temperatures back up to the mid-teens by the end of the week. But this weather provides me with a perfect atmosphere for study mixed with short walks. Last night the fire in the stove warmed this place up quickly. I slept well and late.

This is a good place to renew my connections with the God who is. Nature tends to do this for me. It is a good place in which to study the complex relationship God has had with his people throughout history. The story is so old and was written to a people we hardly can understand from the context of our own culture. I am learning that studying these stories is a complex affair. There is Ancient Near Eastern archaeology to consider, other ancient stories that demonstrate similar ways of telling the stories of origins, battle reports and history. Still, there is a continuous thread that weaves through these ancient stories that teaches us about our sovereign Lord, his covenant with those who he chose as his people through whom to bring his blessing to the world and his requirements of all to love him and live in ways that honour him. It is the history of my own faith and it causes me to wonder at the ways of God.

So, I think now it is time for a fresh cup of coffee, then back to the books. Since I have no internet here, this won’t get posted till Sunday. That’s OK. I needed a break from the internet for a few days.

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April 9, 2010 · 7:02 pm

What kind of weather?

I will not put up any pictures of snow.  I will pretend this is not happening and maybe it will go away?

The roads around Saskatoon are just about impassable from what we heard from an employee on her way to Moose Jaw for a night at the spa.  Last we talked to her she was on the side of the road somewhere south of Dundurn.  And yet the roads are clear at Davidson.  And the roads here are not that bad either. 

Leo was scheduled to go star gazing with the mother-in-law this evening.  The Astronomical Society puts on a weekend but not tonight I guess.  The stars did not show up. 

But I will still curl up in a cozy corner and read or see what is on TV.  My head does not really feel like reading OT tonight.  I am hoping that by the end of this weekend I will have fought off this cold.

Oh, yeah, I got my final mark in Greek back today.  I did well and I am glad that it is done for now.

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March 27, 2010 · 7:44 am

Thoughts on Creation arising out of my studies

Marc, in a recent post, mentions the whole controversy of evolution /creation. I’m really not up to arguing the validity of creation methods. In fact I think the controversy has diminished our understanding of the first few chapters of the Bible. As Christians, we hardly use these chapters for teaching because we are afraid to get into the various controversies regarding God’s methods of creation.

Recently my seminary studies have included this part of the Bible – the interpretation of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, which Genesis introduces. One of my assignments involved comparing the Creation accounts in Genesis with the Babylonian and Egyptian creation stories. I’ve known for a long time that other creation stories existed but I have never read or studied them so the assignment to dig into them was interesting. (They are challenging reading though since the stories I read are translations of some old, old records.) You can find some of them here and here.

One of the authors of a text we are using likened the familiarity with these stories, which would have been passed down orally in the history of the ancient people of the near east, to the way in which most young people would be familiar with the accounts of evolution today.

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March 23, 2010 · 1:02 pm

Just thinking

Someone made a comment about my studies on the weekend and I have been thinking about it all week. Well, I guess that is only 2 days but still it has made me think. I was expressing my relief to having completed two of my courses. His comment was something to the effect of “I don’t think I would study that, especially when you are doing it just for fun.” And then we talked about how, even though I am not studying in the MDiv program with the goal of becoming a full time lead pastor, I need to have a goal such as achieving a degree or I might not really study either. I doubt that I would put as much effort into the classes if I was simply auditing them – for fun.

But it started me rethinking my whole decision to do the MDiv. One thing I am confident of is that the direction I am taking is the result of God moving me in this direction. I do not know where it will lead exactly. I have some idea of areas in which I would like to utilize this pastoral training but nothing is really clear right now. Perhaps there will be some kind of outreach involving women – that is sort of in the back of my mind. And I continue to feel that my gifts will be put to use in some form of spiritual direction ministry.  It is just hard sometimes to remember the sense of direction and the affirmation of others who have encouraged me along this way. I need to keep the memory strong of the women who gathered around me to pray with me as I was discerning if this really was for me.

Just some of my thoughts these days. I guess maybe I should correct people who think that these studies are just for fun. But what do I say. that they are not fun?  It is all stuff I want to learn after all.

But I am really glad that those two classes are done. Three at one time and working full time – that was crazy!

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