Another week gone by, and I'm feeling like everything is going rather well at the moment.
My classes are still going quite well, although I'm getting toward crunch time with the end of the semester coming up so soon. However, I know it'll be more work in the future, as I look at my older friends and see what assignments they're working on. We're almost done with the Gospels, Acts, and the John letters in New Testament, and I'm actually almost keeping up with my reading there. It's really interesting to read through these and see them as a whole, which is different than how we typically look at them. In Faith Seeking Understanding this week we went to a local Islamic Center, which was a nice trip. I've learned quite a bit about the Islamic faith already, but it was nice to see another mosque and learn about the faith from a different person. I also received an English translation of the Qur'an, which was very nice gift.
This week I also finally got my stove replaced, after it exploded a little bit about a month ago. Some very nice guys came in early yesterday afternoon, took out my broken stove and put in a shiny new one. I've broken it in quite well today making split pea soup, beans, and rice for my lunches and dinner this week. I'll be making applesauce tomorrow too, but I have run out of energy for today.
Today I went to church twice, so that I could begin to complete some other requirements for my contextual education here. We are required to visit four churches, one rural, one urban, one emergent, and one from another faith tradition. This morning I drove thirty minutes out of town to go to a rural church, and it was really quite wonderful. The church was very welcoming, and they had a children's sermon for the two little girls who obviously attended regularly. The woman doing the sermon just sat between them on a pew and had a little conversation and it really just lifted my heart. I was also able to kneel at communion again, which is a practice I love and find I miss. The whole service was just lovely.
This evening, after spending a few hours crafting with a couple of friends, a couple of guys and I went to the Lutheran student ministry for OSU to have an emergent church experience. This setting was really more exhausting than nourishing for me, because this style of church is very much not what I am comfortable with. There were quite a few college students there, and they seemed really close. Just before the service, there was a tornado warning, so we all had to go crowd into the basement. After that we did a service, which culminated in a Eucharist dance party. This seemed great for most of the people gathered there, but God was talking to me in a different way tonight, and I actually took a moment to go off on my own and have my own quiet talk with God. It was an interesting experience, for sure, and I'm happy to see that the student ministry is thriving, but I'm definitely still learning a lot about myself and my relationship with God while I'm here.
I can hardly believe that I only have one more week of classes before Thanksgiving break, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be flying home on Friday, and then Silas and I are driving to a wedding on Saturday. Then I'll get to see Kevin and Amy for Thanksgiving. It should be a wonderful, restful week, especially since I won't be doing any of the driving.
For now, I'm going to go finish cooking my beans and get myself to bed - I'm officiating morning prayer tomorrow.
1 comment:
Sounds like you visited my church this morning, but I didn't see you. Odd conincidence that the church you went to had a women giving the children's sermon, had two children who came regularly, and knelt during communion. Maybe, other small rural churches just like ours exist somewhere.
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