Many Worships

This semester is certainly keeping me busy!  A lot has happened since I last wrote, which is why this blog is so late.

Two weekends ago I drove down to Nashville to meet my parents and trade cars with them. I was glad to have my car back after a month, and the drive was actually fairly pleasant. I listened to a book on tape while I was driving, and I enjoyed seeing the trees which were turning for fall. My parents had a longer drive, and I know doing it two days in a row was rough, so I am very grateful to them for meeting with me there.

My classes this semester are still going fantastically, and it's funny that they are not my biggest concern most of the time. Part of that is probably because I really enjoy them, so I'm comfortable with the time I do spend on them, and the other part is that I simply have so many other things going on. In preaching class, I'll be giving my first sermon in just over a week, and I'm looking forward to it, despite the fact that I'm struggling with the text. Here's praying that the Holy Spirit will make an intervention in time. (from my discussions with other preachers, this is a frequent prayer)

Aside from my schoolwork, my biggest commitment continues to be my job as sacristan. I love nearly every minute of it, and I think I'm learning a lot in the job. Last week was Trinity Days, which meant a lot of work for a beautiful worship service. I may have sent nearly 100 emails on Monday alone. I finished my twelve yard long banners in time, and they added beautifully to Gloria Dei. We had a lovely eucharist service on Wednesday put on by Bexley Hall, which made me think back to my times at Saint Andrews in college. I was a crucifer and lector for that service, and I was honored to be asked to help lead. Thursday we had a service that included a fire bowl - my first experience with that - and it turned out wonderfully. It always makes me happy as a sacristan when I plan and plan and then the opening song begins and everyone walks out in the procession, and then I cannot do anything more. When it all goes well, as it always does, I am proud to have been a part of that work.

After the busy-ness of the Trinity days worship, I was able to just enjoy the rest of it. We had a lecture about Pentecostalism for our main lecture, and it was really interesting to consider a tradition so different from ours and see what there may be to learn from that. I also went to the student/alumni football game and got some knitting done. Thursday evening, I was invited by my friend Mechelle to participate in the rituals of Rosh Hashana which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Altogether, I got to experience a lot of faith over the weekend!

On Sunday, I was finally able to sit down with Bonnie, my MIC supervisor, over lunch and plan out my year at All Saints. I will preach several times, teach sixth grade confirmation, attend church council meetings, continue to assist at worship, and begin a pastoral care relationship with one of the congregants there. I am looking forward to all of this, although I am also a little nervous. I hope that I will continue to be able to grow in my abilities as a pastor during this year here.

This week, I'm feeling pretty well on my feet, and I'm looking forward to next week as an ease in my time as sacristan, since it will be Bexley Hall's worship week the whole week. And then the week after that is fall break, which is hard to imagine! That will be an especially good week, as I will be having my endorsement interview on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I will be heading to Oklahoma to spend some time with Silas, including celebrating our third-year anniversary! I cannot wait for that.

It's a busy semester, but it is full of good things, and I am looking forward to the rest of it! I'll write here again soon.

The Beginning of a New Semester

It is Labor Day weekend, and I am already a solid week into this new semester at Seminary. Getting here was an adventure, and I had to hit the ground running, but I'm beginning to finally feel settled.

I finished out CPE stongly, I believe, growing to love the job more and more every day. There were crazy days and easy days, and on my last day of actual work, I was given both the regular on-call pager and the trauma pager for a couple of hours during the Resident's graduation celebration, and of course that would be when two traumas, one death, and one family conflict would come in all at once. I loved it. I feel like I was really able to grow into my pastoral identity over the course of the summer, and I am so glad for how I spent it. I was excited by how much I felt that I could be a minister, and by how much I learned over the summer.

Outside of CPE, I had a minor hiccup just at the end of the summer. I was driving home from my last visit with Silas one Sunday evening, when my car started to make a funny clicking noise. I mentioned this to my parents, and my mom drove me to work in the morning so she could take my car into our mechanic and get it checked out. We assumed it wouldn't be a big deal, until the car died before it made the two mile trip to the mechanic. Something or other happened, which led to what was deemed by the people working on it "catastrophic engine failure." The good news was that my car was still under warranty and now she has a shiny new engine. The bad news is she wasn't going to be ready in time to get my mom and I back to Ohio so she could catch her flight out of town. So, we got the idea to take my dad's car and then trade halfway between after awhile. My mom and I made our long drive back to Ohio, and we'll be meeting somewhere in Tennessee later on in order to trade cars back. We're also hoping this is the end of my bad luck with cars.

When I got back to Ohio, I hit the ground running. I began my job as Sacristan by showing up and being asked to be a crucifer for the first service of the term. Then there were long meetings with Karen and Kristen, the worship life coordinator and my fellow sacristan to begin to figure out how we would work things over the upcoming year. I'm enjoying the job immensely already, and I've already begun to write a worship service for the upcoming week.

I've also already gotten started on classes, even before I was able to get all my school supplies organized for them. This semester I'm taking Systematic Theology, Old Testament 2, Preaching, Lutheran Confessions, and Christian Perspectives on Other Religions. I'm pretty excited about all of them already, especially Systematic Theology, which surprised me a little bit. I think that I am really beginning to get into the interesting stuff of seminary this year, and I think it will be a good year.

I'm glad to be back here, as much as I enjoyed being in Texas over the summer. I'm beginning to get to know the new people at the seminary, and reconnecting with my friends. I'm already feeling back into the swing of things and George is even well settled. He had an adventure his first day back by getting out when my mom and I were going to be gone awhile, but he got to stay in one of my friends apartments until we got back. Today George helped me to put together a bookcase, which I can't wait to fill up with my overflowing books. I'm still working on getting my apartment reorganized, and keeping up with my dishes (I already miss having a dishwasher again) but I've got one more holiday day of the weekend to get to it.

I'll be blogging more regularly now that I'm back on a normal schedule, so keep an eye here for updates on my Middler year at Trinity!

Finally on Spring Break

Midterms are done. It feels like the whole campus has sighed deeply after a mad rush to last Thursday. And now we have a week long break!

My midterm week was busy too, and I noticed that all of us seemed to be cracking up just a little bit. Monday evening I was sitting at the library circulation desk doing my Hebrew homework and I just started laughing uncontrollably. The people at the computers nearby (luckily people I know well) began looking at me with concern. I was laughing because I had looked up a word I was translating, and it turned  out to mean "exterminate" in English. This should not be funny, but anybody who watches Doctor Who might get it. That is the common call of a certain villain in the show, robots that look a bit like pepper grinders, and I was suddenly imagining Jewish Daleks. This was Monday and it was already clear that it was time for a break for me. 

I made it through, though, writing a two essay midterm for church history, a one essay and questions midterm for Old Testament, finishing my performances for Music in the Contemporary Church, and generally attempting to keep up with the regular work of all my classes as well. I took Friday and Saturday completely off, and it was glorious. 

Saturday was quite an interesting day too. I finally got my insurance settlement for my poor totaled car, and it was time to go get a new one. I took my friends Sarah and Kaeleigh with me, partly for a need for a ride, and also because they are good company in test driving cars, and tried out a pretty blue Subaru Forester. I decided I liked it, talked with my dad, he talked with the salesguy a bit, and by the end of the morning I wrote the biggest check I have ever written, paying for the car outright. 

It is wonderful to be able to drive myself around again, and I love the car. I'm even going to try to keep this one for longer this time! Luckily we're at least done with snow until next winter. It's especially nice to have a car again, because it is a little easier for me to remain involved in my MIC site this way. I had a meeting with Bonnie on Sunday and yesterday evening I was able to attend a Justice Ministry meeting there. I love to see how this church is working on moving out into its community and helping in whatever ways they can. They are developing a close partnership with First English, an urban church, and it is beautiful to see that partnership growing and solidifying. 

Being on break is lovely, because I am working plenty at a very quiet library, and then spending the rest of my time crocheting. That crocheting is actually homework, however, because I am making a wall hanging of Luther's life and theology for my final in Church History too. I'll add pictures as I complete it, because I think it's pretty darn nifty.

Finally, I have mentioned this on Facebook, but I'm going to say it here too: I am walking in the AIDS walk in Central Ohio this Holy Saturday, with a group from Trinity and Bexley Seminaries, and I am looking for sponsors. All of the money that is raised will go to help those both locally and globally whose lives are affected by AIDS and who cannot afford medicine or treatment. Please consider donating a few dollars to my 5K by going to www.tinyurl.com/KathrynWalks and clicking the Support Kathryn button. It's quite easy and all electronic. 

Thank you,

Kathryn

I Gave Up My Car for Lent

So, I found out this week that Boaz is most definitely totaled, which is a shame. However, my parents and I are dealing with the situation as best as we can, and I have been car shopping already. It is lovely to have friends who will take you car shopping, too, because we were able to have a great time chatting while I test drove three different cars this weekend. I'm pretty sure I found what I want to get, and now we're figuring out exactly how to make that happen. We're basically buying a car from two different states, while I have no reliable transportation of my own, so it's an interesting process, all told.

This week is mid-term week, which means I've kept myself quite busy. I spent all yesterday afternoon writing a midterm on the Reformation, which is a subject I love, but still took a fair bit of time. I wasn't helped by the fact that George just wanted to play, and didn't understand why I would get upset if he was chasing his tail on my papers. I have another midterm due later this week, along with the standard crush of readings, plus some Hebrew translations, but come Friday I will be home free. Next week is spring break, and I am going to read for fun, clean my apartment, and maybe even make a skirt or two. I can hardly wait.

I have had some pretty exciting things happen to me these past few weeks as well. I was asked to be one of the sacristiants for next year, and I accpeted that job. It means I will work with the pastor here in charge of worship and make sure things for worship are running smoothly. I am really excited about the job, because it is something that I will enjoy and be able to learn a lot about.

Also, this week I am applying for a mission developer scholarship through the ELCA. I was nominated for this program by the seminary, and through it, I will focus on learning the skills necessary for mission development while I am here at seminary. It is something that took me by surprise, but which I prayed about and talked with others about for a week and made a decision that it really might be the path God is calling me towards. I am excited about the opportunity and I hope that I will be able to learn a lot about the joy of beginning or revitalizing congregations while I am here. I have been a part of a congregation that has done this, and I think it is a beautiful process to be a part of. I turn in the scholarship application  this week, so we'll see where that takes me.

So clearly I'm keeping busy, which is why I'm so much looking forward to next week. One way I keep my sanity and stay awake is by crocheting in a couple of classes that I was struggling with. Both are great classes, but I do not need to take many notes in them, and sitting still that long will still put me to sleep. So I am going to be crocheting granny squares throughout those classes for the rest of the semester, and we will see what I can make out of them when I am done. It's another adventure in itself.

Now, I am going to see if I can't make Monday a very productive day and catch up from the things I didn't get done this weekend, due to car shopping.

A Quick Update

It is absolutely beautiful outside today. I'm sitting here with my window open and it is lovely.

Spring is arriving, and it has taken me a bit of time to figure that out. But I have not needed my coat the past couple of days, which is weird, and I really only need my heater on at night. On Friday I went to my first bonfire of the spring, and I had almost too much of a good time.

I am looking forward to spring break in a couple of weeks, though, mainly because it will mean that one of my classes will be over and I will have a lighter schedule. I'm keeping pretty busy with my homework (hence the late blog) and taking the responsibilities of one class will be good. That will also mean that I will actually have a couple of hours off on my marathon Tuesdays, and I believe that I will take that time for reading for fun or knitting or something like that. It'll be absolutely crazy.

This week, I have had a lot of opportunity to be part of worship, especially in reading, and it has been nice. I enjoy reading the Bible publicly, and I have done it at a couple of services at Trinity as well as for the first time at All Saints, my MIC site.

I have also been doing pretty well getting around car-less, due to the kindness of several friends who have either given me rides or lent me cars so I can get around. I still don't know everything about my car getting fixed, but I'm hoping to find out in the next day or so. I'm nervous about Boaz's fate, but I will handle it however it comes.

Lent has been interesting so far. I gave up binge-watching Netflix for the season, and it has been interesting to see how much time I would spend on in now that I have given it up. I have been reading more, and I have been getting my homework done easier. Maybe this will be a habit I keep up after Lent is over as well. It's lovely to go to chapel regularly during the season, and I am looking forward to seeing what other kinds of services we have over the season. Today we had a beautiful service of healing which included anointing and the laying on of hands.

Now I am off to write a final paper for my Music in the Contemporary Church class, and then I will be practically done with one of my classes for the semester!

Peace,
Kathryn

Bumps in the Road

Alright, I think I'm ready to be done with big events this semester.

I'll start off with that. This morning, I was heading to church, to be an usher for the first time actually, and the roads were fine, even though it was snowing. I knew it was supposed to get worse, but at the time everything was completely driveable. Unfortunately, halfway to church I just hit one icy patch that spun me out and I ended up colliding with another car and ending up on the side of the road. Both I and the other driver were fine, but that meant a long morning on the snowy side of the road dealing with the aftermath of that. Boaz, my car is going to a repair shop tomorrow, so we'll see how bad it is and what happens next with that.

It was a rough morning, but at least everybody was fine, and the woman I collided with was incredibly understanding. We actually hugged before she left. And, funnily enough, friends from the seminary saw me on their own way to church and texted me saying that if it was in fact me on the side of the road I could call them for help. It was good to be able to get a ride from friends and have help offered before I even was able to ask.

Thank goodness the rest of the week has not been as eventful. My classes are still going fantastically, and I can't believe how far into the semester we're moving. We're moving right through the Reformation in History, learning a new set of verbs in Hebrew, and just about done studying the primeval history stories in Old Testament. I am still loving all my classes, and the only problem is that there's too much to do and too little time to do it. I've been teaching myself to speed read a bit, and I'm also having to occasionally make decisions about what to read and what to just skim. I'm keeping up with things, though, and I'm hoping it doesn't become too overwhelming.

Another interesting thing this week was a trip I was a part of yesterday. A group of us drove up to Canton to see the Saint John's Bible at the museum. This Bible is a beautiful, illuminated Bible made in recent years and written in English. The calligraphy itself is beautiful, and the illuminations are amazing. Many different artists were used to create them, and they showcase absolutely beautiful images of the stories of the Bible. I would like to eventually own a copy of the whole Saint Johns Bible, but it will probably take quite a bit of time to collect.

Next week we as a church move into Lent, and I am very much looking forward to it. I love the season of Lend and the Easter season following it, and I think it will be lovely to be going through it within my seminary as well as at All Saints.

I'm ready for my bumpy beginnings to be over, but the good is still far outweighing the bad. I have been feeling incredibly well over the past couple of weeks and I think things will continue to be mostly good.

Now I am off to catch up on some reading and watch the Oscars with Silas.

Peace,
Kathryn