Seminary

We live in a hard time economically filled with many choices.  How can we make life better for ourselves, those we love and live with and our larger community.  That desire to serve others is one of the main forces that drives some folks to try seminary, believing that a connection between faith and daily life might be a vocational call.  As with all calls it's not exactly what we expect when we undertake the journey at the beginning.  I loved seminary - all three of them that I attended.  It was a challenging time, stretching my intellect, expanding my personal faith through the adventure of the integration of head-learning and heart-convictions, theo-speak and God-experience.  And yet what would have been more helpful that another Greek class, history class, or lecture would have been a basic business class, an Adobe Software Suite course, basic accounting, a marketing seminar and a season of community organizing.

We often think - or hope - that we can change the world through our service, example and commitment.  Oftentimes it's unfortunately the world that changes us when we are confronted with the loneliness, impossible vastness and relational triangulation of clergy work.  Yet each vocation has challenges, costs and benefits.  It's easy to second-guess what we've chosen, to fall prey to the all-too-easy-trap of suspecting that the grass is greener elsewhere.  What's harder is to enjoy where we are, laughing with the good and hard, celebrating the grey.  On twitter this week I stumbled across this humorously clever and wickedly sarcastic video someone made about seminary and the earnest hope we all share (wether in seminary or elsewhere) to go out and change the world.