Response To Last Thursdays Post

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all!

Since my post last Thursday I have received many comments and have taken place in several conversations. This has been a very awesome experience for myself but I can honestly say that I was but a mere vessel for the delivery of this message. I am truly humbled by the comments and conversation. I pray that the Lord continues to guide us all and remind all that we must always remember the One who has sent us all.

Peace,

Jason

"It is an interesting time to be in seminary" this quote or phrase should I say has been coming about a lot during the past few weeks. There is a great deal of truth in this statement. Our nation is in a recession, there is the so called "white elephant" in the room from the August Chruchwide Assembly and as always our world as we know it is constantly changing. People are questioning why they are here when facing Greek tests and History tests along with financial difficulties and where they stand on certain issues. We are being challenged with every turn, asked to take a look at our spirituality and on top of it all balance studying and reading. Hmmm I wonder what this is preparing us for? Perhaps public ministry in the church? Many of us are getting a true taste of parish ministry even though we are not ordained or for that matter only beginning our academic studies. One thing that is becoming even more apparent is that even though we might be cast into the wilderness we must not lose hope or faith that we must hold strong no matter what and remember the one who has sent us.

Peace,

Jason

A Truly Interesting Time

Good Evening!

Let us pray,

Lord let the meditations of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be fruitful unto you this day O Lord,

Amen.

It is indeed a truly interesting time to be in seminary. The world is changing! Unless you have been living under a rock your entire life this is no surprise. The world is always changing whether it be year to year, day to day, hour by hour or minute by minute. If I may draw upon philosophy for a brief moment and make the claim that with every thesis there must be an antithesis which forms another thesis and the process continues. In another sense one chapter begins and another has been finished. Our lives are filled with crucifixions and resurrections. Christ himself died and rose again! For many cradle Christians we often take this for granted and overlook our own crucifixions and even our own resurrections. This can become a very unhealthy thing as we try to follow Jesus. The church is also going through many changes as I write this post from my dorm room overlooking Christ Chapel. As I look out my window I am reminded of the stain glass windows. The main theme for the windows is a descending dove. This is also reflected within the LTSS emblem. This is taken from God the Father descending during Christs baptism. With this I am reminded of my baptismal waters. Just how deep are we in the baptismal waters? I cannot even begin to answer this question for myself but only hope by grace I am at least ankle deep. This does not mean that I as a Christian do no fully believe or recognize the creeds but simply that I truly am green in my Christian sojourn. I can say with the utmost conviction that I do not know everything, that I speak without authority and conviction without first recognizing the one who has sent me. God has chosen me, you and the whole Church for his divine plan. How amazing is this? Sometimes we can see this as imposing on "our" plans. Often this is when God brings down the proverbial hammer, two by four or whatever you might call it. Since I have never truly taken kindly to be repeatedly hit upon my head I tended to learn the first time. Another way we can look at this attention grabbing act is through Moses story in Exodus 3. For those of you good Lutherans this story is on the left hand side of the Bible ( I can make this joke as one of my professor's says because I am Lutheran). In this story Moses is called by God to lead his people out of Egypt. The fact of his leading the Hebrews out of Egypt should be put aside for this is not the focus. Rather we must focus on Moses and Gods way of grabbing his attention. Moses sees a bush consumed with fire but it does not burn? How crazy a notion, wouldn't you at least have to stop and say "what is up with this?" I know this would be the case for me. What bushes are burning in your life? What bushes are burning in society? What bushes are burning in the parish? What bushes are burning in the Church? It could be a simple thing such as reaching out to those who need an ear to listen. This could be as large as the churches recent decision in August. I will not and I repeat will not take sides within this post or publicly. So for those of you reading this post you may take a deep breath for there is no reason for me to sway you either way on the issues at hand. The only issue I will bring up is are we truly following Christ in everything we do? Would it be following Christ if we bicker on either side of an issue and hurt our brothers and sisters in Christ? I truly do have more questions than answers and with this I leave you with.

Peace,

Jason

Good morning from Southern Seminary!

It's a cloudy day in South Carolina, football is in the air, cookouts are being planned on campus, and studying is commencing for Greek and History. We are entering into what Dr. Everret calls the spin cycle weeks 5-9. Midterms kick this off and finals end it. The pressure is increasing and stress is elevating when trying to balance field education, reading, studying and fellowship. With this said the only balance we have during these weeks is the cross of Christ. Things during these weeks seem to be out of balance and we are told to just hang on! Within our furious studying and worries the one thing that we can rely on is the cross which is the only thing we can cling to in times of transition and stress. This applies to life, no matter what the situation. In life we can worry about finances, paying the bills, work and family but with these dynamics of life Christ will and is always there for us no matter what. As Christians we are called to pray when others cannot, to witness when others don't feel "up to it" and others are called to do the same for us when we feel down trodden and lost others are called to be there with us to stretch out the hand of Christ.

peace,

Jason