Back to Classes!!!

I just completed my first few days of class back in seminary. I am surprised at the amount of enthusiasm that I feel, right now at least. Most of my classes are things that I really want to learn or have a growing edge on. Creating this blog is actually a requirement for my spiritual autobiography class. This class actually seems pretty exciting to me really because a fair amount of what we are doing is focusing on the process of writing itself as well as examining how people present themselves. And its actually quite fascinating really. So I have been doing a little research on blogs themselves, seeing what I can find. I must admit that I am glad to find that there are some good blogs on www.sojo.net and www.newyorker.com.

The fact that I can find these on the internet however doesnt replace the act of curling up with a magazine on my day bed at the end of the day with a cup of tea or a glass of wine right next to me while playing Mozart in the background. Maybe for having a heart for justice this can come off as elitist or not very enviornmentally responsible. Its not my intention. The act of reading something good at the end of the day that I can cuddle up with while consuming a favorite drink with my favorite music in the background is truly one of my definitions of bliss. Its something that the internet or a computerized machine will never replace. This is probably not really dissimilar to needing to keep a private handwritten journal when I have a personal computer. Not too different from my desire to find the man of my dreams by the means of something other than the internet and being willing to be single if that doesn't happen.

I am not completely resistant to the internet. I love netflix and amazon.com! I find email and facebook to be convinent forms of communication. I love how quickly I can pay bills online. The internet can be a useful research tool as I know how to evaluate sources. The internet in itself is not evil, but useful. Its just that frequently good intentions on the internet lead to curiosity about other things and suddenly much time is lost. So trying to restrict myself isn't necessarily a bad thing if I am to be disciplined!

Those are the musings that were prompted by my spiritual autobiography class.

As for word and sacrament, my liturgical class, this class is going to answer some of the questions that worship has frequently brought about for me. The project for today was writing my liturgical autobiography which was enlightening to me to the variety and depth of experiences that have been experienced in my short life. My personal question that will be the framework for questions for that class is this: in the age of religious pluralism and multiculturalism what elements need to be kept to be a Lutheran church? Being the daughter of two pastors who created their own mission church probably makes that an even more pressing question for me.

Public Ministry...what can I say? I know I like Tom Rogers. Its not a subject that I'm thrilled about in the same manner as my other classes. Yet my excitement for that is that it goes through things that I know are more of my growing edges when I think about the skills I need to know in managing a church.

And I have already praught at my teaching parish for the semester. I have already gotten together a lesson on the history of baptism for adult education at teaching parish.

Yet...I have two more classes left for the week! I will have to see how this goes. The serenity prayer says "God grant me wisdom to accept the things I cant change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference." This pertains to a lot of things, even time management. So I pray that prayer right now in trying to discern how I am going to make it through a crazy semester!!