Weekly post

Sept. 24, 2007

Dear friends,

Have just finished compiling a study guide from four contributors in our Old Testament study group, and in about 45 minutes am off to join in the first of two 2 1/2-hour study sessions for the exam on Wednesday. Meanwhile I have a paper and a presentation due next Monday in Matthew that have been receiving short shrift because of the exam, so they'll get more attention after Wednesday.

Whew. I remain grateful that the courseload is lighter this semester and am reminded that the work will expand to fill the amount of time available, or however that saying goes. Some days the juggling act is easier than on other days. Still, life goes on, with no pause buttons ...

Because of all the above, today's post is shorter, but I will be breathing more regularly after next Monday's 8:30 class, so I'll post then with a lighter heart.

Life, despite expectations to the contrary, is good.

Grace and peace,
Beth

Weekly post

September 17, 2007

Dear friends,

September is flying by. I will have the first of three Old Testament exams a week from Wednesday and first papers and presentations are looming. It continues to be extremely healthful to be taking only three classes instead of five. I'm continuing to lay the foundations for my senior project -- the faculty director's only concern was that I would have trouble coming up with enough separate books and authors for 90 selections. Um, no.

On Friday we turned in our statement of purpose and the name of our senior project advisers. I'm modestly pleased with mine. It includes a book cover with the title, "Faith Enough to Gather in the Chosen Place, Devotional for Autumn in Ordinary Time," and inside, an explanation of the purpose of the devotional and the reason for the title, which was chosen very intentionally. I'll spare you most of it, but here is an abridged version of the purpose of the project:

Statement of purpose: To create a daily devotional for autumn in Ordinary Time using selections from secular fiction and nonfiction. I propose to create this devotional to encourage the act of daily devotion, especially among individuals who might describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious," who might be new to the practice of daily devotion, or whose personal histories with the institutional church might otherwise discourage them from practices they associate with the institutional church. I also seek to encourage all who encounter this work to discover the holiness of the everyday and to treasure "found" sacredness.

If I haven't blathered on about this before (if I have, either skip or stay with me), it's making an enormous difference that in two of my classes there are only papers and presentations, no exams. My only exams will be in Old Testament, and they will not be cumulative. It's giving me an intriguing liberty in tackling the assigned readings and in how I am able to listen and contribute in class, as it also shapes my note-taking.

It also makes a huge difference that I really can keep family time clear of study time. That will change when I have papers due, of course, but my evenings and weekends have become more renewing for all of us. I'm also much more pleasant to be around now that I'm not studying Greek.

I'm keeping a long-distance friend in my prayers this weekend: she should find out by Monday whether she will get a congregation that has interviewed her. Trudy and I "met" online in my very first div school class, Reformation History offered via Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and she completed her degree work at Pacific Lutheran Seminary in Berkeley, commuting (!) from her home in Sacramento. She graduated in May and I've been holding her in my thoughts this summer as she's been going through the call process. She deserves a good church, and blessed will be the congregation that calls her.

And we got a modest amount of rain late last week! Blessed be.

Grace and peace,
Beth

Weekly post

Sept. 10, 2007

Dear friends,

You might notice something new on the right-hand side of my blog, where the links are. It's "my bookshelf," and it's a feature of Shelfari, a book discussion Web site to which I belong. As part of my profile there, I have listed a number of books that are special to me for various reasons. Most of them I have rated with a number of stars; the few that have a small green box to the lower right of the cover mean that I've included a written review. In some cases, the only picture available shows a blank gray cover. In that instance, single-click on the book to see the title.

I continue to be thoroughly enjoying my classes, especially the opportunity to dive more deeply into a few narrower topics than survey courses allow. In Matthew discussions the other day, we spent a good hour on a couple of small subsections of the genealogy that opens the gospel, discussing some fascinating insights into the women named: their commonalities, what that says about Matthew's Jesus, and portents of Matthew's kingdom language. I'm loving it.

Ironically, I'm having at least as good a time in Baptist History, where the hour and a quarter was consumed with a spirited (scuse the pun) discussion on infant baptism. A spectrum of opinion, an enthusiastic professor, and a collective lack of fear for jumping off the diving board made for a wide-ranging and theologically grounded talk that was really insightful. I think that signing up for this course might have been one of the smart moves I've made, she said modestly.
I'm planning to write my mid-term paper on creedalism. Buckle your seat belts.

Next week, I'll have the pleasure of visiting Old Salem with my parents and friends of theirs from Germany. I expect/hope that the weather will cooperate and am looking very much forward to the outing.

I've been asked to briefly "pitch" the new hymnal at the 8:45 service at church on the 16th and am really flattered to have been asked. I like the ELW very much and am pleased to be able to tell a portion of the church family that in this instance, change is a good thing! I plan to specify that the new-hymnal progress has been referred to as "renewing worship" from the very beginning, a testimony to the Lutheran church's history as being semper reformanda.

Till next week,
Grace and peace,
Beth

Weekly post

September 3, 2007

Dear friends,

Classes began on Wednesday, and now that I have made note on my calendar of the due dates of all my projects, term papers, and exams, I am reminded (!) that this is, indeed, graduate school. It's going to be rather a busy October. Still, what I'm plunging into is mostly stuff that I want to plunge into. It's nice to have most of the core courses behind me. Old Testament I, this semester, is the tail end of it, and even that is mitigated by knowing that I have a course transfer that exempts me from Old Testament II, since I took a challenging online course on Prophets and Wisdom Writing in the spring of 2005.

It was pleasing to be reminded why the professor teaching the Matthew course is one of my favorites. She is a top-notch New Testament scholar with a gift for setting assignments that invite us into challenges and deeper explorations of the material than we would have found on our own. There are only five of us in the class, and it's a real treat to engage with her in a seminar course. My only previous experience with her has been in a New Testament survey course with 30 other students, which changes the quality of discussion. As does the fact of it having been a survey course, which is necessarily more shallow.

I had my first meeting with my senior project adviser, who had sage advice on page layout and who has advised me to prepare -- as soon as possible -- a package with sample pages and to begin contacting publishing houses. At his suggestion, I am dropping the artwork that I had on my first sample page. Most devotionals don't use them, they often detract from the point, and since most devotionals are 5 X 8 or smaller, there's probably not room. Otherwise, he was very pleased with the sample page I showed him and indicated that while he was there to serve my work, he figured what I needed now was mostly to be left alone to get on with the actual writing. He said that as far as the writing went, it was clear I knew what I was doing.

And that's exactly what I need right now -- affirmation, a small amount of practical advice, and to be left to the writing. I'll touch base with him as needed. Whee!

I'm informally gathering a small group of women students over 30, and we're having a brown-bag session on Monday (yes, we have school -- the children don't) just to touch base and see how the first week went for everyone.

Grace and peace,
Beth