Yesterday I shared
a bit about my experiences that led me to the doorway of seminary. Today, I will share with you my two
experiences in seminary, which provided a foundation for and formation of my
calling. I received my Master of
Divinity from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. It was a time of great learning, challenge,
exploration, making mistakes (a lot of them) and growing (usually most from the
stumbles and bumbles of mistakes). I
went to seminary full-time. I enjoyed
the classes. If I had to pick, my favorite
was my New Testament classes because the professor was engaging and caring.
The joke among
pastors once we graduate and begin to serve the church is, “Seminary didn’t
teach me that!” This could refer
to filling the boiler on cold New Hampshire Sunday mornings, as I did in my
first calling. Or how to deal with a
grief-stricken parent at the death of a child.
Or how to preach Sunday after Sunday; where do I find the strength or original
content each week? Another insider joke
is that most pastors have three to five sermons in us that we repeat on a
loop. I will leave it up to you if you
find that to be true about me.
Eventually, I came
to understand that while I loved many of the tasks of being a pastor, my
favorite was Sunday morning and preaching.
I loved the art of crafting a sermon.
I loved the creativity that went into writing, the exploration of
Scripture, and weaving a connection begin the holy words in the Bible and God’s
holiness in our lives. This led me to
enroll at Luther Seminary for a doctorate program in preaching. Those are some of my fondest memories of my
education. Every summer for three weeks,
I would travel to Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Teachers would help us explore what it meant
to embody God’s word and share a meaningful message for the day. It was a time of growth and my mind felt heavy
with new ideas. It was during my
doctorate process that I left behind a manuscript and began memorizing my
sermon. This helped free me from words
on a piece of paper. My practice is that
I still write a full manuscript that I memorize each week. There is a wonderful dance between the work
of writing and memorizing and inviting the Spirit in as I speak the words on
Sunday morning.
I have heard it said
that a gift or calling is something you find life-giving that
others think is too difficult. For
example, I see someone sit down, play the piano, and sing, I think, “Wow, that
is impressive!!” I could never move my
fingers and my mouth at the same time. When I ask the musician about it, she will
say, “It’s nothing.” Part of the reason
is usually the person practices, just as I practice memorizing my sermon. But sometimes finding your calling from God is
an activity you find life-giving and comes to you. This is not to say that you never feel stress
when doing your calling. I know I am
still nervous on Sunday mornings. I know
musicians also have butterflies in their stomachs. I know teachers who don’t eat before
lecturing. The nervousness is
because we know we are doing something that is life-giving and where our
deepest prayer is to let God’s light shine through us. When we do what matters and makes a
difference to us whether that is music or quilting or teaching or listening or
being a nurse or sharing a sermon, we know something is at stake.
I hope in the
comment section you might post something that for you is life-giving. Or better yet, call me to talk. Maybe it is an activity someone says you are
amazing at and you think, “Really?”
Yes, really, it is amazing when you sing, play the organ,
lead a meeting, teach, help a child learn to read, listen to a Middle Schooler,
care for animals, garden, and even preach.
I pray you will
hold these words in your heart and God might move from them unveiling a calling
for you in these days.
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