Back at it Again! - Asbury Year Two

Greetings!

My summer at home in Indy is officially over.  I had a good summer, I worked as a standardized test grader for the first two months, and spent the end of the summer taking Free Methodist History and Polity online to help me as I work towards ordination with the Free Methodist Church.  I even got to preach at West Morris Church, which was a fantastic experience!
Now however, it's time to get back into the groove of things.  It’s the end of week one of the fall semester here at Asbury Seminary, which also means that according to my tradition, it’s about time for me to send out a Mara Report!  If you are curious, this is just a little life update about how my life is going and what my semester looks like so far.  As always, feel free to pass this on to anyone who is interested, and to read as much or as little as you want to know.

Big News!

I’m going to start with the big exciting news for me this semester. I’ve been invited to be the Lead Chapel Intern for the seminary chapel office this year!  I initially was invited to apply for and then join the chapel team at the end of last school year.  As I prepared to return to Kentucky after my summer at home, I was really looking forward to participating in the behind-the-scenes aspects of chapel, helping with planning, set up, and service during the services.  I even came back to Wilmore a few days early so that I could go on the chapel team retreat and get to know the leadership and other interns that will be part of the team this year.  The day after the retreat, right after I had finished moving my stuff into the dorm, I got a text inviting me to come by the office where I was offered and then accepted the lead chapel intern position!
I am super excited about all of it.  I’m still going to be doing all of the tasks of a regular chapel intern, but as the lead intern I will also be in charge of a lot of coordinating tasks, most notably scheduling the chapel interns for roles during chapel services and inviting students from our community to pray, read scripture, and help serve communion every week.  It’s quite the adjustment considering I am still trying to learn everything that is involved in each role!  I have a really good support system however.  I’m going to be working pretty closely with the worship coordinator in charge of our team and our director of chapel, the amazing Jessica LaGrone.  I’m really looking forward to working with them both, and with all of the other amazing chapel interns!

Classes

Inductive Bible Study

Big, unexpected news aside, classes for the semester started this Tuesday, September 3rd.  I’m taking three classes again this semester, two in person and one online.

In person class number one is Inductive Bible Study of Matthew, with Dr. Bauer.  Everyone on campus abbreviates it to IBS, which can cause some confusion for newcomers or non-seminarians who hear it!  IBS meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  There is one section of the class that meets 8-9:15am in the morning, but I lucked out and got into the 9:30-10:45am class section, so I get to have a slower start for my mornings.  Dr. Bauer is very well respected on campus.  He has a reputation as super knowledgeable, and that this class with him in particular is very rigorous, but will also teach you so, so much.  Having been in class with him twice now, I can see how that reputation is well-earned.  So far we are focusing on methods of Bible study – what does it mean to be “inductive,” rather than deductive, and why do we need a methodology for studying the Bible anyway?  He’s already laid down some groundwork of how important it is to start with the text and let it speak to itself before you start applying specific lenses and analysis, as well as making a point that methodology and the guidance of the Spirit should not be contradictory or competing perspectives, but should both be present in our reading of a Bible passage.
All of that makes my brain and my heart very happy!  I think that this class is certainly going to involve plenty of work, and plenty of brainpower as I absorb and learn the massive amounts of information Dr. Bauer is going to be throwing at us, but I also think that it’s going to be really valuable, and that his style of teaching is going to mesh well with my learning style.  That’s nice after some of the bumps I ran into last semester!

Care of Persons

Class number two this semester is Care of Persons, which is in person with Dr. Martin Mallory.  This may surprise a few people, since I was originally signed up for Church History part I instead, but when my Church History class got canceled about two weeks before move-in, I swapped in Care of Persons instead.

Care of Persons is taught through the counseling department.  It’s primarily focused on self-care and pastoral care and counseling.  M.Div students have to take either this class or Pastoral Crisis Intervention as one of our requirements.  I’ve heard good things about both classes, but there are a lot of students that really love to talk about how incredible Dr. Mallory is in this one, so I’m glad that I get to take Care of Persons with him.

The class meets on Tuesday evenings, 5-8pm, which is going to make dinner plans interesting.  One of the students suggested planning a schedule to bring in snacks every week, so I think that will be a nice bonus at least!  As for my impression of Dr. Mallory, (He asked us to call him Martin.  I’m working on it.), I think he’s going to be really cool to learn from.  He seems like he has a lot of energy, but he definitely also has a whole lot of experience with offering counseling and teaching these topics all over the world.  In our first class, he established that we are not going to be recording classes in any way, because he wants everyone to be comfortable sharing their experiences, even experiences that are painful or intense.  I think that this class is going to be very heavy duty on an emotional level, which I find a tiny bit intimidating, but mostly really exciting!  The professor is clearly very passionate about the topics we will be addressing, but also seems like a very experienced teacher, who is good at meeting students where we are at.  This is one of the reasons why I enjoyed taking psychology classes while I was getting my physics degree.  Anybody who spends that much time thinking about people tends to be pretty well equipped for a teaching position.

One takeaway I did find from this Tuesday, was that IBS in the morning with Care of Persons in the Evening, and chapel in between is a lot of information to take in.  I had already signed up for an online class specifically to avoid having three classes in the same day (again), but I have now also made the commitment to try to avoid doing huge amounts of schoolwork on Tuesday afternoons between classes.  I’ll probably use that time for things like meal prep or laundry, productive activities that still give my brain a little time to rest between absorbing massive amounts of (very cool) information!

Gospel Catechesis

That does lead me rather naturally to class number three, Gospel Catechesis, my only online class this semester.  In all honesty, I would rather be taking this class online, but I’ve decided that it’s worth it to me to take a class online in order to make my schedule less crowded and more flexible.

The class of Gospel Catechesis, as best as I understand it after a week, involves learning how to teach and foster spiritual learning and formation.  It’s not a class that I tend to hear a whole lot about on campus, but it’s also a topic that interests me a great deal. Based on the first week, I think that I will have a lot of reading and discussion posts to do for the class, which is nice in that it incorporates discussion into even an online class, but can be somewhat intimidating when I open a discussion forum, and find over one hundred unread posts in the thread.  I’m hoping to push my classwork for this earlier in the week this semester, “scheduling” my online classwork for Mondays now that Labor day is out of the way, so that I have a better chance of keeping up with the discussion a bit rather than coming into the conversation later, after I’ve made it through my busy Tuesday classes.  It’s a work in progress, but I’m looking forward to the class and the books we will be reading for it.

Seminary Life

Beyond the classroom and the chapel office, things are going well.  I’m still living in the same building in women’s single housing, but I’ve moved up a floor to live with three girls that I met and became friends with last semester.  Moving back in was a bit of a hassle, but I’m mostly settled in by now, and I’ve gotten to have a lot of fun interactions with all of my roommates.  I think that we are going to have a lot of fun this semester!

It’s also been fun just getting settled back into the campus community.  I have spent so much of the last two weeks catching up with friends from last year and getting to know some of the new students.  The lead chapel intern thing has been a helpful push to motivate me to go out of the way to get to know more people, and to make the new students feel welcome, but I’ve also had the chance to pick up where I left off with a lot of old friends.  It feels like a really nice balance!
One of my favorite things has been walking into both of my in-person classes this semester, and realizing just how many people I know in each classroom.  It really brings home the sense that I am a returning student this year, not a newbie, which is a very comfortable place to be!  Plus, second year is nice because I don’t have to know what I’m doing with myself after graduation.  I just get to dive back into an environment where I feel comfortable to learn and grow and enjoy my time in this place.  I’m excited to see what the rest of this semester and year will bring, and to see how God is going to work on this campus and in my life.

Spring 2019 - Off to the Races Again

Hello, and Happy Valentine’s day everybody!

It’s the start of a new semester here at Asbury Seminary, so I’m just typing out an update on how things are going.  In general - I had a great semester last semester, a wonderful winter break at home with my family, and I’m now excitedly jumping into a new set of classes, and you get to hear all about it!

J-Term

So, some of you may be a little surprised to hear that my Spring classes have just started in February, but that’s because Asbury has a J-term.  For 4 weeks in January the school offers intensive classes.  A few last the whole four weeks, but most are 1 week classes where you are in class every day from about 8 to 5.

I signed up for an intensive class this January called Women in Church and Society.  I really loved it!  My class met the last possible week in January, so we were expected to read all of the books and material ahead of time, and preferably complete all or most of the assignments ahead of time as well. I definitely didn’t manage that much, but I did do a lot, especially of the reading while I was home.  It meant that I had to spend a lot of time in the evenings after class finishing up homework.  The Intensive certainly lived up to its name!
Despite the intimidating pace, the class was a ton of fun.  My professor structured it as a discussion focused class, so we spent most of our time discussing the material we had read and the topics that we ran into on the way.  We had a great group for it too!  Our class was small, only 12 students, and it actually had more men than women, 7 to 5, plus our professor who is a woman.  Apparently she was as surprised as we were!  It was a good group though, and a really open and supportive atmosphere. Over the course of the week, everyone opened up about any number of personal experiences and sensitive issues, and it generated a lot of amazing discussion back and forth. We covered everything from Biblical understandings of gender and their historical interpretations to modern issues like women in the media, parenting and the workplace, and how American culture defines masculinity vs femininity.  A lot of the students in this class are currently serving as pastors in churches around the country, who came in to Asbury for this one week class, so it was really cool to hear them share about their practical experiences that most full-time Asbury students just don’t have yet.
For the last two days of class, everyone picked a research topic to present to the rest of the class.  I wound up presenting and then writing my final research paper on Islamic Feminism.  It was incredibly interesting, but also a very formidable challenge to learn about a topic that I knew nothing about going in.  I certainly wouldn’t call myself an expert now, but I’ve learned a lot about how Muslim women around the world are trying to understand and establish their roles in light of both their religious identity and egalitarian political and cultural ideals.  It’s a fascinating glimpse of a different world, and if you ask me about it some time, I would be happy to talk your ear off.

Bonus Break

Thankfully after a very exciting but also exhausting week of class, I had one week off before Spring classes started February 4.  I spent most of it finishing up my research paper, (my professor was able to push the due date back to the following Wednesday, thank goodness), and hanging out with one of my roommates, Kayla.  She had her birthday that week, so we celebrated by going out to see Mary Poppins Returns, and then coming back to make a cake. We had a lot of fun, and it was nice to get to hang out some without the craziness of classes hanging over our heads. 

Spring Semester

Finally, Spring classes started at the beginning of February.  Campus life certainly picked up as students flocked back to campus, and it was super nice to see people again and catch up with friends.  Soccer is even back in session, although I’m trying to be a lot more careful after I injured my ankle at the end of last semester.  It seems to be pretty much back to normal, the long break was a perfect way to give it a lot of rest, but I’m keeping a very close eye on it all the same.  Of course, the big excitement of a new semester is a new set of classes.  I’m taking thee again this semester, which is typical for seminary, and I think that they are going to be keeping me busy! 

TH601 - Theology of John Wesley

This seems very fitting, particularly since I
actually have this class today!

This is a class and a professor that I’ve been very curious about. My teacher for this class is known around campus as a big history buff and a huge Wesley fanboy.  I’ve really been hoping that that would click well with my own love of history.  After having a few classes with him, I think that we have somewhat different philosophies of how to do history, and how to handle personal bias.  I don’t think that this is going to be exactly the experience I was hoping for, but I think that I am warming up to him now that I have a little bit better picture of how his perspective influences his portrayal of John Wesley. 
I will say, I am very excited for the general topic of this class.  Since I don’t have much of a Wesleyan background myself, I don’t know much about John Wesley, aside from what I’ve picked up at a very Wesleyan seminary.  I’m already loving building a better picture of who this man was who found such a powerful and enduring movement, and I’m excited to understand more about his theology and how it influences modern denominational doctrines. 

OT501 - Intro to the Old Testament

Theology of John Wesley meets from 4 to 5:15 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, but Wednesday mornings I have to get up and get moving in time for Intro to the Old Testament at 8am.  This is a three hour class every Wednesday morning about the Old Testament, which is the equivalent of Dr. Keener’s New Testament class that I had last Fall. 
So far my professor, Dr. Cook, has been mostly focused on establishing our framework for understanding the history of the Old Testament.  We’ve talked a lot about why the Old Testament is still important, how the Bible was probably written, why Moses probably didn’t write the first five books of the Bible, and how scholarship over time has understood the role of the Old Testament, and the role of scholarship on the Old Testament.  Some of this is not super new to me, and some of it is.  We had to read about 50 pages for class this week on discrepancies in the Old Testament and how one scholar used them to date when the different books were written.  It was a very dense and difficult text, but I think it served a good purpose to make us think and look at how divine inspiration and human research and effort interact. 
I think that I’m going to like this professor and this class.  He has been doing an excellent job of presenting many different viewpoints respectfully, even as he explains why he believes the evidence supports his own scholarly opinion, and he seems very focused on encouraging us to question and understand what we know and why we know it.  I’m a fan of that!  I’m looking forward to seeing how this perspective is going to come into play as we shift to more of a focus on the actual Biblical text as opposed to its history. 

MS501 - Missional Formation

Finally, on Wednesday afternoons after Old Testament, Chapel, and lunch, I have my third class, Missional Formation.  I feel like, at least so far, this class has paired really well with Intro to the Old Testament, which is fitting since I have it on the same day and in the same classroom.  So far both classes have talked a lot about the overarching narrative and themes of the Old Testament, with Missional Formation naturally focusing in on the missional components.  My professor has spent a lot of time in the missions field, but he also clearly has spent a lot of time thinking about the larger perspective on missions, what mission means, and how missions interacts with all kinds of different fields of Biblical study, which is really cool.  I think he is also just a really good teacher, and he has already done a great job of pulling our class into discussions of missions on a theological and practical level.  I am going to admit that I’ve had a little trouble focusing in this class since it comes at the tail end of 8 straight hours of focused activity, but that doesn’t stop the class from being a good one, and I know a lot of people in the class who can help poke me if I start to drift away.

Really, it’s been fun this semester to realize how many friends and people that I know and recognize are in all of my classes.  I have people I eat lunch with and talk to before class starts, and run around and have adventures with on occasion.  There is a girl in my dorm who moved in over January, and as I’ve met her and talked with her, it’s been kind of a nice reminder of how far I’ve come since arriving last August.

Other Odds and Ends

Let’s see, what else has been happening. 
For church this semester I have switched it up and have been attending Calvary Free Methodist Church instead of Wilmore Free Methodist.  Calvary is about 20 minutes away, near Lexington, and it’s much, much smaller that the Wilmore church, but it’s got a great atmosphere and community, and I feel like I’ve already been able to make some really great connections.  I went to a women’s breakfast at the church last Saturday, and I kind of feel like they are just accepting me as one of their own.
It was actually kind of funny, I think it was only the first or second week that I’d been attending this semester, a church member actually backed into my car in the parking lot!  It did absolutely no damage, I think he must have just barely tapped it, but he wound up inviting me out to lunch with him and his family to apologize.  There’s one way to get connected!

I’ve also already gotten to serve in chapel again this semester.  Instead of reading the scripture, I was invited to pray for chapel this past Tuesday.  Dr. Tennent was preaching again, the next section of his spirit-filled life series.  I really enjoyed preparing and giving my prayer, and was happy with how it went.  I wrote out a rough draft of what I wanted to say, and then sent it to the chapel office to make sure that it sounded good.  I got some great feedback, both compliments and recommendations, including from Jessica LaGrone, the director of Chapel who I just have so much respect for as both a human being and as an amazing, amazing speaker.  I’m very happy in case you couldn’t guess.

Today is a Thursday, so I don’t have a whole lot going on.  I’m typing this in the library before I have to go to class at 4.  It’s nice to have a slower day after my non-stop Wednesdays.  Lunch today was rather eventful however.  For valentine’s day, the cafeteria was handing out certificates for free food for people who either asked someone out on the spot, or who sang to their significant other.  For some reason people were not super anxious to do either of those things in front of the entire cafeteria, but over the course of lunch we were treated to some lovely karaoke, including an epic Timon impersonation for, “Can you feel the love tonight,” and one of the girl’s at my table breaking out in a “My Friends” version of “My Girl” to win a family Pizza party for our family of friends.  Talk about Valentine’s Day fun!

I hope that all of you are feeling the love today, and that you enjoyed reading about my Seminary Adventures, season 2!
May God bless you and keep you, and make His face shine upon you.