Holy Week and Life at Seminary

For those of us who are Christians this week is probably the second most important week of the entire year next to Christmas and the birth of Jesus. We are in the midst of holy week, which consists of Maundy Thursday where we remember and reflect on the event of the last supper and the time Jesus spent with his disciples before being crucified. The next day Good Friday we gather to hear the passion story and remember and reflect on the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. Some churches will choose to do an Easter vigil Saturday night followed by Easter worship Sunday morning while others choose to just stick with the Easter morning service.

The events that we remember and reflect on during this week give a significant amount of meaning too much of our Christian faith. Normally I have found Holy Week to be a very contemplative spiritual time. I usually come away from feeling spiritually full and ready to live out a Christ centered life.

However this year as been different. We are nearing the end of the semester just a quick four weeks away (Yikes I am almost done with my first year of seminary!). We where also notified on Maundy Thursday that the administration of the seminary has decided to eliminate the Dean of Students position as a way to balance the budget. This has been taken very hard by the student body and for me personally has made it very difficult to fully participate spiritually in Holy Week.

As I was talking with a good friend of mine back in Washington today about this announcement and some of the student organizing around it I complained that I was tired of always being part of organizations that needed so much change. She gracefully reminded me that just about every organization and institution has room for change so I better get use to it. I guess I did get a college degree in a program that has prepared me for social change and has equipped me to be that change agent!

As I sat down at my desk to spend some time reflecting on this phone conversation and a meeting of the student body that happened earlier in the day I read this verse from Psalm 138 v 8 that is inscribed on a cross that was given to me as a graduation present “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love O lord, endures forever”. I read this on a somewhat regular basis as a reminder that I have been called to be here. But today out of all the rest this verse had significantly more power. It reminded me of why I felt called to ministry in the first place. I believe I am called to ministry because of my ability to see the possibility for change and to make that change happen.

So I will try and remember this in the next couple of weeks as my fellow students and I have to be the ones to ask the tough questions and do the hard work of social change.

I would like to end by asking all of you to in what ever way you choose to do this please keep myself and the community of the seminary in your minds, prayers, thoughts, etc.

Peace and Love

Tony

"The Coming" by R.S. Thomas

I was really stricken by this poem shared with us at our mid-day chapel today. It provides a good reflection as we enter holy week in anticipation of the resurrection! 

And God held in his hand

A small globe. Look, he said.

The son looked. Far off,

As through water, he saw

A scorched land of fierce

Colour. The light burned

There; crusted buildings

Cast their shadows; a bright

Serpent, a river

Uncoiled itself, radiant

With slime.

On a bare

Hill a bare tree saddened

The sky. Many people

Held out their thin arms

To it, as though waiting

For a vanished April

To return to its crossed

Boughs. The son watched

Them. Let me go there, he said

R.S. Thomas

Bellingham bound this summer!!!!!!

So as some of you may already know I am going to be Bellingham bound this summer!! I just heard back today from the Hospital in Bellingham and I have been accepted to their summer program of Clinical Pastoral Education so I will be a Chaplain there for 400 hours over 11 weeks Starting the last week of May!!

A wonderful example of Christians actually living out their Christian calling!!

This sunday started off just like any other Sunday in Seminary, I woke up with just enough time to make it to my teaching parish site in Berkeley (Lutheran Church of the Cross) however it didn't stay that way for long. This week the lectionary text was on Matthew 6:24-34 and was all about Jesus teaching that we need not worry about tomorrow. This is always a powerful message for a student who might be worrying about how they are going to get that paper done thats due at the end of the week, or if the financial aid check is going to arrive on time and cover all of their expenses. It was a really powerful message and I would suggest everyone take a look at that passage.

This was followed by a trip into San Francisco for a service of reconciliation and reinstitution at St. Francis Lutheran Church but Ill talk more about that in just a second. All of this was happening on a wonderfully sunny and relatively warm day and I had some extra time so I took the subway over to the city early and walked to the water front and enjoyed a great lunch before heading to the church.

When I first walked into the church I was amazed at the beauty of this church which is over 100 years old. I then was quickly engulfed by the energy of happiness and excitement that filled the space. St. Francis had been for a lack of a better word kicked out of the ELCA because they had ordained two lesbian pastors and did so knowing that they would be facing an uphill battle. The congregation choose not to let this hinder their efforts to minster to those that have been ousted by the church and continued to be a strong example of living out their christian calling of radical love and acceptance. After the decision of the 2009 church wide assembly of the ELCA to ordain gay and lesbian clergy the door became open for St. Francis to consider becoming a part of the ELCA once again.

It was a great thing to experience especially since one of my biggest issues with the church is its all to often used ability to exclude and cast out. In Bishop Mark Holmerud's homily he used the analogy of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) and talked about how it was like St. Francis was coming home or was it actually like the ELCA was the son finally coming home? The whole morning I had been thinking about how wonderful it was going to be to have the community of St. Francis as part of the ELCA again and indeed it is! But isn't it even greater that the community of St. Francis has welcomed me and the rest of the ELCA back home! After all it was the ELCA that sinned against of the people of St. Francis by not loving them for who they where.

All of a sudden I went from being the giver to being the receiver and it was absolutely wonderful! I came away from this service filled with hope that the church can indeed actually live into the teachings of Jesus and its christian calling! Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle talking about the service Article.

So as you can see I will occasionally post not on Friday's when I feel so moved to reflect so check back often!

Peace, Love, and Blessings
Tony

Hi from Berkeley

Hi,

I am glad to see that you have found my blog! I used this blog for a short amount of time while doing my undergrad degree at Western but eventually let the world get in the way of time for self-reflection. As I was going through my different website accounts the other day I found this old blog and had an epiphany! Last semester (my first here at the seminary) I was frustrated by my lack of self-reflection and wishing I had a way to do that and share it with others at the same time as a way to keep people connected. And then I found this blog site!!

So here is my grand plan which I hope I can stick with. Fridays are somewhat easy days with only one class and they happen to be the end of the week. So every Friday starting now I will take an hour to write a blog entry reflecting on something or somethings that where insightful for me that week. I am thinking this will mostly be things that I think will benefit others in their reading of the story, however they also might at times be reflective of the struggles that come along with being a graduate student. I greatly welcome your comments and conversation on anything I post, I firmly believe that conversation among people is one of the best ways to learn and grow.

Thanks for taking a look and I hope you will check back often to see what I have been up to on this adventure called life!

Peace & Love
Tony