Coincidences, - I met a member of the COM (that's Commission on Ministry) while on retreat at Mt. Calvary. I shared that I was getting ready to go to Fuller to start my M. Div., at which she said rather curtly (she's a nice lady though) - "The COM takes a dim view of anyone who goes to seminary without letting COM know". If I weren't at the monastery and the Holy Spirit wasn't doing His magic, I would have just lost it.
Actually, I probably would have said something to the effect of - well where else am I supposed to go for rigorous Christian formation? Don't get me wrong, Trinity Cathedral is an awesome place and sometimes has great formation programs. I'm privileged to be part of one of the best - EfM. This is a great program, and there have been others. However, given my call to really minister to people and a strong avocation for theoretical theology, I wanted to go somewhere where these needs could be met.
It just bugs me that in the Episcopal Church and some other mainline churches that Seminary is supposed to be one big secret accessible only to the vetted elite. All of the big books about hermeneutics, exegesis, theology and all that are locked up so Priests will have an unending source for useless, pedantic, innane humor in their sermons (sorry, that was a cheap shot ...).
The point of the matter is that some of us (yes few, but some) want a theological education to make us better ministers of the Gospel in our own context as laity. For example, as I relayed to my parish priest, my call is to teach and counsel, not so much to do work at the altar. COM doesn't really want anything to do with people like me (that is people who aren't gunning for the Priesthood or Diaconate), and yet they would take a dim view of the fact that I want to learn about my faith and a discipleship life in an academic context? (Or actually, do they take a dim view of me going to a Seminary that rejects the Bultmannian approaches to a de-mythologized theology that makes Christianity so watered down that it's useless?)
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The Third Sunday in Lent – a reflection
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1 comment:
Amen, brother. If the church expects people to have a pretty piece of paper in order to minister, it better make damn sure they can afford that piece of paper!
The RC church would kill for the amount of passionate lay people we have aspiring to ministry.
Instead, we turn our noses up at them and throw a pitiful amount of financial aid at them. "Here's $2,000. Go buy yourself a nice class."
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