Sunday, September 26, 2010

Time to play

I have finished my second week of classes, turned in one paper, am working on 2 more and need to get my CPE papers together for the psych interview next Saturday. This week I realized I was spending too much time studying, working and worrying about all the school work waiting to be done and I had not given myself any play time. I told one friend that I needed to play because all work and no play makes me cry, ...really.
     This is what I am going to do for playtime(s). After Friday class ends at 2:30 I am going to The Posse East and hang out with whoever happens to be there for however long I care to stay. The Posse is a bar at the end of the street where major theological discussions are continued, started or ended beween students, faculty and staff. Then at 4:00 I am going to the park for flag football practice. SSW and the "Presby's" (Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is in the same neighborhood) have a friendly and long standing flag football game every November. It's called the Polity Bowl and we are the "Thundering Thuri-bulls" (play on thurible: a metal container used for incense in a procession on high holy days). We have shirts with numbers and everything! SSW won last year for the first time in many years and we (the Juniors) are determined to win again. I'm the snapper, because I can't catch a ball to save my life-not so great at blocking either but they have a no-cut policy, just like all good Christian schools! My teammates have said they are going to nominate me for "MVP Snapper" - I hope I win!!! Look for the results after November 20th.
     Now I have a group of football buddies to hang out with and watch football-not anywhere close to being at Jordan-Hare on a fall Saturday but will have to do...We went down to the Posse to watch OU and AU but UT fans had swarmed the place after their embarassing loss to UCLA. I guess they were there nursing their loss. So off we went to the Weeks Center (student lounge) to watch the games. We watched the first half of OU, turned on Auburn and then headed to the Posse at halftime. My friend Jamie and I showed the Posse what AU fans do to support their team-and taught them all "War Eagle-Hey!" We will have them doing it and singing "it's great to be and Auburn Tiger" before the season is over! We need a care package of shakers if anyone is so inclined.
     You might wonder where seminary fits into all of this...well it really does. I am learning about creating new life and new community and who I want to play with. I thought of this poem as I was finishing this up. It is a perfect reminder for how life is, how it will be and how it can be if we remember what we learned when we were so young.

"ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. 

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don't hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess.
  • Don't take things that aren't yours.
  • Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
  • Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
  • Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
  • Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
  • And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

My first paper for seminary is finished...

...complete with footnotes, citations and a Bibliography. Do you know how many years it has been since I wrote a paper with footnotes and a Bibliography? Too many to own up to, sorry. The assignment was write an essay and use the hermeneutical circle to explore and interpret the text from Ezra1:1-4. Sounds simple and quick doesn't it? Well, it probably will be in 6 months. Right now it is a challenge to stay focused on the questions asked, to understand them and answer them.
The good news is the first paper is done and will be handed in tomorrow, then it is on to the next one. The next one is a short paper as a writing sample. I am looking forward to doing it and getting it back because it's purpose is to measure our writing ability and that is one of the skills I want to develop. I want to be a good communicator of the written word and want writing to be easier and more free flowing.
This blog has been lots of fun and good practice for my writing. I really enjoy writing this and coming up with catchy headers and creative topics that will let you all know what and how I am doing. I hope you will send me your ideas or questions about what you want to know as it will be more fun to respond to you.

"Guide us waking, O Lord and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.  BCP p.134

Saturday, September 18, 2010

If it's Saturday, it must be SEC football (even if I'm in Big 12 territory)

Try as I might, I can not do school work and watch Auburn football. The Auburn-Clemson game has just ended and it was vintage Auburn-Clemson football, a barn burner! Jordan Hare looked beautiful on TV - the blue out from Auburn and the orange of Clemson. This is the first time in 5 or 6 years that I have not been in the stadium for a home game and for the first time I was really homesick for my old life.

Auburn did not disappoint, they kept me on the edge of my seat and made me wait until the third quarter to see some of what they are made of. Funny thing, some things can't change-I was jumping up and down, running every yard with them and slapping my knee at mistakes and bumbles. There are at least 3 Tigers out here so I'm not alone. (Funny thing, the Development director for SSW is an Clemson grad and he was at the game.) One morning in chapel Rob Dixon had on an Auburn Tigers t-shirt. It took me a few minutes to remember that I not in Alabama anymore-an Auburn t-shirt is not a norm.

I have confidence it will be a great season, they grew up a lot tonight and it will be fun to watch them keep growing up. Cam Newton, Darvin Adams, Michael Dyer and Ontarrio McCaleb just some of the real deals and welcome back Zac Ethridge!

It is time to get some sleep so I will be refreshed to make up for the study, reading time missed tonight., it was worth it!

WAR EAGLE from Austin!

Friday, September 17, 2010

How does your garden grow?

I have just come in from an hour and a half of working to prepare a community vegetable garden for my Spiritual Formation class. Our class met with shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows and gloves in hand at the spot we are going to grow the vegetables. We started by scraping the weeds off the top layer, turning the dirt, building frames for the raised beds, and loading 12" of (really good) dirt into the boxes. It was amazing how we and it all came together. There are some members of the class who have no interest in gardening (Christine) and others love to do it; amateurs like me and serious sustainable gardeners like Jeremiah. Christine gets the good sport award, she hung in and contributed a whole bunch!! She gets the "Good Sport/Golden Shovel" award - YEAH Christine!

I love the garden and to garden, it is a thin place for me, it asks for my complete attention. When I get into the garden, I am aware of the dirt, the weeds, the sunlight, what plants are there already, what season it is. I ask, am I preparing the garden for planting and growing now or later? What will grow here or there, and with what companion plants? What fertilizer is needed? Where do I need to create beds and boundaries?   See a weed, pull it, dead flower, pinch it. Cut back the leggy limbs and branches to force bushier growth. Watch the garden grow, see how it grows, tend to it's growth. Weed it, feed it, water it, enjoy it.

I will have much more to write about my spirit as our garden grows. For me the garden is a wonderful place to explore my seasons of spirit, and a rich place to feed my soul. I always close the garden gate behind me with a sense of having created, loved, tended and nurtured the beauty of my little corner of God's world. It always make me smile. I know why God looked over all God created and said "it is good."

O Heavenly God, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him though whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen    BCP p 814






Thursday, September 16, 2010

Week One of classes is...

...finished. It didn't take long to get into the material, there are times when I feel like I am drinking from a fire hose.  The good news is I am getting a clue as to how the course material is weaving together; Liturgy I, Bible & Hermeneutics and Text & Context are winking at each other. I love the Liturgy class and so glad it is more than I hoped! We are looking at the symbolic meaning and historical context of our Eucharistic tradition and ritual. It is theologically founded and grounded in the basic human need of being fed. I don't mean this in a slight way, I mean it in the deepest and truest sense of being fed, eat bread.

My first seminary Saturday was spent as one might expect-reading a few hundred pages. It was a beautiful day so I could sit on my deck and enjoy the day. My neighborhood is pretty quiet so I could get a lot read. UT cranked up around 5 for a 6 pm kickoff. It was very Texas! They play all the real Texas country music   classics over the loudspeaker, time to kick it up in those cool boots! I heard that I could turn off the TV sound and listen to the PA at Royal Stadium, I didn't believe that was really true, but it is! I could hear the roars and every word from the announcer. I would look through the window at the TV and see what they were yelling about (7 second delay). Those Longhorns wore themselves out at the game so no need to whoop it up afterward on the street. (I am close enough to the stadium that people park on my street and walk.)

 I am assigned 2 Work Study jobs, one at the student run bookstore and the other as a member of the "Super Squad". In case you are wondering who the Super Squad is, we are the best dishwashers this place has EVER had and I happen to know that is a high standard! Between chapel, classes, study and work I have little time for much of anything else. I think I am getting into a study schedule that will work so I will have a little more time to go play. Good thing I had those 2-1/2 weeks before school started!

The biggest challenge is finding rhythm. It occured to me this week that this (really) has been more than picking up life as I knew it and moving here. I am starting all over with most everything. I don't have all the staples in my pantry or fridge that I just had on hand. I do, however, have a community of kind and generous folks who understand. I know, with certainty, that I am not alone nor are they. It has been easy to become a part of the community and it makes the transition less awkward and lonely.

If I don't go to bed now and get some sleep the world really will be "all Greek" to me tomorrow! (Greek at 8:30 on Thursday mornings.)

Peace be with each of you this night.

Donna

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Persians, Babylonians...

...Israelite, Israeli, BCE, leitourgia, Schemann, pre-exilic, , STP, Assyrians, liturgical theologians and The Hermeneutical Circle. Just a bit of what I heard today and this is from only 2 of the 6 core courses, no more fun in the sun for me!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Tomorrow is the first day of school

Here is part of a message from a dear friend (retired teacher) who wanted to "wish you good luck as you begin the academic part of the experience. Get a good night's sleep and eat a good breakfast...polish your boots and fill your lunchbox...sharpen your pencils, etc.....
All I have left to do is lay out my clothes! Oh, the days...

"Ice cream for breakfast"

We had so much fun at Mo Ranch. Tony Baker (Theology), Micah Jackson (John Hines Chair of Preaching) and Jana Strukova (Spiritual Formation) were the professors/advisors who designed this time for us. No rules, "we are adult learners and if we want ice cream for breakfast, we can have it". Except the kitchen locked the ice cream freezer until lunch so we really couldn't have ice cream for breakfast ~ bummer. That's OK, I now have a new perspective; Live life like you have the choice of ice cream for breakfast.

One of the main attractions is an old fashioned metal water slide and you use a wooden sled to ride down. It is probably 2 stories high and the slope looks very gentle until you are about 1/3 the way down and you begin to pick up speed-a lot of speed! If I can get some pictures up you will see sheer terror on my face! The first ride I ended up with a mouthful of water and I came up sputtering. Of course I wanted to do it again, so I did! It was too much fun!  I was asked, "You went down that slide? You bet. I didn't come all this way not to go down the slide!"

There was a group who opted for the Ropes Course and I was sorry I didn't sign the waiver for that. One of them was The Big Gulp. You are harnessed in, pulled up to 52' and let go to fly, Peter Pan fantasy fulfilled. The others I would not have done, climbing a 25' telephone pole, standing on top of it and jumping to catch a trapeze. The other was climbing a rock wall, I don't have enough upper body strength to do that

The Ropes Course is at the top of a mountain near the Chapel on the Hill. The views are really something-well worth the hike. It was dusk and I stopped at the Chapel on the Hill  to take it all in and I noticed at least 10 vultures circling, quite low I might add; vultures are very present in the Hill Country. It was kind of creepy and I so decided to move on. Later in the week I was talking to my friend Jennifer who has an interest in Native American spirituality and she told me vultures are symbols of renewal and resurrection. They were welcoming me to my new life, that is pretty cool and very powerful.

We played games, sang songs, talked, walked and got to know each other a little better. I am a part of a very special class who will do great and wonderful things here at SSW and beyond. It is exciting to be in the midst of this moment in time God has called us to be a part of. 
In anticipation of all that is to come and all that will be...

Monday, September 6, 2010

Texas Hill Country

For the last 10 or so years it has been the tradition at SSW to take the Junior class to Mo Ranch just outside Hunt TX for a 2 day retreat; in the Texas Hill Country. The Hill Country is spectacularly beautiful, put it on your must-see list. Head west of Austin on 290 and the countryside begins to change to hills, sheer rock face cuts, open land with lots of horses, trees and some Longhorns.
Another tradition is to stop at the historic spot where Bishop John Hines (founder of SSW) is said to have been ordained to greatness-the Dairy Queen in Fredericksburg. 28 of us descended on the Dairy Queen and I'm not sure they have figured out yet what happened that afternoon! Fredericksberg is a lovely community with deep German and Czech roots and it is also the heart of Texas wine country. For you history buffs, we went through Johnson City, home to LBJ and past the LBJ Ranch.
When you take the Southwest turn at Kerrvile toward Mo Ranch you begin to travel along side the Guadalupe River. There is little to no river bank, many properties have stone/concrete patios built out into the river for diving and sunbathing. The river is a crystal green (think Gulf blue only green) and so clear you can see to the bottom at 15'. No muddy water and river grasses in this river! You go across low water crossings that have the 5' flood markers at the crossing; I think these are the places where horses ford the river. During the flash flood season (anytime it rains as they only get 15"-30" rain/year) it is recommended that you travel the long way from the north so you don't get washed away!
There is something magical about the region. One friend remarked, "I now understand why my friends from the Hill Country speak of missing and and loving it so much, it is beautiful here, it draws you in" . Unfortunately, I did not take my own pictures and can not figure out how to upload those that are posted on our SSW website. I will get someone to help me with that tomorrow and get some pictures up for you to see a little of what I am talking about. I will be writing about the retreat and getting that up within the next day, classes start on Wednesday. Liturgy I and History & Hermeneutics, light day for classes.