moving again!

for the few of you still reading, i am moving the blog. i'm going to put it back on my facebook page and probably start blogging more steadily since classes are over. visually i'm loving the wordpress interface so much more than the blogger one. plus i can use my own pictures for the header. wahoo! so head on over to: http://raquel41.wordpress.com/ 

it's even easier to type in :O) 

spiritual formation reflection...

Where are you experiencing God’s presence in your life and in your seminary work?
I’ve been struggling for four days with how to answer this question in a way that is not just a list of people, places, and events. I created a collage to help me express my first year of seminary, art is a fun way for me to try and figure some answers out. I’ve included the collage as part of my reflection, and I’ve also decided there is no real way around it, this reflection will be a little bit like a list. 
But lists aren’t always bad, lists of ingredients and instructions helped me make my first Red Velvet cake, our class syllabuses are essentially lists of expectations and readings, the bulletin to a Sunday service is an orderly list of events, I was near the end in a long list of performers in the Vagina Monologues, and even this reflection is on a list of things I need to do in the next five days. So lets tackle this list of lists one by one, as each item demonstrates somewhere I have found God with me this semester.
Red Velvet cake has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I’ve seen it several times each a slightly different shade of red. I can’t say as I’ve ever eaten it before this year, but as I had been invited to a potluck on Easter, with lots of genuine southerners, I felt I should try a southern dessert. I had planned on being at home for Easter, leaving Richmond in time to make it home for Maundy Thursday services and not coming back until the day after Easter. My plans were changed by my CPM and I found myself stuck here for the holiday. I was pretty sad about staying here, I’d been feeling a little isolated and not part of things, but the same day I found out I wasn’t going home for Easter, I was invited to a potluck with a bunch of other seminary students. As I made Red Velvet cupcakes from scratch I was struck by my circumstances and by how much God was really present, even in the events that seem to be unfortunate in the beginning. My missed trip home turned into a great time for fellowship, friendship and community building. All of which were watched over by God’s loving presence. 
During Holy Week I attended services at Ginter Park. I’ve been going there all semester long and I’m enjoying the chance to get to know another church community. It seems to be the easy answer to say that God is present at a church, but it’s true! Every week I walk down Seminary Ave, usually with another seminary student and then I get to worship with a whole congregation full of people who care about the life of the church. From the music to the children playing in the front of the sanctuary, I feel God’s presence each week I am there. 
A course syllabus can be a scary thing: readings, assignments, grade scales. All that expectation fit into just a few short pages. When I had committed to attending seminary one of the scariest things to me was Hebrew. All I knew about it was that it was totally different than anything I already knew, and that it would be hard. I was right on both counts, but what I didn’t expect was the powerful connection I felt with the language, nor the community that formed in our baby Hebrew class. As we spent the year learning the ancient language of our brothers and sisters and bonding over quiz accountability and Todd’s cooking, you could always feel God there. There was stress and anxiety as well as mystery and beauty, and through all of it there was God’s presence. 
A very different place I found God was in the performance of the Vagina Monologues. Working with such strong women, performing for such a good cause, and being supported by so many students, faculty and staff was an amazing experience. I got to know the other women in the cast much better as we bonded over saying explicit words in a chapel and our dedication to women’s rights. If God isn’t present in the fight for social justice and equality, I don’t know where God is! 
As should be apparent from the paper thus far, I’ve found God in expected places as well as unexpected ones. Almost every day, if I slow down to look, I can find the presence of God alive and well in my life. One of the things that Spiritual Formation class has helped me do this semester is to slow down and pay more attention to my own relationship with God. It’s easy to get caught up in the academics of seminary, but it’s just as important to be sure you’re nurturing your own relationship with God throughout the process. I’m thankful for the people and events that have helped me to be open to God’s presence this semester and I’m sure that as long as I keep my eyes open there will be many more moments over the next three years. 

WAHOOOOOOO

i was approved as an inquirer tonight!!! it's the first step toward becoming an ordained pastor :O) wahoo!!!

Becoming a Presbyterian Minister

Presbyterians believe that all persons are called to ministry in their communities, however particular forms of leadership are needed for the work of the church.  Presbyterians understand a call to ministry to have three parts: 1) an inner sense of call; 2) a community that tests this sense of call; and 3) a call from a community to serve in a particular place. 
 

A person who feels called by God to be a Presbyterian minister, known as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament, begins by expressing that desire to a church's Session (governing board). The person must be an active member of the church for at least six months before this can happen. If the Session agrees, the request proceeds to the Committee on Preparation for Ministry of the church's presbytery (regional governing body). There follows an "inquiry" period, during which the person explores the implications of becoming a minister together with the Session and the presbytery committee.  The inquiry phase normally lasts two years. Its purpose is to determine the person's suitability for ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. At the end of this phase, the inquirer must demonstrate personal faith, a sense of self-understanding, an understanding of the Reformed tradition, what it means to be Presbyterian, and an understanding of the task of being a minister. If the presbytery is satisfied, the person becomes a "candidate" for ministry. During this phase, full and intensive preparation occurs under scrutiny of the Session and the Committee on Preparation for Ministry. Routinely, candidates have a college undergraduate degree (usually four years) and complete a seminary degree (usually three years). In addition, candidates must pass national exams that demonstrate their competence in the fields of theology, Bible (including content and a working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew), church polity, and worship and Sacraments. The candidate is examined by the Committee on Preparation for Ministry and, after presenting a personal statement of faith and preaching a sermon, by the presbytery itself. If the examination is sustained and the candidate receives a valid call to ministry, the presbytery ordains him or her to the office of Minister of the Word and Sacrament. Only a presbytery may ordain a minister, not a congregation

the dogwood is the official flower of VA

reflection on holy week

I began this holy week on a real high note. I participated in a spectacular worship service that incorporated drums, dancing, singing and participatory reading of the lectionary.  It was full of life and joy and community. I’m going to a new church this semester, one I hope to attend for as long as possible. I’m starting to get to know the attendees who aren’t seminary related, and creating better relationships with those who are. It was a great service and I expected to end the week with services at my home church, getting home for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday services at my home church. I haven’t been home since January and really wanted to visit home, my friends, family and church.  On Tuesday I found out that I wasn’t going to be heading home until the 19^th. I was devastated. I know that it’s only about a week, and really what’s the big deal, but it was still hard. It was so hard to find God at work in this that I wrote it down as the place where God had been most absent for me this week. I feel a little disconnected at seminary, like I don’t have a group of friends to belong to, like I don’t have my own community. I am, of course, part of a greater community, but I still find myself feeling alone a lot of the time. I started to make my week busy, planning services to go to (there is no shortage during holy week!), a potluck to attend, research to do, and friends to drop off at the airport. I sent a friend an email saying I wasn’t coming home this weekend after all and she shot one back saying, in part, but you’ll get to experience holy week with your new church community, that has to hold some appeal, yes? And I thought, well of course it holds some appeal, but it’s still not home. I tried to shake off the cranky mood and went to chapel this morning. All during holy week they’ve been having chapel services at 7:30 in the morning, now most days this is just way to early for me, but today I had Hebrew at 8:30, and the president of the seminary was preaching, so I figured I would go. My roommate and I went and it was a beautiful service, complete with communion. The sermon was about being lost and about finding your way. President Blount told a story of getting lost in Philadelphia, and his son telling him to find his grandparents house, and then they would know where they were and how to get where they were going. The message to us this Maundy Thursday was to find the cross and from there find your way home. As I made my way to Maundy Thursday service tonight I was still feeling apprehensive, but looking forward to our soup supper, communion and foot washing worship. We ate and laughed and prayed and fed each other and washed each others’ feet. And I finally felt like I belonged.  I find myself grounded by my faith. I know that I am in a much better place when I am surrounded by a community of believers, and tonight I felt that way again. I have a long way to go to feel completely at home here, but I am starting to feel comfortable, and that’s saying a lot. As a pastor in training sometimes I look at the daily lectionary, knowing that sometime soon (you know, like next spring in class) I’m going to have to look at it and try and figure out what God is saying to me through the text. I know some days will be harder than others, but as I looked at today’s  morning psalm, it seemed easy, 27:1-14 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh- my adversaries and foes- they shall stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.  One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.  Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out of violence. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

 

Find the cross and then find the way home. Amen. 

happy april!

Hey! April is Donate Life month! A month to celebrate organ donors and to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. Because my dad is so cool, his hospital had him film a little commercial type thing for them about his experience with the transplant. 

this is my dad!

hellloooo

hello blogosphere! how are you? i've been wicked busy the past week, and that trend continues this week...i have a history paper, spiritual formation reflection, ethics midterm and hebrew quiz this week. and a 5k that i'm volunteering at on saturday. sigh. i'm exhausted already.  this past saturday was earth hour, and while we didn't have a huge crazy light turning out ceremony it was still fun to hang out in the dark and sing songs and eat dessert. boston.com (i think that's the globe) has a cool collection of some monuments and cities that went dark for earth hour. check, check, check it out! 

i'll try and write more later this week. love and hugs. r