Long time no....write.
I was amazed at how long it has been since I wrote anything here. Last year was quite something and I am glad that it is behind me, and my classmates. This year is all about looking forward - mostly looking forward to the end of that which began in late August of 2006.
This is our senior year. Supposedly the course load is lighter, although there is an awful lot of reading and writing of small papers. There are frequent meetings with the Chaplain to prepare us for the coming months and to prepare us to leave the nest. Of course in January (5, 6, 7, and 9) we will be taking the General Ordination Exams which every Episcopal seminarian takes across the country. Well, almost all of us. Some Bishops prefer to give their own exams. This sounds like a case of frying pan or fire to me. Then on March 7 my dear friend Jen (along with some other senior seminarians who have become candidates for Holy Orders) and I shall be ordained to the Transitional Diaconate. This is just what it sounds like...you are ordained a deacon, but only for a limited time. In New York it is usually six months...and then on to priesthood ordination. It is a busy, exciting, and in some ways frightening year. It is full of "firsts" and plenty of "lasts." In some ways I feel like I am ready to go from here and yet, and yet...maybe not. Maybe I could use another, oh, six years or so! But priesthood is beginning to sound a bit like nursing...you can learn just so much from the books and then it is time to get out there and appy what you have learned and keep on learning more and more.