Six Things I have learned in Seminary Thus Far....

"Seminary Ain't Bible Study"~Rev M. Allen

1) Contrary to what the old men said to me during the Men's Retreat in October (ie it’s the cemetery) this isn't a cold non spiritual place. There are "really saved" people (and even that classification is starting to be problematic for me) in this space. Interesting enough, a lot of the dialog here both in the classroom and in general revolves around my spiritual formation and developing my relationship with God during this journey. Nobody has "taken away my Jesus" but actually got me to think deeper about my relationship to him both within and outside of my own theological box. Conversely, Seminary isn't anti church. In fact I have yet to meet a person here who looks down on the church or non-seminary trained folk. This isn't to say that people like that aren't here, or that everybody here is a true believer (hell cause you find this outside of Seminary) what I am saying it isn't this cold, soulless place where we intellectualize God...although we do think intellectually about God.

2) THEOLOGY MATTERS! I know a modern refrain (esp. in Black Christian spaces) is relationship over religion, relationship over theology etc. but I am learning that this kind of thinking, in my opinion, falls short. Theology, to put it simply, is your operating system in the faith. Do you believe in retribution theology? Liberation Theology? Orthodox Theology? Hell if you say "I just do what God says" then that’s your theology. Your operating system will determine how you act out your FAITH and as such how you (me..us) shows the presence of God to others. Yeah, theology matters big time. Every question, every conversation is framed along the lines of "Where is God in this" and "What's the theology behind it."

3) A mentor told me before I started Seminary that "It ain't bible study or Sunday school". Nothing could have been truer. This is graduate level biblical studies. In essence your churches series on say lust really ain't gonna fly here. I'm not saying toss away your Sunday school lessons per se, I'm just saying that "what Pastor had said" is not gonna get you very far.

4) Denominations aren't evil. Prior to Seminary I thought of denominations as gang banging for Christ. But having met and talked to a few folks, having begun to truly understand the rationale behind them they seem pretty cool. I'm still unsure if its something I'd do but I can say I have a much greater respect for them.

5) The Faith has a history that pre dates Constantine and the Catholic Church. I kinda knew this already and I'm not saying Nicaea wasn't an important event but there is at least a couple hundred years of history before it got co-opted for the Romans. When you learn about the great persecutions that befall the early church mothers and fathers (yes the church had women leaders in the first couple of centuries as it was developing as an institution. We got this woman pastor thing all wrong today. Totally.) by the Romans you realize there was a history and culture that pissed the status quo off and was quite different from the system that say gave us the Crusades.

6) Pastoral Care IS my calling, but that joint is hard. I've had to learn new skills and adapt to new paradigms quickly. This is my hardest class and the one that has blessed me the most. I'd be all day talking about this class but I can say God is in that classroom as I learn the art and science of helping people in a Christ like (and professional) way. :-)

Giving Honor to my Creator, Who is Forever Praised, Amen

In Truth and Transparency,
TLT
3/4/2014
1:29pm