One-Goal Games

Hello blog-readers and happy Friday! I am super excited that it is nearly the weekend for a number of reasons! First I get actual cases at work next week! Whoop whoop... good bye paperwork, hello kids! Second, it's Pocono Race Weekend and Hillclimb weekend... which means I will have limited hearing abilities and a whole lot of sunburn come Monday morning! And finally, I plan on playing a ridiculous amount of unofficial hockey this weekend! So, if you are a hockey player, come down the rink tomorrow at two! =)

One-Goal Games. Between the team I coach ("junior league") and the team I play on ("adult league"), I have had just about enough of these one-goal, close game, overtime and regulation losses. My kids have been working their butts off to lose three straight games by one goal, and my adult league team has lost four games by one goal, two of which were with less than five seconds left! Unbelievably terrible luck! Ugh... that changes tonight though! (Hopefully)

Pictures. I'll post more next week. =)

And so the weekend shall begin. I hope you enjoy yours! =)

#100

Greetings! This is official post number 100! Whoop whoop! For all of those who have read these posts from the beginning, I salute you--good work! This will be a relatively short, quick update.

CPM. I love meeting with this committee. There are some pretty awesome people in this group--friendly, funny, dedicated, humble, caring, etc etc. Oh, and they said yes to continuation of my status as inquirer. After I take the Bible Content exam in August, I will have to meet with them again. At this time, I hope to become a Candidate--so exciting.

Weekend in WC. It really wasn't the entire weekend... I arrived in beloved WC Saturday night and only stayed until Monday morning. I got to hang out with my college friends, which I haven't done since Christmas (which was shocking when I realized this). I went to church, spent the better part of Sunday with none other than DM (street fair, mall, and chinese food)--just like we used to do. We even got some Star Wars watching in while I was there! Fun fun fun.

Respite. My time in West Chester was also a time of rest for me. Rest from hockey. I didn't realize how much abuse hockey can do to your body until I woke up after a rest day and EVERYTHING was sore. I mean everything, too--back, arms, knees. When I got back, I went right back to the grind with a jr league practice, reffed a roller game, and then played in a roller game. I love it, though--every minute.

Weekends. My weekends are filling up with fun things, especially weddings, pretty quickly. I am trying to write in another visit to West Chester, but it may not be until late July. For all of you that I did not see and/or get a chance to talk to at church on Sunday, I hope to see you the next time I am in town. Until then, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know how you are doing! =)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summers! Peace.

CPM coming up!

I have no excuse. Absolutely none. It has been nearly two weeks since I have posted anything, and there is really no reason for it. I really don't go on my computer all that much since I don't have papers to write, or documents to download, or a bazillion emails to tend to. Now that I am on a computer... mostly just to download and print out hockey schedules for my team, I figured I would write a quick update.

Paperwork. My work is still pretty much only paperwork. This is quite boring and tedious. In about one week's time I am moving into more hands-on stuff, and in two weeks I should have my very own cases to work with! Yay! Boredom be gone!

Hockey. After all my days of paperwork, I routinely head to the hockey rink to coach, ref, or play some puck. This is an everyday occurrence. I know that I promised pictures and video, but my skating/reffing pants and/or athletic shorts aren't very accommodating to phones or cameras. Also, the weather has not cooperating very much. Rain rain rain! Ugh!

CPM Meeting. Woo, something exciting coming up on my schedule (well really there are plenty of exciting things--weekend trips, Pocono, dart parties, bike runs, cookouts, iron man games, all star competitions, etc etc). I am meeting with Donegal Presbytery's CPM this Monday in Lancaster! This means that I will be in West Chester this Sunday! Ah yeah! And I hope to see all of you whom I haven't seen in a very long time. Anyway, I have annual consultations with the CPM to kind of just check in with them and let them know how things are going! It should be quite fun, actually... no nervous nelly here! =)

Again, I am sorry for the lack of updating. I will do my best to update throughout the summer with things that will be interesting to read about. I hope all is well with each of you! Take care of one another and be kind to everyone. Blessings and Peace!

Summer begins!

It has become pretty clear to me that I am going to be pretty bad about updating this over the summer--sorry. I have been quite busy, and by the time I get home at night, I am exhausted! Work, hockey, dogs, chores, church, etc etc... it doesn't end. It's a good thing that I love everything I am doing, and I am happy to report that I am beginning to develop a nice little routine for the summer! =)

Hockey. Now that there are 12 teams in the adult league, there are games every day of the week. Coaching/ reffing MWF, playing/ reffing STuThSa! Ahhh! That's a lot of hockey! The teams I coach should be pretty competitive this year, and the team I play on will be a serious contender for the championship. I am going to try to post some league pictures and/or videos on here sometime soon. Keep checking back.

TSS. For a summer job, I am basically doing TSS work for Carbon County focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorders. To this point, I have been absolutely swamped with paperwork! Ahh, it should lighten up next week or so, and I'll be ready to put it in cruise control until the end of the summer.

A Whole New World. Talk about a change of pace. Wow! I almost feel like I have encountered some kind of serious culture shock. Home is so much different than Princeton--it's unbelievable. It's hard to articulate, but there is a profound difference in what matters. For instance in Princeton, intelligence and 'book' knowledge are of extremely high value. In NEPA, however, people can't care less about the main differences in theology between Luther and Calvin. On the other hand, knowing how to jump start a car isn't too important in Princeton, but you'll get funny looks if you don't have that trick in your back pocket up here in NEPA. And trust me when I say that this is only one of a handful of differences! This is going to be quite an interesting and fun summer...

I will try to update this as often as I can, especially now that I have even more people to keep in touch with (hooray for new friends). Realistically, I am aiming for once a week updates. Take care, friends! =)

Aristotelian Ethics

Hello again, friends! I am nearing the end of my first year at Princeton, and it has been absolutely incredible. The only things that stand between me and summer are a Young Adult Ministry paper and an unpacked dorm room.

Aristotelian Ethics and Young Adults. This is the basis of my final paper for the short-term intensive class that I am in. I am nearly completely finished with the paper, and I think it turned out better than I hoped. I took the knowledge I acquired through my Philosophy degree (it's about time I used that one) and smashed it together with the knowledge I gained the past three weeks about Young Adult Ministry to form a 14 page paper about young adult moral decision making and the church. Toward the end of my paper, I suggest ideas for how church leaders will be able to use the philosophic understandings of young people to create a sense of belonging and family in the church. To me, it's all very interesting.

Paul. More so than ever I have been reading a whole bunch of Paul. Between my Lenten discipline of Pauline scripture memorization, New Testament class, and the Romans conference, I have been swimming through Paul's letters a lot this semester. Recently, I have stumbled upon this (a reference to 2 Corinthians 12:7):

Well, I have some serious proofreading and packing to do! I'm still pondering about what to do about my blog for the summer (keep writing, take a break, write more, write less, write about new topics, write about Biblical topics, etc etc). Let me know if any of you have any suggestions or comments about the matter ("Before I came to Seminary" was a series suggestion from a friend, so comments are extremely helpful)! Take care and God bless! =)

Kingdom Quotes Pt. VII

According to the good record keeping of my blog, I have not posted a Kingdom Quotes post in quite sometime. So here we are... if you are interested in author or publication, just Google it--most of the time when I hear these things, it is not explicitly stated. If you cannot find an author or publication, it was likely said by me, one of my friends, or a professor. Email me, and I shall reveal to you who said it! =)


In our effort to bring out the details, we obliviously avoid sitting in the madness.


Hold on to your needs tightly but your strategies for holding them lightly.


We gain understanding by looking backward, but we must live looking forward.


Many persons have the wrong idea about what constitutes happiness. It is not obtained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.


Whatever you are, be a good one.


Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.


Hope is faith that held out its hand in darkness.


Some people had the lights scared out of them. I had the light scared into me.


Where there is anger, there is usually pain underneath.


Some people think that holding on is what makes us strong, but sometimes it's the letting go.


Love is giving someone the power to destroy you but trusting them not to.


For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.


All the best!

Clothe yourself with... grace

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience... And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12, 14.

Amazing Grace. Here, I am not referencing the awesome song Amazing Grace, but rather a perfume that I recently encountered. I took an unexpected trip home and found that my mom has a perfume called "Amazing Grace." Of course, the first thing I think about is the passage above (and how awesome of a Sermon illustration this would be)... except the passage doesn't explicitly name grace as one of the things to clothe yourself with. I think it should. Not only does this wonderfully-smelling spray give you a literal way to clothe yourself in grace, it also gives a somewhat motivational definition on the box:

Grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, kindness, reverence, and the list goes on.

It's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce.

Being the smartest the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest can't help.

Being a humble person can; 

and a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

So, in the morning when you put on perfume or cologne, I encourage you to also put on some grace. Grace is something you receive (spray on yourself), but it should also be something that others benefit from (pleasant smell). Regardless of perceived merit or worth, treat others better than you would want to be treated. 

Book of Wisdom. As some of you may already know, the Protestant canon differs from the Catholic canon. In the Catholic canon, there is a book entitled The Book of Wisdom, and it's somewhat comparable to Proverbs. Well, I had to read this little excerpt:

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure was taken for misery. And their going away from us, utter destruction, but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men, they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be rewarded; because God has tried them, and found them worthy of himself.

It is quite insightful, and if I have time this summer, I may read some of what the Protestants consider non-canonical works. We'll have to see!

Summer is quickly approaching, woo hoo! I can't wait. I'll be working at a clinic in NE PA, coaching/ reffing/ and playing hockey, and helping out at a local church! It should be a fun fun fun summer! I hope that all of your summers are looking to be quite fantastic as well! Peace be with you! =)

Biblical Scholar vs. Theologian

Greetings dear friends! It's great to see that you have taken a minute out of your busy life to check up on my life... or at least my blog! Today I will be writing about a phenomena that I have observed over the past school year here in Princeton--classifying! Now, I'm not talking about judging or labeling or anything with a bad connotation--just classifying classmates.

Classifying. Since we have a pretty diverse population here at PTS, we have this tendency to classify ourselves according to several criteria. I will do it to myself here:

Ashley. From Pennsylvania. Went to West Chester U. Majored in Psychology and Philosophy. Presbyterian. Ordination track. MDiv 2014. Unmarried (i.e. does not live in CRW). A tad liberal. Loves sports. Huge hockey fan (Go Pens!). Plays guitar. Can't sing. 

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like an "About Me" profile description. Not that this is an all inclusive list (and I'll be waiting for the sassy comments some of my friends will have to add), but I want to suggest that we make just one more distinction here at the seminary...

Biblical Scholar vs. Theologian. I can already hear the squeaky voices of people protesting, "They're not mutually exclusive!" And I totally agree, they're not. You can probably consider yourself in both categories. But in my experience with humans at seminary, you tend to have a burning passion for one or the other--a preference, if you will. Since most of us are only here for three years, you kind of need to pick which of the two you enjoy more (although I would argue it is less of a choice and more about just who you are)--Biblical studies or theology--and fill up your electives with those kinds of classes. I suppose, if you really want to be argumentative, you can propose the addition of Patristics, but I have yet to meet anyone who would fall into that category here at a Presbyterian school.

As for me, I definitely fall into the category of Biblical Scholar. I would choose reading the Bible or Hebrew over the Institutes, Dogmatics, or Confessions any day! And I very well may quote the Bible more than any other human I have ever met, which I guess can be kind of annoying at times.

The best part of all of this classifying is that I get to be friends with people who differ in every single category from me! No kidding, I am convinced that my best friend here differs in all of the categories (except the unmarried thing)! Anyway, it's a great community of Biblical scholars and Theologians, and I find myself in the midst of Theologians more often than not. Horray for diversity within unity!

Anyway friends, take care of yourselves and each other (especially those very much unlike you)! =)

Groaning for Love

Greetings again, beloved friends! It has been a loooong few days, so I am going to give you all a recap that is as concise as I can possibly make it:

General Conference decision. If you are an avid reader of this blog, you may remember a post about the United Methodist General Conference occurring in Tampa, FL this past week. My specific interest about this conference was their decision about removing the phrase, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" in their Book of Disciple. Unfortunately, they voted not to remove that statement. You can read more about it at these two links:

http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=8054757&ct=11740597&notoc=1

http://www.gc2012conversations.com/2012/05/03/delegates-fail-to-agree-that-they-disagree-on-sexuality-issue/

Groaning for Love. The past few days I have been involved in the Romans Conference here on campus. It has been such a wonderful conference with great preaching, singing, lectures, papers, and workshops. Since Romans is arguably my favorite authentic Pauline letter, I was totally geek-ing out through most of this conference. I heard a sermon called "Groaning for Love" based on Romans 8:18-39 (remember 8:31 is what this blog is named after). It was a pretty awesome sermon emphasizing that God groans with creation until eventual future glory, and nothing (that's right nothing) can separate us from the love of God! Oh, do I ever love that passage! =)

The Shape of the 'I' in Romans 7. My favorite lecture of the entire conference was "The Shape of the 'I' in Romans 7" by none other than our esteemed Professor of New Testament, Beverly Gaventa. She spoke about the referent of 'I' in chapter 7. Her argument was that 'I' in conversation could be used in referent to the speaker or the subject of the matter being spoken about. She argues that in this case, the use of the 'I' is comparable to the prevalent use of the 'I' in the Psalms as a way for a reader or listener to engage the 'I' as their own. So in the Psalms, one would pray a psalm using 'I' as if it were their own prayer. I know this sounds confusing, but just pull me aside the next time you see me, and I will excitedly explain it more clearly! I was totally wow-ed by this lecture though! Dr. Gaventa took two of my favorite things, Romans and the Psalms, and smashed them together in a very meaningful way!

Also, just as a sidenote: There was a man who looked exactly like Sigmund Freud at the conference. Dr. Freud would have been celebrating his 156th birthday this week! I hope I didn't bore you too much with my loving Romans out loud! Peace and Blessings!

Be Still

The Romans conference started today here at PTS, so I have even less free time than normal. This being said, I shall make this post relatively short because I have somewhere to be in 20 minutes. Oh, and this conference is absolutely wonderful thus far! Anyway, a pervasive theme that seems to have infiltrated my life recently is stillness. So this is what I leave you with...


Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God."


"Still." A Song by Hillsong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXywFuTf65I

Hide me now

Under Your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father you are King over the flood
I will be still and know You are God
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/hillsong_united/still.html ]
Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know His power
In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father You are king over the flood
I will be still and know You are God

"Be Still." A Song by The Fray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUuBjz4Vhc

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know that I am here
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still, be still, and know

When darkness comes upon you
And covers you with fear and shame
Be still and know that I'm with you
And I will say your name

If terror falls upon your bed
And sleep no longer comes
Remember all the words I said
Be still, be still, and know

And when you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to be
Be still, be still, be still

If you forget the way to go
And lose where you came from
If no one is standing beside you
Be still and know I am

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know I am

Blessings and Peace. =)

Dunbar's Number

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday! Summer is quickly approaching; I could tell by the smell of the air, the sound of the birds, and many of my own personal habits that are apparently exclusive to summer time! I still have nearly two weeks of class left, but I am totally pumped for the summer to be here already! This may end up being a smorgasbord of a blog post with a little bit of everything, but we'll see how it goes... so here goes!

Dunbar's number. I want to do an ekphrasis activity with you. Pretend that you are holding psychological research in your one hand. Good. Now pretend that you are holding ministry in your other hand. Wonderful. Now smash your hands together! If you are able to do this in a practical sense, you have my complete, undivided attention. Yesterday during class we were briefly discussing the pros and cons of large churches and small churches. Pros: large--resources, small--intimacy. I'll let you come with with cons of your own. Anyway, during this conversation my professor mentioned the theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one could maintain stable social relationships known as "Dunbar's number." I'll spare you the research details, but the main idea behind this number is that one person can only have a close, deep, intimate relationship with about 12 other people on the first level, and more common social relationships of 150 people on the second level. This has serious implications for effective ministry. I was able to find the actual research study and read it--for which I am grateful; but I was also able to find an NPR article that is far less boring if any of you were interested in further information:

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/04/136723316/dont-believe-facebook-you-only-have-150-friends

Before I die I want to "love and be loved." After a few hours of basketball last night, I decided to give into the petitions of my upper back and relax--no reading, no more physical activity, no practicing guitar, no more movement. The one thing I am able to do while "relaxing" is listen. So I checked my church website and discovered that they posted a sermon that I had not yet listened to. And thanks to this sermon, I was no longer relaxing, but rather engaged in some serious critical thinking about things he brought up in his sermon about family. You could listen to the sermon here (22 April): http://www.firstpreswc.com/listen. One thing that I found particularly interesting was something he mentioned about a wall in New Orleans. It is simply a black wall with a bucket of chalk next to it, and it says, "Before I die I want to [blank]..." and you are to fill in the blank. There are some very interesting sentences posted here, but the most profound ones are the ones about love. And the one that my pastor emphasized in his sermon and the one that hit me was, "Before I die, I want to love and be loved." This means that there are people out there that have never been loved before. Considering this sermon and this observation along with my reading the book of Romans yesterday (specifically CH 14), it got me to think about what it really means to be part of God's family. I'll let you think on that as well...

So maybe not a complete smorgabord of a blog post! I was going to write about more things, but I got a little carried away with the length of the things I did write about. So maybe there will be a post tomorrow! Who knows?! We'll see. Anyway friends, take care of yourselves and each other. =)

Let's Talk About Sex

The song "Let's Talk About Sex" was playing as I walked into my Models of Young Adult Ministry class this morning! If you weren't awake by now, you were now! This specific topic was not explicitly named on the syllabus, but all of the readings for today were somehow related to the topic of sex in one way or another. The professors were definitely hinting at it... as were the authors of the assigned book and articles for this mornings class. "Churches are scared to talk about sex..." the readings say, so let's do it... let's talk about sex.

Sex is such a touchy thing. Indeed it is, and it seems like everywhere one turns, no one else wants to talk about it as a serious discussion. As a group of 50 seminarians, we changed that today. We started off with a classroom poll (anonymous) about sex, marriage, and ordination. What we found is that not everyone agrees. On most of the specific questions, the class was split 60-40. Knowing this going into the discussion was quite interesting, yet expected in seminary. We then talked about what the Bible says about sex and marriage. Each of us had to work through our own definitions of 'touchy' words like: chastity, fornication, adultery, fidelity, sex, hooking up, and marriage. It seemed like one of the harder definitions to develop was "marriage" in light of the ongoing controversy about same-sex marriage and homosexuality in the church. 

Studies, studies, studies. Much of the assigned reading for today's class contained research material about what emerging adults (ages 18-29) thought about sex and the church. The key point that many of these research studies made was that sex is something we need to talk about in the church with our young people. We can't keep avoiding it and pretend that everybody "just knows" how things are "supposed" to be. Church leaders especially need to initiate conversations about this topic. 

Purity vs. Liberation. We then had a guest speaker who talked about common views of sex in the church. He spoke about the two prevailing, yet opposing points of view. (1) Purity--people must remain pure until marriage; (2) Liberation--no one has any right to tell me what is morally right or wrong. Our speaker then suggested a third route: sexuality from a perspective of witness of and to the gospel. He didn't make any very solid claims, but he did cite a whole lot of Corinthians and Ephesians. Overall the lecture left us with more questions than answers.

This was quite the class to have bright and early on a Monday morning, but I'm glad it happened. If we can't talk about sex at seminary, how are we ever going to be able to talk about it in our churches to our congregations? The conversation was so compelling that it even overflowed into the lunch hour and dominated table conversation. Nobody pretends that we are all going to agree of the topic from a theological perspective, but I think it was clear today that this is something we cannot ignore--we need to talk about it. Anyway, this is how my week has started! I hope to write another post about other things going on sometime soon. Now, it is time to read about tomorrow's topic! The Lord be with you now and always! =)

"...never go down the drain!"

This week has flown by! Holy moley, where did it go already?! It's Friday, but it feels like a Monday! This is insane! I am going to attempt to recap the week, but I feel like I have lost it... it's just gone already! Sheesh! =)

Visiting Home. I have not been to my home church in I don't know how long, but it's been awhile. I know I have not worshiped there since Christmas... which is weird when I think about it. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the mid-week program this week, which just so happened to be the final week of it for the church-year! Phew, that was close! I brought a friend of mine, and we had a wonderful time. It was great to see all those wonderful, familiar faces, and First Pres WC has a way with hospitality! Every time I am there it feels like I never left! Also, great news for my church mom! HOOOORAY! =)

Saying Good-bye. Do you want to know something that I do not like? Saying good-bye. Yep, it's pretty much one of the worst things ever. The school-year is coming to a close here, and the first of my very dear friends has already departed, and I won't get to see him for three months! (Holy cow--that's too long)! There are many others friends who I also won't get to see for the entire summer because they have this whole love-thing going on for the West coast or whatever! But worst of all, there are friends that I won't get to see for an even longer time! International students (one Scottish friend, in particular) and graduating seniors won't be coming back in the fall! Ugh, this stinks! The only upside is the awesomeness of Skype... that is all.

Another good-bye we had to do as a community yesterday was a good-bye to all of the Youth Conference participants! This is a bitter sweet thing, but a necessary one nonetheless. The final sending-off was a worship service yesterday where none other than Kenda Dean was preaching. She is a pretty awesome preacher! She preached from Revelation 21, and took it in a very optimistic direction and related it to the the Youth Conference. She reminded us--quoting Mr. Rogers--that, "You'll never go down, never go down, never go down the drain!" Overall, very interesting and a good close to the conference.

Short-term class. My intensive course started today! Wooo Hooo! There is so much reading about "emerging adults," which I should probably be working on now, but my eyes need a break! The interesting thing is that I am reading about a demographic group that I am still a part of! Oh Sociology... it's been too long! Anyway, it was quite wonderful today, and I anticipate it being just as wonderful the next two and a half weeks! It also includes a field trip to DC and Virginia! Oh yeah! =)

Romans. I have a lot of "favorites" in the Bible, and sometimes they change quicker than I can keep track of. One of my favorite, favorite epistles is definitely Paul's letter to the Romans! Oh, and guess what? There is an entire conference just on that Epistle here at PTS next week! I can hardly wait! Three whole days of Romans--sounds all kinds of fantastical to me! It's going to be cha-awesome! Okay, I am geeking out a little bit here--sorry, moving on...

It's weird to think that I am very nearly 33% done with my education here at Princeton! Two more years to go! Yippee! I hope all is well with each of you! Please, continue to send me any prayer requests you may have. Blessings and Peace! =)



 

General Conference [not Assembly]

Good day, dear friends, and what a beautiful day it is here in New Jersey! A bit cool for my liking, but nonetheless, very pleasant outside--a great day for reading! So, that's what I am doing--preparing for my short term intensive course, "Models of Young Adult Ministry." For this class, I have been enveloped in a book titled Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood. It's all very quite interesting, especially because according to the book's definition of "emerging adults," I am still one of them! Hooray for me! Anyway, I have a few things to share with all of you:

Methodist General Conference. Let me preface this section with this: I am not Methodist, so if any of this information is incorrect, I am counting on my good friend KO to comment and correct any mistakes I may make here. Anyway, the United Methodist Church, unlike the PC(USA), is an international church. Every four years, they hold a General Conference which includes representatives from all of the Annual Conferences around the world. This General Conference begins today in Tampa, FL and lasts through May 4. Among other important issues that they will be discussing, they will also be voting on what I suppose would be considered the equivalent to the PC(USA) Amendment 10-A. There is a movement to remove the phrase, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching," from their Book of Discipline. So, it wouldn't hurt for you to say a prayer for wisdom and guidance for them. Despite denominational affiliations, we're all God's children and need to support one another. I have also posted a video that was recommended to me below. It is a United Methodist pastor (and Ph.D. student here at the seminary) preaching about the subject last Sunday. I strongly encourage taking 20 minutes out of your busy schedule to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HV4s4fB6DHg

Fall Term Classes. Another way I am able to add to my productivity of today was to schedule classes for the Fall semester! Wooo! This is super exciting! I enrolled in some super awesome classes: Greek, Preaching, The Problem of Evil, Presbyterian Polity, Insiders and Outsiders (Church History), and Field Education (church placement). I must admit that I am a little bit anxious about Greek. Rumor on the street has it that people tend to be good at either Hebrew or Greek, rarely both; and I am pretty darn good with Hebrew. I am hoping that my knowledge of Latin, English, and a little bit of Spanish will be able to help with Greek! The Problem of Evil is an ethics class (my other major in college was Philosophy), yay! Presbyterian Polity--definitely a requirement for my Presbytery, but unlike some Presbys around here, I am looking forward to it! Insiders and Outsiders is a modern church history class--we'll see how this goes because history is not particularly one of my strongest interests. Finally, I am doing Field Ed at Forest Grove Presbyterian Church in Forest Grove, PA! This is super duper exciting! =)

As I near the end of my first year in seminary, I think about all the wonderful people who have been instrumental along the way! Thanks to you all! Until next time, take care, beloved friends! Blessings and peace! =)

With Joy and Happiness

This week was oober busy, friends, so I have had zero time to sit down and write a blog post. This nice thing about this week is that it is over! I have successfully completed all of my assignments, exams, projects, papers, everything! Wooo Hooo! Time for a loooong weekend before May term begins! Before moving onto that, however, I will try to fully recap this past week:

NT Exam. After spending 3 days or so memorizing the entire New Testament, studying key terms, reviewing essays, remembering maps, etc etc. I took the test Wednesday morning, and I feel great about it. Easy peasy! Word in the cafeteria has it that the hardest part about the whole thing was Scripture Identification. Lucky for me, I am very good at this without actively studying it. It's just the kind of memory I have, I suppose. Also, we had some interesting bonus question: seven dwarfs, seven churches in Revelation, quotation from Jude, etc. Our NT professors have quite a sense of humor.

Hesed in Pastoral Care. My 12 page PC paper was about my theology of Pastoral Care. I wrote about the importance of hesed--that is, steadfast love and faithfulness--in care-giving. It's quite interesting. I discussed compassion, empathy, and co-suffering on three levels: individual, communal, and cosmic. I'll let you all know what my professor thought of my paper in about a week's time. ;)

Hannah's Identity. My other paper, which ended up being about 10 pages in length was a little bit more difficult to write. There isn't much literature on Women's Narratives in the Old Testament, so much of what I wrote was just from me (with little scholarly support). I made an argument from a feminist perspective about Hannah's search for self-identity. We'll see if my professor thinks I made a compelling argument.

Psalms. I love the Psalms! They're pretty awesome. I have had to do a number of projects for this class, and I did each and every one of them with joy and happiness! If you'd like to see some of my work, shoot me an email, send me a text, or find me at church on some random Sunday; I'd be happy to share. =) After going to the singing portion of my final, my whole practicum class went to our professor's house for a cookout! It was pretty awesome to relax at this point during finals week!

 

Let's go Pens! On top of all of these finals, I have had to deal with the up-down, roller coaster, inconsistent playing of my beloved Pittsburgh Penguins! Now, I know that many of you reading this are Flyers fans, but come on, this series has been ridiculous. The defense and goalies need to step it up! I'm hoping we push it to a game 7 after tomorrow's game! Let's go Pens!

I hope all is well with each and every one of you! Blessings and Peace!! 

That was a quick semester!

Happy Lord's Day everyone! I am here to inform you that my handy Princeton coin has led me to write this blog. I was on the fence about how to take a study break--guitar, laundry, or blog--so I flipped my Princeton Semianry Bicentennial coin. If it landed on the Princeton side (picture of the seminary), I would play guitar; if it landed on Paul-Romans quote side, I would write a blog. If gravity decided not to work, and the coin was suspended in mid-air, then I was going to do laundry! Fortunately for me, it landed upright against the base of my dresser... I took this as a sign to play guitar and write a blog! So here is what my week is going to look like:

Theology of Pastoral Care. My PC paper assignment is to write my theology of pastoral care. Easy task, right? Surely, but it's is a very vague assignment! I went to town, though, and really enjoyed working on this paper yesterday! Everything sort of fit together perfectly! I love when this happens! I think my ideas flow nicely, and I am a Bible-quoting machine in this paper! I still have some proofreading, citing, and class-evaluating to do before I finish the paper, but I really like what I have so far. Yippee!

Exegesis of Hannah. Paper number two! This one is going to be a monster! Relatively speaking, there is not a whole lot of literature about women narratives in the Old Testament. I've done most of the exegeting and research, I just have to write the paper. I think I have a pretty strong thesis to work with, but I have to find an organized way to make my argument compelling! This may be Tuesday and/or Thursday project.

Psalter & Worship Service. This final is already complete. I was so excited to do it that I finished it over a week ahead of time. For my Psalms class, we got to pick several small projects that would compose our final assignment. I choose to make a mini-Psalter (25 psalms) that will serve as a good start into the Psalter as a whole. I have also included an index of my "Pastoral Care Psalms." Each Psalm that I chose includes vertical habits (simple grammatical terms describing the Psalm), suggestions for prayer, several word description, and a memory verse. The other part of my final was making an entire worship service: every liturgical element, prayers, hymns, announcements, anthems, movements, (thesis of) sermon, benediction, etc. I had a ridiculous amount of fun with this... which is probably a good sign for my future! =)

NT Exam. A cumulative exam on the entire New Testament! I am feeling pretty confident about this, especially after spending the better part of today studying for this! Terms, essays, outlines, Scripture identification, maps, themes, etc etc! I'm ready!

...what's studying without a little bit of silliness:

Alrighty friends, I think I am going to do some studying again! Thanks for the study break! Have a good one! =)

BGLASS

Hello to all of you! Despite the fact that finals week is next week and I should be studying and writing papers, I have decided to take a break and write a post about what I believe to be a very important topic! This past week was BGLASS (Bisexual Gay Lesbian And Straight Supporters) week here at the seminary, and it was filled with wonderful lectures and events. I will briefly review several of the lectures I have attended.

Pastoral Care of LGBT. Professor Dykstra is a pretty cool dude. I have never personally had him in class, but I have heard nothing but good things about the man. He has a wonderful teaching style, and he is incredibly easy to listen to. He spoke a lot about pastoral care to LGBT congregants, especially youth. Prof Dykstra also recommended the following website for information about supporting LGBT in the church: believeoutloud.com. He only got to speak for 40 minutes time, but he emphasized the fact that acceptance of LGBT parishioners is extremely important, and sometimes this acceptance on an individual basis is a process. Overall, a very good lecture.

Texts of Terror. Oh my wonderful lecture! My personal favorite from the week! Profs Lapsley and Sakenfeld (OT Biblical Scholars) presented Old Testament supports for anti-gay movement. They presented evidence as to why these biblical passages are misinterpreted and wrongly applied to our current context and situation. Discussion then led into why LGBT clergy and ordination is such a big deal in the church today. One of my collegues made a great point: why is this an issue and things like helping the poor are not? What is it about this that has people's feathers so fluffed up?

Children of God. A lecture by a Methodist minister and Ph.D. candidate here at the seminary specifically about ministering to LGBT youth. His emphasis was that we are all children of God, and should all be ministered to with equal care. He spoke of several personal stories in which this has been such a major issue, and made some novel ideas as to how we as a church could better address youth ministry overall.

10A. The amendment to change the language of ordination standards in the PC(USA) was also discussed all week long. Some agree, some disagree. The important thing is that we are in conversation about it. The question is: Are we actually in conversation about it? To many, it seems to be more of a disrespectful argument than anything else. There was a task force established for peace, unity, and purity in the denomination a few years back, but the divisiveness still continues. 

The week ended with a great big cookout on the quad with a huge moonbounce castle thing! Yay! It was a whole lot of fun! It was a great week with great lectures, great speakers, and great conversations! For this, I am grateful! But now, it's time to get back to studying and paper-writing. I will update again soon and tell you all about the papers I am writing and the project I have been working on (all extremely interesting to me, and hopefully to you)! Blessings and Peace. =)

Kingdom Quotes Pt. VI

 Good day, friends! Here are even more wonderful little quotations!

Everyone has a God-shaped empty place inside, a spot that can be filled only by the divine presence.


No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.


Sometimes there are no words, no clever quotes to sum up the day. Some days you could do everything right and still be wrong. Sometimes the day just... ends.

Mercy bears better fruit than strict justice.

There is no lasting hope in violence, only temporary relief from hopelessness.

The attributes we thought we knew about God until Jesus were turned upside down by God himself! God used what was foolish to shame the wise... and he did it in the most unexpected way.

The New Testament takes our illusions and destroys them. If you are serious about following Jesus, but you don't eventually die... you have some explaining to do.

Because words weren't enough, God put flesh on.

Scars remind us of where we've been; they don't have to dictate where we're going. 


How will God succeed when we are determined that God will fail?


There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love.


In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.

Have an excellent weekend! =) Blessings and Peace!

The Holiest of Weeks

Greetings sisters and brothers! =) I just now recognized that I have not recapped the latter part of Holy Week or Easter through a blog post. So, that is what I am going to do now! Holy Week for me was filled with a whole lot of services, a whole lot of running around, and a whole lot of reflection. I hope yours was just as fruitful as mine has been. And also... lent is over! Congratulations to those of you who gave something up or took something on and succeeded! To those of you who struggled... you still have next year (or better yet, any forty days throughout the year that you choose)!

Letters of Paul. Well friends, I was as faithful as I hoped I would be with my Scripture memorization! I have memorized more Pauline verses than I thought I ever could or would! Hooray! I must admit, avoiding ice cream and cookies was much more difficult! This is probably for two reasons: my love of ice cream and cookies, but also my affinity to scripture memorization. I hope to continue my routine without restricting myself to Pauline verses.


Maundy Thursday. In addition to other holy services at the beginning of the week in chapel, I went to Nassau Presbyterian Church for a Maundy Thursday service. It was exactly what I expected of Maundy Thursday (and just as emotion-eliciting as ever)! Also, the preacher referenced a commentary on Mark that I thought was interesting. The Scripture lesson came from Mark 14--Peter's Denial. The preacher commented that we often breeze through this passage, and when in John, we jump right to the threefold declaration of love after the Resurrection. The commentary, however, urges us to focus on this passage and draws attention to the space between Peter and Jesus after each denial--it increases. Interesting observation.


7 Last Words. Friday I went to chapel for their special service. It was a Tenebrae service of the 7 last words of Jesus interspersed with Psalm 22 and, of course, music. Since the service was at 11:30, it wasn't particularly dark, but the service was just as powerful. Thank you seminary chapel for your faithfulness!


Easter Hockey Game. After an understandably emotional week of services, I headed home with a friend of mine to spend Easter in NEPA! We spent a lot of time with my family and even went to a WBS Penguins hockey game Saturday evening! Let's go Pens!

Easter morning, we went to the Presbyterian Church in my hometown, and then headed back to our academic Christian bubble in Princeton! Overall it was a pretty swell week + weekend!

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

Peace.

Kingdom Quotes Pt. V

I've been racking these suckers up a lot lately, so expect Pt. VI relatively soon! I hope you like them as much as I do! =)

(about suffering) Instead of feeling that we are opposed to God, we can feel our indignation is God's anger at unfairness working through us, that when we cry out, we are still on God's side, and He is still on ours.


Service is an event. Justice is a lifestyle.


If you can envision the invisible, God can do the impossible.


We beat ourselves up because we compare our behind-the-scenes to others' highlight reels.


It's in times like these when you really need to get your King James on!


The best rebuke of the bad is embodiment of the better.


Depression is when your soul gets tired.


Man depends on God for all things; God depends on man for one. Without Man's love, God does not exist as God, only as Creator, and love is the one thing that no one, not even God himself, can command. It is a free gift or it is nothing. And it is the most itself, the most free, when it is offered in spite of suffering, of injustice, and of death.


Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realised.


In youth we learn, in age we understand.


Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can really hurt me.


Make your decisions out of hope and not fear.

Enjoy your day, friends! =)

Bulletins!

Good day friends! It's wonderful to be writing this blog, and I hope that it is just as wonderful to be reading it. Today, I will be talking about a particular obsession of mine--bulletins! I know it's weird, but perhaps by the end of this post, I can convince you to hang on to those little pieces of paper longer than just an hour! So here goes nothing!


Hoarder of Bulletins! I love bulletins! Don't ask me why... there is just something about them! I don't know what it is, really. I do, however, have several theories:
1. I love organization and most bulletins are very good examples of something organized and formatted by an anal-retentive person. This is such an admirable quality. The movement of a worship service is oh so very important.
2. There is something about having a tangible piece of worship. It's like evidence. It's like a memory that you can literally hold on to.
3. Talk about a good resource! Can you say reference material?
4. 99% of the time, there is something about a worship service that I want to remember to eventually use one day. If I ever get around to organizing my drawer full of bulletins, I could put together a Word Doc of great ideas!
5.I have a not-so-good memory, and bulletins have great memories and reminders of events that I want to attend!
6. Sometimes I will take notes or write down quotes on my bulletin. If I take time to write it down, I should probably hold onto it!
7. I'm weird.

Psalms Final. I have a few projects to do for my Psalms final, all of which are really, really awesome! First, I need to compile a mini canon of 25 go-to psalms for my congregation. So essentially, I am choosing 25 psalms, organizing them, and giving a little bit of information about why these particular 25 are good to know (if you'd like a copy--please feel free to email me: ashley.reimold@gmail.com). Second, I have to put together a complete worship service around Psalm 90. This is where my bulletins will certainly come in handy! And finally, throughout the semester I had to journal through the psalms! It was one of those long and tedious tasks... but I must say it was totally worth it!

There should be another "Kingdom Quotes" post coming very soon! Hold steady through Holy Week, friends, Easter is just around the bend! =) The Lord be with you!

Palms to Passion

Palm Sunday. Oh, Palm Sunday. This is such an interesting day in the liturgical calendar. What do you do with it? You can treat it like celebration... after all, that's what it was back in the day. But then again, if your church is not very large and/or does not have Thursday and Friday services this week, you should probably treat it as Passion Sunday in place of Palm Sunday. You don't want to go from HOORAY to HOORAY (Palm Sunday to Easter) and miss the depths of Holy Week. The Seminary treated it kind of as both with their Palms to Passion worship service.

Palms to Passion. I really enjoy the music ministry here at the seminary. It is quite wonderful. We have four choirs! WHOA! And they are all very excellent. Our music director is a genius; our minister of the chapel is the best! We even had a guest conductor and organist! It was a pretty awesome service. The nice thing about the service was the movement. It started with Palm Sunday and ever so slowly moved through Holy Week: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday... Sunday! Each section of the service had a hymn, an anthem, a organ solo, Scripture reading, and a time for prayer. Overall, it was very well pieced together! Oh and check out the palm cross I made! =)

Footprint. Every time I hear "footprint" in a religious context, I automatically think about the poem with the footprints in the sand that is just a tad overused (if you asked me). But that is not what I'm talking about here! Rather I am referring to your footprint... you know, concerning the environment. Here on campus we have an organization called ECOS (and I can't remember what the letters stand for, but they're the environmental group). Anyway, we just starting composting, so ECOS extended a challenge to everyone: reduce your footprint. Carry around a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and put all of your trash in it (minus compostable items, food, and hygiene products). Do this for three days, and whoever's bag weighs the least at the end of this time wins a $75 gift card to whole foods! Wooo! And, you get a free schnazzy looking water bottle for signing up!

Well, that's a pretty solid update! Interesting events are abounding this week! =) Also, I saw pictures from the Palm Sunday 5K--great job to all participants! It looks like it was very much fun! Keep up the awesomeness! Peace be with you.

Seminary Sense of Humor

Greetings friends! I promised you another update, so here it is! It has been quite a busy week here at the seminary, so I have a lot to talk about!

Seminary Sense of Humor. Here at seminary, we have an additional dimension to our senses-of-humor. You should probably not leave your phone just lying around if you do not want it to be messed with in a fun-loving manner. One of my friends did this, so we changed the names of some of her contacts and put a picture of us as her background. Check it out:

 

Proctor House. Wine & Cheese tasting at the Proctor House of the University Episcopalian Group! Sounds like fun. Plus fruit & crackers, fun & fellowship. Plus the Episcopalians are pretty fun people! It's a great opportunity to meet more people from the University... and it's a little bit weird how closely they share in our kind of sense of humor.

Open Mic Night. There are some seriously talented people here at the seminary. Acts included: guitar, banjo, singing, poetry, and storytelling. It was quite a wonderful three hours of my evening! And it was good for everyone to be able to express themselves in such awesome ways--a good break from academia!

Well, that's all the updating I have for now. Holy week promises to be busy and event filled, which means that I will have more to write about but less time to write about it. I will do my best to keep this blog updated. I hope you all have a wonderful Holy Week! Blessings. =)

Something on a Stick

Hello and happy Friday! I have a few things to update you all about, so I am going to jump right into it!

Holy Book Sales Batman! Do you have any idea how many books I have bought this week? Too many! Our book store was having a 50% then 75% off sale all week on overstocked textbooks! Say what?! So I got my butt moving and headed on down to the bookstore! I bought a few books on preaching, one on pastoral care, and a feminist commentary! All for under $25! Woo Hoo for me! On top of all of that, the seminary hosted a used book sale (where all the books are donated) the latter half of this week! Most of the books are seminary-appropriate with a few exceptions of leisure books! All paperback books were $2 and all hardback books were $5! So I got my butt moving and went over to the book sale in our gym! I bought a Hebrew Bible, two Greek Bibles, a normal Bible, an old Bible, a Common Book of Prayer, Chronicles of Narnia, and a Bruggeman book on Preaching! All for $12! NOW, I have so much reading for this summer! Yay!

 

Themed Dinners. Throughout the semester our cafeteria has hosted a series of themed dinners. I don't remember all of them, but some of them included: Taste of the UK day, African American Appreciation Dinner, Valentines Dinner, and just the other night--"Something on a Stick Dinner," which was quite impressive. Check out my dinner:

 Everything is on a stick!

There will be another update coming very soon. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to post the other fun things that happened this week right this moment (and perhaps you don't have the time to read it all anyway). And finally, for my beloved church friends in WC: I was hoping to be able to make the Palm Sunday 5K this Sunday (and I even got ahead on my school work for just such travel), but unfortunately my knee has been giving me some serious problems as of late--all of which are my own darn fault--so I will likely not be able to join with you all in running that race. Best of luck to each of you, and I hope you have a wonderful time! =)

My Worn Out Bible

Hello beloved friends! I hope all is well with each of you, and that your week is treating you well. My week is crawling by, but it may actually be a good thing. For some reason I am as motivated as ever this week and I am being impressively productive. I think I am going to begin my huge exegesis final paper later on this week! I was also able to get some pretty darn sweet books at our Bookstore's 50% off overstock sale, so I might get crackin on those as well! Anyway, today's post stems from a question I was asked a few weeks ago:

How many times have you read the Bible? I don't have a number waiting proudly in response because I don't know the answer. The whole thing? Cover to cover? ...or sections? Gospels? Letters? Narratives? Prophets? Law? Pastorals? Apocalyptic? New Testament? Old Testament? Apocryphal works? I've read it a lot of times, and some sections more than others; but in order--cover to cover? I don't know. Between just reading, devotionals, reading for class, getting caught up in readings, filling in the contexts of sermon scriptures, exegeting, writing papers, reading for reading's sake... I have read enough to have very little room left in the margins for additional comments, ripped and scruffled pages, water damage, coffee stains, rips and tears, and a severely worn out binding. Let me put it this way: I have read the Bible enough times for it to be tired and worn out... enough times to justify actually buying another one of the same translation. 

Hannah, Paul, and the Psalms. My Bible has really been getting a work out this semester, especially recently! Despite doing the assigned readings for New Testament and my daily devotionals, I have also been spending a whole lot of time in I Samuel reading about Hannah. I am preparing a Bible study comparing her song in Chapter 2 to Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-1:56), and writing my exegesis paper on her story. Next, I've been spending a good deal of time with my beloved friend Paul. Other than reading all of his letters for NT, I also did an exegesis paper and several speech readings from Romans. Finally, the psalms--I have been wrestling with these all semester long in my psalms class. I will be sure to write a post when I finish singing and journaling through all of them.

Paul

I must say, it has been good to expand my biblical knowledge this semester! I'm very grateful! I hope to see all of you very soon! Peace be with you. =)

I'm a Presby

Greetings! It's been quite a wonderful weekend here in Princeton. I mostly did homework and hung out with friends, but I also did some serious paper writing and basketball playing! I'm slowly but surely wrapping up my semester here, and hopefully I will be able to put a nice bow on top of it with two long papers due at the end of finals week and a NT exam. I am beginning to get really excited about summer time and all of the fun it will entail!

How many weeks? I have a bit of a confession to make to many of my friends from First Pres WC: I have not worshiped in a Presbyterian Church in six weeks (unless you count the Bridge). I have been all over the place. Here and there and everywhere! The Lutherans, Methodists, and Episcopalians have been consuming my Sundays for a month and a half now! It has actually been quite a marvelous experience. Finally, today I went to Pennington Pres! Wow, what a refresher! Nothing against these other traditions (I enjoy them as a matter of fact), but I was really missing the Presbys! AND on top of the wonderfulness of Presbyterians, there was also a drama of the Exodus story put on by youth and children choirs, which was absolutely fantastic! Go kids!


Hymnal Collection. Since I have been in a number of different traditions recently, I have been singing from a number of different hymnals (plus the three we use in chapel). I really like hymnals! They're awesome! I have added about five to my book-buying list. On the top of this list is probably the ELW--Lutheran Hymnal... it's pretty sweet! You should check it out! I'm beginning to form a really nice collection, and soon I will be able to add the new Presbyterian Hymnal that is coming out next year! Wooo Hooo!


Sermon Podcasts. One thing that has kept me close to the Presbys is sermon podcasts. That's right. I listen to sermon podcasts: in the morning, in the car, at the gym, when I'm writing papers, etc. Someone once told me, "If you want to be a good preacher, listen to good preachers." Well, that's exactly what I am doing. If you would like some recommendations, feel free to shoot me an email, and I will be happy to send you a link. =)

Well, it's been quite a wonderful day for me. I hope yours was great as well. Peace. =)

Backpacks

I was scrolling through my pictures on my phone the other day, and I realized that I took this picture awhile ago with the intent of writing a post about it! Clearly, I forgot about it until now! So here goes:

Leave it at the door. Here at Princeton Seminary we have chapel every weekday (with Communion on Fridays). Everyday when we walk into chapel, we leave our backpacks at the door. For many reasons we don't bring our bags in with us. It's symbolic as well as practical (try having every student with their backpack fit into our chapel). Look closely and you will see:

Come, Bring Your Burdens to God. Chapel is a place for anything on a full spectrum of emotions. Sometimes we have sing-y days, other days we have liturgy days, most days it includes a meditation of some sort. We have such a wide array of chapel services because each one is planned by the MDiv senior preaching that day (or the chapel office if there is not meditation). Through all these types of services, it is always a place to bring your burdens to God (as we sang the other day) because there is always (ALWAYS!) a time for prayer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgSHi1OsIXk

Matthew 11:28-30. This was one of my memory verses from a while ago, and I love it! "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


I continue to keep all of you in my prayers. If you have a prayer request, feel free to email it to me! Take care! =)

200 Years in the Making

When Princeton does something, they do it big! And as a student, it is impossible to forget when any particular "big event" is because they plaster posters everywhere, send emails, give you cool looking stamped coins, remind you orally, make announcements during the lunch hour, and find every single method imaginable to make sure that you will not forget the time and place. And so it is for the Bicentennial Celebration. We also have these gi-normous signs all over campus:

Bicentennial. 200 years! Hooray! PTS has been around the block in existence for 200 years now! Yep, that's right--200 years! That's a looooong time! So we celebrated with an hour long...*ahem ahem* actually 2 hours long worship service, which started with ringing the bell on top of my dorm 200 times! I didn't even know the darn thing was able to ring at all?! Why don't we ring it more often? I mean, 200 times everyday would be overkill, but bells are cool. Ring them once a day when chapel begins--that would be neat. Anyway, it was a pretty good service. The choir was AMAZING! Seriously--incredible.The liturgy focused on remembering... which eerily reminded me of Sept 11 and MLK day sermons. I wish I could see people walking around in choir robes everyday:

Rereading books. Only three weeks left in the semester! Knock on wood, but I seem to be just a tad ahead on everything academic (let's see if that lasts through Holy Week)! Since I am feeling comfortable with my to-do list, I've been reading and rereading pleasure books. I don't know what it is about reading a book more than once (a concept that I used to think was ridiculous), but it's always better the second time, and even better times after that. Other than the Bible and Harry Potter, I have read very few books more than once! Just recently, however, I reread When Bad Things Happen to Good People. It's a very insightful book that I would recommend--and even better the second time! =) This idea of rereading books is growing on me in my old age! It's something I am going to try to do more often, which does not mean I am going to stop reading books I've never read before. THAT would be devastating!

Well everything is going wonderfully here in Princeton! I hope all is well with each of you. =) Blessings.

Kan-Jam

Welcome to Spring! Woo Hoo! I know it has only technically been Spring for about 21 hours, but it's felt like Spring here in Princeton for at least a good week! This weather has been quite wonderful! The quad has been more lively, everyone is bustin' out the shorts and flip flops, and now ice cream is an acceptable (even encouraged) reason to walk up into town. I hope you all are taking as much advantage of this weather as I am, that is, if you are in a warm climate.

Kan-Jam. Do you want to hear about an awesome game? Well, it's called Kan-Jam, and it's a marvelous frisbee game. It comes with these two large, round, garbage can-looking things. You play on teams like in horse shoes, and the point of the game is to get the frisbee into the can. 1 pt if your partner swats the frisbees and it touches the outside of the kan, 2 points if it touches the outside of the kan unassisted, 3 points if your teammate swats it into the kan, and instant winner if you get it into the kan unassisted. Teams play to 21 (exactly 21)! It's a really cool game. I played several rounds throughout the week and did not get bored for a single moment!

5Ks, Hockey, and Basketball! Talk about active! I may have signed up for a tad too many activities of fitness in the upcoming weeks. And to be quite honest, I don't even know if my schedule will allow me to participate in all of them. At least all the charities already have my money, so they don't really need my presence. I have three 5Ks in the month of April, a hockey tournament, a three-on-three outdoor basketball benefit, and a basketball tournament. This does not include training for the 5Ks, pick-up games at the gym, or hockey meetings for coaching and reffing. Ahhhh! Call me crazy, but April is also the month of Holy Week and Finals week! I'll be quite busy! =)

Visitors. Several of my friends have had visitors come to campus either just to hang out or check it out. They have all been quite fun and have given us reasons to avoid studying here and there to go do something fun! This brings up two thoughts in my brain: one--outsiders break the seminary-bubble phenomenon in a good way, and two--come visit! Now, I know that I literally just said that my April is busy, but what the heck, come visit while the weather is nice. I could spare a day or two to entertain! It's quite fun around here, and I have some quite hilarious friends! =) Oh, and Princeton is b-e-a-utiful!

I must say I have noticed that when I don't plan my blogs, they don't get written as often... and then I forget some fun and interesting things that happened. I will work on this to post a little bit more often. Remember, suggestions are welcome! Anyway, enjoy the new season of Spring, and I hope your season of Lent is treating you well! The Lord be with you. =)

Theologiggle 2012

Greetings friends! It's been a wonderful week here in Princeton, and I hope that your week has been good as well. The weather up here in the Northeast part of the country has been beautiful! Hello springtime! =) Anyway, the end of the semester is in sight, but there is a lot to be accomplished before then! Only four weeks remain in the long term, then finals week, then May-term, then a real break and summer! I really can't wait for summer, my favorite season of the year! In the meantime, what is a person to do for a little fun around here? ...attend theologiggle 2012!

Theologiggle? So you might be thinking, "What the heck is this theologiggle?" It is a series of acts/skits put on by members of the seminary kind of poking fun at Princeton Seminary, theology, all things biblical, etc etc. All the money raised goes to charities in Trenton, NJ, and it's good to be able to laugh at yourself every once in a while. After all, most of the skits are making fun of ourselves and our community. For those of you who may be worried about the sanctity of God's Holy Word, don't worry, it wasn't heretical or distasteful humor.

Skits.  There were a lot of good ones: OT Dating Game with Adam, Abraham, and King David; Seminary President after Seminary, Rap Songs "Super Bass," "Forget You," and "Who We Are" presented as poetry by a (real) NT scholar; Lose Yourself in the Sermon (to the tune of Eminem's "Lose Yourself"); Cats of the Apostles; Jesus is Bad with Names discussing the humor of name changes in the Bible; and finally a song to our beloved Minister of the Chapel. Previous years' recorded videos can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z2ULkg0M8g, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6OgmiqFZbQ.

No way! So, what does one do after a fantastic Friday full of fun and laughter?! Oh, I don't know.... play telephone pictionary (after theologiggle)! And here is just a sample:

"No way, YAHWEH!"

I hope that you all are enjoying the simplicity of Lent! Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter are only a few weeks away! Peace be with you. =)