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! =)

Final(s)ly Finished!

HOOOORAY! Hooray for finished finals! Boo yah, finals! So, I finished my finals about... oh, 9 minutes ago! And first thing on my agenda--tell all of you! Well that, and I have time to kill before dinner, so what the heck?!

Old Testament. The test and studying for it were like reading from Genesis through Malachi--just a matter of endurance. It was a lot of information--39 books worth! I'm feeling pretty good about it though, and I am very satisfied with the amount of knowledge I learned from this class! Wow!

Hebrew. This was largely reproduction of verbs, different forms, and translation. I already got my grade back because my preceptor is awesome, and I did really well! Man, I love Hebrew.

Theology. Oh Calvin, why do your Institutes need to be so lengthy and theological? I'm convinced that Calvin was trying to be the death of me... but oh no, not this day, no sir! Also, I wrote about Enlightenment theology for my other essay. Systematic (really, Liberation) theology--done!

Speech. Easy peasy--finished last week.

...so now that I am done with finals, I have two weeks off! Sounds great, right? Well, HECK YES, but I have been a tad overwhelmed with studying that I have not yet:
done my laundry
cleaned my car
cleaned my room
went Christmas shopping
deposited three checks
stocked up on food for next week
answered several emails
 Plus, I have intensive Hebrew II in the J-term, beginning January 2, which will make me a busy bee over break!

BUT, I am super looking forward to Christmas Eve and a chance to see all of my wonderful friends and family! And I'm still wearing my advent colors! Yippee! Now, I'm off to dinner and celebratory games and fun with  friends! What a great day! =)

Messiah

Behold! I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
Luke 2:10-11

Good day to each of you! I hope this post finds you not swarming in piles of notes, and not reading until your eyes hurt, and not falling asleep with a Bible on your face. That would be really weird because that's what I've been doing! I pumped though, ready to go and rock some tests. Rumor has it, that the tests are actually afraid of the students around here! Who knew! Anyway, I'm sure you're not interested in my study stories, but you may be interested in my study break stories:

Messiah. I went to a performance of Handel's Messiah last night at UChapel! The place was packed, and they had us sit according to the part we sing. We didn't go through the whole thing--that would have taken two and a half hours, but we went through a lot of it (an hour and a half's worth, at least). It was super fun and there were some amazing soloists. And I don't know how much you know about the music itself, but it's hard:

I did my best to keep up and not lose my spot. Pft, bad night to wear my five year old glasses and not contacts. We ended on the well known Hallelujah! chorus. My favorite was For Unto Us a Child is Born chorus. What a wonderful study break with some fantastic friends!

Saving sanity. Speaking of music, I have been proactive about keeping my sanity during this week. I mean this in jest, of course, but some people do get a little loopy (including myself) after a long study session with no break. So, I have been taking snip-it breaks to solidify the information I've studied to have five or ten minutes of quick fun. I'd like to introduce you to Electra and [unnamed guitar]:

Electra (left) and [unnamed guitar] right.

If you have guitar name suggestions for [unnamed guitar], I would be happy to hear them! My old acoustic's name was Laura, so don't recommend that. So, either comment below or email me: ashley.reimold@gmail.com. Music has been such a wonderful gift for me during this season of advent! The church really has some good gems for this season. Well, I should probably get back to my studying! 

Shalom, friends! 

Finals Preview & Sunday Review

Greetings dear friends! So guess what I just realized? I am done with classes for this semester! Oh yeah! Go me! Trouble is, I still have these 'finals' to get through before I can say that I successfully completed my first semester of seminary! I am feeling rather confident. But I don't know how I feel about my feelings of confidence. I hope I haven't fell into a a unsafe sense of control and preparedness. I guess we'll see! =)

Hebrew.  or "the Hebs" as I have come to call it. I have been intentional about keeping up with my vocabulary and grammar, so I am feeling pretty good about this test. Plus, I also enjoy studying it in a really geeky way because now I can read my favorite OT passages in their original language and actually understand what it means (for the most part). It is quite incredible how much progress we as a class have made this semester. I am especially grateful for my preceptor--he is truly amazing.

Old Testament. So I don't know if you are aware how long the Hebrew Bible is, but it's pretty long. 39 books as a matter of fact! This means that there is a lot of material to cover. Besides the essay prompts, I am required to know outlines of many of the books, summaries of Ruth, Esther, and Jonah, significance of many OT characters, prophets & their associated kings, significant years, ten commandments, order of the OT, and several other facts.

Theology. This is the final that I am least looking forward to for several reasons. After today, however, I am feeling pretty confident that I am good with more than half of the final--Calvin and theological terms. I still have some reading up to do on the topics of Barth, the Enlightenment, and evangelical theology.

Well, I am feeling good about these finals, but I am still planning on studying my brains out the first half of this week! The second half is devoted to the finals themselves. On another note, I had quite a wonderful Sunday! I went to church with a very good friend of mine, and I really like this church I have been attending while out here in Princeton. Allentown Presbyterian Church (NJ).

Allentown Pres. This church has some similarities with my own church, but also a number of differences. Considering it as a whole, I really like it. They sing a wide variety of songs, both contemporary and traditional. They use a keyboard, guitars, and drums as well as the organ. It's all very well balanced out. The service also has a very nice flow to it, and this is something I can appreciate. The pastor is also a really cool guy and a great preacher. He's a walker and really doesn't use the pulpit. His messages are very good, thought provoking, and they have a academia component to them.

Handel's Messiah. What a wonderful advent Sunday school taught by the pastor. We talked a lot about the history of this genius piece of music and the compiling of scripture. It was pretty awesome. We listened to clips of the performance, soloists, and talked about the structure of the piece itself. I always appreciate going into more detail about the music behind advent (Messiah was originally intended for lent).


How Great is Our God. If you like Chris Tomlin. advent-themed songs, or guitar/piano (or all three like me), you should check out this alternative Verse 1 for Tomlin's song How Great is Our God:

The splendor of the babe

In the manger hay

A new way has begun, a new way has begun

Through darkness comes our light

Messiah born this night

O listen to his voice, his tender gentle voice

Wish me luck during my last week of my first semester at seminary! It has been a great beginning to what is going to be a long week. I hope to see you, whoever you are, very soon! Happy Advent and God bless! 

"I hate it when my snakes fall off!"

So I am just going to admit right off the bat that I need a break in studying! It seems like my answer to every Whatcha up to? or What are your plans for later? is always... well, I'm studying. I might just go a little crazy before finals are over. But I'm definitely not stressing, it's advent and there is a wonderful Christmas concert here this afternoon/ evening. Anyway, recap on the past few days:

Sermon on Hell. How many of these have you heard in your lifetime? I'm not just talking about sermons that reference hell, but sermons fully devoted to the topic of hell. How many? Well, I can answer this question without thinking too much: none. In my life, I have never heard a sermon completely dedicated to hell. Yesterday, that changed. It was an interesting sermon. One of the professors here was the preacher for the chapel service and decided to tackle this not-so-popular topic with no script. Good on ya, I say. Anyway, he spoke mostly about repentance, and did a very good job relating it all to gospel themes and even to advent. It was very interesting, very well thought out, and overall very good. We sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic as the final hymn--very fitting.

Seminary Basketball. Why on earth would basketball be on my mind or in my schedule so close to finals week?! That's outrageous, right?! Wrong. First and foremost I would like to point out that physical activity boosts mental activity for up to eight hours. Cha ching! AND, in my opinion, basketball provides a needed break to the academia around here. I must say, seminary basketball is the right kind of basketball. What do I mean by this? Well, in high school and undergrad, basketball was centered around competition, rivalry, and pride. At seminary, however, it's different. The goal isn't necessarily to win, it's to have fun. There aren't really any rivalries because no one can force themselves to dislike another person over a simple, trivial game. And pride? --we don't even have school colors and are playing under the same institution. Pft, the heck with intramural pride. Everyone is very honest about fouls, very complimentary to both teams, very conversational, and overall--it is the fairest game of basketball you will ever see. We're just doing pickup games for now, but the season begins in February, and I can't wait!

Olivia's Advent Calendar. You should check this out. It is a series of videos recorded by a girl from my friend's church. She makes a creative video everyday when she opens that day's door of her advent calendar. These are pretty hilarious! They are posted on youtube daily and will certainly give you a few good laughs as well as a number of witty phrases to throw around. Ex: "I hate when my snakes fall off!" and "Dad, is that enough twitching?!" A group of us watch them everyday! =)

Anyway, I might want to get back to work. These finals aren't going to study for themselves! I hope all is well with each of you! All the best, until next time! =)