Seminary as Tool Box

I've been feeling a variety of emotions as seminary classes start.  I've been doing the readings, and I'm thrilled--I'd be happy reading these things for fun, and in fact, they're similar to academic texts that I've read just because I'm interested.  I've enjoyed reading the introductions that my classmates have posted.  What an interesting group!

I'm also feeling odd about my decision to do something just for myself, something that takes me away from others, at least while I'm in my synchronous classes.  I'm feeling . . . selfish.

So I was pleased this morning to find words from the Wesley Seminary dean in his reflection at the start of Fall 2021 term.  After quoting Isaiah 40:  3-5, he writes:

"As Wesley Theological Seminary launches a new school year in the midst of a pandemic, racial inequality, and natural and human caused disasters, it feels like we are in the wilderness. I can certainly relate to the feeling of the Israelites who left the bondage in Egypt following Moses through the wilderness to the Promise Land.

And yet in the midst of this wilderness, our faculty and students pick up the books and study. On the surface this could seem like a selfish and frivolous task, to read and write when there is so much wrong with our world. And yet we study with the hope of building a better tomorrow. God promises to the Israelites is to reach a place that they cannot yet see. They walked together with the pillar of cloud and fire (Shekinah) that offered shade in the day and warm and light at night."

I love this vision of seminary as both a time in the wilderness and the way out of the wilderness.  I love the idea that seminary study can be part of the toolbox with which we will build the world God calls us to create.