Scholarship

 It looks like the invasion of Ukraine is underway.  In some ways, I'm not surprised.  Putin is not a subtle man, and he's been pretty clear about his intent.  In some ways, I'm shaking my head and saying, "Wait.  We're not done with the global pandemic part of the apocalyptic narrative.  Now we're moving to a land war in Europe?  In Europe????"

In the face of this bad news, it seems a bit frivolous to write about a piece of good news that I got yesterday:  I got a scholarship to help with my seminary studies!  But I will have plenty of time to write about Ukraine.  I don't know that I'll get a scholarship on a regular basis, so let me take a moment and preserve this piece of good news.

It's a scholarship for seminary students offered by WELCA (Women of the ELCA, the largest, most liberal branch of Lutherans in the U.S.).  In the days to come, the group will let me know how much they will be giving me, once they know how much money they have to distribute.  

It's not a scholarship based on need, and it's not really based on merit, although one must have a certain amount of merit to be in a seminary program.  I see it as affirmation, and I'm grateful for it.

I almost didn't apply.  I had written myself notes, and still, the Dec. 15 deadline snuck up on me.  And then, the PDF wouldn't let me fill in the various fields.  I answered one question, and all the question boxes auto-filled with the answer.

So I filled in the application in a more old-fashioned way.  I didn't write by hand, although I was tempted.  I filled out one box, printed the form, filled out another field, printed, and so on.  And then I literally cut and pasted the answers onto a new form.

I wasn't sure I was really eligible.  I'm affiliated with a Lutheran seminary, but I'm taking classes at a Methodist seminary.  My church had a WELCA group that came to a screeching halt with the start of the pandemic, and we haven't really gotten it restarted.  Indeed, we're still pivoting back to remote worship on a regular basis.  But I decided to answer the questions honestly in my application and let the people in charge decide if I was eligible.

Yesterday I got the news that I was eligible and that I was one of three applicants to get a scholarship.  Hurrah!  And then I settled back into seminary studies.