Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Rundown of Day 2

Hebrew Exegesis is going to be fine.

Middle of the day: Very bad. Run-in over certain administrative rules I have unwittingly broken, the breaking of which produced some of my best educational experiences here. Result: Foul taste in my mouth over issue of rules versus meaningful learning.

Chapel: 0 for 2. One of the very few Gospel verses that has given me any solace during the past year was given a decidedly different twist by today's preacher. It felt as if a knife had been plunged into my gut and twisted, and I departed before communion, something I don't do. Well, actually, I've done it twice in the past several months. I'm thinking that it would be better sometimes to skip the preaching of the Word and proceed directly to the Sacrament. Those of you who are Reformed will recognize that as a fairly dire statement of desolation. Those of you who are not ~ well, we do Word all the time without Sacrament, but never vice versa. However, having now sat through several sermons which have caused me considerable pain, I'm ready to scratch them from my daily life for awhile.

And that from someone who is in seminary in part because she loves both preaching and listening to preaching. Or used to, anyway.

Day considerably redeeemed by spending the afternoon engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with my advisor.

Long walk; beautiful evening.

Two hours spent translating three Hebrew verses. Sort of. Could not have done it without English version also on desk, and still several of the words have refused to reveal themselves in the dictionary. I know what they are, but I'm damned if I can figure out what their roots are so that I can find them.

Going to read Bonhoeffer. Now there's someone I'm willing to listen to.

3 comments:

Stratoz said...

you got me wondering how sad it is when communion renews and cleanses us from the rest of the service.

Kathryn J said...

I'm glad that you got in a walk to help salvage the day. The biggest surprise is that Hebrew is going to be OK - very glad to hear that.

What does it mean to be Reformed? How does one become that? I don't even know how to evaluate whether I am Reformed so I guess that means I am not.

Jennifer said...

Thinking about you every day as you seek meaning in response to your call.

(And what in God's name are we doing as a denomination when our esteemed institutions of higher learning decide to foster a culture of discouragement? Surely that's not what helping to form and shape an educated clergy is all about. Don't get me started.)