Seminary ending

The following is a reflection I wrote for a contextual ed course at United. It depicts my feelings as I came closer and closer to graduation and the end of my seminary career. I hope that you all might be able to glean some inspiration and at lest some encouragement from this brief essay. Also included in this post are some pics of me at graduation.

This is it. My final week of Seminary! I preached this past Sunday about Pentecost and about the new way that God is moving in this world, “it’s end times type of stuff”, I said and truly it is, but in a sense so is this moment, a sort of academic eschaton. The Kingdom is here, it is now, the era of the past is over and the new age has been consummated. Ok, perhaps that’s a bit dramatic and over the top, but at times that how I have felt about seminary.

I’m thankful to be finished, I’m also a bit nervous. I spoke also directly to the graduates in both my churches; spoke to them about the newness that completing school can bring, but also the fear, doubt, concern and nervousness. There is also a bit of grief that I’m feeling. I’m a little bit sad and I’ll miss the community, I’ll miss the gathering weeks, it almost makes me want to do another degree just so I can remain part of the community, but like I said, ALMOST J.

I will miss seminary, after all it’s been a huge part of my life for the past 4 years. It’s like saying good bye to a girlfriend that your breaking up with after 4 years of being together, maybe even like a divorce, after all she (seminary) was with me early in the morning, late at night, on weekends and during holidays. I assume like some marriages or relationships we have simply grown a part. It’s time to move on...with love, respect and a bit of grief, but time to move on nonetheless. The week after I graduate my wife and I are going on vacation…ALONE!!! Something we have not done in yearsJ. It’s very much deserved for my wife. If seminary was like a girl I was in relationship with to me, it was like the “other women” to my wife. A selfish, controlling women, that tried her best to ruin our marriage. J Either way, its over and truth be told I might change where and how I went to seminary, but I’d never change the decision to go. And finally a prayer for all seminaries and seminarians:

“May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you;

May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm;

May he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you;

May he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.” - Shane Claiborne