Singing Along the Journey

identity

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

Who are you?

One evening in Church History class the lecture began with this question:  who are you?  It was a good opening; it made me start, it made me pay attention.  It was not the words I expected in that place at that time.  And it was a great question with which to frame the discussion of the early Christian persecutions that followed.  I did not at that time realize the ways in which that question would echo forward through my life.   I certainly did not then nor do I now have as clear an answer as our Gospel reports that John the Baptist offered when asked the same question: This…
Read More

Holy, holy, holy…

One of the great joys of this time of formation and learning known as "going to seminary" is the opportunity to pull together pieces of learning and devotion that I thought were long ago lost and abandoned.  Right now, I am especially enjoying a class called "Introduction to Judaism," for just that reason.  A very wise friend asked me if I thought that I might be bored in this class, given that my Masters in history focused on the Middle East and Judaica.  But this class has not only given me the opportunity to remember much of what I learned, but the chance to experience as a living, breathing faith…
Read More

What I’m learning in seminary…and the story continues…

It is once again that time when my colleagues at Virginia Theological Seminary are writing their Ember letters to their supporters and most of all to their supporting Bishops in their home dioceses.  And once again, I thought that I would join in the fun with my very own Baptist version of the ritual...a blog post. The topic "What I'm Learning in Seminary" is simultaneously a broad one and a limited one, because the truth is that my learning in my seminary classes only succeeds when that act of learning and the information I take in works to transform my life, my relationship with my God, and my ability to…
Read More

Something I noticed…

Last night we had our first meeting of a class I have been anticipating for months -- The Teaching Church.  It is, for me, the beginning of my real education.   It was the work that I have begun to do as a teacher and the awareness of my call to teaching that has been slowly developing in me for the past couple of years that brought me to the doors of this seminary, and it was the one chance meeting with the particular educator who teaches this class that made VTS my school of choice over Andover Newton. And last night did not disappoint -- there is nothing more invigorating than…
Read More

Other people’s theology…

Reading and commenting on someone else's writing is not always the easiest thing.  But as eternal students of faith, we often face the task of picking up a book or an article, reading it quickly,  analyzing its usefulness, and incorporating the pieces of that message we need for a project or that we need simply to stimulate our own thinking and theological pondering.  And so, in this next writing reflection, I have chosen to read and comment on Chapter Three of our text, We Are Theologians:  Strengthening the People of God, by Frederica Harris Thompsett. I picked this chapter, titled "All Can Be Theologians", because the idea resonated strongly with my…
Read More

And yes, now it is time for a research paper…

Seven years ago (such a very long time ago, it seems now), I had the idea to produce a concert on Good Friday at my then very new place of employment, the Calvary Baptist Church.  I was not yet a member.  The truth was, very few people in the congregation knew anything about me except that I sang with great gusto in the choir and seemed to be pleasant enough to talk to at the coffee hour.  In the previous year, someone of great importance in my musical and spiritual life had died, and I wanted to do a concert in his honor for one of his favorite charities.  I…
Read More

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More