Back to School

Well, I feel like I've finally come up for air. The first week of school ended well with a three hour Old Testament class on Thursday evening. I am looking forward to that class... in fact, I'm looking forward to all my classes. I attended the Church of the Holy Apostles on Sunday (that's right up the street from General on 28th and Ninth). The service was great and the music phenomenal (no doubt due to the gifts of Dr. Hurd, Holy Apostles' music director). Holy Apostles has a great ministry in the city of New York. They operate a soup kitchen at which they server more than 1000 meals each weekday! October 22 will be their 25th anniversary of this ministry... ahh the results of Gospel in action!

Following church on Sunday I volunteered at the opening of the Desmond Tutu Education Center (here at General). Volunteering was great: I was able to see the renovated building at the west end of the Close, observe the ribbon cutting (at which Bishop Tutu, Bishop Katherine, and Dean Ewing participated), and share in the Ubuntu banquet dinner which followed. Although the volunteers were not in the main hall, the speakers were displayed on video screens in the other rooms which afforded the privilege of hearing Archbishop Tutu speak about reconciliation and the spirit of Ubuntu. (In a nutshell, Ubuntu is the philosophy that: all of our lives are interdependent; our salvation is dependent upon the salvation of all others; individual welfare in the world depends upon welfare of everyone in the world. Again... that's a very high level view. Nobody can explain it like Bishop Tutu himself.) The conference then continued on Monday, Tuesday, and into this morning. 

During the conference there were many sessions on reconciliation efforts around the world and in different contexts. I attended a session on racial and social justice presented by Dr. Ed Rodman of EDS. I also attended a session on reconciliation in the Anglican Communion presented by Bishop Gene Robinson. I attended plenary sessions by Christopher Marshall, Archbishop Tutu and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, and a session on scriptural reasoning for inter-religious understanding. Attending the conference helped me to understand that while preaching the Gospel is important, the Gospel in action is necessary. I feel the desire to act but I believe that right now my job is to continue my formation, better preparing me to serve Christ in the world. In the meantime, I'm sure I will have opportunities to serve. One last note, I had the privilege of serving as one of the acolytes (a responsibility that falls upon he Junior class) during the eucharist at which Bishop Katherine presided. I had a blast! It was such a joy to serve at the altar with her.

I encourage all interested in the Tutu Center and the conference on reconciliation to follow this link . There are also some photos of the opening gala here. 

So, in summary, the last three weeks have been hectic; not much rest, not much normalcy, extraordinary events. I'm looking forward to classes becoming more regular. 

Thank you for all your prayers. Until next time - peace.