Firsts

Today marks the start of another school year here at Seabury, which is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the freshness and excitement of new beginnings, and I thought I would celebrate with a short list of firsts.

My first post in a long while. Yes, I have been remiss in my posting. I know, I know. The best thing I can say about this is I have been on strike. As I may have mentioned, I am a raging extrovert. Part of being an extrovert, as least this particular one, is that I process my thoughts verbally, with other people. The last month has included a good deal of alone time. In some ways, that was very good for me – I always need to work on being myself when I am by myself – but in other ways, it was difficult. Writing is a second step in my thought process, with human interaction always being first. Limited human encounters means limited writing. Consider it part protest, part personality quirk. And, since classes are beginning, consider it over.

My first Baptist wedding. Okay, so really I’m just stretching to get in a note of congratulations to Tripp and Trish. The wedding was joyous and beautiful, the music was great (although I’m biased there), the party was a blast, and the bride and groom were gorgeous and glowing. It was great spending time with friends, and meeting folks I know from stories and blogs. All to celebrate love. Many, many years of happiness to you both!

The first day of classes. Well, my classes at Seabury don’t start until tomorrow. I have “the senior classes”- England in the Age of Reform; Anglican Identity; Anglican Worship; and Sex, Money & Real Estate: Canon Law. It’ll be a long day- we have all four of those classes on the same day. Other folks, including the new students started classes this afternoon. It was also the first Eucharist of the school year, and our new Theology & Ethics professor preached and presided at the service. She noted that this is a new beginning for some, and the beginning of an end for others of us. Yep, it sure is. Ready or not, here comes senior year.

My first assignment. I am also taking a seminar in Christian Education over at Garrett called Christology & Teaching. Our first writing assignment is due next Monday. We are to write four to six “convictions” we hold about Jesus as teacher. When they called Jesus “Rabbi’, what did they mean? What does it mean for us today? I’m not entirely sure what all I’ll have to say about that, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with living in relationship, with hope, and with changing people, changing lives. Its what I’ve learned so far in this place, and I’m pretty sure I’ve learned Jesus here. But with all these firsts, I feel like I’m just beginning. And friends, that is a good feeling.

Contagious

Don't worry, I'm not talking about my physical health. That seems to be intact. I am, however, starting to think that computer geekiness is contagious. Really. Before I came to Seabury, I liked my computer because it was pretty and I could burn CDs. That was about it. Then I took up chatting online. Then I started a blog. And now, I'm playing with new software. Bookster is helping me catalog my books for GOEs. Plus, its just nice to have a catalog of my books- it even has a "lent to..." feature, so I can remember where my books are when they aren't safe at home. Thanks to Mark for the heads up on that piece of shareware. Then, last night, Si and I travelled down to Indiana to surprise Jane for her birthday. That was a great trip- learning, surprising, eating, laughing. While we were waiting for the birthday girl to wake up from her nap, Bruce showed us the pretty-ness of iCal, and the cool online sharing you can do. Did I mention its pretty, with lots of colors? I guess I have strayed too far from my roots. Too bad frequent posting doesn't seem as contagious as general geekiness. Small steps, friends, small steps!

Home Sweet Home

Luke and I traveled back to Michigan this past weekend. Again. I'm starting to get confused about where I live. Anyway, it was actually a joyful trip, where we attended the wedding of a friend of mine from high school. The wedding was fun, it was good to catch up with a couple old friends, and the dancing was a blast. My friend is such a trooper- she has had a saga of painful incidents involving a broken foot and nerve damage. After another scan right before the wedding, they decided to put on another cast, but also decided to wait until after the wedding when she is back in Delaware. The last three months have been so difficult with her injury that the couple started laughing during the "in sickness and in health" part of the vows!There was no way a broken foot was going to stop her though- she walked down the aisle, said her vows, and danced with her new husband, her dad, family and friends, all with a broken foot. That kind of dedication bodes well for a marriage, I'm pretty sure. Many blessings and happy years, Chris & Emily!

While we were home, Luke and I passed a house for sale, right near my church back home. Its pale green stucco, with dark green trim. It has hardwood floors, a big backyard, and a nice little porch. Basically, we love it. Unfortunately, we don't live in Michigan, and even though we're moving back next year, we have no idea where. Still, it was great fun to plan how to decorate, how we would expand the kitchen, what to plant in the garden, and what kind of parties we could have. And- perhaps more importantly- it was great to know that our ideas of a perfect little house are very similar. House fantasies continue anon.

Back in Chicago, it turns out that the internet is pretty much down at my house for now, and I'm not sure how long the outage will last. Luckily, I have all these other summer projects that are taking up the time I'm not spending online chatting and reading blogs. My office is filled with piles of books, as I've decided to rearrange all of my seminary books. Until now, I've mostly shelved them by term, that is, when I buy my books each term, I just put all of them on the shelf together. I'm thinking that in the middle of General Ordination Exams though, I'm not going to want to spend time saying "Gee... which term was New Testament II with that little book on Paul?" So, I am attempting to organize generally by topic, aiming towards canonical categories for the GOEs. Of course, my office is also known as our spare bedroom, and there are people planning on sleeping on the futon in a week or so. They'd probably appreciate it if I finished my little project soon. Of course, I'd appreciate having a bit more space. What was I saying about house-dreaming?

Tomorrow-ish

So, when I said I'd post the sermon tomorrow, that was an approximation of time. I'm a big fan of the "better late than never" school! So, the Clare sermon is posted here. To celebrate Clare's actual feast day, Stephanie and I travelled north to the Wisconsin State Fair. There was dancing corn, a Pom-pom competition, maple cotton candy, adorable bouncing baby sheep (seriously- they look like they're on a trampoline!), bunnies and chickens and cows- oh my! It was a fabulous day. Even though it culminated in scary noises from the car, and Luke and Wes coming to our rescue, it was still a fabulous day.

Does anyone know the musical that has the State Fair song in it? Someone was asking...

Its That Time Again

Tonight is the NFL Hall of Fame game, and the first night of Monday Night Football! I am so excited! I didn't even know it was starting already. I can't believe we're this far into the summer. But oh boy do I love football. Broncos and Redskins... it should be a good game.

Oh yeah, and I preached this weekend. It went really well, and I got some of those wonderful comments- the kind where people tell you about the important thing they heard, and it isn't even something you said. The best compliment though? One of the girls who used to be in my youth group was acolyting at 8:00 church. She told her mom that she actually listened to the whole sermon- and then she wanted to stay and listen to me talk in Adult Ed! I miss those kids from our youth group. Anyway, the sermon needs a bit of fixing up, and I'll post it tomorrow.