Getting the Seminary Out

Last Friday night I went to the home of one of the other pastors in town. Over dessert and coffee we were talking about my young career and his many years in ministry. He told me that his church recently had an intern. One Sunday after worship this pastor of 30+ years asked one of the pillars in the congregation what she thought of the new intern. Her response, "He needs to get the seminary out of him."

Here in lies my internal struggle. The chasm between seminary and congregation is wide! Wow! I have known this through my experience before seminary and hearing it from friends who came back from internship while in seminary. Yet, to taste and see it first hand is eye opening and humbling. I am so grateful for the education that I received while in seminary. Yet, until I have touched and seen the lives of people grappling with faith and life outside the very sterile and pristine lab of the seminary, faithful leading is only a concept.

After three whopping (tongue placed firmly in cheek) weeks, serving with the title 'pastor' or 'intern pastor' attached to my name, I am not ready to purge the seminary from my system. As many things in life, change happens more gradually than we often want it to. I imagine I will let go of the seminary in due time...through an organic process like composting. Allowing the education that I have recieved to sit exposed to the elements of ministry in daily life and over time decompose or change, not disappearing but becoming a new substance that in its very nature sustains and nourishes faith as it is mixed into my life and the life of others. Let the composting commence!

Peace to your house.