That's the first 7 letters in Hebrew, and thus, my full-time seminary journey has begun. Along with Hebrew, I'm taking a class taught by the same professor on the Pentateuch. I'm also taking a class entitled Reading the Audiences, and a Children, Youth and Family class to add to my CYF repertoire.
So far, it's clear I'm no longer the only one in the class that understands religion (I sure hope so eh?). In the past, there have been a few people in my classes at SCSU that would spout some religious rhetoric, and I am no means an expert on the subject, but I feel that I had a better hold on religion than most of my other classmates at SCSU. Welcome to the state school environment eh?
Saint Cloud State University is the second largest public university in Minnesota with 17,000+ students, second only to the school less than a mile away from me, the University of Minnesota. SCSU only has a Religious Studies minor, and there were only a handful that acquired such a minor, and I wasn't one of them. Our Lutheran Campus Ministry only had a handful of active students. The Catholic Student Community had 30-50 active students, and from my point of view, it seemed that Cru and ChiAlpha were the two more active Christian student ministries, maybe averaging >100 students. My point being is that even with the fundamental/evangelical groups, even they didn't have a large portion of the students. Even including the Muslims and other religious groups on campus, I would make an educated guess that less than half of the total students were active in a worshiping community. That would be an interesting statistic to figure out...
What am I trying to say? I'm in a totally different world, and I think that's the point. I'm now in classes with people who have also been active in church all their lives. Upon asking some my classmates, about 90% of those that I've asked have come from Christian private schools, mainly St. Olaf, Augustana, Augsburg, Gustavus, Concordia, and Bethel. So what?
What does their undergrad mean anyway? What does MY undergrad mean anyway?
I could have been one of them. I was accepted at Concordia when I wasn't accepted at UMM. I could have acquired my beanie and cobber ring. But... Life happened and I went another route. I know plenty of fine people with a fine private school education, including my lovely sister-in-law.
And this my friends, is what bothers me. There's nothing inherently wrong with getting a world-class education at a fine ELCA or other private school. And yet, I cringe when someone tells me they got their degree from one of those fine schools. Why do I do that? I remember pleading with a now-Cobber freshman to change his mind to go across the street to MSUM.
I think it hails back to that humility piece. According to a St. Olaf grad in my class, those that self-proclaim themselves as having gone to St. Olaf actively talk about themselves more than others, as opposed to having a Cobber ring to proclaim their undergrad.
There's a certain amount of pride for one's Alma Mater, I understand that. I guess I feel inherently lower than those with private education. I feel inherently behind in the realm of seminary; that my 4 years of active LCM service, 4 years of Youth Ministry work, and humble beginnings will never amount to their experiences.
Yeah, I had two independent studies with a former Rabbi. Yeah, I kinda learned Hebrew and learned something new about Martin Luther. These people had years of Hebrew and Greek. They went on many mission trips across the globe. Their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were pastors...
And yet, I'm not the only one. I'm not the only one who has a public school education. I'm not the only one who lived life before. I'm not the only one who has a child, a spouse, or a car loan. Yes, some went to an ELCA private college on their parents' dime, saw the world on their parents' dime, going to seminary on their parents' dime...
But somehow... I take pride (but not too much) in my own journey, and I think that's also the point. Just because they have their more expensive education, doesn't mean that my public school education is invalidated.
My three years of bumming around Minnesota after high school, meeting Tiffany in Moorhead, attending MSUM for two semesters, SCSU for six more, raising a child, all the while in poverty... makes me stronger somehow, I hope.
My diverse education (in underwater basket-weaving according to my father) with some classes not found at private schools, experiences with LCM, and struggles with uncertainty make me stronger somehow, I hope.
We all struggle, we all have pain, we all are human, and again, we're all here for the same purpose: To serve God. The professors tell us that during our first year we're all chewed up, the second year we're all put back together again, only to be chewed up again during our internship, and hopefully we end up put back together by graduation.
Seminary is transformative. What better way to see how I change than this dated material called a blog. As soon as I hit this 'Publish' button, it is written in time.
Time... Another blog post soon to come...
Amen.
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