End of term!

So we've come to the end of Hilary Term - one third of the way through my training already! This has been a ridiculously busy term, with lots of essays, supporting pieces, formational stuff and more! Some of the highlights:

Worship

Working with members of my College Group to put together a Creative Eucharist was an excellent experience. We had some differences of opinion during the process - inevitable when the group is full of leaders - but it was a valuable learning experience and resulted in a service which flowed very smoothly and enabled a lot of people to meet with God.

Another highlight happened two days later, when a member of our group (not me!) performed some highly entertaining tricks with a thurible during the service commemorating Edward King, a principal of Cuddesdon over 100 years ago.

Placements

Both placements this term have been good, especially the opportunity to preach at St. Barnabas. I will also be acolyting there on Easter Sunday, which will be exciting! The Steppin Stone placement is nearly at an end - one Thursday to go - and I will be sorry to finish there. It has been so important in keeping my training grounded in the realities of ministry.

Studies

Best course of the term has been Reformation - a huge gap in my knowledge up until now, but not any more! I have two supporting pieces to do on this over the holiday - have already started the first one, on the reason Erasmus & Luther disagreed over free will. Fascinating stuff!

College Life

I am officially part of the new Kids Church Leadership Team - a colleague and I led the last one of term Wednesday just gone. It is nice to be back involved with this!

I am also continuing as Assistant Social Club Treasurer for the next year - the guy who gets to tell everyone how much they've been spending at the bar!

Easter Holidays

We're going to be back and forth over the holidays, with me having the two essays to write, as well as revision for exams (first week in May). But there is a wedding at St. Mark's to look forward to, as well as experiencing how St. Barnabas 'do Holy Week'. And we will be visiting family at various times as well. Then it will be back for a new term, and getting ready to say goodbye to those who will be leaving college in June - which will signal one year left for us here!

General Update

Less than 2 weeks to go of this first term, and I have finished my final seminar essay of the term. I have written 8 of them this term - one a week - one on the Flood narrative, one on Deuteronomy, two on the Prophets (specifically Isaiah and Jeremiah) and four on First Corinthians. All have been fascinating studies, and there is so much more to learn about each! It's actually quite embarrassing how little I knew about some of these topics, particularly as I have prepared 10 sermons or so every year since Commissioning. Perhaps this is one difference between being a licensed lay evangelist and an ordained priest...?

First Corinthians has been especially interesting - if we think we have problems in our churches, it's all happened before! The church at Corinth was split into various factions, and had so many disagreements over things from celebrating the Lord's Supper to eating food that had been offered to idols; from the use of gifts of the Spirit in worship over the rights (or not) of visiting prostitutes! It's a reminder that Paul was first and foremost an apostle rather than a theologian - he wrote his letters to churches, most of whom had specific problems to deal with, and any theology, generally, unfolded in the addressing of these problems. A lesson, perhaps, for any of us tempted to take particular verses of his out of context to apply them to our twenty-first century situations...

Away from academia, my College Group is on Worship Duty this week. Yesterday, we planned a Creative Worship service - Waiting for Peace - which involved much candles, incense and waiting, with yours truly on sound duty. Those at St. Mark's who bore patiently with me when explaining how the sound desk worked should be very proud - your endurance paid off!

Tomorrow, I will be leading Morning Prayer, which, on Wednesdays, is always followed by a brief meditation. I have been wrestling with this one, as whilst preparing it, I distinctly felt God nudging me in a different direction. So I have a new meditation now - very different from the original - I hope and pray it will speak to people tomorrow. I will post it here at some point after the service - will be interested to hear any comments!

Finally, I have taken on a couple of roles in college. I am Assistant Treasurer for the Social Club (which basically means that I send out the bar bills from time to time) and the Deputy Returning Officer (later to take over from the existing RO, a role which involves running the election for positions such as the Common Room President). As I feel no desire or call to be President myself, I am quite happy to organise the elections for the post!