Greetings from the man who promised to write everyday. However, it is not my fault that I have not been writing. I have actually still had the time to write; however, our wonderful Internet services here at Concordia are not exactly five star, and I have not had it the past few days. So I am going to put up several posts to make up for the slacking on my behalf, and hopefully you don't get bored to death reading more than one of these at a time.
To update you on my past few days, classes have been going great. Our Pastoral Ministries Professor, Dr. Utech, introduced us to his course with a serious emotional roller coaster the first day. The more guys I talk to, the more I find out I wasn't the only guy with a tear or two running down his face by the end of class. I will continue with that story later. My next class was Historical Theology with Dr. Hermann. He is a major history buff, and has a great dry sense of humor that reminds me of Dr. Meehl. I think he is going to make the History of Christianity an enjoyable experience for me as a fellow history buff. I will also explain this class further later on. That was my Wednesday.
My Thursday started with Lutheran Mind again, which was really just introduction of our individual class, and Dr. Burreson. (Who I have to give my respect to because he brews his own beer). We did discuss a little more about oratio, meditatio, and tentatio. Then I went to Hebrew Readings. Now I walked in and saw Dr. Adams (who will be an entire post himself) and after listening to his introduction and class outline, realized that the 75 or 80 percent effort I gave in undergrad Hebrew is no longer going to cut it. I am actually going to have to do work, and be prepared for class. I am also going to have to change my complete study habits for the language tests. I don't believe anyone ever told me grad school would get harder and require work! JUST KIDDING! It will be good for me to have to give it my all for a change. We didn't have Greek Readings today because Dr. Gibbs wife was having surgery and it must not of gone as smoothly as they had thought because he had planned on still having class, but wasn't able to make it. So please keep him and his wife in your prayers. I did have Pastoral Ministry again today, which again, Dr. Utech's class everyday could be a post itself. I think it will be my favorite class this semester. Today was also communion in chapel. Which if you ever get the chance to experience chapel at the seminary I strongly advise you do not miss it. It is amazing to hear not only that many men, but their wives, all the teachers and staff, and just a huge multitude all on this campus for the purpose of serving God come together to worship that same God. Each day is a little different, but always very good. Communion was good as well. One because the Lord's Supper's strength and nourishment is always a good thing, but it also meant more hymns. And finally at the end of the day was our field education meeting. We sat through an hour meeting, before he finally told us where the list was posted and we all made a mad rush to see what church we would be at for the next two years. Now for those of you who don't know how this works, our field work church is the church we spend a maximum of eight hours each week at while we are taking classes at the seminary. The first year we just observe and learn mainly. Then the second year, after completely our first year's courses we are allowed to help with the service and to even preach. We do stay at the same church for our whole time unless something happens that it is not a good situation. My church is Hope Lutheran Church in Highland, Illinois. It is about 35 miles from the seminary and about 50 minutes according to Google Maps. However, there is a second year and a fourth year at the same church so I am hoping car pooling will be possible. The church itself does not have a website, but from what I can tell it is a small town rural church. I am excited because I think it will feel much like home and I hope to make some great relationships with the members there. God's will be done and it will surely serve me and teach me well as I grow in my education and faith.
Now I want to go back to Pastoral Ministry, starting with a little insight to who Dr. Utech is. He is our field education program director, as well as our professor for Pastoral Ministries. He is the one who assigned our field work churches and will be directly reviewing our reports and growth in the field. He is a man passionate about spreading the Gospel. I'll repeat that, he is a man passionate about spreading the Gospel to all people. Now I feel like you know Dr. Utech; however, the man you are picturing is probably wrong. I had to give him my full respect because the first day of class he was teaching in cowboy boots. He is just an amazing man filled with the Spirit and I hope to get to know him better. He spent literally the first forty-five minutes describing 1 Timothy 3 and the Scripture about what makes a pastor. Although his reading it and explaining the Greek behind it was merely our ticket to get on his emotional roller coaster. He started describing with several situations that may happen to us as pastors. Although he didn't just describe them or tell about them, he would start each one with, "It will look like this..." or "It will happen like this...." Then he would suck you into the dramatic, descriptive scenario using such adjectives and emphasis to make you think you were in the real life story and it was actually happening to you at that moment. He started with a married couple, who you as a pastor had welcomed into the church, lead through adult confirmation classes, supervised their wedding counseling, and married them. You had prayed with them when they couldn't get pregnant, asked to help fill out adoption papers, and then prayed with them again when she did become pregnant. He then told of the birth and your hospital visit. This was the high of the roller coaster, only to be followed by the sudden drop of the scenario of a family asking you to perform communion for them as a family one last time as their father only had hours left. He then brought you back up to a little lull describing a council meeting that is threatening the split of your church until all eyes fall on you for the answer. Then he really hit us with the double loops, the ones you go completely upside down, both in a row. He told about a brand new member who had just started to come to your church and calls you in the middle of the night because her father doesn't even have an hour left and she wants you to come perform last rights on him (new member with Catholic background he threw in). So you drive across town tired and cold in the middle of the night to the hospice, and you see a fragile little man sitting in a bed. He can barely open his eyes as you talk to him. And you talk calmly to him, and ask him if you can pray with him. So you take the hands of your new member and her father and pray a prayer based around the Apostle's Creed. And after the prayer you ask him if he heard you, and he barely shakes his head, but he shakes yes. So you ask him if he believes what you prayed, and again he barely shakes, but shakes yes. And you give thanks to God and wait not even twenty minutes until he breaths his last. This was just the first loop. The second one was a woman and her child show up at your church one Sunday and you can tell she wants to talk to you, and she even waits until everyone else has left. Then she approaches you and asks, "Pastor do you remember me?" And you apologize because you don't. She says that's alright, but she came to talk to you a few years back right before Christmas. She just walked in to the church one night because the lights were on. And she had asked you all kinds of questions about life. And you might or might not remember, but she tells you that night she was on her way to have an abortion when she saw the light on and stopped. After talking to you about God and life, she decided not to go through with it, and she brought her daughter with her for you to meet. That was the second loop." Now I can not emphasize how awesomely he told each one of these, and like I said he didn't just tell it, he portrayed it as if you were there in the presence. He had a major theme and quote he said between each story before he would immediately start the next story with his opener, "It will happen like this..." His theme was back to the Greek of 1 Timothy 3. The two Greek words for noble task. (If you don't know 1 Timothy 3 it states anyone wanting to fulfill the position of "overseer" or pastor is doing a noble task. Now I wont try to type out the Greek, but each time I type "noble task" in quotations it will represent him saying it in Greek). After each story, each scenario as we were sitting there picturing ourselves as pastors in that position, he would say, "That's a "noble task" and not just anyone gets to do that." I seriously could not hold back the tears as he poetically laid out the events in front of us, and I know many of the guys admitted to a few tears as well. His whole message, his whole emphasis was that as pastors we have the special gift, the "noble task" of saving people from death and bringing them into eternal life. We as children of God serving as pastors have the special chance not many people get to invite home to our Father our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It was inspiring and I believe just a small glimpse into the type of man he is. I am thoroughly excited for this class.
I ask that You mold me into the pastor you want me to be. I ask that You use to me to preform Your noble tasks, that will be used to bring more of Your lost children back home to You. I ask that the Holy Spirit be with me, guide and protect me. In Your Son's most holy name. Amen.
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