Processing anything is an important part of my life. And because I have this on my mind, I'm going to process here because I don't have anyone to process with elsewhere.
Seminaries.
holy. cow.
This isn't my next major decision and I'm not feeling the pressure to pick yet, but I do want to get started so that when I go somewhere I feel called to it.
Websites only do so much, and therefore I am limited to what I know about a seminary.
I was looking today and felt specifically NOT called to a couple places. My problem lies in the thought that I want to go to a UCC seminary. Ther eare 7 of them....
CTS (Chicago)
LTS (Lancaster)
ANTS(Andover-Newton)
PSR (Pacific School Rel.)
UTSTC(United-Twin Cities)
BTS (Bangor)
ETS (Eden/ St. Louis)
So here's what my list of UCC seminaries looked like after today
LTS
ANTS
ETS
I have my reasons for not liking the others and they are valid, i promise.
Here's my other thing.
PTS
Ok, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary is NEAR AND DEAR to my heart. Like, affectionately so. I went to SYI, a summer program there, in 2005 which changed my life and did nothing but affirm my call to ministry. Then I went back twice for two different reunions, again being a godsend because i met one of my best friends there, who then later interned with me this past summer. So it's been a life changing place so far. I'm nervous about that. Leah (my assc. pastor at home) who is like my mentor, said something a while ago about me being careful- she didn't want me to just pick the place that I was comfortable with (meaning PTS) but she also didn't want me to go where she went for favored reasons (CTS). Well, we know I'm not going to cts, so what does that mean for PTS?
I dont know.
i hate that phrase, yet i use it a lot.
I just dont know.
Dr. Beauchamp, director of our ministry center on campus, has really good intuition about things. And he said something the other day about me going to PTS and said it in a way as though I am fighting it. And I would love to go to PTS just because its a place where I am comfortable. But I did that with college and I don't want to do that again.
I don't know.
I do have another year and a half before I graduate college, and then I will do a year or two of volunteer work with Lutheran Volunteer Corps. And then I will go to seminary after that, but for now, I don't know that I can be at peace about it.
So be it.
1 comment:
I think though that you shouldn't just avoid something because it's comfortable. You're like me in that we avoid things we're afraid of to a degree...so sometimes it IS valid that we go somewhere we are not comfortable with. That isn't always the case though...
Fortunately you have time :)
Post a Comment