Welcome to Saturday November 10, 2007

 

On Thursday morning I had my interview by representatives of the seminary faculty for approval for ordination.  This is the first of the last steps leading to graduation and the church wide assignment process for first call pastors in the ELCA.  As one would feel prior to any important interview, I had a few butterflies.  I wasn’t nervous mind you, just ready to get it done.  If I had any worries it was that they didn’t like my approval essay and so I would have to defend a poorly written theology paper to two theologians.  Yeah…right.

 

The panel invited me into the office and after a few pleasantries, we all sat down, shared a prayer, and they explained the process.  As our conversation began, the Seminary Dean, who was on my panel, held up a copy of my paper and said the words I dreaded to hear; “Let’s talk about your essay.”  He and the other faculty member, our head librarian who does hold an MDIV among her several degrees, flipped though the pages.  Then came those words I wasn’t ready for; “This is solid work David, you have done a very good job.”  Did he just say what I thought he said?

 

With that statement, the rest of the conversation turned out to be a very enjoyable experience.  Not that all of the questions were easy to answer, they were not, but I was now confident that I would do well in this process, and I did.  The result of the interview was a positive recommendation for approval.  The first phone call was to my wife to let her know how things went.

 

Later at the end of the day’s classes, a friend of mine asked me how I felt about finally having my approval panel over and done with.  I thought about my answer for a few minutes and told her that, for the first time in over three and one half years, I feel 100% sure that quitting my job, a job I really enjoyed, and forgoing a paycheck for four years while incurring a boatload of student loan debt was the absolute right thing for me to do.  It is a great feeling to know that you are on the path God has called you to walk, and that God is with you along each and every step of the journey.

 

I have more to write concerning the process, the week and how my family and I worked through the stress of these last couple of weeks.  Any frequent reader of this blog has by now noticed the lack of posts.  I am I the middle of an academic marathon, or so it seems.  There will be more later today, but first I have to return to the several essays that are tap dancing their way into my weekend.  See you on the next break!

 

seminary ordination interview ELCA