End of first semester and home

I have made it home as most of you already know.  The past twelve days have been stressful, challenging, fulfilling, and overall a whirlwind experience.  Just about a week ago I two normal final essay due in both Greek and OT and I had a three hour timed final essay for my history class.  We were given several options for our final history paper and one of options was a three hour timed essay, which is similar to a standard General Ordination Exam, or GOE, session.  By the end of our first semester of our third year those students pursuing ordination must take the GOE.  This test consist of three hour session in seven canonical areas:  Holy Scripture, Church History, Christian Theology, Christian Ethics, Contemporary Studies, Liturgics and Music, and Theory and Practice of Ministry.  So, our professor thought it was a good idea to expose students to these similar situations to ease our general anxieties about the whole experiences.  On a side note, in some dioceses the GOE score is taken under very serious consideration when they decide whether or not to advance a candidate for ordination, while in other diocese it means nothing at all.  Anyways, by Tuesday of last week I had finished my two papers and electronically submitted them and looked towards preparing for the history paper.

I spent a fair amount of time with the texts and my class notes that the professor distributes before each class.  I had a good grasp on the topic and I used a good amount of references to both the texts and the notes.  I sat down, started my timer, and began to type.  After about three hours I had a nine page essay on  about salvation in the middle ages and I thought it was pretty solid.  I sent it off to the professor and will get my grade soon.  I took care of that on Thursday and had Friday to get ready for my flight home to Boston at 11:15 that night.  Friday was a relaxing day and by six Jason, Lauren and I loaded up my car and made our way to SFO, Jason was flying out an hour and half after my departure and Lauren was taking my car back to school.  We did stop for dinner at Sizzler.  It was a classy place but it did have decent food for the options that they had.  It was good to have a full meal before getting on a red-eye flight.  I was at the airport by 9:30 and in the air before 11:30.

The flight was uneventful even though I did not sleep.  It is not that I could have fallen asleep, it was that I couldn't even if I had wanted to.  I was sitting two rows from the back in an aisle seat.  I had two people to my left, the aisle and then a set of three more seats.  The flight was full, every seat was filled with a body.  Now there were two bathrooms at the rear of the plane, two rows behind me, and one up front by the front door and the cockpit.  My shoulders are fairly broad and my should extended beyond my seat and into the aisle.  every person that went to the bathroom on that five and a half hour flight, including the flight attendants, hit my shoulder as they walked by...twice, one for going and one from returning.  Not one person went out of their way to try and squeeze by so needless to say I didn't even bother to try and sleep.  Other than getting knocked around a whole bunch the flight went by quickly.  We landed in Boston around 8:00 Saturday morning and I was asleep in my bed by 10:00.

My first semester is done and I have five more until graduation.  While I am taking my time and trying to explore and take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way while I am in Cali,  am always looking forward with my eye on the future.  I have a goal and like a good puzzle every pieces has to line up and fit together to get the desired result, so too for me as I put all the pieces together and move forward.  It is amazing to think how quickly the semester went by.  It was a full three months but it didn't feel like it.  I can only imagine what three years will feel like.

I am home now and ready for a break.  I may post while home but I will be relaxing and getting ready for my next semester.  I fly back to Cali in January so you will definitely hear from me by then.  Merry Christmas.

A difficult task

I received an email from my aunt yesterday evening during class.  I know what you are all thinking why were you on your computer instead of paying attention in class?  My answer is..duh I had other work that I'd rather work on so I zoned out the prof and worked on other assignments.  Just kidding.  I usually take some notes on my computer as well as have the internet up to look up articles pertinent to what the subject being covered that day.  Anyways, I opened the email and started reading.  According to my aunt, a court in Georgia is going to be ruling on a motion to suppress evidence in the murder case for the shooter who shot my uncle almost two years ago on Valentine's Day.  A member of the DA's office is seeking Victim Impact Statements from family members of the victim.  Immediately a rush of emotions swept over me as I remembered back to that day and the days after as we dealt with the aftermath of the seemingly random murder.  I am now tasked with putting my thoughts, feelings, and reactions, now two years removed onto paper before Sunday.

I have spent the last day and a half thinking about the incident and the effect that it has had on me.  It does bring back some very strong emotions, no doubt, but I don't think that it has impacted my daily life.  It did not trigger another depressive episode, which it very well could have, but after thinking about it I have come to a conclusion.  It is my faith that has brought me through this time of trial and tribulation.  I don't feel vindictive or vengeful towards the perpetrators of the crime because while I believe the US judicial system will hopefully determine an appropriate punishment based on the legal gather of facts and evidence.  However, I firmly believe that when Jesus comes again they will have to stand in front of him and be judged for their actions.  Since they violated one of God's most sacred commandments they will be found wanting and deal with the eternal punishment that awaits each of them, all the while my uncle will be joined with God in all of His peace and love that awaits him.  I know that I will see him again, not today or tomorrow, but without a doubt we will see each other again.  I think that the losses that my family have been through over the last four years would be more difficult to deal with if I did not have my faith to comfort me.  My prayer book and my bible have provided me with strength that has served me well over this difficult time.  Hopefully others can find the same peace and comfort as I have...hopefully.

Two weeks and counting

It is amazing how time flies.  There are only two more weeks left in the semester and it seems like we just started.  Where did the time go?  With only two class sessions for each of my courses we are now hitting crunch time.  I have completed two of my four final papers for my classes and only one hard one left.  I do have to do my final history paper but I am meeting with Dan tomorrow so I will have a better feel about it.  Plus there are special directions and options for this paper that make it a little bit easier.  In two weeks I will be back in Boston, where I imagine it will be more like winter than here in Berkeley.  I will miss being here but going home for a month sounds pretty good.  There are a few things that I need to take care of while I am home anyways, including applying for scholarships and grants so that I can have money for next year.  If I keep my head down and continue to plow through the work I will hopefully finish the semester strong and have some decent grades.  Two weeks and counting...and I will be home.  See you all soon.

First setback

For the most part my time here at CDSP has been a fairly smooth ride.  The trip out was uneventful.  The move in was easy.  After a while I settled in and found my place in the community out here.  The transition from home to the west coast was good.  The one area of transition that I knew might be a bit bumpy was in my academics.  Though I only left Lesley just about a year ago, when I first came out here I was still in that academic mindset.  While other students had not been in school for many years I was only looking at a minor layoff of time that I thought could easily be bridged.  So far it has been alright, but I have now hit my first hurdle and I didn't quite clear it.

Of all my classes I knew that my history course was going to be the most difficult and not because of the content but because of the standard of academic writing involved for the course.  I knew that the professor was a hard grader and it is intentional on his part as he hopes to help shape our writing early in our education here so that we will prepared for the more difficult upper level courses that require this style of writing.  For my first paper, I did well getting an 85 but also received some good comments about what I could have done better.  What I was hoping for was some improvement on my second paper.  Improvement in my grade was not my concern but improvement in my understanding of the text, of making an argument, and improvement in my ability to support and defend that argument.  I got my grade for the second paper and I did not do better, but took a few steps back.  While the grade was 80 and nothing to be looked down upon, but there was one fundamental issue with my second paper.  I misinterpreted the text so that completely undermined my whole paper.  My two friends who edited my paper did not catch it.  The TA for the course did not catch it either, but Dan caught it.  There were a lot of things that needed improvement for the paper but the fact that I wrote it under a false pretense then my whole paper is rubbish, for lack of a better word.

I was bummed.  I am not going to lie.  I knew it wasn't an A paper but I thought that given the time and effort put into I thought that I would show some improvement.  It is a hard pill to swallow, but the true measure of my character is not how I act while I am on top, but how I bounce back when I stumble and fall.  I will be meeting with Dan soon to discuss options for my last paper because I need to make sure that I read the texts correctly in order to produce a good final paper.  It is only one grade, on one paper, in one class that is just one part of my three year education.  Though it is hard to be knocked down, I know that I will stand back up and strive to do a better job the next time around.

Football!!!

So as I mentioned in my last post Lauren got two tickets to the Raiders game against the Bears.  She really likes going to sporting events, though she had never been to a professional football game.  We got the tickets and planned to go to the game after attending the service at St. Paul's.  We left the church and made our way back to the 19th Street BART station.  The coliseum was not far away, only four stops away.  On our way into St. Paul's there were a only a handful of people wearing raiders gear on the train, but after the service he trains were fairly full and everyone was wearing raiders gear and colors.  After arriving at the stop I pulled out my Richard Seymour Patriots throwback jersey and put it on.  I decided to wear it to support Seymour who was drafted by the Pats and played seven great seasons in New England.  He was then traded to Oakland and he was playing that day.  However, the Pats had been to Oakland back at the beginning of October and soundly beat the Raiders.  So needless to say as soon as I put on the jersey I started to get attention and words that could not be uttered here thrown my way.  No one had the cojones to start anything with me, but they were not all too happy to see me.  And to rub a little more salt in their wounds I threw on my Red Sox hat for good measure.  What can I say, I love my Boston teams.

 

The crowd leaving the BART station, crossing over the highway to the stadium

We wound our way through the stadium to the upper level to find our seats.  I knew that they would be pretty good but I was really amazed at the view.  Of course being in the first row yo would expect to have a good seats, but there was one drawback.  Everyone in our section, and others, walked right in front of us to get to the stairwells.  Once the game kicked off the stadium had filled and the crowed was ridiculously loud.

 Our view

One thing that I can say about the fans of the Raiders is that they are extremely passionate about their team.  The Raiders have not been very good for some years now but still the stadium was full and loud.  The fans behind us were not only pretty drunk but very vocal and a bit obscene.  Now I am accustomed to this passion because it can be seen in Fenway, the Garden or Foxboro, but the crowd in the stands was very representative of the team's fan base.  The team definitely draws upon the middle and lower class of the city and while the tickets and experience may be expensive, the fans still come and represent their community and their team.  the game itself was rather boring.  There was little offense and it was a relatively close game throughout.  We left with about five minutes left in fourth quarter to beat the rush to the trains.  The Raiders won and Lauren and I headed back to Berkeley after a great day.  Now that I have seen my first regular season pro football game I can only hope to see the Patriots play in Foxboro.  One day.

St. Paul's - Oakland

Two days ago was a great day.  In one day I got to do two things I really liked, checking out a new church and go to my first regular season football game.  After many weeks of talking about it I finally made it into Oakland to begin my whirlwind tour of the Episcopal parishes in the city.  First stop, St. Paul's.  Since Lauren did not have to work this past Sunday we thought it would be cool to not only go to an Oakland parish but to also catch a game together.  Fortunately for us the Raiders were in town this week playing the Chicago Bears and we were able to grab some pretty sweet tickets, but I will get to that later.  But first things first.

Lauren and I decided that to take BART into the city since both St. Paul's and the Oakland Coliseum were easily accessible by train and that parking would be an expensive nightmare.  the ride was much shorter than I had thought and we were at the 19th Street stop in no time.  The station was less than a mile away from the church so we took our time walking through the quiet streets of Oakland.  It was cool to be walking down there because not only was this usually a busy area and was quiet at that hour, but I had not been down in that area yet.  In fact my only experience of Oakland to that point was driving to and from the airport.  As we turned the corner from one of the main streets I saw a random lake.  I didn't see any rivers leading to or from the lake but it just seemed odd to me that there would be this lake situated in the middle of the city.  It is Lake Merritt and I have no idea whether it was natural or man made but I do know that there was a real scary looking "storybook amusement park" on one side of the lake.  It apparently was built before Disney and it looked it.  The church was less than a block from the lake and we arrived in less than an hour from leaving Berkeley.  Not a bad commute at all.

Lake Merritt

St. Paul's in the distance

Front entrance of St. Paul's

When we walked into the church I was struck by both how beautiful it was, yet also rather rundown and old.  The stained glass was beautiful but it looked as if a lot of the windows were not complete.  While there were high walls and beautiful architecture structure inside, the walls were made of the red brick and conflicted with the feel of the rest of the building.  The floors were some red marble like stone but it was cracked and uneven in many different places.  The building was unique and definitely had character.  As we first walked in the baptismal font was directly on our right with a painting behind it.

 Looking into the church, just inside the entrance

The baptismal font

What was most impressive was the sanctuary up front.  There was a beautiful rail of while marble and off to the left a raised pulpit made of wood.  To the right, just behind the rail was an ornate lectern made in the shape of an eagle.  The alter was set a few feet behind the rail and was also made of beautiful white marble.  On the altar were huge silver candlesticks, also ornately made.  Finally behind the altar were the bishop's chair and the rest of the seating for the clergy and other participants in the service.  The choir was off to the right and left and they were not really large in size, maybe 10 or so people, but well rehearsed and they performed well.  We were lucky because since it was First Advent the parish was doing an Advent Lessons and Carols with Holy Eucharist.  At first I thought this service was going to be long but they pulled it off in an hour and a half, of course there was no sermon.  Interwoven with the traditional scriptures for a lessons and carols service for this season were a mixture of hymns and choral anthems sung by the choir.  As I found in most of my previous experiences I once again was familiar with the choral anthems.  The service then followed the traditional Rite II form and like I said before we were done by 11:30.

I really like the make up of the congregation.  There were people both young and old.  The congregation is multicultural and there is certainly a variety of income.  The music program was great and the church not only operates a school in a separate building off to the left of the church but they own and operate an elderly housing building across the street from the church that was easily thirty floors high.  They have many different outreach programs and offer many different services each day.  It seems like a vibrant community seeking to live out their baptismal covenant in their section of Oakland and the wider Bay Area.  I briefly talked with the rector, Father Mauricio, a middle aged African American who is large is stature and in personality.  This place satisfies almost all of my own personal field ed parish criteria.  It is a large parish in an urban setting, with strong outreach and music programs, a multicultural and multi-generational congregation, and finally a young rector.  I will come here again to hear him preach and I think that this would be a great place to do my field ed.  We shall see.

And then came football!

Thanksgiving

Just like a majority of the country I spent yesterday with friends, feasting and giving thanks for the many blessings that have come my way in this past year.  I was fortunate in that I was not resigned to spending this holiday by myself in my dorm room.  Instead I was invited by Lauren to her parents house.  It was a large gathering and there at least eight people from CDSP, including Lauren and myself.  We arrived the night before and spent a few hours relaxing and even spent an hour in the hot tub.  I haven't been in a hot tub in years but it was quite relaxing and reminded me of my days in banyas in Petersburg and Moscow.  Lauren and I hung out with her mother while everyone slowly drifted off to their room for some rest before the big day.

Lauren woke up with Jonathan, an MA student from CDSP and the cook for the day, and they began the preliminary preparations.  I did not get up until about 9:30 when breakfast was ready.  We had a great egg, potato, bacon, onion and cheese frittata with turkey shaped biscuits.  I then proceeded to hang out with Lauren's dad and watch football.  The kitchen was busy with many different people doing many different jobs, all orchestrated into a seamless and continuous effort by Jonathan.  everything that was prepared was made from scratch, with one exception, Lauren's cranberry sauce had to come from a can even though we had a homemade cranberry sauce as well.  As the afternoon progressed more of Lauren's family arrived.  Her sister and brother-in-law and their children arrived.  Other family members slowly trickled in, including an "aunt" who traveled all the way from San Diego, an eight hour drive.

By 4:00PM the food was prepared and everyone was assembled around three different tables and ready to eat.  Lauren's five year-old niece Ava, sang a blessing at each table and we proceeded to enjoy the many diverse dishes that had been prepared for our enjoyment.  Everything was great and very delicious.  While there are certain things that I will always crave from my mother's kitchen, like her pecan pie and stuffing and her entire Christmas dinner, the food was excellent.  After about an hour and several plates later everyone was filled to the brim and we were ready to get up, stretch, and get ready for dessert.  We had an array of pies, most homemade and a few store bought and my favorite was the coconut creme pie.  It was still a little cold from thawing out, since it had been made the day before, but it was still good.

All in all it was a great day, especially being over three thousand miles away from my family and friends.  Over this last year I am thankful for a lot.  Here is a brief list:

Everyone Lesley for helping me graduate
Everyone at GS for supporting/helping me with my education goals and for understanding my call that took me away from a great company and great people
Everyone in DioMass for seeing the call in me that I have recognized in me since I was 14
Everyone at St. John's for being a family and their unfailing love and support that they showed me through some amazing times and some very rough times
For my friends Mike and Dave for being friends for over 20 years each, you truly are my brothers
For Jaime, KO and Donnie and Robin for being warm and welcoming and always generous with their time and resources
For Will and Alec, who though you all may be pain in my butts sometimes , you are my brothers and there is nothing I would not do for you all
For mom, you are the rock upon which I have built my life and nothing I can ever say or do will ever truly express what you mean to me
For dad, Uncle Richard, and Grandpa for teaching me everything I needed to know to be me...we will see each other again, that much I am certain about

Here's to another year of great family and great friends.

Awake my soul

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life"

I was listening to this song this afternoon as I was walking through the Cal campus.  There has been a lot happening on the campus recently.  So much so that there have been a regular parade of helicopters that have been hovering over the area for two days straight.  The Occupy movement has hit Cal, and hit it with a vengeance.  For the past several weeks we have been witness to some serious protests and police interactions that have resulted in violence.  Given all the activity occurring across the street I decided to walk down there and see for myself exactly what was going on.

At first glance it may be hard to understand why students would be supporting the Occupy movement that has spread across the world, but they do have a purpose.  The students are making their voices heard in the hope that they can influence politicians and school officials to revise their approach to program cuts and financial aid support.  As the state of California struggles to make ends meet the burden is being passed to the students who, year after year, have had their tuition rates increased and their aid reduced.  The end result is that students are taking on more debt and are forced to shoulder that debt in a weak economy.  I can see why they are frustrated.

 One of the buildings on campus with tents setup outside, the center of Occupy Cal

 Another view of the square, notice the police presence

One of many makeshift pieces of art

The bookstore opposite the admin building

Group of people

Another shot of the tents

As I was walking through the campus I heard the song above by Mumford & Sons, and in particular that line that I quoted at the top struck me.  I was struck by the idea that we all have a set amount of time here and we are inevitable defined by how we spend that time.  For the people that run our financial institutions and continue to benefit off of the backs of the "little people" it is fair that they be judged for how they conduct business in this present economic climate.  I know that it can be a bit unfair to lump everyone together under one category but it seems as if we keep hearing promises and see no results.  I also know that we are in this situation because it is an inevitable result of our capitalistic economy, which invariably separates the rich from the poor.  But how much longer will this go on?  How much longer will the people that can make a difference continue to to ignore the voices of those struggling to live and eat?  When will people invest their time into finding a solution to our problems?  Where you invest your time, you invest you life.  Where do you invest your time?

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord

The alarm pierced my sleep, as it always did every morning.  I rolled over to slap the snooze button and the clock read 6:00AM.  I knew that I only had a few more precious minutes of sleep left, so I hit snooze and rolled back over.  Again the alarm shook me back to reality and whatever dream I was having whisked away and it was soon forgotten.  I sat up in my bed and while a part of me wanted to get back to sleep, another part of me was glad to be up.  I had just been transferred back to the Watertown warehouse and I was looking forward to really getting back into the swing of things.  I pulled on my pants that had been lying on the floor from the night before.  I pulled out one of work t-shirts and threw on some socks.  I grabbed my shoes and lumbered down the stairs, still in a daze.  It was 6:30AM and I knew I had at least twenty minutes before I had to leave.  I laid on the couch and turned on the TV to ESPN so I could catch a bit of Sportscenter.  I didn't see a thing but I heard as the anchors went through a myriad of stories and highlights.  Before I knew it it was almost 7:00AM and time for me to leave.  I locked the door behind me and stepped out into the new day.  It was cloudy and it looked as though it might rain.  As I descended my stairs to the street that morning was just like every other day, nothing special, just another day.

I got to work and quickly immersed myself in my work.  It was easy to get lost in work especially as the manager.  You would think given the demands of the customer and the promises of the call center that we ere dealing in vital organs.  But we weren't, we sold auto parts.  Don't get me wrong I truly enjoyed what I did as a job but sometimes I often wondered about the nature of the business.  Like I said before, it was easy to become so involved with the day's events that I easily forgot about everything else that lay beyond the concrete walls of the warehouse.  There was a lot to forget about and push outside of my mind.  Was I ever going to get my butt back in school and finish my degree?  Was my job as manager lead somewhere better within the company?  Was this to be my career?  Was my hope of becoming a priest just a pipe dream?  Was he going to get better?

He had been in the hospital for several weeks as the doctors were trying to clear up some minor issues before going through with a major surgical procedure.  I was so happy that this was finally a reality, that he might just be able to get things under control and become healthier.  There was a lot of hope for the future.  However the operation kept getting postponed for one reason after another and I just prayed that it would happen soon so that we could move on to a new chapter of our lives together.  He had celebrated his birthday in a hospital bed five days earlier.  It was nothing major, just a few cards along with my mother, my brother and myself.  We were all just so hopeful about what was to come.

Thursdays were my early day, a day in which I was able to leave around 2:30 and have the rest of the day off.  I was looking forward to that early day as a chance to go home and relax.  Then around 1:45 or so my cell phone rang, it was mom.  At first I couldn't tell anything in her voice, but she told me to come to the hospital after I get off work because he had been transferred there.  I hung up with her and something washed over me.  I knew something wasn't right.  I kept looking at the clock and anxiously waited for 2:30 to get there so I could leave and see what was up.  I became more and more unnerved.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I bolted to my car and sped off.  I don't remember stopping for red lights or stop signs, and I have no idea how much time had passed but I pulled up to the emergency room parking lot and left my car illegally parked.  The sky had become dark as I drove and when I got out of my car raindrops were falling.

I ran into the emergency room and I was directed down a hallway.  I was moving quickly, unsure of what awaited me.  I saw my mother and she was in tears...and then I knew.  I just stopped.  My world just came crashing down around me.  My heart cringed with pain.  My stomach turned.  My eyes teared up.  He was gone, like that...he was gone.  Our parish priest arrived and for what seemed like hours, though it was only a few minutes, we sat there trying to understand what had happened.  We were then escorted in to see him.  It was like a dream.  I kept thinking, Rob wake up, this isn't real.  But I could not wake up.  It was my reality.  My mom slid his wedding ring off of his finger, it was the first time it had ever left his hand.  We said a few brief prayers and we left.  I walked outside into the pouring rain, got in my car, and drove off.

I drove back to the Watertown and walked straight to Jeff's office.  I shut the door and sat down.  I filled him in with the details of what happened that day.  He offered his condolences and support.  I never forgot that nor the support that I received from everyone with the company and for that I am forever grateful.  I was only in there for about five minutes and then I got up and left.  I know that everyone in the call center watched me enter and leave Jeff's office and were curious as to what was going on, but I walked right by them and made my way to the parking lot.  After a few minutes of standing there in the rain I got in my car and left.  What had started off as just another day turned out to be a day that I would never forget, a day that changed my life forever.

I learned a valuable lesson that day.  Don't wait to tell someone that you love them, or that you are sorry for something, or how important that person is to you.  We always believe that we will have tomorrow and that we can do it at a later date, but tomorrow is never guaranteed.  I learned the hard way.  What we do have is this time, the time that God has given us right now.  Don't put off something that should be done today, because you just might miss that opportunity.  And just like that...it's gone.

Your light was extinguished too early, but I know, as surely as I believe in God, that we will meet again.

SRS

11/10/52 - 11/15/2007

Into paradise may the angels lead you.  At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.

Heading Home

In 48 hours I will be back in Boston.  Though really 48 hours from right now is actually 2:00AM so I will have been back home for some time and hopefully I won't still be up due to the time difference.  We shall see.  I am really looking forward to being back among my family, my friends, and my parish.  I am also looking forward to going back to Convention again after more than ten years since I was last there.  What is amazing is that I have now been in California for two months and we are half way through the semester.  Time flies when you are having fun I guess.  This will be a nice break away from here especially since so may people were able to go home or travel over Reading Week.  Yes I did travel a little, though I stayed in the state, but this will be good.  So look out Waltham, I'm coming back!

I have a disease...and the only cure is more church

You know, I never thought I would say actually say this, but during this week off of school I have missed going to chapel services.  The chapel normally offers three services a day and I have been trying to go to two services a day, including one Eucharist and usually evening prayer since waking up for morning prayer has proved to be a little more difficult than I had originally thought when I first arrived.  Since we have been on break for the last week the chapel has been closed and the first service that I attended all week was today's service and it felt good to be there.  It felt good to be a part of a community and to worship God.

Today I went to the Church of Our Savior in Mill Valley again, but I was going because Jason was preaching his first sermon to that congregation.  I went there to support him and to hear the finished product since he bounces ideas off of me and we talk about them.  He also wanted me to videotape his sermon because it is a requirement for his homiletics course.  Jessica came with me to support Jason as well, so I am sure he appreciated having at least two members of the CDSP community there with him.  He did really well.

I was also once again familiar with the Offertory Anthem this morning.  They sang Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus.  Jessica and I were sitting in the congregation humming along to the choir's rendition.  She was humming the alto part and I the bass part.  The choir was ok and the music director/organist made a few mistakes.  Over the past two months I have heard an array of anthems and each one I have had the opportunity to sing at St. John's.  While at first I was reluctant to join the choir at my home parish, but I dad nudged me along and soon enough both he and I were the two men singing in the choir.  Of course when he became sick I was there alone.  for almost three years after I was the lone male in a small choir.  I am now thinking that all that time has been and will continue to be an experience that has helped prepare me for my ministry.  Life has a funny way of unexpected experiences becoming quite formative in our lives.

Napa Valley & Beethoven

As I mentioned in my last post I am in the midst of reading week, well now I am close to the end.  It has been an interesting week with a lot of different things going on.  I of course have plenty of reading and homework to do but I was able to have a few days of fun and relaxation.  My first concern for this week was trying to finish two somewhat major papers and a short reflection paper.  Both major papers are due Monday and Tuesday, and the reflection paper is due Friday, though I will not be in class on Friday as I will be home.  I did finish my Old Testament paper and will take care of my Greek paper tomorrow, though that is really crunching it on my part.  While the reflection paper is nothing to scoff at but I know that I can hammer it out in a short amount of time and will submit it well before the Friday deadline.  So it has been a productive week in terms of school work and only a little bit of reading that must be taken care of for the coming week.

Amidst all this work I did have two amazing opportunities that helped get me off campus and enjoy some of what California has to offer.  Jason and Lauren had been planning an overnight trip to Napa alley to do a few wine tastings, hit up a casino, and generally get out of town.  They invited me along and I couldn't refuse.  We left Wednesday morning and in about an hour we were north of the Bay Area and in Napa County, the heart of California wine country.  I was a little surprised how close the valley is in relation to campus and just how beautiful the wine country is.  We first visited Mumm Vineyards, a winery that was suggested by the Dean of Students.  They are known for their sparkling wines.  I, knowing absolutely nothing about wine, learned fairly quickly about the do's and don'ts of wine tasting from Jason.  The flights that we had were pretty good and as it turns out it would be the best of the three wineries that we would visit that day.  We sat out on a patio and overlooked the fields of vines and sipped on wine under the noonday sun.  We left there, had a bite to eat, and went over to the Folie a Deux Winery.  They are known for their line of wines dubbed Manage a Trois.  It was pretty good, they had the standard wines and we sample a really sweet Moscato that was brand new and hadn't hit the market yet.  It was a little sweet for me but it was good and worth trying.  We then finished with a stop at the Mondavi Winery.  It was nothing special to me but Jason liked it and I think he enjoyed stopping there.  They seemed like a much larger operation then the other two wineries but all in all it was a great day.

We then decided to head to a casino.  The first one we puled in to looked way to sketchy and we left.  We didn't even go in but it was a small building that only had three card games, so it wasn't what Jason and Lauren were looking for.  So we found another one and took a nice scenic drive further north and passed a whole slew of wineries.  Some were big operations that I recognized and others were small family run vineyards that specialize in one or two types of wine.  We finally arrived that a large casino owned by a band of Native Americans from one of the local tribes.  It was a huge room that mainly had slots and computerized card games.  There were a few card games in the center of the room but no roulette or craps or even the more random card games.  While I knew I wasn't going to have a repeat of my Reno experience, I did walk in with twenty bucks and walked out with fifty.  So it looks like my luck was still on.  We left after and hour and went back to our hotel room to call it a night.  We went back to campus the next morning after stopping at an outlet mall and I think we all had a good time away.

Thursday was a relatively quiet day, which allowed me to do my OT paper.  Friday turned out to be a good day, as I knew it would.  About three weeks ago on my way to St. Mark's I walked by a poster advertising performances at Zellerbach Hall, one of the performance halls on Cal's campus.  I saw that the San Francisco Opera Orchestra were going to be playing Beethoven's 5th and 7th Symphonies on October 28th.  I knew I had to go see that since there was no way I was going to pass up on hearing two of Beethoven's greatest symphonies played someplace close to campus.  It was perfect since I did not have to go to the city, which saved me a lot of money a time, but I need someone to go with me.  I asked Lauren and she agreed to come with.  The concert didn't disappoint, it was awesome.  The hall was a pretty standard concert hall with a stage large enough for other performances like dancing and plays.  It was also a pretty modern looking building, I guess I am a little spoiled with having the ability to hear performances at Boston Symphony Hall, but we had great seats in the upper level, right in the middle, and right in front of a railing, so we had no one in front of us and a clear view of the stage.  It was a good end to a good week off.  Now it's back to work, but I get one more break as I head home Wednesday and will be there through Sunday.  I am really looking forward to seeing my family and my friends.  Though it is only for four days it will be worth the long flights across country.  To everyone back home...see you all soon.

Reading Week

Right now I should be asleep, but I'm not.  It is close to two in the morning and if this were a normal week I would have class in a little more than eight hours.  If I went to bed now eight hours would be a good night's rest.  But, this is not a normal week, it is reading week.  It is a week where we do not have classes, the dinning hall is shut down, and I still have readings and papers due.

Right now I should be asleep, but I'm not.  From outside my window I can hear voices.  They are faint, soft enough that one might not even notice them, possibly a figment of my imagination.  However, they are real.  I do not know who they are or they are up at this hour, but it's reading week and we don't have classes tomorrow.  They too are enjoying the freedom that so many find during this week.

Right now I should be asleep, but I'm not.  I am watching episodes of Sons of Anarchy which I am streaming from Netflix through my PS3 and onto my TV.  A few hours ago I finished watching the series, The Tudors and I was not ready to go to sleep yet.  I am captivated by the stories of both shows, the history of the life of one of the most famous kings of England and a modern take on Hamlet set amidst an outlaw biker gang.  Each show has a story worth telling.

Right now I should be asleep, but I'm not.  My mind is swimming, churning thoughts over and over like a washing machine.  Sometimes it is hard to quiet the mind especially in the silence and darkness of night, when all you have is your thoughts.  As new relationships form and others continue to develop, how will they play out?  Will they create conflict with each other or happily coexist?  Knowing my tendency towards procrastination and striving under pressure, will I get both of my papers done early or will it be a mad dash to the finish?  What will I have to eat tomorrow?

Right now I should be asleep, but I'm not.  I know that sleep will come.  When my body finally succumbs to the fatigue of a long day, sleep will come.  When my eyes finally close and my body lays still, sleep will come.  Though tomorrow is already here, I know that because I do not have to be up at a specific time for a specific reason, this will more than likely all happen again.

Earthquake!!!!

Thursday and Friday turned out to be very interesting days because out of nowhere Berkeley was rattled by earthquakes.  Now, by California standards they were small quakes, but for the unsuspecting New Englander they were pretty cool.

For the past four days I have been house/cat sitting for my adviser and OT professor Donn.  He and his wife left Wednesday morning for Oregon to visit one of their children and their family.  On Thursday afternoon I was laying on the futon in an upstairs room, half watching TV and half asleep when all of a sudden the whole house started shaking violently.  The pictures were bouncing off the wall, the bookshelves were shaking, and I was looking about to make sure that nothing was going to fall on my head.  As quickly as it began, it was all over like nothing had happened.  The cats had scampered off and were hiding somewhere.  I looked around the house and nothing was damaged.  Now that was cool.

I went back to campus for Community Night Eucharist and Staff Meeting and everyone was talking about the quake.  Officially it as a 4.2 in magnitude and was centered 9 miles beneath the Cal campus.  It could not have been any closer.  While we were at Staff Meeting another quake struck at around 8:30PM.  we were all sitting around the outside tables and everything started shaking again.  It was not as intense as the one earlier in the afternoon, but it was 3. something in magnitude and was considered an aftershock.  Just when I thought that everything had settled down, on Friday afternoon another small quake shook the house.  This one wasn't close to either of them but again I was on the futon and I started shaking.  I never thought that I would experience three quakes in the span of twenty-four hours, but it was pretty freaking cool.

It's been a while...

It has been a while since my last post and I think that it is because I have been busy these last few days.  I did finally submit my history paper on biblical interpretations Thursday night, so it felt good to have that done.  Friday turned out to be a pretty good day.  I did have my 8:00AM class Friday morning and it was interesting.  We have been discussing the trinity and reading primary sources explaining the trinity.  It is some pretty heavy stuff.  We have also been reading more deeply in the Christological arguments that occurred in the 3rd Century.  After class and after the Friday Eucharist, Jeff and I headed out to the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View for the Uproar Festival.  This festival was comprised of a bunch of hard rock bands including my favorite band, Sevendust.  Mountain view is just south of Palo Alto, so it was cool to drive around another part of the Bay Area that I have never been to before.  It only took us about an hour to get over there and by the time we arrived the parking lots were already filling up rather quickly.  This was an all day event, starting around 1:00 and running till about 11:00 that night.  While I liked a lot of the bands that were performing, we really only came to see Sevendust.

We walked around a bit, listening to some of the other bands play, and looking at all the vendors selling their wares.  Then about 4:00 Sevendust was getting ready to play, so Jeff and I made our way to the front of the crowd.  There were two stages, one in a side parking lot and then the main stage in the amphitheater.  The main stage bands were going to start until 5:00 or so.  Sevendust came on and played a great thirty minutes set of songs.  Sine we were up front I kept getting whacked in the neck and head by crowd surfers.  It was not nearly as long as I would have liked but they always put on a good show.  After they were done Jeff and I made our way over to one of the tents that was set up because Sevendust was going to do an autograph signing.  In order to get a wristband to get in line, we each had to buy their latest CD which I already had but since this was the first time for me to meet the band there was no way I was going to pass this up.  We stood in line for about thirty minutes or so, talking with others in line.  Finally they showed up and the line made its way through with the band members signing one thing per person.  I bought two t-shirts, one for Alec and one for Will, and Jeff and I got the shirts signed to both of them.  After they finished the signing, some of the band members came out to take pictures.  So both Jeff and I ended up getting some good pictures with Lajon, the lead singer and Morgan, the drummer.  We then went out into the lawn and relaxed and heard a few of the other bands play.  We then decided to call it a night and headed back to campus.

I woke up Saturday morning completely sore and barely able to move.  So needless to say I did absolutely nothing on Saturday.  I did read a little here and there throughout the day, but since it was my sabbath day I intentionally did nothing.

For church on Sunday morning I was planning on going to a parish in Oakland.  I have been to several of the parishes in Berkeley and I was hoping to start making my rounds of the Oakland parishes, but that did not happen.  I forgot to set my alarm, so I woke up to my phone ringing at 10:15.  Will called to hear some of the details form the concert and express his excitement about the shirt.  Needless to say I did not go to church Sunday...my bad.  St. Paul's Oakland will still be there next week so I will check it out then.  I spent the rest of the day reading for my Anglicanism class and studying for Greek.  It was a typical Sunday.

Yesterday was also fairly busy as I met with my adviser in the morning and had class all afternoon and evening.  Yet again a typical Monday.  Later this week I will be house sitting for my adviser because he and his wife are heading to Oregon and they have two cats that need to be tended to.  I am looking forward to getting of campus, live TV, and getting some long term projects done.  I will be there into next week so it will be a nice break.  Then next week is reading week which we do not have classes and there should be some fun activities going on as well.  I will fill you all in as it happens.

You can't make this (expletive deleted) up...

Today just wasn't my day.  You know the kind I mean.  We all have them.  Things just don't go right and it just keeps piling up.  That was my day.  I mean you can't make this up.  Today actually started out pretty well.  I had to get up and shower before 8:00 this morning in order to get to a Community Council meeting on time.  As part of my role as the First Year Class President I am their representative to the Community Council, which is a group of students how address the needs of the community while also planning events that bring the community together.  It is our form of student government.  Anyways, the meet was an hour long so no big deal.  I went with my friends Lauren and Jessica to the dinning hall for breakfast after the meeting.  After that Jessica and I headed to the commuter lounge, a few rooms dedicated for the students who commute to campus, and she helped me look up a few articles so that I could finish my history paper.  I found what I needed and went back to my room to finish my paper.  Things were still going well at this point.  I met up with Maura and went to lunch around 11:30.  We had a quick bite to eat and then back to my room so I could finish my paper before a reception with the Alumni Council at 1:15.  I finished my paper by 1:00 and I was feeling good, glad to finally have it finished and ready for Jessica to proofread.  I offered to give her a ride back to her apartment after the reception, where she would look over my paper and help me edit it and make sure all my footnotes are in order, this is the first time I have had to use footnotes in this new citation format which is confusing to me.  So I packed up my computer and all my sources and went to my car to drop it off so I wouldn't have to carry around a full backpack...and that's when the (expletive deleted) hit the fan.  You know what I mean.

I walk up to my car and at first everything looks kosher.  I put my bag in the back and I looked up to the passenger seat and my glove compartment is open, my center console is open and all of the contents from both places was covering the seat and the floor.  Who the (expletive deleted) was in my car???  I immediately looked at the radio, it seemed fine and it wasn't tampered with.  I walked around the car and look at the windows and the locks, still no sign of a forced entry.  When I first arrived on campus, almost two months ago now, Jason had warned me to not leave anything valuable in my car and if I did make sure that it was well hidden.  There are a number of homeless people in the area and break-ins are not uncommon.  I was little relieved after walking around my car and seeing no damage.  Since they did not steal my radio or tried to hot wire my car, I figured it was probably a junkie looking for something small so they could make a quick buck to get their next fix.  As messed up as it sounds, especially because that was the thought running through my head, this is typical behavior of drug addicts that are forced to live on the streets.  Small time thefts to support their habit and which then gets them through the day.  If someone really wanted to make some good money they would have tried to steal the car.  This is the seedy underbelly of not only Berkeley but the Bay Area in general.  It is part of our responsibilities as Christians to reach out and help those in need and there are a lot of social cervices available in the area.  Which in a way that could also be a part of the problem.  If the services are easy to obtain and generous in nature then more people will stay in the area longer, as long as the services last.  Anyways that is a whole other discussion for another night, back to my story.

So I thought to myself, I should start my car and make sure there was nothing else up with it.  I put my key into the ignition and it did not budge.  I tried again, and nothing.  My car was boiling hot because it was in the sun all morning and the windows had been up.  Since I couldn't turn the key I couldn't engage the battery and roll down the window.  I also could shift the car in neutral to push it out of the parking spot. So I called my good friend and former coworker, Rochie, and hoped that he might be able to help me out.  After twenty minutes of trying all sorts of tricks I was still stuck.  It was great to talk to Rochie again.  We had been pretty close friends during my time at GS so it was nice to still be in touch.  After talking with him I called a Chevy dealership in Concord, about twenty minutes west on the other side of the hills.  They couldn't help me and they suggested I get AAA to tow my car over there so they could look at it.  That is when things became even more messed up.

I called AAA and initiated a roadside assistance call.  I told them I was at ridge road in Berkeley and that I needed my car towed to Concord Ave in Concord.  They said ok, it will be about sixty miles but my Gold Membership would cover it.  Now at that point I should have realized something was awry since Concord was only twenty minutes away via the highway and certainly not sixty miles.  But I let it slide and told them I would be waiting.  It was 1:30 at this point.  After an hour I get a call from a Rhode Island number and it was the dispatch asking me where I was because the tow truck driver was on Ridge Road and couldn't see me.  I walked over and didn't see a truck.  They call me back, the driver still can't find me.  At this point something clicks in my head and I ask what state is the driver in???  Massachusetts.  Because my membership is based in Southern New England my call was routed to their dispatch so they thought I was in Berkeley, MA wanting a tow to Concord, MA.  Wrong, I was in Berkeley, CA wanting a tow to Concord, CA.

They transferred me over to the Bay Area dispatch and initiated a new roadside call.  It was now about 3:00PM.  An hour later I was still standing around waiting for the tow truck.  I finally decided to go back to my room and do some reading when I received a call from the truck driver, except he wasn't driving a tow truck.  Instead of a tow truck they sent the battery recharging/replacement pick-up.  He was looking at the write up for my call and realized that he couldn't do anything and that he needed to send a tow truck.  I told him, really...of course I need a tow truck.  Man, that sucked.  It was now 4:00PM.

By 5:00PM the tow truck still had not arrived and I was beginning to get impatient.  I called them back and they told me that they were extremely busy.  My tow truck had a Corvette on it and it was on its way to drop it off at its repair shop and then it would come to get mine.  They said it could be thirty, forty-five or even sixty minutes.  Just great.  I decided that it was time to replace the headlight bulb in Jason's car while he was away.  It took me a little longer than I had originally thought but I got it done.  By 6:00PM the truck driver called me and asked where I was and immediately I thought, no not this again.  He found me and looked at my car.  After about ten minutes of doing the same tricks I had tried five hours ago, he told me that he couldn't do anything and that I had to call a locksmith.  He gave me the number of a guy that he went to high school with and whose family was in the locksmith business.  Now I didn't know if that was code for something else, but he called for me and by 6:15 he was on his way.

I had made plans to meet up with Lauren to grab something to eat so I hopped in the shower and by 6:30PM I was outside in the parking lot, again, and waited for the locksmith.  At 7:00PM he called me and asked me again, where are you?  No, no, no...not this again.  He found me rather quickly and he got to work on my car.  He ended up taking out the key cylinder in the ignition and replaced it with a new one.  By 8:45 my car was done, albeit with a drained battery that I will have to jump start in the morning and drive around to recharge it, but my car was fixed.  Finally, after seven hours of lost drivers, drivers in other states, misdirected calls, and general bad luck, my car was fixed and time to grab food.  All was good after that.

In the long run I after all that time I saved myself some money.  While the tow would have been covered by AAA, I would have had to pay a lot more at the dealer more money for labor and parts.  It was a good deal because the guy who fixed my car got it done and used OE parts.  Not too bad.  I am off to bed, only God knows what's going to happen tomorrow.

Unexpected package

On Friday afternoon I received an email from the Front Office letting me know that a packaged arrived for me.  I didn't check my email until after the office had closed so I was curious what was waiting for me.  I don't remember ordering anything and I had already received a package from home so I was not expecting a thing.  The office is closed all weekend so I rolled over there this afternoon before class.  The package was a small Amazon.com box.  I immediately wondered if a back ordered textbook had arrived because I thought that order was cancelled.  I opened it and inside were two short books.  Both books were about walking tours around the area that take you to some places of interest int he Bay Area.  The trails and paths are primarily in Berkeley and some in Oakland.  The books also includes recommendations for grabbing a bite to eat or a cup of coffee.  There are essays highlighting the history of the area and pointing out odd details and stories that most people don't know.  They look like really cool books and something to check out, but there is one problem.  I have no idea who sent it.  I called my mom to see if she sent them, but she had no idea.  So, I have these books and no clue who gave them to me.  Thank you, who ever you are, I am excited to go out and check out the trails.

This is my prayer...

Almighty God, heavenly father,
I give you thanks for this new day,
thank you for another opportunity
to be a part of your marvelous creation.
I pray for the brothers of the Society of St. John
the Evangelist, those in the monastery and those abroad,
may they continue to live out your call through their guidance,
worship, and hospitality.
I pray for Tom, Bud, and Gayle, may they, through their
example, continue to lead your church in the Diocese of Massachusetts.
I pray for my parish family at St. John's,
may they continue to be a beacon of love and fellowship
in the community.
Dear God, be with my mother and give her the strength
to be the steadfast rock upon which I and so many rely upon.
Be with my brothers Will and Alec, may they come
to know your love through Christ and live out your call for them.
Be with the rest of my friends and family, so that I will be able see them all
again soon.
Be with all of those who suffer, who are alone,
and who will go hungry this day.
I give you thanks for this new community at CDSP,
that has supported me during this time of transition.
God, give me the strength to continue to do what needs to be done.
Take away my fears, my doubts, and remind me
that with Christ I am not alone.
All this I ask in the name of my Lord and Saviour,
your Son Jesus Christ.
Amen.

St. Mark's - Berkeley

The clouds descended from the upper hills of Berkeley this morning.  I stepped outside and it was eerily quiet and grey.  The streets around the dorm were empty and there was a coolness in the air.  I was a little surprised that at 8:00 on a Sunday morning would be so dead.  I mean I know it is a residential area and all but it was quiet.  This morning I decided to head to St. Mark's on the south side of the Cal campus.  This church is fairly close to CDSP so I grabbed Jay and we walked across Cal and arrived for the ten o'clock service.

St. Mark's is similar to All Soul's in that there are a lot of people associated with CDSP in the community.  Two professors are associate priests.  The organist is the music director at the chapel.  My adviser and OT professor, Donn Morgan, is a member of the congregation as well as another professor, Louis Weil.  However, the community is very different from what I have experienced thus far.  I expect it is due to the proximity of the church to Cal.  I couldn't necessarily identify who was affiliated with Cal but there was a rich diversity that was clear from the very beginning.  When we arrived a small group had gathered outside the church and a blessing of the animals had begun.  We arrived just in time to see Lizette, the dean of our chapel and my Intro to Worship professor, was going around blessing the dogs, cats, rats, and stuffed animals.  It was a short service and then it was time to head inside for the liturgy.

Approaching the church, St. Mark's on the left and Cal on the right

Outside of St. Mark's for the blessing of the animals

The church has some distinct domes

The front of the church, sort of

Lizette blessing a cat

When I walked inside I was amazed at the size of the church.  It was huge inside, with the organ and choir in the back, stained glass windows lining the walls, the altar and high altar.  it was quite impressive.  St. Mark's is known for their music program.  Their choir is huge, some thirty people deep.  They definitely added emphasis to the liturgy.  The problem with a choir that big is that you have to ask the question, is this choir and music for performance or for worship?  I know a lot of people who would have been completely turned off by the music who would see it as self serving and not worshiping God.  I have to disagree but that is my own personal opinion.  They started the service with an introit followed by the processional hymn.  For the offertory they sang Rejoice In The Lord, another anthem that I have sung before at St. John's.  Of course the epistle was from Philippians and the anthem takes its lyrics from that passage, so it was totally appropriate.  For the communion anthem they sang My Shepard Will Supply My Need.  It as familiar but I am not sure if I sang that before, or if I have heard it somewhere else.  One last thing that I have noticed at several churches that I have been to is the singing of the Our Father.  Not only have we been singing it but the churches are all using the same setting, Rimsky-Korsakov's version.  We have used it in the chapel several times.  Curious.

The organ and piano

Where the choir sits, couldn't fit all the seats in the picture

One of the things I noticed was the stained glass.  If you looked at them closely you could see that only a few windows were done by the same artist while others by another.  To me it looked like they spanned different decades and styles of stained glass.  Some were very intricate in color and detail, while others seemed more basic and of a simpler nature.  For what ever reason it looked like they were done in stages.  I know st St. John's most, if not all, of the windows in the church were done at the same time so there is continuity in detail and design.  That is not the case here.

A few of the windows

The last thing that really grabbed my attention was the sanctuary.  There were two altars and a division that separated the "normal" altar in the nave from the high altar against the wall.  The high altar was never used, though it was covered in hangings for the season, but I have not seen a set up like this in a long time and certainly not since I have been in California.

The two altars

Overall I thought it was a great parish with a lot of strengths, both in what they offer for styles of worship and for their outreach work.  I think that it would be a good church to do my second year of field ed at but I think that some place else might be better for my first year.  There are only a few more Episcopal churches in Berkeley so I will continue to visit them, but I have a feeling that I should head to Oakland and that I may find what I am looking for there.  We shall see.

The paper...

It has been a bit of a busy week.  I am currently in the process of working on my first paper for my history course.  It has to be six to eight pages long and based upon a reading or set of readings that we have covered in our class.  I have decided to go with the excerpts of Origen's On First Principals.  My thesis is this:  Understanding forms of biblical interpretations beyond the literal form, such as found in Origen’s On First Principals, is beneficial for contemporary biblical study, preaching, and pastoral care.  It is my hope that I will show that understanding biblical interpretation is necessary for those three specific areas.  It is clear that biblical interpretation has been a divisive issue throughout the history of Christianity and it still causes problems today.  In his work, Origen discusses at great length how there is more than one way to read the Bible.  In fact he contends that there are three levels by which it can be read.  First, the literal form in which everything is to be understood literally as the truth, usually understood by a beginner.  Second is the soul of the scripture which helps readers grow in understanding the scriptures and then finally there is the allegorical level which sometimes betrays our intellect because we have to read more deeply into the texts in order to truly understand what Jesus and the authors of the Bible wanted us to know.  

Since Origen came from the Alexandrian school of thought, which placed heavy emphasis on allegorical interpretation and influenced by Hellenistic philosophy, it is easy to see why he defended his beliefs so vigorously.  After reading a few of the excerpts what I found sounded awfully familiar.  Though some of his works and ideas would be deemed heretical, I kind of agree with his way of biblical interpretation.  Since I come from an Episcopal/Anglican background I have been taught that there is more to the Bible then just what is written.  I believe that we have to read more deeply to understand the scriptures.  It is not always the case for the whole Bible, since there passages where the literal understanding makes sense, such as the laws in the Pentateuch.  But, when we begin to look at the parables of Jesus we cannot just take these stories at face value.  There is more to each of the stories than what is written.  For our Thursday service we heard one of these parables, specifically about workers in a vineyard who murder the son of the landowner.  The preacher broke the story down for us, explained what each character meant and their role/purpose within the story, and from that we gained a deeper understanding of what Jesus was trying to tell his apostles about the Kingdom of God.  
This is a clear case of how understanding scripture beyond the literal from is beneficial for preaching.  Through various exegetical techniques a preacher can dig deeper into a passage and use that knowledge to provide their congregation something to think about.  Hopefully the preacher will uncover an idea that the congregation had not thought about before and then unlock that deeper knowledge.  In this case it is necessary to be able to look at a passage and see that there is more to it than what is lying on the surface.  

Likewise, if/when I become ordained I will be expected to provide opportunities for adult education.  This of course usually takes the form of a bible study.  I believe that bible study is necessary to the formation of any Christian and that we should always be looking to deepen our understanding of scripture.  It then becomes necessary for any leader of a bible study to present passages from different perspectives and go beyond just a literal interpretation.  If we stick to just a literal understanding we are not taking full advantage of what the authors have given us.


So this is a glimpse of my paper.  I still have to figure out the last part but I think I can do it.  Now I just have to write it.

All Soul's - Berkeley

On Sunday I decided that I would head to All Soul's Berkeley.  I was going there for two reasons, first because it is what I would call the "neighborhood church," in that it is only a few blocks away from campus and also because a CDSP student was preaching that morning.  I am currently in the process of checking out the churches in Berkeley and so far I have had mixed impressions.  I have like services, preaching, and the communities at each of them but they seem all too familiar and probably will not work as a potential field ed site.

 The outside of All Soul's

All Soul's is a ten minute walk away from campus, which again is a good thing because I didn't have to get up early.  Again, Maura decided that the she wanted to go to church and came with me.  When we got there I was surprised to see a strong connection to CDSP.  As soon as we walked into the foyer, on the wall were pictures of the various clergy and administration staff of the parish.  Three CDSP professors serve as associates in this parish.  One CDSP student, Lauren, serves as a deacon once a month.  They have two CDSP seminarians in their parish and last but not least several professors are members of the parish, including my history professor, Dan.  On a side note, talk about small world, Dan received his doctorate from Boston College during the mid to late 90's and visited St. John's several times around 1995-1996 when Skip was rector.  I don't remember him being there but who knows...small world.

The church itself was pretty large and I was surprised because it doesn't look that way from the outside.  As we found a pew the choir was finishing up rehearsing the Irish Blessing, another piece I am familiar with from my choir days.  The finished and quickly disappeared while the pews began to fill up.  It was a very diverse community that was gathering that morning.  I saw Dan and his family, especially his young son Greg who likes to run up to me and give me a good whack.  We met during the retreat and I am now referred to as the "other Red Sox fan."  Dan is a huge fan of the Sox so it is not surprising that Greg would be a fan as well.  I also noticed a few students from PSR, the Pacific School of Religion, which is one of the nine schools of the GTU.  In fact I was a little curious why they were there.  Was it because they really liked the Episcopal services or were they required to check out different types of services as part of their education?  I didn't get the opportunity to ask so that will remain unanswered.

 Inside the church

The service was straight forward, though they had a heavy emphasis on music.  I heard that at least once a month there is a blue grass band that plays during the service.  Rhian preached her sermon, which was pretty good, and they even had a children's homily.  Though the services there are fairly long, it really didn't feel that way.  We were out of there by 11:30 and on our way back to the dorms.  This of course worked since it gave me plenty of time to get something together before the Patriots kicked off at 1:00.  I was hoping that I would get tickets to the game and finally see the Pats play since they were in Oakland, but alas it will have to wait another year.

I don't think that All Soul's will work for a field ed site.  I like the music, the community, and their space but it seems all too familiar still.  I have yet to find something that will challenge my church experiences so far.  The other reason I don't think it will fit is because of the close connections to CDSP.  For me it would be nice to be removed from the influence of CDSP and go somewhere our professors do not attend.  While it would be nice to get feedback from the professors on sermons that will be preached but I think it would be better to be out someplace on my own.  After I am done visiting all of the churches in Berkeley I think I am going to head to Oakland.  Everyone talks about parishes in Berkeley and SF, but I haven't met anyone who is or has done their field ed in Oakland.  We will see if that is a good idea.

 Looking down the street with the Bay in the background