Leadership & Public Life

By Rebecca Lund, MDiv Junior

Power. Self-interest. Agitation. Tension. In Leadership and Public Life this J-term, we have been reclaiming these words for ourselves as leaders and examining how we can use these concepts in positive ways to transform our congregations and communities. I feel like I just found out Santa Claus isn’t real. Within five days many ideas I previously had about what it means to be a pastor and leader of a congregation have been transformed, and it wasn’t an easy week. Our professors, Rev. Terry Boggs and Rev. Susan Engh, both of whom have years of experience with community organizing, model what they teach. People have gotten so upset they’ve left the class. People have gotten so upset they’ve come back. While I haven’t taken CPE yet, my esteemed elders of the middler and senior classes inform me that the kind of self-examination we have been forced to do in this class is not unlike a CPE experience. It hurts so good, as John Mellencamp puts it so perfectly. Each class I entered pretty scared of what might happen and left exhausted but feeling pretty good about what I learned.

While our class is large and diverse in terms of experience, we’ve all been challenged to learn more about each other, our community, and ourselves. The best part about this class for me is the way that our professors have dismissed our complaints and excuses about hierarchical structures and bureaucracy and have forced us to examine what it is about ourselves that keeps us from acting on our vision. The intensity of the class as well as the long hours make it perfect for J-term – I don’t think I could endure much more than two weeks, and the subject matter would get repetitive. However, if you want to be challenged and learn more about how you can lead your congregation into engaging the larger community, I would recommend the class.

The David Narratives

By Laura Johnson, MDiv Middler

I have to admit, I didn’t know much about David a few weeks ago. I remembered a few Sunday school lessons about David and Goliath, maybe a lectionary reading here or there. I had never read the whole story—let alone read it in Hebrew in the company of my colleagues and Dr. Klein. What an experience.

Last week, we read the story of David and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25. As a feminist, the character of Abigail, as presented by the Deuteronomist, both infuriated me and made me proud. I can only imagine what is to come in the next few weeks as we read the stories of Bathsheba and Tamar...

I was worried that the course may be Hebrew overkill, and at times I do get frustrated, but the time we spend in class truly examining the text and hearing what the author is saying (or maybe what the author is intentionally not saying) is quite enjoyable. My Hebrew has improved greatly in one short week, and I now know how to read the footnotes at the bottom of the Hebrew text that at one point seemed like jibberish. And guess what—those little letters are important and the variant readings do make a difference!

I think, and I certainly hope, that my colleagues in the course are getting as much out of the course as I am! It is an advanced exegesis course, with a mixture of MDiv, MA, and PhD students. Dr. Klein has designed the course so that we translate about one chapter of 1 or 2 Samuel for each class period, and in addition we view artwork inspired by the story of David, discuss a historical biography of David written by Steven McKenzie, and are introduced to resources to help us in further study. And we talk about theological problems in the text—always a favorite topic of mine.

Scripture By Heart

By Erin Clausen, MDiv Senior

Did you hear the Story told last Thursday at chapel? If not, be sure to hear it this Tuesday at noon or next Tuesday evening. On each of these days, the Scripture by Heart class isby Heart, Dr. Rhoads uses a unique approach to Scripture (and to teaching) by creating th performing selections from Scripture, for the good of the community. In Scripture is entirely "oral" class. He keeps the class size small (no more than 12 students) to both enhance our learning opportunities and allow for the trust that makes risk-taking possible. For me, one of the risks in this class is risking to perform the stories I learn, even though I may not do it perfectly, or even well. Another risk involves stepping outside of my comfort zone and 'performing' the stories rather than just reading or telling them. However, Dr. Rhoads and the whole class take care to make sure this is a 'safe' place for all of us to learn to do something new—to encounter Scripture in a new (and yet so old) way.

The stories and letters that comprise the Bible came about in oral cultures. These stories were passed down orally for years, before being written down and compiled. In the Scripture by Heart class, students get to learn and perform the stories in a way that resembles how they would have been told at their inception. While I had been very anxious about having to memorize stories and perform them for the community, I am now very happy to be in this class. I am experiencing the Bible stories I have heard so often in w/holy new ways. Already, after one week, my relationship with these stories is changing—as is my relationship with God! If you're thinking of taking this class, be forewarned: it will change you—and how you read and hear Scripture—in unexpected yet wonderful ways. You will hear and know the Story in ways you've never heard or known it before.

Rural Immersion

Excerpt by Matt Keadle, MDiv Middler

“…Today was also the Nebraska Synod Rural Ministry Workshop, which is held every year in concert with the Rural Ministry Immersion course. Pastors, interns, and lay leaders attended and presented. One of the highlights for me was a presentation by Rev. Edgar Schambach, pastor of Holy Trinity here in Sidney and recipient of a Distinguished Alumni award from LSTC for his work in parish ministry.

Pastor Schambach began with his own vocational journey, in which God led him, a self-described "city kid," into rural ministry, surprising him at seemingly every turn, teaching him again and again to "never say never to God."

As he continued his presentation he dispelled some stereotypes of rural ministry (there's lots of dispelling going on here, as you may have noticed), pointing out - importantly, I think - that what's more critical than whether a congregation is rural or urban is whether the congregation is alive or dead. Many rural congregations are static or dying, but not all of them. And it isn't so much that you need to avoid the dying or static ones so much as you need to know what you're getting into and what you can expect and how you need to focus your ministry while you're there.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Pastor Schambach encouraged us to be ourselves. "If you have rural blood," he said, "and God calls you to urban ministry, have rural blood in an urban environment. If you have urban blood and God calls you to rural ministry, have urban blood in a rural environment." And Pastor Schambach, who grew up in New Orleans and now ministers in the western panhandle of Nebraska, is living proof that this is possible.”

To read more about the Rural Ministry Immersion class from Matt, check out his blog at http://rural-immersion.blogspot.com/

If you had a J-term experience you would like to share, please send a short article about your experience to thedoor@lstc.edu. Pictures are welcome too! Articles received by Feb. 2, 2008 will be printed in the Feb. 4 issue of "The Door".

Supplemental:
Check out Art in Faith Bloggers at Grunewald Guild

Read and view photos about the Art in Faith course in Washington State at: http://www.grunewaldvisitors.blogspot.com/

For more information about Community Life at LSTC contact:

Rev. Linda Johnson Seyenkulo
Dean of Community
Office: Room 325
Phone: (773) 256-0756
Email: ljseyenk@lstc.edu

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