Austin
Presbyterian Theological Seminary (APTS) is a very special seminary in that its
orientation lasts for three days. 7:30AM – 5PM, Wednesday to Friday. It was the
most tiring educational experience I’ve been through thus far – but it was also
extremely refreshing.
We started
on Wednesday with Breakfast and introductions, and let me tell you the entering
class of APTS is extremely diverse and very eclectic; I am in very good company
here. We moved from breakfast into Morning Worship with Dr. Jennifer Lord. She
lead us around Shelton Chapel showing us every nook and cranny, explaining to
us what everything was for and expanding on the symbolism of bricks, arches, and
stained windows. It was a beautiful prayer service. We went out and met every
member of the faculty, got to spend quick session meeting all of the people
that would be our instructors for the first semester. We were informed that we
would no longer be using APA or MLA writing formats but Turabian. A lot
happened on Wednesday. The day was rounded out with an ice cream social catered
by Amy’s Ice Cream, it was delicious. The most important part of the social was
socializing with current students; it was delightful getting to hear their
stories, meet their kids, and most importantly playing with their dogs.
Thursday
was “camp” day. We set out at 8:05AM after breakfast for John Know Ranch. We
spent the first 30 minutes or so in prayer, and learning about the camp. Around
9:45is we started our team building exercises which lasted until 12:30. It was
so much fun getting to know more about y classmates, and learning how very
different we all are, while at the same time seeing the massive similarities
between us. The best part was working together to find shade trees to stand
under. At lunch I led the group in a rousing rendition of the Johnny Appleseed
prayer. After lunch Jackie Saxon discussed with us the spiritual difficulties
of attending seminary. She relayed to us the importance of being involved in
local churches, and not just using our chapel services as church. We had an
hour of free time, which I used to sit in the air-conditioned building while
others chose to go out in the heat and hike or swim (crazies). We returned to
the seminary around 5ish.
Friday was
the final day and somehow that made it feel the longest. We had breakfast &
a prayer service with President Ted Wardlaw. Then we Master in Divinity
students were taken to a room to be handed a massive test. The test is issued
by the Association of Theological Schools and it gives examples of issues
arising in ministry and we had to reply to these issues by bubbling in the
answers we most likely would choose. Luckily we have a while to finish it.
After that test was put away, another was issued. A writing test – we were
instructed to write about an influential person in our life or about an
influential book (besides the Bible). It was actually pretty fun since it was
such an open topic. We had community lunch, then an orientation to the library.
Dr Suzie Parks gave a brief seminar on inclusive and expansive language, which
was interesting. The most interesting demonstration came from the department of
Ministers Facing Money – which revealed the amount of debt from education alone
that our class was carrying (around $475,000 for 43 people). There were more
talks, my mind left the building and then my body did too as we all left to go
pay our bill for this semester.
I found the
whole experience to be very difficult, enriching, and completely inexplicable.
I was made tired physically, while spiritually I felt refreshed, it was almost
like those times when I went to summer camp with youth groups. Yet at the same
time I learned a lot that weighed heavy on my mind. What if I am wasting my
time here? What if I never get ordained? What if God was calling me elsewhere
and this is just a three-year detour? Questions that will be answered soon
enough I guess. But for now I’m trying to learn the Hebrew alphabet and vowel
forms.
