Tag Archives: seminary

Death

05 Monday Mar 2018

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Death is rearing its ugly head.  Over the course of the day I will have presided at a funeral and talked with three other families about three different funeral arrangements.

And I will be exhausted.  Death has a way of sucking the life out of people.

In seminary, I took a preaching class on funerals and weddings.  We covered funerals first.  Each of the students got to pick the circumstances and then preach a funeral sermon.   There were 27.  We listened to them all in one day.  That’s a lot of funeral sermons.

And we were overachievers too.  Of the 27, eight were suicide sermons, one mass shooting, and a bunch other odd funerals.  There were a few “normal” funerals too.  They were actually a pleasant reprieve from the heaviness of us overachievers that wanted to challenge ourselves.

Listening to 27 funerals was a challenge.  By the end of the day, we were exhausted and drained.  But at the same time, we heard the promise of God over and over again.  It was undeniable.

I feel that at the end of the day today, the same will be true.  Death sucks, but it is not the end of the story.  It is not the end of our story.  It is the time in which we get to hear about God’s promises for us.  We get to hear the reality of death in our midst and the hoped for promise of resurrection.

These messages are important.  We shouldn’t ignore death or pretend that death hasn’t struck.  Instead, we need to acknowledge that death is in our presence.  But death doesn’t have the final say.  Jesus made sure of that.  And that means that there is more to this day than just sadness.  We mourn because the person we cared for and love is no longer alive and walking with us daily.  But we hope for a promised future in which death will be no more.  A future when pain will be more.  A future where God has transformed and renewed not just us, but all of creation, and come down out of heaven to dwell with us forevermore.

When I conduct funerals, I love to use the passage from Revelation 21 that speaks to this. It is one of the most hopeful passages of Scripture.  It paints a picture of what eternal life will be about – timelessness with the full presence of God.  And God doing what God has always done – God coming to creation yet again.  We don’t escape creation.  We are transformed and renewed with creation and dwell with God forever.

Death sucks, but the promise of resurrection gives us hope.  That doesn’t take away the pain and mourning.  Death means there is separation between loved one.  But in resurrection we look forward to a time when we will be reunited.  Thank God for this.

Luther at Gettysburg

06 Wednesday Dec 2017

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The statue of Martin Luther sits just off the chapel at what is now United Lutheran Seminary.  I walked past this statue many times over the course of my seminary career.

One time, I even did an interview with Luther (with the help of another student).

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Luther is an icon at the seminary – not surprising since it is a Lutheran seminary.

A fun fact about this statue of Luther – it is the only sitting statue of Martin Luther in the Western hemisphere.  That’s pretty neat.

Gettysburg Seminary

04 Monday Dec 2017

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In May of this year, I graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg – part of the last class the seminary would graduate.  The seminary was in the process of coming together with Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia to form what is now United Lutheran Seminary.

Graduating seniors had the opportunities to go up to the top of the old seminary building – the building that stood on the grounds of the Seminary Ridge during the start of the Battle of Gettysburg during the civil war.  This is the same cupola that both Union and Confederate generals stood in on the first day of the battle (at different times of course) to survey the battlefield.

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On the way up to the cupola we stopped on the top floor to admire some of the original wood and other interesting things.

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Many of the floor boards on this level are originals.  You can see the markings that show how the boards were pieced together.

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And then there is this:

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This is not an upside-down picture.  For years, no one had any idea of what the round picnic table-like thing was stuck to the ceiling.  There were all sorts of theories, but nothing that could confirm anything.

That is, until we were told by one of the professors who came along on the tour that he heard from a good source – a gentleman who was pretty old who attended the seminary years before – that the structure was designed to be a space for a punching bag.  One of the students used the top floor as their own personal boxing/exercise space.  Pretty interesting.

What does graduation mean?

30 Tuesday May 2017

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Now that I’ve had a bit over a week to soak in my new reality, it’s time to reflect.  I graduated on May 19th from Seminary.  I spent five years of my life focused on seminary.  It’s determined so much of my comings and goings.  It’s afforded me and my family some amazing and life changing experiences.  Because of seminary, we got to live in Finland for a year.  And now seminary is over.

Ordination is next for me – this coming Friday.  Right now I’m in this in between stage – graduated, but not ordained.  It’s a waiting time.  It’s a time of relaxation and rest, but also anticipation of what comes next.  In a way it feels much the same as when we had our first child while still in the hospital.  We had the baby, but there we were, still in the hospital.  The really scary part was when they let us walk out the door of the hospital. At that point, bam, it was just us.  But while in the hospital, we were in this weird waiting time.  Parents, but not quite on our own yet.

Graduation means the completion of a goal, the commitment to the next stage of life.  Graduation means it’s time to start paying back the student loans too.  Graduation means a great deal.  Graduation from seminary feels different from graduation from college – that’s not a statement of good or bad, rather a statement of fact.  And maybe it should.  It’s been 19 years since I graduated college.  The world was at my fingertips then. So many possibilities and ways life could go.  I was living the dream of living and working on Capitol Hill in DC.  Now, the openness doesn’t exist – at least not in the same way. And that’s ok.  I don’t need it to.  I see where the next steps are and I am content.  I have joy in knowing what lies ahead.  I am ready.  And I can’t wait to start.

Lastly, I can’t help but say that graduation means one more thing.  Being a part of the last graduating class of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg means that I am tied to the many men and women who have gone before me from this fine institution.  The 191 year history of LTSG ties us together.  Yet, much like all these other graduates, we don’t have time to dwell on the past.  There is much to do.

Graduation means it’s time to get to work.  It’s what I’ve been waiting for five years.  Actually, God has been preparing me for this all my life.  Just like God has been preparing you for just this moment.  Let’s go.

The last two weeks of my life…

24 Wednesday May 2017

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The last two weeks of my life have been unlike any other two weeks that I can recall.

Two Mondays ago, I left my home in the morning, met up with several other students, got on an airplane and traveled about 30 hours (flying time and layovers, etc) to Windhoek, Namibia.  We were heading to the Lutheran World Federation Assembly there.

We stayed there for 7 days and then jumped on some planes last Tuesday and arrived back in Pennsylvania last Wednesday – tired and exhausted, but happy about the trip.  I promise that I’ll be writing more about the trip in upcoming posts – along with some pictures too.  I’m still processing the trip.

I got a nap (mostly because I don’t sleep well on long plane rides), got to use a real sauna, and got a shower.  I was then ready for the senior banquet – a fun even for seniors at the seminary who are ready to graduate.

Then on Friday of last week there was graduation.  A truly historical event in its own right.  First, every graduation is historic because the graduating class is added to the history of the institution.  Second, this would be the last graduation of Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg.  The seminary will be merging with Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia come July 1 to form United Lutheran Seminary.  It’s been a long road for LTSG.  I’m proud to be a part of the last class.  Again, there are lots to process here.

Then on Sunday I had my call sermon – and the congregation voted to call me as their pastor.  Beginning June 26th, I’ll be pastor of St. Stephen Lutheran Church in New Kingstown, PA, USA.  I’m pretty excited about this.  And again, there’s plenty for me to process.

Because of all of these things, it’s taken me a bit longer than normal to get back to any type of routine with posting materials on social media and online.  I haven’t been able to post a daily prayer or do my usual tweets about made up bible passages or do travel or theological posts here on the blog.  I finally unpacked from Africa two days ago and I’m still working on going through the piles of paper on my desk to clear that off.  I hope to start posting again tomorrow, but give me a little slack if I don’t – I’ll get there.

The next big thing is ordination – next Friday, June 2.  Again, that will take some processing on my part.

And the biggest thing – figuring out the new normal.  Classes are done, but I don’t start as pastor until the end of June.  There is work that needs to be done around the house that I have been putting off for some time.

Let’s see what tomorrow holds.  Blessings.

Funeral in advance

28 Friday Apr 2017

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This week at the seminary was Academy Week – we get to hear several speakers come and talk about a variety of topics.  One of the speakers talked about Revelation and how it wasn’t about predicting the future so much as being written in opposition to the Roman empire – you know, the empire that was crushing people in the known world, that promoted the idea that peace came through crushing one’s enemies, and that everyone must bow and worship Rome.

At any rate, the speaker went on to tell us that a good part of Revelation is actually a funeral for Rome.  It’s the idea of insulting Rome by showing that if it continues on the path it is heading, it will lead to its own demise and death.  And so Revelation is a funeral pronouncement on Rome and everything that goes with it.  It’s also casting an alternative – the reign of God and everything that goes with it.

This got me thinking about the idea of writing a funeral in advance.  It’s a powerful notion.  The whole idea of writing a funeral in advance is a direct smack in the face of whoever/whatever the funeral is for.

It got me wondering, who or what would I write a funeral for in advance?

That’s not an easy question.

Maybe it would be for partisan politics.  The message would be that if partisan politics continues on its path, then it will inevitably lead to its own demise and death.  The power that parties seek will be the same power that crushes them.  But there is an alternative.

Maybe it would be materialism.  The message would be that if materialism continues on its path, then it will inevitably lead to its own demise and death.  The stuff that materialism seeks will finally just bury us alive.  But there is an alternative.

I think you get the idea.

What would you write a funeral in advance for?

I won’t be posting next week, here’s why…

13 Saturday Aug 2016

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  1. We’re moving, so you know, we’ll be a bit busy.
  2. Since we’re moving we won’t have internet access for a few days.
  3. I just want a break from posting – so think of this as an internet vacation.  Even though I’ll be doing plenty of work.
  4. Besides moving, I am working on my Approval Essay.  This is one of the most important “essays” I will ever write.  It’s one of the last key things in my seminary experience.  So, I kind of need to focus to finish it up.

See you on the other side.

Moving on…

12 Friday Aug 2016

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Sunday will mark the end of my internship at the church I’ve been assigned for the last year.  I will have completed four years of seminary (I started part time, so as far as the seminary is concerned I’ve completed three years).  I have one year of classes.  Actually I have two semesters.  I graduate on May 19, 2017.  That’s not too far away.  We’re in countdown mode here in the Best household.

The end of the internship means that we move.  We move back to our home.  We’ve been packing all week in preparation.  We have mixed emotions.  We’re excited to get back to our home – the home we left just over two years ago.  We are excited to be in the daily lives of family and friends that we left two years ago.

We’re also a little anxious about it – we left two years ago.  A great deal has changed in that time.  We’ve changed.  They’ve changed.  The world has changed.  We don’t know what to expect.  We do know that it won’t be just like it was when we left.  It can’t.  It never is.

We’re also a bit sad.  We’ve experienced this before.  We felt the same way when we left Finland last year.  We are sad to leave a place that we’ve called home for a year.  We’re sad to leave the friends we have made along the way this year. We’re sad to make the kids move yet again and have to establish and re-establish new friendships all over again.

But we knew this was deal when we signed up.

We’re also feeling a bit of something else.  We feel the closeness to the end of this journey of seminary.  By March we’ll know what region and synod we’re being assigned to.  Will it be our home synod?  Will it be the synod we’ve been in for the last year?  Will it be somewhere else that we have never thought of?  We don’t know.  The whole journey of seminary is full of great big giant question marks.  Going through this process is not for everyone.  You get comfortable with not being in control, with only knowing what the next year holds.  I think it’s actually a grace that seminarians experience.  When we don’t know, we turn to the one who does – God.  We are given faith to trust that God has our best interest in mind and will send us where we need to be at any given time.  It’s a leap of faith.  It’s also scary.  Yet here we are, following a path where I can’t see very far down the road.

Moving on is not easy.  It can wear you down.

Moving on is not easy.  But there are benefits.  Benefits like figuring out that we have a lot of stuff that we can get rid of.  For the last two years we have had to live in small spaces.  Which means you make decisions about what is truly important to keep.  We’ve found that the prints and pictures that we have are some of the most valuable things we possess – they remind us of our times in the locations we have been.  They remind us of the people we have gotten to know.  They remind us of how small the world is.  They remind us to pray for the people in these locations.

Moving on is not easy.  But it’s what we are called to do this weekend.

We’ll start unpacking on Sunday, arranging our house.  We’ll familiarize ourselves with our house.  We’ll re-establish long time relationships in person.  We’ll settle in to a routine in a short while.  There will be a new normal for us.  Then again, some of the old normal will stay with us – the normal of recognizing that we aren’t ultimately in control.  And we’ll take comfort in the trust that we have, in the faith we have been given.

Moving on is not easy.  But it’s what makes up life.  There’s a popular saying that the purpose of life is to be happy.  I don’t agree.  Think that’s a bunch of BS.  The purpose of life is to experience as much as possible and to be who we are called to be.  If all we pursue if happiness, then we miss out on so much of what life has to offer.  We should experience the “bad” things too.  We should experience sadness, anger, sorrow, pain, and more.  Not because they are enjoyable, but because they remind us of what and who are truly important in life.  And yes, we should experience the “good” things of life too.  They make life enjoyable.

Moving on is not easy.  But it is an important part of life.  And I wouldn’t have it any of way.

To the good people of Duncansville, Hollidaysburg, and Altoona, Pennsylvania I say thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I do not say goodbye, because goodbye means we’ll never meet again – and we can’t be certain about that.  We don’t know what the future holds.  Thank you for allowing our family to be a part of your lives – through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  You’ve blessed us in ways you can’t imagine.  We’ll take that with us as we continue our journey.  We hope you’ll take the blessings we have given you in your journey.  Thank you, until we meet again.

Roller Coaster Day

21 Monday Jul 2014

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Today is what I call a Roller Coaster Day.  It’s got all sorts of ups and downs.  Some days are like this throughout our life, aren’t they?

Today I had my Endorsement Interview.  This is the second really important interview an ELCA seminarian has as they progress through seminary.  I wasn’t worried about it, but I was a bit nervous – it is an important interview after all. And I did want to do well.  The interview went well and the three person panel recommended Endorsement back to the full Candidacy Committee.  Yay!  We’re at the top of the roller coaster.

Then it was back to the house.  The boys were home with Pappy and were doing fine.  Then I had to “ruin” it.  It was time for the boys to take a bath.  Oh boy. You’d think I was pulling limbs out of sockets.  There was screaming and gnashing of teeth.  I was brought back to the Gospel lesson for this past Sunday where the lesson reads:

41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:41-42)

Whenever I read this passage I will now have the image of my son resisting a bath seared into my head.  I have a feeling that is not the context in which Matthew wrote this.

At any rate, the bath did not happen.  But a nap did.  But not before more weeping and gnashing of teeth.  He resisted until he finally collapsed from exhaustion.

This, in and of itself, was a roller coaster.  I’m glad he is getting a nap in so he is not a wreck for tonight, but I wish we could have gotten the bath in.  Oh well, sometimes you just have to take what you can get.  And this is certainly one of those times.

Later tonight we’ll be back on the high-end of the roller coaster.  That’s because the Best Family Farewell tour continues tonight.  That’s what I’m calling it anyway.  Since we are now so close to leaving, everyone wants a little piece of us – to spend time with them – before we head off.

I’ve been enjoying these visits and parties.  What I’m realizing is how many people care so much about us.  It’s interesting, we’re around and are surrounded by people who care for each one of us each and every day.  And that’s great.  But I never realized how much they care – being around these folks all the time sometimes makes us a little too comfortable and we can forget how important people are in our life.  So thank you to all of you out there who care about me, our family and how we will be doing for the next 11 months.  I appreciate your friendship, your care and your love.  I only hope I can offer the same care, concern and love back to you.