In the Meantime....

As I may have mentioned, I won't be leaving for Sri Lanka for some months. That's a lot of months of blog to fill, to keep you, the faithful reader, coming back to be entertained. So, while I will blog about any internship preparations, I'll also be writing about the life of an average theology student from the Anglican Church.

I've finished the first week of classes after coming in late because of the orientation. It's going to be a bit of work, but I should be able to catch up. I'm enrolled in five classes this term - Pastoral Theology, John (as in the Gospel of), Canadian History, Christology and Anglican History (from national church to global communion). That's a pretty heavy load. I'm one of the few full time students at the school - many people are going part time, taking two or three classes and working, or in some cases, working, going to school and taking care of a family.

One of the most interesting and unique classes is the Pastoral Theology. This is a class on theology in context (helpfully, something we talked a lot about at the orientation!). What that means is that we go down to the Downtown East Side (DTES) of Vancouver, and have our class down there. There are lots of organizations that are working in the DTES, and one of them is a United Church. Up until recently, it was a pretty normal looking United Church - they had a (small) congregation, and did as much as they could for the people who were outside it's front door. Well, in 2007, the congregation decided to dissolve itself, and have the church become a full time shelter/place for people to access help. Now they have set up bunkbeds in the sanctuary, and they have dozens of people sleep there every night. In addition, First United provides other services, including being an address for people. It is difficult to get things like welfare or pensions, or to apply for jobs if you don't have an address, so First United is the address for many people who live in the DTES.

We have our class at the church, and it is taught by the two ministers there. They are very interesting, and although I've only been to the one class as of yet, I can see that it will be an eyeopening experience. This last week we sat in on a Bible study with members of the community there, and then three of them came to class and talked to us. I'll admit I was surprised at how eloquent these men were - at least one of them was a gifted public speaker. They told us a bit about why they lived on the DTES, and about their faith. Then we got a great lecture on the system that is in place that has led to many of these people being where they are. The emphasis was that it was not simply a few bad decisions, but a whole system that is dedicated to profit, and that what we see on the DTES is the end result of that system. Some people win big off it, but some people don't.

As you can imagine, it's a pretty emotional class. I went straight from that class to John - which will be a tremendously interesting class. In fact, all my classes are. I love history, and so can't wait for more of the Canadian History and Anglican History. In fact, when I was reading for Canadian History I got so excited that I went on Wikipedia (OK, not the most scholarly, but it is the most accessible) and read more about Confederation. Then I put up a picture of Louis Riel to inspire me as I read.

So yes, I am a history nerd.