Final Paper

I've hardly had time to think about my trip over the past week, although it is coming up very quickly. I've been hard at work finishing up the last of the school work for the term. There are any number of scholastic requirements before one is allowed to graduate from VST with a Masters of Divinity, but none loomed larger in my mind than the Major Exegetical Paper. This behemoth of a work is widely seen as one of the hardest requirements, at least in the school end of things. This is a 8500 word(30 or so pages)paper, in extreme detail on a very short section of the Bible. You can do it in Hebrew Bible or New Testament, and since I was taking John anyway, though that it might be fun to look closer at the prologue (Chapter 1:1-18). Now, the first thing I found out is that 18 verses is widely considered to be too long- so I took the first 5 verses.

Theoretically I had not only the entire term (with the two week reading break) but extra time after the term to May 6 to finish this paper. I hobbled myself doubly, first by virtually ignoring the paper until everything else was finished, and then by booking my departure for April 26. If there was any question about pressure being a motivator for me, I think I found the answer.

And so, this past Monday, I checked a stack of books I couldn't see over out of the library, and got to work.

When I was a kid, my family was well known at school for how much we read. I mean, we didn't just like books, we lived off them. All my childhood memories are, if not centered around books, certainly shaped by them. Our language was littered with English terms from the 1950s (thanks to Enid Blyton), on car trip Mom would read to us, even when playing video games, or with lego or anything, it was in the downstairs library. We jokingly called it that, the "Downstairs Library", but it really was a library of children's books. What's more, that was only the downstairs portion. The house was (and is, come to think of it) lined with books. Books on every flat surface. Books migrating around the house as different people read them. Books that were read over and over and over again. The greatest crime in our household was to steal someones book while they were still reading it (actually, that still is the greatest crime). I've gotten into violent altercations with most of my siblings over them reading my book or vice versa- and we never felt that we were in the wrong!

Anyway, all that immersion in literature has made me a good reader. I mean, the thinking portion of the paper takes a little longer, but I can go through a stack of books like other people go through a stack of pancakes. It's a useful trait in seminary.

So I spent the week reading, taking notes, and arranging the information in my head. Then I spat it all back up (properly footnoted) into this massive paper. It's mostly done now, and the writing of has almost used me up. I still have to go through and edit the stupid thing, and add a couple original thoughts to the end, but in essence, it's done. I make no claims about grades, or getting it approved, mind you. The goal for this week was to finish it. We'll let next week worry about how good it actually is!

And now that it is done, I can finally turn my thoughts to Sri Lanka. Lots to do before I go- pack, move and store my worldly goods, say good-bye. I'll hardly have any time to read!

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.