Yesterday was the day when there are minimal classes at the seminary. I am taking one class that is the equivalent of an elective. It is a Spirituality class on Lectio Devina. This is a form of prayer I first learned about during my inquirers weekend here and it is a very interesting and spiritual form of contemplative prayer. It starts with a verse or passage and can be done with either a small group, or individual (seems in my experience to work better with a group), everyone gets into a comfortable position, and just relaxes, you concentrate on your breathing, and attempt silence. The verse is then read and you quietly contemplate on that. After a few minutes, the verse is read again, and you listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention. Then you have more silence during which time you think about the word/phrase over and over. You then are prompted to think about how this word/phrase has affected you, or how it speaks to you. You pray on this for a few minutes; then you are prompted to think about how this word/phrase may be inviting you. The description only gives a glimpse into how it works, but when you actually partake, it can be very spiritual.
After class I was going to take a quick break to rest then go on a road bike ride one of the senior students told me about. I sat down and started watching Dumb and Dumber, and next ting I knew the bell tower was ringing 2 o’clock. Charles came by and we headed down to Tom’s (one of the NCers) room to study for our first Hebrew quiz on the alphabet which is coming up Friday. We spent bout ½ hour to 45 minutes studying then I decided I needed to get going on my ride so I could get it in. Once I hit the first big hill (about 3 miles up and 3 down) I remembered that I had only ridden my road bike twice in the last 2.5 months and I was being a little bit ambitious wanting to ride a 30-40 mile ride right out of the gates. I ended up riding most of the way to the Golden Gate then back home rounding out a 21 mile ride which is what I rode every day back home. It was very refreshing, and about 45 min after I got back Charles came by again because he had cooked several of us dinner and we headed back to Tom’s room to eat and study more. It was a great study session using dessert plates and dry erase markers to write down the letter and transliteration of each letter read to us. Julie had called earlier in the day because she had decided to take Hebrew with us, so she came by and we got her started on the alphabet to prepare for a quiz on her first day of class.
Thursday is another day where I only have one class. It is basically a repeat of Monday, but because we only have intro to Ministry on Mondays, I only have Church History in the morning. After class, I didn’t really do much, I just ran some errands around town, and was raped by the gas pump ($3.299 per gallon!). Later in the night we were supposed to be meeting for dinner and studying at 6 but the first game of the NFL season started at 5:30. So Gavin and Jim came over and we hung out in Sam’s room and watched the first half till 7 before heading to the Trinity House for dinner. The Maden Curse struck early this year with Polamalu injuring his MCL.
Shortly before the first half ended I got a call that shook my world. The rest of the night I was just kind of in a daze trying my best to just go on business as usual with all the people around me. I was a little worthless at the study session, and didn’t have an appetite. I feel lost, but know that when I get a grip on the situation I have many friends here I can console in.
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