Nothing Is Wasted

Getting to seminary is no joke. During my first month at Garrett-Evangelical as one of a handful of students in the M.A. in Pastoral Care and Counseling program, I’ve been struck by the number of students swimming upstream. These are brave people faithfully letting chips fall and making a go at new lives. They’ve been called to ministry not from postures of power and puffed-out chests, but from within the crucibles of family strife, community needs, financial struggles, and the shifting sands of vocation and identity. These are my kind of people, and they are the future of my kind of Church.

There’s nothing romantic about human brokenness. But, I believe, there is a romance to be found – and found uniquely – in human brokenness. You’ve got to squint hard with the eyes of faith (and maybe you’re like me and were born needing bifocals). That God takes up the flawed work of our hands – indeed our whole lives – and fashions something beautiful is, well, sometimes less than obvious. Amen? We pace our cages. We shed our wood. We pay our dues. We wring our hands. Clarity is hard-won.

As I shared last week with my new friends in my Vocational Formation and Church Leadership class, I’ve come to believe that nothing is wasted. Part of this epiphany came from adopting a vegan diet and committing to more environmentally sustainable practices in my daily life. [I promise: there is a connection here]. Outside of reasonably faithful recycling, I’m totally new to this, frankly. But a dear, far more conscientious friend helped me understand the cost of my completely unconscious lifestyle – what I eat, wear and consume in every sense as well as how I dispose of it – on God’s good creation and my own spiritual well-being. As I retrofit my values about sustainable living and the theology informing it (however implicit and undeveloped) onto my sense of call here at Garrett, I begin to see that, indeed, nothing is wasted. God can and will take up the fullness of our experience – where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we’re going – and use it all. It doesn’t for a second minimize our loss or ongoing struggles. That is real, has its own integrity, and isn’t something we get to control. But it need not be the last word on our experiences.

We seldom get to know how God is tilling our soil and what God is planting in our lives – at least not as its happening – but we are asked to trust that this is precisely what is happening. We are asked to trust that the Good Farmer’s hands are steady, nurturing, and faithful to the harvest.

Consider the words of singer-songwriter Sam Phillips:

Life has kept me down
I’ve been growing underground
Now I’m coming up
When time opens the earth
You’ll see love has been moving all around us
Making waves

What Are You Reading? Part VII

The final week of summer is upon us! Our incoming students will soon be arriving for orientation and our returning students are settling back into their apartments and dorms. As a new academic year prepares to begin, we also say goodbye to another summer and to the "What Are You Reading?" series for 2011. Our final post features Dr. G. Brooke Lester, Director of Emerging Pedagogies and Assistant Professor of Hebrew Scripture, and Dr. Barry Bryant, Associate Professor of United Methodist and Wesleyan Studies.

Dr. Lester:
Method Matters: Essays on the Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of David L. Petersen (Society of Biblical Literature: Atlanta, 2009).
Method Matters is a collection of some 28 essays on the current state of a range of approaches to the Bible (e.g., form criticism, anthropological approaches, gender analysis, theological approaches, historiographical approaches, Latin American approaches). I was attracted to it for two reasons. First, as I make revisions to my dissertation for publication, I have “one eye open” for ways to expand or sharpen my research interests in ancient literary allusion. Second, as a teacher, I am all too aware that we can teach form criticism (for example) more or less the way we learned it from our teachers, which may (in a worst-case scenario) be more or less how they learned it from their teachers. Such datedness is especially unforgivable in a cross-disciplinary age when interpreters might combine the latest in source criticism with ideological approaches, form criticism with homiletical approaches, redaction criticism with gender analysis.

Dr. Bryant:
Chomsky, Noam and Ilan Pappe.  Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War Against the Palestinians  (Haymarket Books: Chicago, 2010). 
On December 28 of this year I will lead a tour, “Outrageous Hope: A Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation Immersion in Israel and Palestine.” In addition to visiting Christian holy sites, the purpose of the trip is to engage Israelis and Palestinians who are working for a just and reconciled peace. [The trip is open to all. For more information email barry.bryant@garrett.edu.] This book is part of my regular reading on the Israel/Palestine conflict.  Noam Chomsky (born to Jewish parents in Philadelphia) is a noted philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ian Pappe (born in Haifa, Israel to German-Jewish parents) has been described as "Israel’s bravest, most principled, most incisive historian" and teaches at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter (U.K.).  Together they have written an explanation of the situation in Gaza.  It begins by giving a critical analysis of the founding of Israel, the contribution that the Christian theology of dispensationalism made to Israel’s start, and how American foreign policy has been shaped by a Zionist agenda. Chomsky’s contribution is significantly influenced by his deceased friend and colleague, Edward Said, the Palestinian American who is often regarded as the father of “post-colonial” theory.  Pappe includes some of his most controversial work in which he documents that there has been a policy of “ethnic cleansing” regarding the Palestinians from the start.  It is a dissident narrative to the one most Americans are accustomed to hearing, told by two noted Jewish intellectuals.  Gaza has gained a great deal of international attention over the past year.  This would be a good book for those who have heard but do not understand the historical and political background to what is going on in Gaza, but even more so for those whose understanding has been primarily shaped by mainstream American media.

Professor of Spiritual Formation Responds to Rev. McCracken's Blog

Dwight Judy,
Professor of Spiritual Formation

Thank you, Rev. McCracken, for raising the theme of spiritual formation in seminary education in your blog titled, “District Superintendent Sees Failure of Theological Schools.” While previous generations of seminary graduates, such as myself, had little exposure to the rich Christian tradition of prayer and spiritual life, recent seminary graduates will have a better understanding of these issues. Seminaries are well aware of the gap in education that you mention. Since 1996 The Association of Theological Schools has included a core category for evaluation of seminary education: Personal and Spiritual Formation. It’s quite appropriate to ask all of our United Methodist seminaries how they are addressing this issue.

Unfortunately, it takes several years for the present education in spiritual disciplines to come forth into the life of the church through our seminary graduates. But many programs, including those sponsored by The Upper Room and various conferences as well as seminaries, are providing excellent ways for people to take advantage of this important curriculum in prayer and spiritual formation.

Since 2000, in cooperation with the United Methodist General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary has offered graduate courses for the specialized ministry of Professional Certification in Spiritual Formation. The rich core curriculum includes courses on prayer, spiritual disciplines, spiritual direction, our Wesleyan heritage in spiritual disciplines, and teaching the Bible for spiritual formation. Most United Methodist seminaries are now offering this curriculum. Those who have not yet embraced the full curriculum are offering core experiences in their Master of Divinity curriculum in covenant groups or some other form of spiritual discipline.

If pastors have missed this curriculum in their seminary education, they are welcomed into the Certification in Spiritual Formation studies. Such studies in specialized ministry are open to laity, Elders and Deacons. It was interesting to see your mention of the excellent programs offered by The Upper Room, such as the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation. As we were developing the Certification in Spiritual Formation, staff members of The Upper Room were included in our conversations. People can apply their experience in the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation toward their Certification in Spiritual Formation. Because of the need for this curriculum to enrich the life of the church, Certification in Spiritual Formation has become the largest enrollment in the many offerings for specialized ministries by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. It is a wonderful way to gain the knowledge and skills to guide people in spiritual disciplines, whether used for continuing education, as part of ministry preparation, or for Advanced Course of Study.

At Garrett-Evangelical we believe so strongly in this focus that we have set the goal to raise an endowment of $2 million for the Rueben Job Chair of Spiritual Formation. Bishop Job is an alumnus of Garrett-Evangelical, as well as one of the persons instrumental in creating The Upper Room programs you mention. We are honored that he has been willing to lend his support to this endeavor.

Yes, the seminaries have some catching up to do. Your blog reminded me very much of a conversation I had with one of my seminary professors in the early 1980’s, when I had stumbled upon the rich Christian heritage of prayer and spiritual formation. Why wasn’t I taught this material in my own seminary education? We’ve come a long way since then, but, as you point out, there is a very long way to go.

Please encourage pastors to enroll in Certification in Spiritual Formation studies. This curriculum is offered in a variety of ways, often accessible through distance education courses, by Garrett-Evangelical, Perkins, Boston, Drew, Wesley, Saint Paul, and United. Iliff and Claremont offer enrichment programs not under the GBHEM umbrella of UM Certification. Many Deacon track candidates are pursuing spiritual formation as their area of specialized ministry. Things are happening so quickly that my list here may be deficient, and I apologize to my seminary colleagues if my information is in error. Inquire of your seminary what they may be offering. Many seminaries, including Garrett-Evangelical, also offer Doctor of Ministry degrees that work in the areas of spiritual formation and spiritual direction. Garrett-Evangelical is accepting applications for our next cohort of students for our Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction, which will begin in January 2013.

In addition to these offerings by the seminaries, there are excellent resource people available to guide experiences of prayer, spiritual disciplines, and retreats throughout the nation. Check with the Fellowship of United Methodist Spiritual Directors and Retreat Leaders (www.fumsdrl.org) for resource people in your region. FUMSDRL is a recognized affiliate organization of The United Methodist Church, with a contact list over 800 strong, another sign of the emerging importance of spiritual formation ministries in the life of our church.

Thanks again for bringing this significant ministry to light for the church’s well-being.

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Dr. Dwight Judy is the Professor of Spiritual Formation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. To learn more about Dr. Dwight Judy and his work in spiritual formation go to www.DwightJudy.com.