First Day, Part II:

Greetings devoted (and incredibly patient) readers, and Happy New Year! Another semester has started here at Seminary, and I am hopeful this one will be better than the last. Being in control of my own on-line enrollment ensured that nothing was "lost" and I actually managed to get into classes that were of interest to me, and not simply classes that were still open. I was concerned about getting back into the swing of things here on the blog, having been away for so long, but God (or whatever) sent me a sign. I was seated in my first class for no more than five minutes when I was able to flip to a fresh sheet of paper and start jotting down notes for my first blog entry!

John and Jane Godly, two of my favorite characters from last semester as you will remember, are, as was suspected, joined at the hip. They have invaded what I thought would be a sanctuary, World Religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. But, no. No sanctuary for me. Even here the Evangelical nut-jobs find me. This time, however, they did not sit beside me - no room. The did not sit in front of me - already taken. They sat directly behind me. John said under his breath as they removed their coats, "here we are, the 'World Baptists.'" Greeeaaat. This is going to be a fun semester. I can tell already. I later discovered to my personal horror (there are only three MTS students in the class), and yet universal, perverted delight, that this is now a required class for all MDiv students. Yeeesss! There is no escaping exposure to non-Christian and non-Western religions!! Some of these people might actually get a REAL education!

Bad omens continue to follow me. A brief history of the weather as pertains to my seminary experience: I went to an information session/"campus day" for admitted students last February. It rained heavily that morning. I left home a half hour early and arrived twenty minutes late. It rained all day, and we went on a walking tour of the campus. Fun. In August, on the first day of Orientation, it rained all morning. I left forty minutes early, and barely arrived on time. The second day of Orientation, it stormed. I left forty minutes early and arrived fifteen minutes late. On the first day of classes, the weather was beautiful. The traffic sucked worse than usual. Go figure.

Yesterday, the first day of classes, it rained heavily and was quite cold. The rain melted the two inches of snow we had the night before, and the drivers were pretty squirrelly, slamming on the brakes whenever they crossed a bridge or overpass because they were afraid of ice. Uh....slamming on the brakes because the road is icy is about as intelligent as placing your hand to the fire because it will burn. The South is so very amusing in so many ways to us misplaced Yankees. It was a fun, fun ride.

Today, and on all Wednesdays and Fridays, I have only one class. At 9:30 in the morning. I have a 9:30 class every day, by the way. That means I have to leave my house around 7:30. That means I have to get up around 6:00. I am NOT a morning person. This class is being taught by my advisor, who is a pretty cool guy, and I'm really looking forward to this class because it is in my particular area of study, even down to the sub-discipline within which I place myself. I will refrain from elaborating on this as it is quite obscure, there are not many scholars involved in this research, and my work (and therefore name) is fairly well known among the other scholars in our small circle. To my knowledge, I am the only Masters student in the circle. The others are PhD candidates, post docs, or senior scholars. This isn't bragging. It's a VERY small circle, and a VERY obscure subject. I dread it whenever anyone asks, "so, what are you studying?" My usual response is, "how much time do you have, and how interested are you, really?" There is no short answer or easy explanation.

Anyway, some of you will remember I had a very jarring moment on my first day of classes last semester that was the single event which led to the creation of this blog. We bowed our heads and prayed. That first day was the only time we did so in that class. Fine with me. Today, in this class that resides firmly within my comfort zone, I was not so lucky. We were informed that we would begin EVERY class with a prayer, short devotional reading, and two minutes of silent contemplation. Yeah. Welcome to Seminary.