Business and Ministry-ness

Jess: I really have no idea what to write about this week, but I know it's time to write our blog again. Let's see...how about we talk about how ridiculous this semester is going to be and how excited I am for said ridiculousness.

So let's take a quick look at my schedule for the fall:
 
M:  7-9 babysit; 4-7 babysit; 6-7 class (yeah, that's right)--update, I have class at 2:15. Yay not being in two places at once.
T:    9-10 breakfast; 4-7 babysit
W:  1:30-10 class
R:   4-7 babysit
F:   8-11 class; 12-1 tutor; 4-7 babysit
S:  FREE DAY!!!!--except I already know that I have something scheduled every week for the next 4 weeks. So....bad start.
S:  Field ed in the morning

So, yeah. I'm going to be about as busy as I was back in high school and college when I was in 10,000 activities, working, and going to school full-time. Which may sound like complaining, but let's face it. I freaking love being busy and working hard. I'm super excited about actually having to schedule my days again. 

I started seminary for real on Wednesday. I have three classes per week in 3.5 hour blocks. I'm taking Sex and Scripture, which is a survey of how gender relates to how Scripture was written, interpretations of Scripture, and how gender roles and stereotypes affect our ministry. I'm also taking Scriptures of the World, in which we will literally be reading Scriptures from around the world. It's an interfaith class, which is one of the concentrations I'm considering joining. My last class is Telling the Story: Preaching and Evangelism. We're talking about what evangelism means to us, what it should mean to the Christian community, how to preach it, and how to teach it. I'm probably most excited about this class, and not just because one of the professors is a Texan, and sounds like it. 

I'm still doing my nanny gig in the afternoons, but Wes has graciously offered to take over for me on Wednesdays so I could condense my school days into two trips. I haven't figured out how Mondays are going to work yet, but we'll get there. I have three families that want me to babysit on occasional mornings, so we'll see how that fits with my schedule.

For the first two years at LTSP, we are required to do several field education experiences. Our first year, we do a rotational field ed experience, where we visit five churches for three weeks each throughout the semester. In between the first two years, we do a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), where we (generally) work in a hospital for 10 weeks of the summer, learning that aspect of ministry. The second year, we are placed in a church, where we work 10 hours per week, including Sunday services. Instead of school, our third year is an internship, where we work full-time in a church, learning how to be a pastor, working on and honing our skills. 

I am actually doing a site placement because I did not have the gas money or time to drive to the rotational sites in Philly every Sunday. I haven't found a church yet, but hopefully we'll be working that out soon. Like, in the next 2 days. I might do the same again next year, and I'm looking to defer my internship until after my last year of seminary. 

Soooooo, life is great. I would write more, but I have some homework to do!

Wes: Well, I don't want to be complaining all the time like someone... not to be naming any names, but to be rhyming names, hers rhymes with Smessica. :)

I thought I'd tell you about the amazing weekend that I just had and how God is doing some really neat stuff up here in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. My weekend started with a wedding on Friday. The bride and groom, two great people whom I really enjoyed talking to and getting to know, said they wanted a short and sweet wedding, and that's what I gave them. The entire ceremony, sermon included, was thirty minutes long. Now, this experience revealed certain things to me, one of which is that I am slightly more of a hopeless romantic than I care to admit it. I don't like short and sweet wedding services. It is very possible to do and say everything necessary in the United Methodist wedding liturgy in about 25 minutes. But I struggle with seeing why anyone would want such a short service! I know how much wedding dresses cost, not to mention the fact that the bridal party has rented/bought tuxedos and dresses, someone paid untold sums of money to decorate the sanctuary, and people have driven/flown in from who knows where for the sole purpose of witnessing and celebrating the joining of two souls. I would think all of that was worth at least an hour. 

But, all that being said, it was a wonderful ceremony that went off without a hitch, the bride and groom are on their honeymoon in Aruba, and everyone was happy with it. 

After the ceremony, Jess and I loaded into the car and drove to Ocean City, a tiny island community about 20 minutes away from Atlantic City, for a youth ministry weekend extravaganza. At Ocean City Youth Weekend, an event that has been going on for years, we had about 500 youth gathered together for fellowship, worship, and service. We listened to the musical stylings of Agape, a Christian hip-hop artist, watched in awe as illusionist Jared Hall made a table float and made the sanctuary snow, worshipped with local youth bands, and had communion on the beach. 

We also, for the first time, implemented a service aspect to the weekend's activities. We broke up all of the youth into groups of tens and twenties and fifties and sent them out to do different projects around the area in both Ocean City and Atlantic City. Jess and I had a group of ten that we took to do the "Ten Dollar Challenge." Everyone was given $10 and told to use it to bring glory to God's Kingdom. We pow-wowed before we went out and decided that we wanted to combine our money together and do something with $100 instead of each person doing something with $10, so we went off in search of someone we could help. We found ourselves at the local fire station, and when we asked what their needs were, the captain said that what they really needed was help cleaning the station. So we put our hands and feet where our money was, grabbed brooms and dust rags and trash cans and got to work. It was a wonderful time, and we ended up giving the money to the station's charity to use for local events and to help local families. 

Here's one of the coolest parts of the event, though. Agape, the nationally-known Christian hip-hop artist who performed for the youth on Friday and Saturday, went with our group to do the service project. He not only hung out with us, but he engaged in service with us, working side by side with the youth and showing them what true Christian leadership and service was about. It was so cool, and it was an amazing testament to the One whom he is doing ministry for. 

By the way, his real name is Dave.

Then we came home for Sunday worship at our churches, and I felt truly blessed to be a part of my two congregations as we spent time in prayer and remembrance of those affected by 9/11. I am honored to be the pastor of Crosswicks UMC and Ellisdale UMC, and am honored to be able to minister to and be ministered by the people that make up these congregations. Yes, there are struggles at both, but there are struggles in any church, and I am so thankful and joyful to be surrounded by such great people. 

Well, that's all for now. I'd give you my schedule for the semester like Jess did, but honestly I don't know what it is. I don't start school til next week, and I couldn't even tell you what classes I'm taking off the top of my head. ;)

See you next time! You stay classy, World Wide Web!

-wes and jess