Well, at long last I've decided to update the blog. My apologies to all (both) of you that have checked back time and time again since January only to be disappointed that I've slacked off yet again. But, NO MORE!
So, the big news around the seminary is that this past week most of us first year, or Juniors, found out where which parishes we will be serving for the next 1-2 years. We've spent since August traveling to the various churches around the metro D.C. area and then interviewing with the rectors at the places we feel we could learn a thing or two...and then it was Super Selection Friday--my coining of a new term--when we got the calls of either, "yes, we want to call you to be our seminarian", or "welllll, after hours upon hours of agonizing prayer, discernment and finally using the holy ouija board, we've decided to go a different direction."
I'm very happy to announce that I will be serving at Emmanuel Church, Alexandria. Or, Emmanuel-in-the-hole as it is more commonly known 'round these parts. (There is another Emmanuel church which sits up on top of the hill near the seminary, and this one sits rather, well, down in the hole so there you are.) Here's the link to their website, please check it out for yourselves: Emmanuel Episcopal Church
I'll be working with Rev'd. Dan Eckman the rector who is very happy to have me, but more importantly was very glad to have our family as well. This was a decent deciding factor as to where we were going to go. There are some great things going on at Emmanuel and I can't wait to jump in and start learning. That won't "officially" happen until the summer time, but we'll start attending there, um...this Sunday!
One of the nice things about Emmanuel is that it is very close--I could walk there in a pinch if I really, really, really had to, in an emergency. It is only about .4 miles from our apartment. They have two Sunday services an 8AM and a 10AM which is also nice--not having to do church from 7:30 AM to Noon like a lot of places here which have 3 services on Sunday mornings. Also, there are a couple of kids from our son's school, and even one from his class that attend there so that will be really nice for him. There is a strong and growing number of young families that attend Emmanuel, and Dan says that they have always attracted young families which is great.
Dan also seems to be a very open supervisor that will allow me the flexibility to do what I want in terms of what I'll be learning but also will let me take on whatever other tasks I might like to do--like start a new bible study, help with a particular ministry, etc. This was great to hear because there are a number of parishes where the seminarians get told exactly what they are going to do and/or they don't get to do things like preach a lot, or take on projects that seem interesting to them, etc. Example: Dan says that I can plan on preaching at least once a month...one of my friends will be starting out as an acolyte and working his way up to torch bearer, then maybe thurifer, then finally be able to administer the chalice his senior year if things go well.
We are going to attend the weekend long parish retreat at the diocesan conference center, Shrine Mont. http://www.shrinemont.com/ So we are looking forward to that event in May.
I'll keep you posted as we start to settle in there, but know that we've found a great parish and are very happy!
