The good news is that I learned about this wonderful thing called reading week and I get to come back to Minnesota for a week in October!!! I am so excited! I will say that this time has made me really pay attention to what is important in my life as well as my identity as an Episcopalian. There is the saying "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and I will say that this is completely true. The more time (I know it has only been a week but it feels like 10 years) I am way from Matthew I am coming to a new place in how much I really appreciate and love him. Simple things like when I had to go to the doctor and he was not there, I sat in the doctors office and started to tear up because when I got home I knew that Matthew would not be there.
I have also had the opportunity to attend services at a very High Anglo-Catholic Church and a very Progressive Church. Each of these services have shown me the things that I really love about liturgy and what are those things that help me get closer to God, and feed my soul. My Bishop has given me the challenge to attend as many churches as I can during my first year. I thought that this was to find the church that I want to do my field education but it is also going to help me to get a clearer picture of what I am not as a potential priest but as an Episcopalian. I will also get this during my education here; CDSP is apart of the Graduate Theological Union, which is comprised of many different faiths who house their schools here. I have the ability to take classes at different schools; I thought at first that I would only take classes from the Episcopal seminary because I am an Episcopalian but I have come to the thought that if I take classes from other denominations it will help me to root my "Episcopal Identity" by seeing those things that will challenge my thinking and my philosophy and theology. I think this is what seminary is about not only to train people to become leaders in the church but also the ability for people to find their identity not only within themselves but their religious identity.
So as I start classes I want to end my post for today with a few thoughts:
- I am entering this journey not alone, I have a wonderful husband as well as a wonderful family and community. I would not be able to do this without your prayers and support.
- I am asking for your prayers for Grandma Joyce as she is having surgery on Thursday.
- I ask your prayers for each other that what ever we need in our lives we will get it.
- Never be afraid to continully evaluate who we are and what our identity is; if we continue to look ourselves we will never stop growing.
Thank you all again for your love and support. Please know that you are all in my prayers!
Peace,
Jason Lucas
