First Semester Complete

I can't believe my first semester of Seminary is over and Winter is finally here!!! It seems like only yesterday when I started classes and felt overwhelmed by all the reading, but now here I am completely finished. Winter up here is freezing cold and studying for finals makes us students go crazy. Of course this only means that now I have time to start preparing for my January term in which I will be taking "Christ in The OT." Apparently this class has a lot of reading, so I'm not really looking for to it too much, but the topic and professor are both amazing, so I am sure it'll be amazing. Also since I will only be taking one class during January term, I can spend more time building community up here on the "Holy Hill." Anyway so here's how I have been over the last few weeks.

Let's start with finals. Final papers and final tests weren't all too bad. Considering how for the first time in all of history I was continuously studying throughout the semester, finals didn't hit me all too hard. Don't get me wrong, I still spent basically every waking hour studying and preparing for exams and papers, but it wasn't as confusing and hard as I thought it would be. Studying for my Old Testament exam was probably the most nerve wrecking. We were required to basically have a broad understanding of every book in the Old Testament with an exception to half of them which we were expected to have a more in-depth understanding. I spent two full days just outlining every book in the Old Testament as well as doing my best to memorize all the important facts and information of the books as well as their role in the overall redemptive narrative of the Old Testament. This was actually a very productive and helpful time because I never really had a great grasp on all the books in the Old Testament, especially the minor prophets. We didn't have the time to go greatly in depth with all the books, but just having the historical background and its place in God's story helped to understand God's mercy and grace.

A Small Look at the book summaries for OT

Greek was the next exam to shoot down, and this was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. The Greek exam this time was focused on verbs in the present, future, and imperfect form. I had to spend a good amount of time reviewing vocabulary, but overall the content and grammar was basically stuck in my head. God gave me the chance to quiz my friends on grammar which at first I thought was a waste of my time and didn't really benefit me, but I soon realized how much I could help my friend by reviewing with him and how it also helped form my foundation with the vocab. After Greek was Systematic Theology. This was the one class which I understood the least in because I was just not able to 100% follow along with everything that the professor was teaching in the beginning. By the time the final rolled around, we had had a few clear lessons in which I was able to follow along, but in the beginning of the semester, I really did not understand anything at all! Studying for this final gave me a better grasp on the topics that he taught this semester including the Ontological Project, the Doctrine of Trinity, Predestination and Election, and Biblical Authority. All were topics that left me thinking and gave me new insights, especially the Doctrine of Trinity which I was required to then teach to at least 2 other people. During the learning and teaching of this project, I gained a deeper understanding to the wrong interpretations of the Trinity like Modalism, Arianism, Subordinationism, and other Trinitarian heresies. The best part was the video that I showed that gave a funny outlook to the whole concept while teaching on different misconceptions of Trinity. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw)

I also had to write two papers for my Spiritual Formation class: a 5-7 page Rule Of Life and a 10-12 page Reflection Paper. Both helped a lot in re-evaluating the time I spent up here this semester, as well as help me project a goal to follow while I am up here. The Rule of Life was meant as a spiritual guideline to keeping on track with the relationships in my life and for my personal spiritual growth as well. It's meant to sort of act like a calendar of things that I would try to complete daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. The reflection Paper was meant to act as time to sit and think about the class. To reflect on all the things that we learned in that class, and what we would take away from it. Learning about the Desert Fathers and other Leaders of spirituality have taught me of the importance of different spiritual disciplines, for example simplicity. St. Hesychios the Priest says in the Philokalia, “One cannot befriend a snake and carry it about In one’s shirt, or attain holiness while pampering and cherishing the body above its needs.  It is the snake’s nature to bite whoever tends it, and the body’s to defile with sensual pleasure whoever indulges it.” 

Besides studying, I have officially started attending Cross Bridge Church of Greater Boston (CBCGB) as mentioned before, and starting in the Spring Semester, I will be serving there for my Mentored Ministry class.  Right now I am stuck worrying about whether to serve with CHARIS Fellowship (Young Adult) or ICF (College Fellowship). I was struggling with understanding where God may be calling me to serve vs where I can probably help out. I have been hearing God calling me to help out at Charis, but i found myself conflicted because of things like an age gap. Most people are older than me by a few years, and I wasn't all too sure how I could best walk with them. I thought of just deferring to doing College fellowship because they could use help and I also had much more experience serving with College students in comparison to young adults. This has been something that I have been constantly praying about and asking God for clarity for. Right now what I might end up doing is serving with ICF while starting a Men's group with the men from Charis.

On a spiritual level, I didn't realize this until recently, but I was completely engulfed by the business of the finals week. Before this, I had a pretty set schedule in where I would spend time with God for at least an hour each day just listening and reading his word. However once finals season came around, I took more time to study and do work instead of spending time with the Lord. Finals season was also a great time to study together with and struggle with my fellow students to build community through crying over finals XD. What I didn't notice was that I was slowly replacing community and study time with God time. Instead of balancing out and being a good steward of the time that I had here and with God, I let myself be controlled by the flow of the semester and my desire to be with people. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, because in community there was also a lot of growth, but I definitely did not give God the time he deserved. This was something that I had to reflect on and recognize, because during this semester, this was one of the biggest things I had learned. Solitude and Simplicity, two disciplines that I thought were silly, but recognized as my biggest weaknesses. I will continue to struggle with and grow in these two disciplines in my time up here at Gordon Conwell, but please also continue to pray for me on these two things. Another big thing on my mind has been my need for a car. Not only to survive up here, but more importantly to do ministry. In order to meet up with people for discipleship and to attend church, I would need a vehicle to get to my destinations, and this has been a huge area where I have to rely on God to open doors for.



On a happy note, I'm finally heading home again for Christmas Break!!! Can't wait!!!