Term has definitely started. This week saw the addition of Oxford lectures to the programme, as well as a Thursday afternoon community-based placement for everyone. On Sunday those of us who haven’t already will be starting placements at a local church, too! On top of all that we are still required to produce a tutorial essay, attend two hours of Greek tuition and several hours of college classes each week. There is the round of services to attend, too. Lastly, but by no means least, there are the rotas for various duties in college.
This week, our group has been on worship duty, which means we have to provide an officiant for each service: Morning and Evening Prayer four days per week, a College Eucharist each Wednesday, the daily Eucharist (except on Wednesdays when we worship in our groups), and Compline each night except Saturday. I led Evening Prayer this evening for the first time, which meant I have finally used my cassock and surplice! I’ll be repeating it tomorrow evening, as well as officiating at Compline which is slightly scary as it will be the first time I have sung a service.
Oh, by the way, did I mention I have a family? I’m supposed to fit time with them as well.
So…with all this work to do, why am I sitting here blogging? Part of our college tuition is the area of pastoral theology, and we’re looking particularly at the moment at the area of human development. We’ve been asked to keep a journal, and I thought this blog would be a pretty good response to this challenge (if I’m wrong on that, feel free to let me know). The question we have been asked to consider is
“What stage of your life has been most critical for your overall personal development…what metaphor would you select to describe the effect of that period?”
I think the most critical period of time for me would be the transition from home to university. It wasn’t the easiest of times: I had to adapt very quickly from one form of family life, surrounded by parents and familiar friends, to a very different kind of family life – one in which I was not just an adult, but also a parent and a husband. This rather dramatic change took place many miles from what used to be called home, and the demands of my new family and my academic career pulled me in many different directions at once. The metaphor I would choose to describe this is a whirlwind, where everything is caught up, tossed about (and sometimes damaged in the process) and then dropped again. Sometimes things settle, sometimes they’re badly out of place.
But as always, the storm passes. And you carry on.
Reflecting further, I think it’s fair to say that the past few months have also been a bit of a whirlwind. Some things have been altered, often dramatically so. I do hope that this time, though, nothing has been damaged or broken. It certainly feels like these are the winds of change, not of destruction.
And with that, I must go. Compline’s in ten minutes…
ah hi – can relate. I now have just six months to go of the
three years you were beginning here in October. Have a great time -
it’s such a privilege. Two young children at my end and yes lots of
change for the family. God bless you in your journey.