the air has felt so heavy lately. i've felt it weighing on my skin as it has slowed my breath and curled my hair. the clouds have been begging for release, and finally, last night as i was leaving atlanta for the summer, the rains came. i had a pretty steady cloud above me as i drove up 85, but never enough to impede my driving. the perfect summer storm, with lightning and dark skies and the promise of cooler air the next morning.
the next few days bring with them not only cooler air but also sundry to-do's and the anticipation of D.C. i'm sitting at barnes and noble, suspiciously eyeing a book entitled Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office 101 and an endcap labeled "Bestselling Christian Inspiration." I'm meeting my candidacy mentor here in a few minutes. I am determined to get an action plan put together in order to become a certified candidate for ministry before year's end and hope I can use these next few days wisely to that end.
The next appointment of the day: dentist. Far from the terror it inspired as a child, I'm looking forward to nice clean teeth for the first time in *coughhummphcough* years. As long as I can get past the inevitable chiding for the state of uncleanliness of my permanent wire retainer...that's really what I've come to dread about the dentist. This verbal scathing will be worse than the shot to the face I received at the dermatologist on Tuesday.
Besides double-checking that I have everything loaded up for D.C., starting to create a pile of stuff to take to the new apartment come August, and attending Wicked (!!) with the fam on Saturday evening, my only other major to-do is to try and get started on the final paper for my summer school course. We finished class yesterday by planning a hypothetical new interfaith worship space for Emory's campus (I was the Reform Judaism representative). I've really enjoyed learning about other faiths by visiting their worship spaces. We had a great talk with the imam at Atlanta Masjid last Friday. He seemed to really get interfaith dialogue; he was so willing and able to answer our questions about Jesus's place in Islam and about the relationship of our Scriptures. I also appreciated his views on "judgment" and the exclusivity of heaven, if you will. He reported that the Qu'ran teaches that all God-fearing folk, so to speak, will be welcomed together into eternity. Sometimes I just get weary of the fire and brimstone. I probably need to think on this more before I blow a rant wide open here...Regardless, I hope I can challenge myself to incorporate elements of these other faiths into my own discipline. I think the Muslim posture of prostration in prayer is incredibly humbling and would serve as a helpful reminder to me that in prayer I'm actually communicating with God and that's kind of a big deal. I also loved going to the Jewish shabbat service and chanting/singing in Hebrew. Singing the ancient words of the Shema in its original ancient language--that's really something.
Another aspect of this class that really got me fired up was our discussion about religious space in conflict. I managed to get a spot in the Jerusalem group; I don't mean to this sound trite, but what an exercise in creative thought the Temple Mount controversy is! There's so much to grapple with--politics, faith, nationalism, tradition. It's like a big jigsaw puzzle with so many pieces to fit into place. It also gives me a bit of the eschatological shivers. There are some major things at stake there. Anyway, this conversation was one of those moments where I could contentedly say, "yep, I'm in the right place studying the right thing." I'm also thankful for issues like this one that make me realize how important it is for me as a (future) Christian leader to be well-versed in issues of politics. I used to not care much. As with the question of our sister faiths, nothing is mutually exclusive. The better we become at building conversations rather than drawing lines, the more hopeful the future starts to look (cue pageantry music...sorry).
But speaking of politics, my thoughts are now really turning towards D.C. A little hint of nervousness has crept in as I stand in the face of the unknown. I look forward to having that first week under my belt, to meeting my host family and my supervisor, to learning that metro commute that I will know like the back of my hand at the end of the summer. I'm ready to get my hands into this work. I'm ready to see Betsey and Mallory, et al. I'm ready to spend a long Saturday getting lost in the art museum. In truth, I was a little sad as I drove away from Atlanta yesterday (too nostalgic for my own good, certainly), but am eager to embrace this awesome opportunity I've been given. And, as a well-meaning colleague told me on the phone yesterday, "even if you hate it (which you won't) and even if your job is terrible (which it won't be), you'll only be there for a few weeks, really." Ha. I'm quite hopeful, myself, that I won't be ready to leave by the end of my time there instead of vice versa.
see you on the other side of the Potomac!
No comments:
Post a Comment