The Yankee Does Homework

This year I enrolled in the Evening School Program here at the Seminary. During the August Term I took the prerequisite class, The Theological Education Toolbox, which is an introduction to what a seminary education is like for the seminarians here and what Evening School students can expect. Of course, I have a better idea than most about the seminarians' experience, as I live in the residential section of the campus and eat breakfast and dinner with the on hill seminarians most days. But it was still an interesting overview and would have been helpful when I arrived as a new employee almost two-and-a-half years ago. We also spent one session at the Bishop Payne Library for an introduction to its resources. Again, there wasn't much new for me, as I take advantage of any sessions offered by the library during Employee Development Days and any other time. The head librarian did rise to my challenge and found at least one thing I didn't know (the QR codes at the bottom of most book listings in the electronic catalog).

For the Fall semester I enrolled in two classes, one for the entire semester and one for six weeks beginning in the middle of October. The semester-long class is Dean Markham's Faith in the Triune God: An Introduction to Systematic Theology on Wednesday evenings. I'd been looking forward to taking this class, since everyone I've spoken with who's taken a class with the Dean says that he is a terrific teacher. Two weeks into the class I have to say that their assessment is holding up.

Because I enrolled in the enriched option of the Evening School, which leads to a certificate, I am required to do at least some of the homework/classwork rather than just sit in and audit. The Dean hasn't yet decided what the three of us Evening School students will be doing to fulfill our requirements. In the meantime I am doing the reading sheets assigned for each week's reading. Even if the Dean ultimately doesn't require them of us, I will continue to complete them. I am doing HOMEWORK again! This weekend I took  over the kitchen table as I did my homework. In the last two weeks my dictionary has seen more use than it usually does. I even pulled my old Education for Ministry texts from the shelf to give me some context for some of the assigned readings.

At one point this afternoon I began to wonder how the full-time students do this. Over the last two. weeks I've spent a significant amount of time reading and writing. How on earth would I manage a second class in October, let alone a full load? Then I remembered that they are full-time students. They're not holding down a full-time job. And by the time October rolls around, I'll have established a new rhythm life.