bird by bird

While many of our students are writing their GOEs (General Ordination Exams), I am writing my first blog…and at the moment, I can’t decide which is worse. The angst of taking the GOE’s is a clear memory from 12 years ago, and I certainly don’t envy all those Episcopal ordination candidates who are on day 4 out of 4. At the same time, once GOE’s are over, they are over, which is a very good thing and truly something to celebrate. On the other hand, crafting my first blog is merely a beginning, which implies the necessity of returning to the writing tablet (so to speak) early and often (a bit like Chicago politics perhaps?). I confess (another reminder of the turning/returning necessary in life) that this reality has prompted me to procrastinate on the task at hand for some weeks now. At some point, however, you just have to begin doing it, ‘bird by bird,’ as Anne Lamott said in her delightful book of the same name. And so today is the day.

The impetus to blog in the first place is emerging out of the transformative work we are doing at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. Having done the very difficult work this spring of deciding to sunset, over the next two years, one of our signature programs, the residential Master of Divinity, we are engaged in the creative work of shaping a new future in theological education. That future is informed in no small part by the work of Phyllis Tickle and others around the Great Emergence that this time in history is a hinge moment, a time of monumental shifts that are political, social, religious, economic, and cultural, affecting all of us whether we're aware of the larger movement or not. Some characteristics of this brave new world include a deep hunger for learning balanced with a profound respect for and integration of the heart, the belief that truth is discovered in community, through conversation and the integration of many voices rather than passed down through a hierarchy and also a deeply incarnational understanding that belonging and community holds more value than believing certain things and behaving in certain ways. Traditional seminary structures were designed in a different age and time, responding to very different needs than we experience today. One might say they were created to hold at bay the reality of the Great Emergence. That doesn't mean there isn't great value in the traditional seminary experience, and yet there is also a great deal to be gained by freeing ourselves of the 'givens' and finding new ways to live faithfully God's call to us. As a result, we at Seabury are opening ourselves to a new way of being present in the world and the church. We are working together with others to meet the deep hunger for the creative, beautiful, unending narrative of God's love for us.

My desire to blog, as it turns out, stems not from the conviction that I have much to say that is worth hearing but that forging our new path isn't possible without the participation of others. The Seabury Blog provides a more fluid and real time way to invite the voices of others interested in the questions of theological education in the Great Emergence. I am eager to join together with others who are asking questions and exploring new ways of being faithful, to build together effective ways of meeting the vast needs. I will be posting more about the ongoing work we are doing and always invite the dialogue with the larger community to help shape and form where we going and how we journey.

I dedicate this opening blog to all those finishing their exams (hooray!) today, and to the creative work engaging us all.....bird by bird.