Singing Along the Journey
Thoughts about faith and wholeness set to the soundtrack of life

What’s my style, anyway?

This week we read a variety of works on writing style.  It was interesting to go back and read Strunk and White's essay on style again, many years and many words after the first reading.  And it is an even more interesting task to answer the question of the week:  what's my style, anyway?  That wasn't specifically the question we are asked to answer, but it is my summary of the exercise. Actually, I realize after reading our assigned writings that the question of style almost never crosses my mind.  Because I have done so many different types of writing (almost everything except fiction and poetry), the primary concern for…
Read More

Backing in the front way, or new tricks for old dogs

I'm thinking about the past few weeks of my life and all I can see is my beagle, Gracie.  There she is, right in front of me.  I want her to go some place that she doesn't really want to go, but she has forgotten her wilfulness for a moment and she is focused on me -- I have a toy or a treat (most likely, a treat).  Very slowly, I move towards her and because she is in food-anticipation-mode or play mode, she backs up so that she can maintain an ever-perfect focus on the object of her desire.  And, then, before she knows it, she is where I want…
Read More

Today…

I often wonder if I will live long enough on this earth to have the morning of September 11 be like any other morning when I get up and consider the day ahead.  Perhaps, perhaps not. This morning, I will head out onto the Beltway and go to an early morning small group worship service. This morning, in the early hours, I will drive south past the Pentagon.  I will go past a building I pass almost daily now on my way to the beginning of another new phase in my seminary life. Eleven years ago I woke early, getting ready to go to Baltimore for my very first studio…
Read More

Writing, writing, and more writing…

To those of you reading this entry:  this particular entry is the first in a series of writing assignments that will be posted to this blog.  As such, it goes to two different audiences.  I wanted those of you who occasionally read my ramblings to know that we are welcoming in a new audience, my new classmates in my current great adventure. One of the reasons that I selected the program at VTS was that as a Masters student I would have an opportunity to create the program that met my needs and the needs of my own individual call.  I would not be bound by a list of requirements…
Read More

Let’s talk about the Hebrew language…ancient, that is

It is Sunday evening, and I am sitting at my desk attempting to memorize the Qal Imperfect paradigm of the ancient Hebrew language.  There is a catchy little song attached to the learning process (which you now know if you just followed the link in the previous sentence) but I am going to take a break for a minute to talk to you about what it is like for me to finally have the opportunity to study Biblical Hebrew. First of all, many of you may not know that I have a Master of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies -- from a very, very long time ago, on a planet…
Read More

Writing Theology Well

That, my friends, is the question of the day...at least the question of the day in my writing class.  The true answer is:  I have never thought of myself as a writer of theology.  Until I began this class, if you had asked me the question "What kind of writer are you," I would have said that I was an observational one, a commentator on life as it swirled around me and on myself as I moved through life.  After all, wasn't "theology" a big word that applied to the work of scholars and deep thinkers?  Doesn't writing  theology mean creating exegetical essays on the meaning of one pivotal word…
Read More

So long to summer…

Most people probably said their official good-bye to summer a while ago, and you think that I might have done so since I started school back at the beginning of August.  However, despite 4 hours a day learning Biblical Hebrew, I managed to feel that summer continued and I did have one last blast of summer fun last week in Florida. For me, the real beginning of fall was this week -- the first official week  of my seminary education at the Virginia Theological Seminary and today, the "official" beginning of the church season.  Today is the day we move back into the sanctuary -- the choir robes come out,…
Read More

The real first day…

Yes, I've already had my first day of school picture and worn my new dress.  I've tried out my new computer/book bag; I've had my share of adjustment pains with changes in schedule and with getting to know new people and a new place.  And I've dealt with the adjustment of sitting  in classes for long stretches of time, something that my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body is not always so happy to do.  I've figured out that I need one set of glasses for reading Hebrew "tittles and tots" correctly, and I've dealt with the humbling reality that learning a dead language is not nearly so easy as learning one you can…
Read More

What I’ve learned so far…

August term is almost over...today most of my classmates are in a workshop about Intercultural something (another requirement of the Episcopal Church for those training to be priests) and I am devoting the day to memorizing the Qal Perfect verbal endings for a quiz on Monday.  Since seminary is, after all, supposed to be about the act of exploring one's own self and growing in one's faith through study, I thought I would take a moment this Friday morning to summarize what this Baptist has learned about Anglican worship from these last few weeks of living in an Episcopal world. Lesson No. 1:  I've really lived a very ecumenical life,…
Read More

The Gift of Love

Today I had an opportunity to speak instead of to sing at service. And what did I talk about?  My two favorite topics -- music and love, excuse me, Love.  It will make sense as you read on.  The following is somewhat close to what I actually said, just in case you weren't there. Over the past week, I’ve gone back to school full time.  Let me tell you:  going back to school is nothing like it was the last time I went back to school.  In the last week, I’ve spent a lot of time taking tests to tell me just how I learn.  Many of you won’t be…
Read More