02/07/2024 0 Comments
From the Theology Student Intern: Unusual
From the Theology Student Intern: Unusual
# News
From the Theology Student Intern: Unusual
Do you think St. Columba's is unusual?
No, I don't mean it in a weird or bad way - I mean distinctive. How would you describe this place?
There are a lot of words I could think of: playful, relaxed, forgiving, hands-on, inclusive, fun, big-hearted, helpful, flexible... maybe you have others.
Some of you may have heard the news that over this program year, I'm doing a field placement (mentored internship) as part of my studies at the Vancouver School of Theology. One of the questions I'm wondering about as part of this internship is: "How is what we're doing at St. Columba's shaping us to be people who make the world itself more playful, relaxed, forgiving, inclusive, etc. like Jesus would do?"
More specifically, how we are being transformed to do God's work and how are we taking care of one another as we run up against trouble when we do it?
This last question is about how we're organized to care for each other in times of need and how we can give people a sense of what it is to play the music of a Christian way of life that follows the score of the Episcopal Church and at St. Columba's.
This question is about Pastoral Care and about Formation in mind, heart, and practice.
Questions are powerful things, and asking the right question can help us figure out what's unusual about us... what's distinctive. Maybe you are asking this question also - or maybe you have some answers to share.
As St. Columba's grows, we'll have to draw on all of our own unusual ways of being in order to answer this question in a way that's faithful to who we are as a community and fruitful for us becoming transformed people. Because St. Columba's is a place full of people with lots of different - and even atypical - gifts, when we work as a team we have a lot of resources to do new things, to go deep, to ask good questions, and to love genuinely.
The former Bishop of Arizona used to say that we Episcopalians make a difference by being different. Maybe you and me can come together and figure out how we might become different people in the name of God and for the good of others. And maybe the world will be changed when we do it.
Wouldn't that be unusual?
Thoughtfully,
Martin
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