The Puzzle of Seminary
Looking back and putting together all of the pieces.
I love puzzles. All kinds of puzzles. My favorites are jigsaw puzzles. I don’t know about you, but I have a process for putting together a puzzle. First, I sort the pieces to find all of the edges. Second, I assemble the edges to figure out my boundaries. Third, I work on sections of the puzzle based on color or a particular part of the picture. Finally, I celebrate as I place the last piece in the puzzle. I know putting a puzzle together isn’t one of life’s great accomplishments, but there is an element of joy that comes when I can see the full picture of what I have assembled. I also feel freed to move on to the next activity.
Seminary has been like a puzzle. The boundaries have been assembled by my given program of study. Those who created the program had a picture in mind of what they hoped would be accomplished in my heart and mind. With each class, I have worked on a specific section of the puzzle, working to refine my thoughts and challenge my thinking. With my final class, I see the final piece sitting on the table. As I reflect on the process over the past three and a half years, I now see the full picture, and I’m excited to place that final piece in the puzzle. Below are reflections on a few of the pieces of the puzzle and how it fits into the larger picture.
Spiritual Life & Leadership
As I began my time in seminary with a class on Spiritual Life and Leadership, I had yet to assemble any parts of the puzzle. I didn’t have a sense of what type of picture I would be creating. If the puzzle were a picture of a house, this class would serve as the foundation. Though I could not see it then, this class served as a springboard for the rest of the classes in my seminary experience. I relearned the importance of contemplative prayer and theological reflection.
Two lessons I learned at the beginning of my seminary journey were that this journey was not going to be purely academic and the goal is not perfection and good grades but life-change. Beginning with a class dealing with our inner selves helped me see the dual nature of seminary, academic and spiritual, heart and mind. To succeed in seminary I could not focus entirely on academic learning. I must be prepared to allow God to use these concepts to transform my heart as well. This lesson served me well as I continued through seminary, allowing God to speak to me through the classes I took.
I tend to be a perfectionist. I like to do well in everything I do. I learned quickly that if I were to focus solely on getting an “A” in the class, I would not be learning all I needed to learn. I learned the need to engage my heart as well as my mind. I had to begin to let go of my perfectionism in favor of life-change in my own heart.
Global Christian History
Most puzzles I have done have sections of solid colors or sections that are the least fun or most challenging to put together. Going into Global Christian History, I felt this class would be that section of the puzzle. Though I am not proud to admit it now, in college, my goal was to get to graduation without taking any English or History classes. I actually figured out how to do it. Now, twenty years later, I see that section of the puzzle was not complete.
This class helped me see two things. First, there is great value in understanding the history of the church in relation to the history of the world. I gained a great appreciation for seeing how theology developed from the time of Christ until now. I could see how we are debating similar theological topics now that have been debated throughout history, simply in a bit different cultural and historical context. I began to understand how the thoughts and understanding of believers from history can inform my belief and understanding now.
Second, I saw how an understanding of the history of our faith could connect me to Christ in a different way than I had been connected before. I could trace Christian faith from Jesus to the disciples throughout each historical period until now. I experienced a depth of faith and involvement with the Church I hadn’t experienced before. Being connected with theologians and other believers from the past enriched my view of the future and eternity. We will get to worship alongside one another as we live with Jesus forever.
Christian Theology
Sometimes as we are working on puzzles, it becomes necessary to move our chairs to the other side of the table so we can see the puzzle from a little bit different perspective. As we do that, we are introduced to slightly new ways of seeing the pieces we had been staring at for so long before. This Christian Theology class was that shift in perspective for me. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in a small town in Arkansas. The theology I was presented with was solid, but it was presented from one perspective. I did not realize there were other perspectives that would fit into an orthodox category until I got to college and began meeting people from differing faith traditions.
This class helped me dive into a deeper study of theology from a Wesleyan perspective. Also, because of Global Church History, I began to view theology through the lens of the rule of faith throughout the past two centuries. Though what I learned was not revolutionary as far as what I had been taught in the past, the way theological concepts were explained and the terminology used was slightly different than what I had known. This gave me a richer perspective on these concepts as well as gave me a deeper connection with those from different faith traditions. I began to be able to connect more with some of our other churches here in Fayetteville because I began to see the lens through which they viewed theology, and our lenses are not that different!
The Bible As Christian Scripture
So often as I work on a puzzle, the actual picture on the puzzle begins to fade away because I am so focused on looking for a piece of a specific shape. When the puzzle begins to take shape, I need to slow down and enjoy the picture being created. The Bible as Christian Scripture reminded me to view scripture not only through an academic lens but also through a spiritual one. Over the years, I have been taught how to study God’s Word. I have learned how to observe, interpret, and apply God’s Word to my life. While doing this I unintentionally began to view God’s Word as an academic exercise. Better understanding would come as a result of my improved ability to study and dig.
Over the past five years, God has shown me how I can read God’s Word to simply hear from Him. As I hear from Him, I can obey His voice. I began to see how I can engage with Scripture and pray and take action as a result of what I read. Scripture must drive us to action. If it does not encourage us to show love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24, NIV), we are not engaging with Scripture as God intends. This understanding helped me slow down and begin to enjoy God’s Word as Scripture given to us by a holy, loving God.
Cultural Contexts of Ministry
When I get focused on a puzzle, I can begin to get tunnel vision. I focus on the puzzle and not on what is going on around me. Also, when my puzzle assembling becomes intense, I enter my own world with the mission of completing the puzzle; I do not invite others into the experience with me. Cultural contexts of ministry helped me look outside of myself and see how I can better interact and minister with those in my community. I learned how I can invite those in our city into fellowship and community. I began to notice the lack of diversity in our church. The demographics of our church do not match the demographics of our city.
This class gave me a deeper understanding of what it means that everyone is created in the image of God and has great worth. Also, I began to see how the local church has trouble representing the global Church when it becomes monocultural. This class helped me look throughout our city and see opportunities to engage with those within our city that have very different experiences that I have had, from cultural differences to socio-economic difference to language differences. I began to see the ministries of our church and the community we were developing from the perspective of the other within our city. I began to look outside of my circles to see over 120 countries represented in my city because of the University of Arkasnas. What depth of fellowship as we open our lives and homes to those who are different than us.
This final class represents the final piece of my puzzle. I can see where it goes in the greater picture. There is still some work to be done before I can celebrate and place the final piece of the puzzle. May God continue to refine me and bring to mind lessons he has taught me through my time in seminary!