Thoughts on COS Year 1 Module 1 July 5-17, 2009

What a wonderful experience I had at my first two weeks of this step of my spiritual journey. Our teachers were incredible, very well organized, thought-provoking, nonjudgmental, affirming and critical where need be, and experienced. Rev. James Darby led us in Pastor as Interpreter of the Bible. Rev. Shelly Petz led us in Pastoral Care and Spiritual Formation. While the class worked hard, wrote lots of papers, had lots of feedback on what was written, there was a blessing in that work. I became more comfortable with Turabian, footnoting, citing, and the structure of these papers. My advance assignments were well received, although I realize that I did not fully comprehend what was being asked of me. I am not accustomed to having a conversation with the author, so that was a growing edge for me. I was not comfortable with using the "I" pronoun because I had been trained not to do that. I used many contractions and learned to spell the words out instead.

I had a misperception of "critical thought." To me, critical equated with criticism, which is perceived as negative. I try to be supportive and encouraging so to be critical was not comfortable. However, I learned that critical thought is not criticism in that manner. I discovered that writing/journalling was very helpful in my process of critical thinking. I tend to be scatter-brained, and writing helped me to formulate and organize my thoughts in a systematic manner.

The classmates, both in our class and in the other classroom for Year 1 Module 1, were amazing. I am so glad to have had the chance to meet and get to know others in the faith in such a deep relationship within a relatively short time frame. These will be life-long friends, and I am so thankful to God for the crossing of our paths and what I have experienced with them. There is not a one who has been called by God to ministry who should not be there (as if I could make a judgment call anyway LOL). Each individual brings a giftedness and an insight as well as the passion and determination to be God's servant.

The other pastors attending Course of Study were friendly, supportive, and encouraging as well. Some helped me to feel very comfortable in this unknown setting from the very first step of registering. The staff at Saint Paul School, from the teachers to the hospitality teams to the security staff, soon became part of my faith community.

God is good!