Not quite an audience with Bach...

So here finishes the second week of the vacation; another week of reading and essay writing. But I haven't been chained to a desk all week... and I haven't just been to Starbucks for a change of scene!

Cambridge being a very cultured city, with most of the railings covered with adverts for concert after concert, it was about time I actually experienced some of this culture. So to the Cambridge Corn Exchange I went with my oldest brother, to see The Waterboys. Ok, maybe they don't fit with most of concerts advertised on the railings, it definitely wasn't St Matthew's Passion by Bach, but it was definitely cultural; I now know some Yeats for starters!

However, whilst rocking in the 'mosh pit' I did realised how obscure some of the music is I listen too. As there standing around me were people who were not just old like my brother (who is 11 years older than me), but much old than him. Though Mike Scott (lead singer of the Waterboys) did tell us that the first time he played the Corn Exchange was in 1980, a whole year before I was born!

Does it really matter that my CD collection is heavily weighted towards bands and singers who were maybe not even main stream in the 80's - most probably not because it doesn't mean that I can't appreciate a bit of Bach.

The Church... really?

I may have been on 'holiday' for a week, but apart from Starbucks, I've not been anywhere but the library, which has been a mightily busy place. Anyone would think that some of us had essays due when the vacation is over!

My focus this week has been ecclesiology and christology: in what sense can the Church be said to be the body of Christ. Now, if I was writing a New Testament essay I may not still be sat here wondering what I'm trying to say, but this a doctrine essay... a very different beast! But here is a scriptual description of Church, one I've heard numerous times and know Paul is talking about unity in his letters. But then you look at the Church and see the schisms, the numerous denominations and stand-alone churches, the arguements within the different groups and I have to wonder how we can still describe ourselves as the 'body of Christ' or whether we actually ever listen to what we preach!

However, there is more to being the 'body of Christ' than just unity and why it is still a valid description of the Church and we are only human, so we're not going to get it right all the time. All we can do is keep praying and you never know we might eventually work out that we can be diverse and united!

So all I need to do now is turn this short theological reflection in to a 3000 word Christian Doctrine essay! Greek translation is looking like an easier option...

New routine starts tomorrow...

The end of term is here. We've had the end of term formal dinner, final communion, those that are leaving the college for the vacation are packing up their belongs and filling they're cars. Life the next five weeks will be very different from the last eight!

However, though I may not have lectures, it is not time to sit back and put my feet up (unfortunately). There are two 3,000 word essays to get written, five chapters of John to attempt to translate and two acts of worship to prepare! Plenty to keep me out of trouble and encamped in the library.

BUT life will be different, there is another new routine to get my head round. The faces that I see everyday won't mostly be here, but other new faces will appear. No chapel every morning. I have to remember not just to go and eat, but that I have to cook what I'm going to eat! By week 5 of the vacation I will have just about got my head round the change, when it will all change again! If I have learnt anything over the past two terms, there is not a normal rhythm to life at Westminster! Sometimes this can be a real challenge, but other times a real blessing.

Ministry is a vocation and it's not just about being sat at my desk from 8-12 writing sermons and then visiting my congregations from 1-4, it is about my whole life, about who I am. Every day will potentially be different, filled with challenge and blessing. This both excites me and scares me, but that is why I am here, living in this community and being prepared for what is outside the safety of these four walls.

And so the end is near...

Week 8 of the Lent term... in six days time I will have finished my second term in Cambridge! Gulp! And I'm able to sit down and write my blog on a Thursday evening! I'm a little worried that I've forgotten to do something or missed something vitally important, but a part from the Greek (which I'm avoiding), most of my work is done for the end of term! How did that happen?

The second term was no less mad than the first term, possibly even madder! We may have had fewer hours in lectures, but my days have seemed to have been even fuller. The rollercoaster ride has just happened all over again. What am I do? Who every thought this was a good idea? Why did I ever agree to this?!

But though it has been another rollercoaster ride (and I hate rollercoasters), it has been great. I may sit any wonder what people are going on about at times and sometimes things just go in one ear and out of the other. But the challenges I have faced, the things I have learnt, have not only taught me more about theology, but also about who I am and most importantly about my relationship with God.

So bring on the Easter term... my assessed service... my five exams... and my two essays!

A moment in history...

Now there are old books and then there are old books. I spend many hours in my college library surrounded by books that have been written by great theologians and philosophical thinkers from across the centuries. For one essay last term I even managed to read (well part read) a book that was over 200 years old. But in Life and Service on Friday we were looking at two books that were over 350 years old - the Westminster Confession (the original manuscript) and the copy of the Confession which was given to Francis Bacon for his consideration prior to its discussion in Parliament in 1646. The Confession was to suppose to further reform the Church of England, unfortunately it didn't as Parliament vote against it. However, if they had the Church of England would now be Presbytarian... interesting!

I love Church history!