Claimed, gathered and sent

Philemon 1:1 Παῦλος δέσμιος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ Τιμόθεος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Φιλήμονι τῷ ἀγαπητῷ καὶ συνεργῷ ἡμῶν 2 καὶ Ἀπφίᾳ τῇ ἀδελφῇ καὶ Ἀρχίππῳ τῷ συστρατιώτῃ ἡμῶν καὶ τῇ κατ᾽ οἶκόν σου ἐκκλησίᾳ, (Phm 1:1-2 BGT) Yup, that's Greek and the new semester has begun. Boy, I feel so rusty and so emotionally unprepared to be back at school. Part of my heart is still in Garrett County, MD. The transition from even a brief 2 weeks of full time ministry to full time classes again is difficult. Now that I have been in Epistles class all morning and then our small group this afternoon, I feel like it will be ok. It was absolutely amazing how much theology is in the greeting of Philemon. We all seemed to enjoy the class and it was good to have our prof back from sabbatical. By the way, LTSGers, doesn't this picture of Paul look a little bit like Dr. Carlson? It's been a good day and we had some social time together as well tonight. So...........WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Summer Greek 2008 ended yesterday. And a sigh of relief was heard from all. We have had some marvelous cheerleaders throughout the process--previous years' students, profs. We've had ice cream socials, picnics and prayer. The 2 weeks was concluded with a celebratory Greek dinner last night, followed by a round of plate smashing. The stress levels were high in the intense 2 weeks of whirlwind, head spinning study of Greek. We stood on the patio of the refectory (dining room) for the plate smashing. Plates were smashed in honor of our class, spouses, the profs etc. Our class has been divided into 2 groups based on grades and where we would fit best. There is the rabbit group and the turtle group. I am happily a turtle. The pace will be such that what didn't stick in our brains during the fast pace of Summer Greek will have a chance to stick. We were reminded of the old proverb, "Slow and steady wins the race." I couldn't help but think of this video as an expre...

We are now halfway through Summer Greek. My head has finally stopped spinning around long enough for me to write. Most of us in Greek class this morning had a case of scrambled brains. Our first exam was this past Fri. We studied hard for that and most everyone did well, including me. But by Fri. night, I didn't want to go near Greek...Sat. I made myself do a little...Sun. a little more...and finished the assignment this morning. It seemed like I had poured everything I knew about Greek out of my head and onto that exam with nothing left. Many could not remember the simplest things we knew cold last week. But then we were reminded of the grace and love of God that continues to work and see us through--even through intensive, two sessions a day, quiz each morning Summer Greek. God's grace is sufficient . It is that which bears us up and carries us. Students that were in our shoes a year or more ago keep reminding us of this. Flickr picture

Yesterday we began the cruise of Summer Greek, our prof's analogy for this intensive two week course. We even have an activities director! Not only will we work together, but we will also pray and play together. We worshiped in chapel, had a picnic last night (which Abby particularly enjoyed), worship Sunday, miniature golf next Saturday, etc. Despite our fear and trepidation of a quiz on the first day of class, we all survived and even had some fun. The first session was introductory, the quiz, and work. After the break, we met in a large room in a circle to introduce ourselves in 4 minutes to our classmates and others. We each had to give our name, tell where we were from, what church/denomination, how God got us, and why we were at Gettysburg. Everyone's story was different, yet there were recurring themes that resonated with each of us: a sense of God's leading, circumstances, "It just felt right." We are of various ages, from varied locations and backgrounds...

There was a letter on the LTSG website from the professor of Summer Greek, which will be my first seminary course. Think of the tune to "The Twelve Days of Christmas." "On the first day of Summer Greek the professor's giving us, a quiz on the Greek alphabet." But that's only the beginning. This is quoted from the letter: "The assignment to be completed prior to the first class session is: Read Lesson 1 in Croy and the Introduction in Lamerson. Memorize the Greek alphabet (small case letters only) Memorize Greek vowels, diphthongs, breathing marks, punctuation The quiz on Friday morning will be on the alphabet, vowels, diphthongs, breathing marks, and punctuation. Do not worry about the rules for Greek accents (pp. 3-4 in Croy). We will cover this material at a later point but not on the first day." OK, I'm officially nervous. Somehow in my mind I thought those first couple weeks on campus before...