Eastward, ho!

My great trek across the U.S has begun. I left Saturday morning driving through the gorge, then across the upper portion of Idaho and on into Montana. The first day was pretty uneventful, probably the most exciting part was realizing that I wasn't in Oregon anymore and was going to have to pump my own gas. Well lets just say the first try ended with more gas on the ground then in the car, oopps! All I could think was that upon starting the car my puddle o' petrol was going to turn into a flaming puddle. Luckily this did not happen and it is safe for me to return to Idaho for future endeavors. Upon reaching the campsite in Missoula I was surprised with the realization that the campsite was as far from the woods as you could get. Lets put it this way our "campsite" was wedged right next to a set of wonderfully modern condos. Who doesn't love camping in the city!

The second day the drive took me through beautiful Montana to the tip of yellowstone. This time the campsite was a little more out in the woods. Spent the afternoon in the town of West Yellowstone. I got to see grizzly bears and wolves at the local wildlife preserve. In the evening there was some fretting that it might rain and the tent might prove pointless but fortunately the rain held off. Getting to sleep that night was a challenge though as Montana's idea of fireworks is a kin to letting of canons at a Civil War reenactment, I briefly wondered if we weren't actually under siege.

The third day was met with the opportunity to drive through Yellowstone national forest. It was gorgeous. Stopped at Old Faithful and had the fun the watching her go off. Who doesn't love the smell of sulfur in the morning! Walked around the geysers a bit and then continued on driving. by the time I arrived at the next camping spot the rain had finally caught up, so last night was spent sleeping in the car. The campsite that I was parked at frankly made me think of a cross between the movie Psycho and the movie Rocky Horror Picture show, needless to say other then sleeping in the (locked) car I survived the night.

Today was filled with driving through the enthralling state known as Wyoming. I can say two things about Wyoming, they have wonderful rolling hills and lots of road work. Aside from those two things they also have some interesting sightseeing options. I stopped at Crazy hoarse and of course Mt. Rushmore. The two monuments offer very different perspectives on American history as well as America in general. (More on those two monuments in a future post.) Currently I am at a cabin beside the highway, across the street from the reptile gardens just outside of Rapid City, Wyoming. At least no worries about the rain tonight. Tomorrow I will be driving on through to Minnesota where I will get to see the friend I traveled Spain with. It seems an apt time to visit seeing as how this time two years ago we were walking the roads of Spain.

I am enjoying getting to see America in a way I never have before.

As is said in Spain ,

Buen Camino

(Good Journey)

Amanda

The end of beginnings

Well, year one of seminary has come to a close. My room is all packed up and is as empty and institutional as when I arrived. It is strange to feel as though I have too much time on my hands as I get ready to go back to Portland, seeing as how from the moment I arrived it has felt as though there is never enough time. It is as though there is a stop watch going and everyone here is racing to beat it.

There is a part of me that can't quite believe that I have already finished a year of seminary, while another part of me can't believe it has ONLY been a year. I have been thinking back to what I thought seminary and living on the East Coast in Princeton would be like, I can't say that it is what I expected and I can't say it isn't. I think we like to idealize things in the beginning. We come up with grandiose ideas of what living in a new place, learning new things and meeting new people will be like. Even when we try to claim we are being realistic in our expectations we often add a little extra shine more so than is really present.

If I have learned anything this year that would be it. We like to grab onto new things and think that magic will happen and when nothing miraculous happens we are disappointed. (Not saying that I am disappointed). Seminary is not magical and neither are the people you meet here. We are all human beings, we are all people searching for what it is that we are called to do, we are all succeeding and failing, standing tall and falling on our faces. I think that is what I have found most hilarious about this place, here we all are supposedly with strong faith convictions, determined to enact good in the world in the name of God and we can't even figure out how to be humble and serve one another. We sit around loving any chance possible to announce what professors we are friends with, what awards we have received, where we get to go over-seas, how many hungry people we have fed today, and how we plan to single handedly save the world, the whole time caring about only one person - ourselves. We compete to be on top not thinking at all about the five people we trampled to get there. Now I am not saying that all competition is a bad thing, I am a very competitive person. I do think there are mature ways to be competitive with out it becoming a completely self-serving activity. I don't think Jesus sat around at the local bar bragging about the number of people he healed or brought back from the dead, oh, thats right I think he maybe even told people to not talk about it.

So as my first year of seminary comes to a close what have I learned? I have learned that I am no more or less equipped to be in ministry than those around me. That Princeton is a two syllable word that people try to make sound much bigger. Specifically though I have learned that humility is essential, saying please, thank you and I'm sorry will get you farther than demanding you are right, and that all you can do is keep trying.

Blessings and peace,

Amanda

Book Addiction

Recently the seminary held their annual book sale. The proceeds from the sale go towards building the libraries of seminaries in less advantaged locations.

The entire sale is put on by student volunteers. I volunteered by sorting the donations that came in. Boxes and boxes of books from pastors, students, staff, and community members poured in. Now, sorting books while a volunteer position did come with an amazing incentive. To compensate volunteers for their time volunteers got to take books for free. It started out with 1 book per hour and then went up to 2 per hour as the date of the sale neared.

Sounds like a wonderful deal, right? It is a wonderful deal except when you have a book addiction like me. For those of you who may not know, I love books! I mean I really LOVE books. I love to hold them, turning the crisp pages, smelling the glorious fragrance that is simply 'book'. I love looking at their spines all lined up on the bookshelf beckoning to be opened and read.

Frankly if I could spend my days in bookstores I probably would, so being tempted by the mounds of books that came in for the book sale was a difficult thing. Needless to say due to my many hours of sorting I ended up collecting quite a few books (or boxes of books :). Now as I am packing up my room for the summer I am finding it difficult to store them all. I mean, poor things, having to be stuffed into cramped boxes where they won't see the light of day. I suppose they will forgive me right?

Happy Reading,

Amanda

Touching Base

It has been sooooo long since my last post. I really hate to use the excuse that life got really busy, because as we all know life is always busy and the only way we actually get anything done is by prioritizing. Well, life did get really busy and unfortunately a whole bunch of things ended up at the top of my list. The last few months have really been all about school, a few weeks ago we had finals and finished up spring long term classes, which I might add was a glorious thing to finish.

I took a class on forgiveness and reconciliation which was purposeful in putting a face on the nebulous concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation that often get thrown around in the media and social contexts. On the other hand, it managed to make the concepts themselves more complicated. I was given the wonderful opportunity though to go into New York City and here Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak about global reconciliation. He touched on some very significant issues that our world stands to face in the next years and decades. (I hope to post a separate blog entry about the comments from his lecture.)

I also took a class on War and the Christian Conscience. While the class covered a lot of very important theories it didn't do such a good job at connecting the real world with the theoretical. All in all it was a good class, but one hard to do in only ten weeks.

I am also proud and excited to announce that I am done with speech class! I could say that it was one of my most inspiring and informative classes but, there is no use in lying it consumed hours of my life that I will never get back, hours that could have been spent doing more productive things probably, but at least I can say I did it and it is done.

Also, since I last posted I met with my CPM (Committee on Preparation for Ministry). All went smoothly.

Now that I have confirmed that I am still alive, not lost under stacks and stacks of John Calvin books, I hope to post more often again.

Hope this finds everyone well,

Amanda

Can or May

I remember the distinction between 'Can I' and 'May I' being taught to me early on in my childhood. From the razing of a parent when I asked "Can I have some juice", "I don't know can you?" to the reminder by teachers, 'Can I' and 'May I' have come to hold delicate places in my speech. As a result, I think twice about which term I place before the personal pronoun 'I', or in some cases after ('I can', 'I may').

Why all this discussion of 'Can and May'? According to the Christian liturgical calendar the season that is upon us is that of Lent. It is a season that lasts 40, arguably long days, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter. Lent is a time when we enter into self-reflection, many people give something up, all this is done with the intention to grow deeper in relationship to God and remember the 40 day journey that Jesus underwent in the dessert. Lent is one of the most solemn times of the year. For those that are not Christian this time of year tends to take on a solemnity all its own as it feels that the gray dull days of Winter have dragged on long enough and we find ourselves urning for the refreshing colors of Spring. What I have encountered in this season has been the stark contrast between 'Can' and 'May'.

This time of year can become a somewhat self-centered time. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way but it is a time when we focus on our own needs, failings, achievements, hopes, desires. Many that give something up, or for that matter take something up find themselves adhering to the mantra, "I can, I can, I can do this". The underpinning proposition here is one of capability. We find ourselves having to dig deep and remind ourselves that we are capable of doing this. If 'can' has to do with capability what does 'may' have to do with?

'May' at its foundation is a matter of choice, sometimes our own sometimes another's. When we ask 'May I' it becomes the choice of another, when we are asked it is our choice. My issue lately has been in the conflating of the two. Where people have hidden choice behind capability.

I have discovered that there is no greater appeal that one can make to a fellow human being then that of shared humanity. When someone is in need of help I believe we are called to ask ourselves if we 'can ' help them, are we capable of helping them. Then we must ask ourselves the somewhat difficult question of whether we 'may' help them, whether we want to. 'I can' and 'I may' are two very different things. My experiences lately have show me that too often we disguise our choice to not help with the claim that we are not capable of helping. That frankly saddens and aggravates me. I am not saying that there are not moments when I do this myself but I think it is time we stop hiding behind 'I can't' and at least acknowledge that its really we just 'won't'.

Someday, tomorrow, next week, we could be that person that needed help, or the family, or friends of that person and we are going to wish, hope, pray, that the answer to our need is one of 'I can' rather than 'I won't'. Keep that in mind the next time you are needed.

Peace,

Amanda

Fun in New Jersey part 2 and 3

#2) The second activity accomplished on our list of things to do while in NJ was going to the Meadowlands Flea Market at Giants stadium. We went looking for that glorious item that you never knew you needed but can't help but take home with you.

Unfortunately, we found very few things that really grabbed us. The majority of the stuff was discounted goods from stores, soap, cereal, cloths, toys ect.

After touring the first few rows though we did find the section with more obscure items. Construction tools, old postcards, dolls, paintings, furniture, and an adorable little creamer pitcher designed to look like a monk ( My friend almost bought this but it was cracked).

All in all it was a good first flea market experience. It has led to our creating a sub category on our list of things to do, we now have the sub category of finding the best flea market.

#3) The third activity we did was go to Philadelphia. Three of us went and it was while a cold day, a day filled with lots of laughter and lots of learning. We started our adventure off by going to Independence Hall where the declaration of Independence was signed. Then we hopped across the street to learn about the Liberty Bell.

Then of course being seminary students we decided we had to stop by the Quaker meeting house. The was really interesting, I didn't realize how many organizations were started by Quakers. We had this guy about our age giving us the run down on Quakers and us telling him we were seminarians made him so nervous he had trouble reciting the tenants of Quakerism. After spending some time with the Quakers we stopped at The Betsy Ross House. Our final attraction of the day was the Jewish synagogue ( again laugh all you want but we are seminarians). Unfortunately, it was a Friday and so the synagogue and the museum had closed early for shabbat.

On our way back from Philly we stopped at possibly the best restaurant in NJ! It is called the Pop Shop and is an old fashioned diner complete with soda fountain. We had been waiting to go to this place all week! Why were we so excited to go? Because there menu consists of over 30 varieties of Grilled Cheese sandwiches! Not to mention, I got to have my first Philly cheese steak sandwich because they have vegetarian options! The three of us gorged and proceeded to be in a food coma for the remainder of the drive home.

When we got back to school all we had energy left to do was head to bed, it was a great adventure!

Stay tuned,

Amanda

101 things to do while in New Jersey

A couple weeks back a few of us were sitting around trying to decide what to do. Post War of the Worlds monument we were trying to come up with something equally as entertaining to do. Now there is something that you must understand about seminarians - what we tend to conceive as being entertaining is on average very different than what the normal person would find to be entertaining ( I mean we did dedicate an entire day to War of the Worlds). So our search for something to do lead to the creation of a list of "101 things to do while in New Jersey". It began as "101 things to do in New Jersey" but frankly New Jersey just isn't cool enough to actually have 101 interesting things to do only here. So our list has expanded to 101 things reachable while in New Jersey.

Now there were a few rules we set down:

1. It had to be fun.

2. Had to be free (or very, very cheap).

3. Had to teach us something.

4. Had to be special to this area.

We have formulated quite the list. So be prepared to experience 101 things to do while in New Jersey. We decided that the War of the Worlds could be number 1. Want to know what #2 is? Well you will have to check back.

Want a sneak peek at some of the things on our list?

Here are a few:

Babylonian fertility God (prop from the movie "The Prodigal")

Worlds largest tooth

Church Tour in New York City

Flea Markets

and so so much more...

Happy Belated Saint Brigid of Ireland day ( Feb. 1st),

Amanda

P.S. If you have anything you think we should put on our list let me know.