I'm still trying to decide if internship is a test. There are no blue books, bubble sheets, fill in the blanks, essays, or quizzes but there are certainly tasks to undertake and people watching me as I figure out ministry.
I started a bible study on Luke last week at the assisted/independent living facility I work at. This week, a group of seven elderly men and women gathered around a big table with me and we read chapter three. You know what's in that chapter? Genealogy. Lots and lots of un-pronounce-able names and then a handful of very familiar ones - Shem, Noah, Boaz, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and of course "Adam, son of God." Here is a genealogy packed with stories and yet, it ends with a reminder that Jesus is God, too. So I pointed out the juxtaposition that is the very essence of Jesus: son of HUMANITY and son of GOD.
And then I waited. Was I making any sense? Were they going to start asking about the early church councils or for full explanations of those unfamiliar names? Did they want a Greek translation? What were they thinking?
But they smiled at me. They nodded. They added their own thoughts. They retold the biblical stories they knew and flipped all the way to Genesis to figure out how old Methuselah was (969 years!). They were happy simply opening up the bible together.
This is not a test. Actually it appears to be another kind of classroom with a whole new crop of teachers, eager to learn right along with me. It's going to be a good year.
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