The Flying Seminarian?

There is freedom being immersed in Creation and as the autumn enfolds before us, the blossoming of each dawn gives a new opportunity before us to enjoy the majestic of summer’s mysteries. Autumn also brings the return of the fast paced chaos that consumes our lives. Children return to the routine of school, adults return to the normalcy of the world of work and we as seminarians delve once more into our spiritual journeys.  Sundays finds most of the middler class out and about in our Ministry In Context church sites, learning about parish life from a pastoral leader’s point of view.  Our MIC sites are the fork in our journey; an opportunity to explore parish life outside of the safe bubble of our home congregations  where we were perhaps always revered, cherished or elevated to being complete strangers, introverted-learning from the very beginning the complex systems of a congregation.

Gliding and navigating through the streets of Hyde Park on an early quiet morning allowed my mind and spirit to dwell in a comforting place of solitude. There was no crush of traffic, endless streaming noise of an Ipod or MP3 or satellite radio; no words filling up the space between just the realization that there is beauty if one allows themselves to ponder yet there are places where Creation is in pain and calls out to us, God’s children to not forget. There is a difference from riding through neat subdivisions in Chicago Heights, IL  as I bike ride to my MIC church and riding through vast wastelands of emptiness, barren lots and shuttered stores on the other side of Cottage Grove as I, this past Sunday was out on an ecumenical assignment visiting a well known Episcopal Church not too far from the “safe” bubble of Hyde Park.

And yet, there is no difference how God sees us, no difference how His Love pours out showering us with mercy and grace, no difference how His healing hands continually soothes within our souls.

God’s Peace.