2003
Seminary a complex, life-altering time
By
Audrey Miskelley, When I was asked to write an article about the importance of the church
supporting its seminarians, my first instinct was to say “no.”
I felt like I would be opening the doors of my life and inviting the entire
diocese into my living room.
Then I thought I could try to explain the initial shock of leaving family,
friends, church, comfort; making the transition to cramped living; my
husband’s new job; chapel every weekday morning at 8:15; Hebrew
(who knew?); visiting a new church every Sunday; explaining to our daughter
Anna that we can’t go to “our” church – and that
all those people back home are still there.
Then I looked at other VTS students: People from all over the world have
given up lucrative careers and left behind suburban lives of comfort and
support to pursue the call. It is a focus on God that has enabled most
to step out in faith that He will honor their devotion.
If I can share my schedule as an example: After chapel, a day or two each
week, I go to a massive class on the Old Testa-ment. Until this quarter,
I also had Church History – 2,000 years in a flash. Then Liturgics,
Music and Art, which ranges from liturgy history to practi-cum. This term,
a small group and I meet with a priest to practice BCP services. A BCP
history class meets each week, too. And once a week for an hour is music,
where I learn to sing things like the “sursum corda.”
The first-year class is required to lunch together each day; our fees
include a charge for it. Being poor is one of those issues that we all
can rally around. Unlike secular graduate school, the time requirements
prohibit outside jobs, so in-comes tend to be tight. But we joke about
it, and we delight when a friend gets an unexpected check in the mail.
We crave more a connection to home.
Life goes on: Biblical Hebrew class meets three days a week after lunch;
the work includes translating Bible passages. One day a week I take a
three-hour class on the book of Psalms as history and literature.
Around 5:00 I pick up Anna and head home. We spend a little time together,
and I may do chores or errands before preparing dinner. By 9:00 I return
to classwork for a few hours, and I spend a third or more of Saturday
on it, too. Saturday evenings are Ray’s and Anna’s. I try
to do no work Sunday except attend a study-prayer group on Sunday nights.
I feel blessed to have the opportunity to be here. I know that the preparation
I undergo will give me a lifetime of reward – reward that has already
begun.
Virginia Theological Seminary
first-year
student
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