I was reminded of when I was studying Gestalt Psychotherapy years ago and the saying of one of my teachers “There is a knife edge between fear and excitement”. I think most of us had elements of both, yet I am left with an overall feeling of excitement.
My understanding- which by the way was hurried and I am sure missed things, is for a graduate level knowledge of:
New and Old Testament
Basic Greek, Hebrew or both
Church History covering: Early Church, Middle Ages, Reformation, Anglican Communion – formation, Modern Church
Systematic Theology
Christology
Pneumatology
Sacramental Theology
Moral Theology and Christian Ethics
A sound knowledge and comfortable use of the Anglican Liturgies and NZ Prayer book
Age specific ministry i.e. children and young people
Three month internship full time in a parish before ordination.
1 CPE or chaplaincy experience
1 cross cultural experience overseas
Leadership skills both in being and raising up leaders was emphasized as was the importance of people skills.
Expectations upon us personally were also raised in the sense of:
Doing the daily offices – which is pretty much a given anyway
Having a regular time of meditation
Having regular spiritual direction
Regular church attendance and taking of sacraments
To live a life of careful stewardship of creation
Regular giving
Looking after the body God has given us – right eating drinking exercise and rest. As well as moral codes to live by.
As I said earlier I was nervous about the fact that in the head space I was in I may put my foot in it. And although I didn’t quite stuff it up, referring to the study of numerology as opposed to Pneumatology I hope was overlooked!
We did do some interesting Bible study with the Bishop and later some visualization on what came to mind when we thought of ourselves in ministry.
So although I will miss people here and the thought of having to pack a house of crap up is daunting from a study perspective I am so excited about the future and training for ministry.
Now all I need to do in the next fews days is finish my assignment on Isaiah and write a meditation for a publication being put together here for Advent. With a cup of tea in your hands prozac and a prayer anything is possible!
