Catch the Fire SoM – week one!

So I’ve been in Canada for just about a full week!  In some ways it feels like I’ve only just arrived, and in other ways it feels like I’ve been here for ages.

I won’t spend too much time detailing my arrival.  My and Emily Wright’s drive up from Kalamazoo last Monday was mostly uneventful, save for a three-hour delay at the border because the customs officer didn’t like our immigration letters and almost didn’t let us through (thank you Jesus for favor!  Getting turned back would have been so awful).   We arrived at registration for the School of Ministry on Tuesday bright and early (half past noon, a.k.a. too early:  I spent an hour and a half milling around the parking lot feeling awkward while all of last year’s returning students and interns were gleefully reunited).  

This is my American-ness showing, but I’m a bit geeked out by how international this place is.  There are about 60 students total, plus 20 interns and staff, in the building.  Only (I think) 6 are from the U.S.  There are a lot of Canadians, several Brits (a few Englanders, two Welsh folk, a Scot, and an Irishwoman), quite a few Germans, several Scandinavians, and one guy from Singapore. One of the interns is a New Zealander. There’s also an American woman living long-term as a missionary in Uganda.  I love hearing all the accents and comparing cultures.  It’s great fun, and it’s so amazing to see all the diverse people bond as one mini church body.  We had a social on Thursday night at which we all dressed up in costumes, played competitive trivia games, and had a dance party – all of which agitated my social anxiety much less than I feared it would.

We got settled into our rooms without a hitch (especially since we started off by setting up a communal stash of chocolate and tea)!  I have three lovely roommates:  Linda and Kelsey from Canada, and Christina “Teeny” from Germany.  They’re super fun.  :D  Community living is less fun, at least for an introvert like me.  The hallway right outside my room is proving a popular place for late-night card game tournaments and guitar practice.

Last week we heard teachings from Mark Virkler on hearing God’s voice.  In a nutshell, he gave us four keys:

1. Still yourself (remove distractions).
2. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
3. Tune to spontaneity (realize that God speaks through thoughts that may seem to come from nowhere).
4. Write down what you hear as you go!

Most of it was familiar to me – my home church teaches pretty much the same methodology – but Mark Virkler was very detailed and full of super practical advice (and charts.  He liked charts).  He made us practice multiple times in the middle of the teaching, though, and then share our journaling with another student.  This was really intimidating, but since we also have to do this on a weekly basis with our small group (yikes!), it was good practice.  It’s a good way to kick off the school – foundational, but really encouraging.  You know you’re starting off on the right foot.

So here you have it – my first official update from the School of Ministry!  I will blog more in-depth posts about the teachings and other awesome goings-on as the days go on.  I also plan to blog more often than once a week, so I can write shorter posts on more focused topics.  Yay!  Thanks so much for keeping up with me. 

* If anyone wants to subscribe to these posts, you can do so in the left sidebar, either with Google Connect, or by submitting your email address.  Please, if you feel so led, leave me a comment! Even just to let me know you’re reading.  :)

A Playlist for Change (Summer 2011)

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are as you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon and follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye


             The people were overjoyed, they took to their boats
             I thought it less like a lake, and more like a moat
             The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flood-lands to your door
             Has been silenced forevermore
             The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
             It seems farther than ever before
             Oh no—
             I need you so much closer

I woke up and wished that I was dead, with an aching in my head

I lay motionless in bed

I thought of you and where you'd gone

And let the world spin madly on

     "Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Tumnus."

     "I am very pleased to meet you, Mr. Tumnus," said Lucy.

      "And may I ask, O Lucy Daughter of Eve," said the Faun, "how you have come into Narnia?"

      "Narnia? What's that?" said Lucy.

     "This is Narnia," said the Faun, "where we are now:  all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle Cair Paravel on the eastern sea.  And you – you have come from the wild woods of the west?"

      "I – I got in through the wardrobe in the spare room," said Lucy.

      "Ah!" said the Faun in a rather melancholy voice.  "If only I had worked harder at geography when I was a little Faun, I would no doubt know all about those strange countries.  It is too late now."

      "But they're not countries at all," said Lucy, almost laughing.  "It's only just back there – at least – I'm not sure.  It is summer there."

      "Meanwhile," said Mr. Tumnus, "it is winter in Narnia, and has been for ever so long, and we shall both catch cold if we stand here talking in the snow.  Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?"

Welcome to the fallout

Welcome to existence

The tension is here, the tension is here

Between who you are and who you could be

Between how it is and how it should be

Am I losing my mind?

Vacuumed every room for the second time today

You can't go through your life without killing something or someone at one time

Losing touch with everything that I like, keeping busy day and night

Am I farsighted or just blind

It was right there in front of me, but the whole time

I swear I saw nothing wrong; I swear I saw nothing wrong at all

       With the mention of Derbyshire, there were many ideas connected.  It was impossible for her to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner.  "But surely," said she, "I may enter his country with impunity, and rob it of a few petrified spars without his perceiving me."
       The period of expectation was now doubled.  Four weeks were to pass away before her uncle and aunt's arrival.  But they did pass away, and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, with their four children, did at length appear at Longbourn.
       …The Gardiners staid only one night at Longbourn, and set off the next morning with Elizabeth.


                                   Dreams come clever, hearts now severed
                                   Difference of forever
                                   And I'm lost there
                                   I finally found that life goes on without you
                                   And the world still turns when you're not around
              

I would find a different way to go

There's no signs in life to guide you on that road

And if it's the most important thing you say, make sure they understand

Every way you wonder if you're wrong…

Inaccurate and imprecise, there is no gift without a price

 It's lonely out in space on such a timeless flight

 And I think it's gonna be a long, long time

 'Til touchdown brings me round again to find

 I'm not the man they think i am at home, oh no no no

 I'm a rocket man

 Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone

Yo, el otona

Yo,  el vespero

He sido un eco.

Sere ina ola

Sere la luna

He sido todo, soy yo.

Yo, el verano

Yo, al ebano

Soy la sonadora.

Past is past, you never really gave it a shot

To survive with your one last shot in the dark

And if your conscience weighs a little heavy tonight

Maybe you'll find that

Empty boxes on the stairs remind you that there's no one there

Is it everything you thought it would be?

Can you tell I'm not myself

I'm a slow-motion accident

Lost in coffee rings and fingerprints

I don't want to feel anything, but I do

                                                                                                      I want to change the world 

                                                                                                      Instead I sleep 

                                                                                                      I want to believe in more than you and me

                                                                                                      All that I know is I'm breathing

                                                                                                      All I can do is keep breathing

                                                                                                      All we can do is keep breathing—now

             

              And so it is, just like you said it would be

              Life goes easy on me

              Most of the time

              And so it is: the shorter story

              No love, no glory

              No hero in her skies

I said, "My pretty Creole girl, me money here's no good.

If it weren't for alligators, I sleep out in the wood."

"You're welcome here kind stranger;

our house, it's very plain.

But we never turn a stranger out from the lakes of Ponchartrain."

I need a heart that carries on through the pain

When the walls start collapsing again

Give a soul that never ceases to follow

Despite the infection within

I'm waking up now in this empty house 

Doing my best to keep my comments down to a minimum

But it's just so hard to bite my tongue

I'm waking up now and its just so loud

'Cause everyone here loves somebody else

And somehow I always seem to get left out

                                                                                                           Trees fall, and so do men

                                                                                                           Even the walls start caving in

                                                                                                           And you feel like there's no pretend for you

CREDITS:   (yes, these are all links)

"The Call" – Regina Spektor

"Transatlanticism" – Death Cab For Cutie

"World Spins Madly On" – The Weepies

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C. S. Lewis

"I Dare You To Move" – Switchfoot

"Keeping Up With Changes" – glowfriends

Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen

"Naïve Orleans" – Anberlin

"Everway" – Circa Survive

"Rocket Man" – Elton John

"La Sonadora" – Enya

"On Your Own" – Green River Ordinance

"Hear Me Out" – Frou Frou

"Keep Breathing" – Ingrid Michaelson

"The Blower's Daughter" – Damien Rice

"The Lakes of Ponchartrain" – Deanta

"Deteriorate" – Demon Hunter

"A Deluge of Separation" – The Sophomore Attempt

"Falling" – Ben Kweller

What Lucy Found There

          "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."
          "I am very pleased to meet you, Mr Tumnus," said Lucy.
          "And may I ask, O Lucy Daughter of Eve," said Mr Tumnus, "how you have come into Narnia?"
          "Narnia? What's that?" said Lucy.
          "This is the land of Narnia," said the Faun, "where we are now; all that lies between the lamp-post and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea. And you - you have come from the wild woods of the west?"
          "I - I got in through the wardrobe in the spare room," said Lucy.
          "Ah!" said Mr Tumnus in a rather melancholy voice, "if only I had worked harder at geography when I was a little Faun, I should no doubt know all about those strange countries. It is too late now."
          "But they aren't countries at all," said Lucy, almost laughing. "It's only just back there - at least - I'm not sure. It is summer there."
          "Meanwhile," said Mr Tumnus, "it is winter in Narnia, and has been for ever so long, and we shall both catch cold if we stand here talking in the snow. Daughter of Eve from the far land of Spare Oom where eternal summer reigns around the bright city of War Drobe, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?"

———————

That is, of course, the sort of opening snapshot of Narnia, from C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This passage has in my mind quite a bit over the last week or so. I'm not truly sure why.

There's so much change and choice and possibility in this little scene.
I wonder which of it is mine?