These are the papers of my life

I am a senior Master of Divinity student this year, which also means that I am in the last steps of candidacy. Next week I have my approval interview with the Minneapolis Area Synod, but even before I know whether or not I have been approved for ordination I have to finish filling out this stack of forms called Mobility Papers. At the moment, every senior who is planning on participating in the February Assignment/First Call process is doing the exact same thing. They are due December 1st, so like a good little procrastinator, I'm still not done with them yet (though I did start on them quite awhile ago).

I know it sounds incredibly nerdy, but I actually LOVE filling out forms. I find great satisfaction filling in those little boxes on tax forms, or registration forms, etc. Whenever Kevin has something that needs to be filled out, he usually hands it to me because he knows that I like doing it. I'm not sure why I find it so satisfying, but I do. So I was really excited to begin filling out my Mobility Papers. They start out easy enough: Name, Address, Phone Number, College Major etc. FUN! But after awhile I noticed that there were still a lot of pages left and the questions started to get a little bit more difficult. There are these little boxes that ask me to discuss my personal stewardship, and my sense of call, and my core convictions, etc. It was then that I realized that these papers are a lot more than just regular old forms, they are a way for me to really communicate with my future congregation about what I've learned in seminary, who I am as a person, and what kind of pastor I hope to be. They are a lot of work and can cause some real stress, no one is denying that, and at times some of the questions feel impossible to answer, but they seem to be coming together as far as I can tell. But please pray for all of us seniors in these final hours of frantic form filling, that we would remember that there is a congregation on the other end waiting to read them and welcome us as their pastor!