Almost There

Despite my good intentions, I also missed mid-winter convocation today. Not because I’m out of town or on internship, but because I locked myself away all day trying to get my final J-term paper done. As much as I like coming home from campus at the end of the day, sometimes I think it would be nice to live near Luther and be able to drop in on the stuff that goes on there. There’s always tomorrow.

The good news is that I’m almost done with my final paper, which really needs to be done so that I can focus on other things. The Greek textbook written in Spanish that I ordered arrived, reminding me that the Greek class I will be teaching is less than 2 weeks away. I realized that of everything I’m doing, this class is what I’m most excited about. Besides really enjoying Biblical Greek, I look forward to putting into practice all that I’ve learned to teach others. And I’m also learning new things in the process, such as the fact that the Greek breathing marks are called “spirits” in Spanish (perhaps that’s exciting only to me).

I’m also starting back at my teaching congregation this Sunday, meeting with the teaching team to talk about the new believer’s class that starts soon. I’m very glad to be getting more involved at church this semester. Being such a big place, I’ve felt a little disconnected by just going to services on the weekends. I typically run into one or two people I know, but it’s not the same as actually being part of the ministry. Sometimes I miss being at a small church where everyone knows you and is happy to see you on Sunday morning. Other times I appreciate how nice it is to enjoy worship without being pulled out to unlock the church office or make photocopies or do some other random task that comes with being on staff at a small church. There is a season for everything.

Speaking of my former church, I realized the other day that I still have my keys. I did not mean to steal them, but I haven’t seen my former pastor since a few weeks before I resigned. And since he is a recent Luther graduate, he has many of the textbooks I need and has generously been loaning them to me. He said I could keep borrowing what I need even though I don’t work for him anymore, which is quite nice, and another reason I’ve been reluctant to give back my keys! We decided that I’d turn them in when I’m done teaching this Greek class. In the meantime, I think I’ll stop by and “shop” for my spring semester books before I go back to the Luther bookstore. I guess leaving the “nest” of my former home church has not been as easy as I thought!