Make Yourself at Home

In an earlier post, Ryan discussed how seminary can sometimes come to be viewed more as a means to an end or as a stepping stone than a time of formation and growth. Asking questions such as what plans we have after we are done with seminary only fuel this kind of perspective.

One of the problems with having this mentality is that you will not properly establish yourself in whatever area you move to in order to attend seminary. Understanding seminary as a stepping stone to something else will only lead you to view your whole life at that particular time and place as a stepping stone. You will never fully unpack the boxes, so to speak. Your apartment will be more like a hotel room than a home.

As a result, a few things might happen. First, you will likely not develop many solid and authentic friendships. Perhaps you are thinking about returning to wherever you came from, and so you focus your energy on maintaining those friendships and those ties. While there is not anything inherently wrong with this, it will keep you from building bonds between the people around you for the next several years. Those friendships are essential for getting through seminary. Your close friends will challenge you, encourage you, strengthen you, rebuke you, and just be there for you like your friends back home cannot practically do. If you do not establish those sorts of friendships, your time in seminary will be very lonely. If you are married, this will likely be an even greater struggle for your spouse.

Second, if you do not make that place authentically “home” for the time you are living there, it is likely that you will not develop the type of relationship with the church you choose to attend that you need to. You will certainly be a part of a church, especially as you are required to serve a certain number of hours as an intern at a church in order to get your degree, but you will not really become part of that church. You will do your duties, but you will miss out on the type of communal fellowship that belongs to the local body of Christ. Again, to miss out on this will make for a very lonely experience–not to mention the fact that this will seriously impede your spiritual growth and development.

These are only a couple of things that may happen if you take this perspective, but they are significant things. And while maybe you have plans to return to where you came from or to move somewhere else once you are completed seminary and serve in ministry there–and these plans are good–do not let them be your sole focus while you are in seminary. Cherish this opportunity with all your heart, and seek to immerse yourself in the blessings that come with being in this situation. Make it home for you (and your family) for the next few years, with all the connotations which that word conveys.

For some people this will be easier than others. If you have moved around a lot, making a new place home is maybe not that difficult. If you have lived in the same place your whole life, this will be more of a struggle. If you are newly married and this new place is where you are starting your lives together, the transition will be a lot easier. If you have friendships going back to your childhood, it will be tougher. But this is where God has placed you and has called you to for this point in your life, and you will mine all the riches of this experience if you allow yourself to. It may only be three years. But a lot can happen in three years. Grab hold of it.

Moving - A seminary’s advice

There is a brief post on the Concordia Blog with some advice for those who have to relocate for seminary.

While not an exhaustive post on the subject, there are some great little pointers in regards to the practicals… Like don’t pack your boxes over 50 pounds and give your current employer your new address so he or she can send you your W2.

The post got me thinking that it might be a good idea to run a couple posts here on the topic of moving (especially since it is so fresh in my mind). Yeah… I think I’ll do that.

Posts on moving and relocation coming soon…

Tough transition day

My heart broke today.

I walked into the kitchen to fix some lunch and saw my wife crying… enough said, right?

I walked up and simply held her.

“I’m sad,” she said through her tears. “I miss my friends.”

There wasn’t much to say except that I understood and that I wished I could make things easier… but I can’t. I can simply hold my wife, love her, and pray for God’s grace during this time in our lives.

The fact of the matter is that I’m sad too… Moving is hard, no two ways around it. We’ve left our best friends in the world hundreds of miles away and now we sit in a new house, new town, new church… not much is familiar… no walking into church and looking to your left to see ____ and ____. No knowing that when you go to the coffee shop you’ll likely run into ____. No calling up _____ and _____ to come over for dinner. It is tough.

I’ve spent time today dwelling on the Gospel and reminding myself that my King also had to leave the place he knew, a place he loved… he left the throne of heaven and came to live and die on earth. That has helped… staring at Jesus usually does… but it is still a battle.

I’d be humbled and honored if you could take a moment and say a prayer for my family.

My hope is built
on nothing less
than Jesus blood
and righteousness.

I dare not trust
the sweetest frame
but wholly lean
on Jesus name.

Edward Mote c.1834