Seminary Update-Summer 2017

Hey everyone!

It has been too long since my last post. So, I thought I would update you on what is going on.

I have been on summer break for a few weeks now. I am planning on working with the maintenance staff here at Nashotah House whenever I have time (I am traveling quite a bit this summer). I have to say, it is not a bad gig at all; working outside during the Wisconsin summer! The high has been around 70 degrees the last few days and will only get up into the 80's for the rest of the week. It is really nice spending your summer in a place where you don't immediately start to sweat right as you walk outside.

Yeah, this is not a bad place to spend a summer...

...and Jason seems to like it well enough.

It is hard to beat the sunsets around here. 

In other news, if you were not aware already, Ashley and I decided to transition into the Episcopal Church early this last term. We just felt like it would be a better fit for us in the long run. As we visited the various Episcopal churches in the area, and then the ones back home over the holidays, we just couldn't shake the feeling of being totally at home. So, I began the process of ordination with the Diocese of Milwaukee, and we just finished the initial parish discernment phases. 

This is a picture of our sponsoring parish, Zion Episcopal Church in Oconomowoc.

I also just got back a few days ago from the youth camp for the Diocese. Since it has been over a year now since I have done youth ministry, I was a bit rusty. It was a great week, though. I got to spend the week with a great group of junior high and high school students. 

This was right after Mass with Bishop Miller at the end of the week.

Academically, and much to my surprise, I made all A's this last term. This was a first for me. I have also been reading a ton still. I am on my 31st book since January 1 of this year. Some of that is required reading for school for sure. A lot of it isn't, though. It is hard not to read every chance I get whenever we have such an awesome library here on campus. 

I will also be doing an internship at New Camaldoli Hermitage this August for a few weeks. Generally, students are supposed to do their summer internships in a parish. Since I just came out of a full time ministry setting, however, the administrators allowed me to do something different. I really wanted to get more immersed in a contemplative environment so that I can find ways to carry this experience over into a parish setting one day. New Camaldoli is Benedictine, but it is also a hermitage.  So, it holds the balance of the communal and the contemplative aspects of the ascetical life very well. From what I have seen so far in the Episcopal Church (and elsewhere), we hold the bar very high for liturgical prayer (most of the time), but we tend to neglect the cultivation of personal prayer, especially contemplation. I hope that my time at the hermitage can help me to see just how liturgical prayer is meant to be the foundation for contemplation, and how the latter can blossom out of the former. 

Lastly,.....

This guy keeps getting cuter and cuter. 

It has been a lot of fun watching Jason grow up. It is all happening way too fast, though! He isn't walking anymore, he is running! And it seems like he is learning a new word each and every day. 

It took me forever to get him to look at the camera. Too many boats to look at. 

Ashley has also been doing really great. She had a great first year at the dance studio, and her kids dominated all of the competitions they were in. She is still working over the summer, but her hours have been scaled back a bit. So, she gets more chance to rest (which is much deserved). 

All of that to say, life is good. It is great, actually. We really love it here, and we love this journey that we have been on. God's guiding hand has been so evident through this whole process: we transitioned into the Episcopal Church with ease, we've been growing a lot spiritually, our house sold last term, Ashley got the best job of her life so far, and I am able to study at a school that I have been dreaming of coming to for years now, etc. We are very thankful for this life that we have been given. God is good!