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Reflecting on Seminary: What I've Learned

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"If you die before you die, then you won't die when you die." - Inscribed on the wall of St. Paul's Monastery on Mount Athos There is a Facebook group called "Things They Didn't Teach Us In Seminary" that many of my friends a colleagues post in quite frequently. The group is dedicated to an obvious issue: in what ways does the "normal" life of a congregation surprise and frustrate our limited skill-set. This group, which is comprised of nearly 15,000 members, commonly have lighthearted and funny situations described of the "regular" duties of parish administration that seminary simply does not (and cannot) prepare pastors to handle. Examples of these situation range from the comical to cynical to the tragic: "Can seminaries offer a course about proper HVAC maintenance? That would be awesome." "Why can't people in my congregation agree on a budget??? We ALWAYS go through the same fights every ye