Reflections: Weeks 5 & 6

Fri: 10/13 - Comparing Prof & Stein vs.  Gemütlichkeit.
  According to Wikipedia, Gemütlichkeit “connotes the notion of belonging,  

social acceptance, cheerfulness, the absence of anything hectic and the opportunity 

to spend quality time.”  To be honest, Gemütlichkeit at CTS has more Profs more 

stein and more, well,  Gemütlichkeit.  The event reflects the campus in that there

 may be more married students, wives and children that single students. 

Also, here it is every Friday (CSL has alternate Fridays) and the ever for beer 

is  a flat $3 rather than a suggested donation.  Prof & Stein does have the 

advantage of giving a soap box to a professor, but as an event CTS wins this 

comparison.

Thurs: 10/13 – Battle for the Norwegians
 Today I met Simon and (friend) from Norway.  They were visiting the campus 

as prospective exchange students.  At the fellowship time after chapel I learned 

they visited CSL yesterday and will chose between the two as such an exchange is 

required in their program.  I discussed differences between the Seminaries and 

today have the befit of stealing (friend's) observation.  CTL is a better 

environment for a well rounded theological exposure, while CSL has more resources 

and options.  Upon further explanation, CTS has more opportunities to visit with

 professors (post-chapel fellowship time, lunchtime, Gemütlichkeit, etc.) while 

St. Louis offers the events of a city, more opportunities to view ministry in 

different contexts.

I must admit he has a fair assessment in these small assessments. 

More faculty here intermingle during at the lunch tables here with students and 

invite them over more frequently.

Sun – The other Bethlehem
 I am assigned to Bethlehem Lutheran Church for field work here, but as I

 am in St. Louis.  The similarities between the congregations is quite humorous – 

but the one here appears to be about where BLC in St. Louis was 25 years ago. 

 I just wanted to mention here that when our church assignments were announced, 

it was part of an event where the pastors (or some lay church leader) came and 

had lunch with their newly assigned field-workers on a specific “orientation” day 

during Field Ed class.  This was a great idea I think CSL should consider as well.  


 
Mon: 10/10 - Trips on break
 The feature of Lutheran Women's Quarterly for Fall 2011 is Deaconess 

Raquel Rojas.  I met Deaconess Rojas on the Ministry in Urban Context trip to 

New York last February.  One of the most disappointing things about CTS is how 

little opportunity to travel to different situations compared to CSL.  I mentioned 

the field module I attended before – but 2 hours in the classroom doesn't compare

 to what I lived for a week in Guatemala regarding Hispanic ministry. 

Last year, I saw CSL offering trips to Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, India, 

Estonia, Africa, New York, California, Chicago...Sure they cost money, but 

many had stipends.
 Here the Missions rep, Adam, has a speaker at 120 almost ever Friday, but 

according to the Daily Announcements Ben J. is bringing in speakers at CSL much 

more frequently than I saw last year as well.

Sat: 10/8 – Intermurals
 With such a small student population, inter-murals here are not 

reminiscent of St. Louis'.  Here the inter-murals are basically pick-up games on

 Saturdays – flag football and tennis.


Fri: 10/5 – Lutherfest
 Tonight the Women's Seminary Guild held Lutherfest in the Katherine Luther 

Dining Hall.  Though the food was available to students at our normal 5-6 slot, 

wee were also invited to join the guild and it's supporters for the meal and 

auction until 7:30.  This event precedes donation day (this Tuesday).  This is a 

great opportunity to eat and meet with people who are on and support the guild. 

They are the group who provided the free laundry machines and use.
 Once again, I know we went in to briefly thank the CSL Seminary Guild 

during their meeting once, but I don't remember a convenient opportunity where we 

were intermingled with them. I will look for this in the months ahead.

Wed: 10/5 – Bib & Tech
 Students here are required to take a 0 credit course of Library and

 resources. One evening per week for the first four weeks, each students attends 

a three-hour session.  Topics include finding resources in the library, the 

digital library resources, historical book collection, and an introduction to 

Logos.  Rev. Rothmeyer credits this course as the reason they do not staff a 

Reference Desk.

Sun: 10/2 – Monthly Brunch
 Creative Dining holds a brunch open to the greater community the first 

Sunday of each month.  I find this a great way to invite the community in, provide 

a place for alumni and parents to get together, and gives us students a convenient

 opportunity to meet Seminary supporters, parents, former students, and other

 people just out for  an excellent meal.  Depending on the quality of the new

 dining service, I would like to see this in St. Louis in the future.

Sat: 10/1 – Field Ed Modules
 This morning I sat in on a presentation from 8-12 entitled “Can a 

Hispanic become a member in my congregation?”  This was a decent presentation, 

but after an hour I realized I had lived during a week in Guatemala what they 

were explaining on this rainy morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  In St Louis, we 

have a more experience-based module program where we go out and witness/assist 

ministry in institutional and cross-cultural contexts as a weekly event during 

our first two quarters. For example, this winter I am two other Seminarians went 

to a you detention center in Illinois each Tuesday evening for a bible study and 

hymn sing.
 I don't remember the details, but CTS students must attend a certain 

number of these Saturday morning modules to fulfill their pre-vicarage 

requirement.

Reflections: Weeks 1-4

Thurs: 9/1 – Buggedy Buggedy Bugenhagen.
  
    More will come on the dorm life, but initial reactions...  Here every student has his own room.  I actually prefer a roommate, so it's a bummer to me. (Oh, how I miss you Joe Ferry!  What will I do my 4th year!).  Also whereas in St. Louis we basically have two large dorm buildings, here there are six smaller buildings, which builds a smaller community, and also potential for dorm pranks and rivalry!
    Bugenhagen is named after Johannes Bugenhagen.  He was a pastor to Martin Luther at St. Mary's church in Wittenberg.  He assisted in translating the bible from Latin to German and provided for Luther's wife and children after Luther's death.

Fri: 9/2 – Orientation, for the 2nd time.
    That's right.  There is one day of Orientation here.  But don't feel like you have it rough with 3.5 days at CSL.  The CTS students get larger doses of what you had in orientation during the year.  I will note as I write about them.

Sun: 9/4 – St. Paul's Lutheran Church
    This morning the LCMS church I attended was St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne.  It was one of the churches already established when the Synod was founded in 1847.

Mon: 9/5 – Fast fact from Orientation
    Students of CTS have 44 children under the  age of three.  I have no idea what the number is in St. Louis.

Tues: 9/6 – Gimmie a break
    I never had the pleasure of taking Elementary Greek and Hebrew in back to back quarters, but I always felt for the guys who did.  Here at CTS the guys take Elementary Greek, then a quarter of initial classes for credit, then take a quarter of Hebrew.  I must admit, it sounds like a great alternative to taking 20 weeks straight language immersion.
  

Thurs: 9/8 - The other Cornerstone
    CTS's student publication is called Cornerstone.  It is a monthly release, unlike “Around the Tower”, which comes out once per quarter. See the most recent at https://www.ctsfw.edu/Document.Doc?id=673.  Hopefully we can make some cross-publication pollination happening eventually.


Sun: 9/11 - Opening Service and Installation of Dr. Lawrence R Rast Jr.
    Today Dr. Rast was installed as the new CTS President during the opening service.
  
Mon: 9/12 – Who ya gonna call?
    First-year students here are requested to donate two hours of their time to call past donors on the telephone and thank them for donating to the Seminary.  At CSL, students are hired and paid by Seminary Advancement.  The man who said this used me as an example as the calling CTS student, but even better was when he looked directly at me while stating: “Concordia Theological Seminary is the greatest Seminary in the country..”.  I decided a proper visitor should not jump up with a broom and yell, “Shenanigans!”

Thurs: 9/15 - Services
    I lead morning prayer service this morning. The morning service is simply Daily Prayer (LSB pg. 295), so I think I managed to avoid putting any CSL-ism or Witt-iosyncrasies into the service. Here there I daily chapel at 7:30, 10:00, 4:15, and 6:15. I estimate an average of 30 attend most mornings. After the 10:00 there is a fellowship time before classes resume at 11:00.  The 4:15 is sparsely attended an primarily focused on commuters who leave after this time.  Many who eat dinner on campus march to the 6:15 right after eating.
    At CSL, the morning prayer is at 7:15 twice a week, but was basically non-existent last year.  The main chapel service is at 11:00, followed by the lunch hour before classes resume at 12:30. Evening prayer services are held three nights a week at 10:00.
    More notes on these will likely come.
  
Fri: 9/16 -  Advisor Hospitality
    Tonight was Advisor Hospitality night where first-year students were invited to their adviser’s house as a chance to get to know them.  This is another great example of how the faculty take personal interest in their students.  Though there is some preliminary movement, CSL does not assign an academic adviser to each student, although the first-year students do share a single adviser.

Sat: 9/17 – Potheads
    Here is my report, Harrison!  The Fort Wayne Single A baseball team are called the Tin-caps.  Recollecting tales from elementary school will probably bring one character to mind.  Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman is buried here in Fort Wayne.  While I did not get to a baseball game, today was the Johnny Appleseed festival in town, which made me recollect what I discovered about the baseball team here.  Oh, some guys here got a great laugh from me seriously thinking we were going to watch the Fort Wayne Potheads play.

Mon: 9/19: Lead chapel
    Today I led the main chapel service at 10:00. The order of service was Morning Prayer.  There were no major differences from leading at CSL, besides chanting prayers and the little details that will change at every location.  However, tend to dwell on details to often.  I felt a bit of pressure once realizing I could be labeled as the St. Louis guy, but the students were very supportive as I received a considerable amount of “nice job” comments.
    At CSL, only returning vicar students assist with chapel during the school year.  Pre-vicarage students are allowed and requested to lead during the summer months.

Tues: 9/20 - Free Laundry
    New High-Efficiency washers and dryers were donated this year to the dorms. Use is free – detergent included.  I don't miss scrounging for quarters like I do in St. Louis!

Fri: 9/23 - Greek Readings classes
    Rather than a single 3-credit Greek Readings course, CTS requires 6 1-hour Greek readings courses.  I find this a much more effective way to stay up on Greek.  However, they have no Hebrew Readings courses.  I think it is fair to say CTS places more emphasis on Greek, while CSL places Greek and Hebrew on an equal plane in coursework.

Mon: 9/26 – Fashion statement
    Chapel leaders here almost always wear a cassock and surplus at every service, whereas an alb is the usual in St. Louis.

Wed: 9/28 – SA Meeting
    Today the Student Association had a plenary meeting in which they present their work, plans, vision, and invite questions from the general student population.  Such meetings are held once each quarter.  I believe the CSL SA should consider this.

Fri: 9/30 – Phoebe Party
    Tonight the female dorm, Engelder Hall, held their annual party. I believe there are about 15 females residents, in this single dorm, where as CSL has two houses for the 5 deaconess-in-training. The dynamics of the female population are difficult to compare because each campus situations are so different.  One consistency on both campuses: they all are wonderful.
    Engelder Hall is more commonly called Phoebe in reference to Romans 16.

Sat: 10/1 - Chow
    I believe the new food service company is starting in today at CSL?  I'm interested in how it is!  Laurie of Creative Dining told me they bid but were not selected.  The food is definitely the best cafeteria food I've had at schools; most students agree it is quality cooking.  It is 10x better than Sodexo last year.