The Gift of a Tradition

I've spent the last few days in Boston at a conference for young people entering the ministry.  I am here because I got a fellowship from the Fund for Theological Education (FTE) (www.thefund.org) to help pay for seminary, and this conference was part of the deal.  While the age range for "young" in this context is people under 35, I definitely feel at 30 like a bit of an old man in this group.  Many of the fellows are undergraduates in their early 20s, and many more are just 1 or 2 years out of college. I have been amazed to realize the changes I have undergone in terms of life stages in this decade.

Many of the workshops thus far have focused on exploring call, a theme with which I have become more than passingly familiar in the last 2 years.  In our small groups, we have all shared the stories of our calling, and in the larger events it is a concept that comes up again and again.  The other big theme here is story, as in learning to tell our own story.  Most of today was taken up with a workshop covering how to express our values and ideals, and how to bring in groups of people and inspire them, through story-telling.  This all starts with learning to tell our own story succinctly and well.

After these days and seeing where others are in their journeys, I have become profoundly thankful for the onerous and burdensome process the Episcopal church has yoked me with during this time.  I have had to jump through hoops and sit in meetings endlessly, I've filled out forms and I've attended reviews and workshops.  With each new level of tasks, I've had answer new and different questions and I've had to repeat my story to a new set of people - even translate it to the new context (building a model of the church from Tinker Toys, anyone?).  This weekend has brought into sharp focus the value of this process - I know my story!  Because of our long tradition of hazing would-be clergy with bureaucracy, I have come out of the ordination process with a clearly refined sense of my calling and the ability to communicate it through stories.  It may sound like a bit of a mixed blessing to be sure, but tonight I am thankful!