Latent Possibilities

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Thoughts about the future...

Next weekend I’ll be walking in a commencement ceremony to receive an MA in Theology. It’s been a long, good journey.

And this occasion is a natural time for me to wonder about my future. If I wanted it to, this degree could open doors into vocational ministry. There are times when I really am tempted in that direction. These temptations are often accompanied by the thought, “I want to do something.” What I’m implying when I think this is the notion that in my current work as an editor, I am not doing something so much as I am facilitating the doing of others. Obviously that’s a silly way to see things, but that’s how I see it sometimes.

Lately I’ve had this thought: that editing has spoiled me for vocational ministry. I am exposed to so many different ways of doing church, to so many different doctrinal frameworks and theologies. The sheer breadth of this exposure leaves me at arm’s length from any one position about almost anything. I’m a good Episcopalian in this regard, the most Episcopalian of phrases being, “On the other hand…”

Well, I’ll stop this b/c it’s all just too introspective for me. But I wanted to capture these thoughts.