The workload has stepped up a notch in the last few weeks. I have just handed in an essay based around my current understanding of the priesthood and how that fits in with my own vocation and how I might exercise my own ministry once I am ordained in just over two years time. Though the framework should remain unchanged, what fits into that framework to make a whole may well change as my training and formation for ministry progresses. There is certainly a lot of new reading and thinking to be done but my little old grey cells are quite enjoying the challenge! This term we are studying doctrine, their origins and the processes by which they were formed; I hadn't really thought much about this before but it is something that has certainly grabbed my attention since it is at the root of everything we do and think as Christians.
The four sources of doctrine are Scripture, Reason, Tradition and Experience and one of our first tasks as students was to try and put them in order of importance for each of us. Have a go yourself and see what your list looks like. We've only started to look at the subject but already I have found some assumptions I made about the nature of Scripture have changed. For example, when you look at Reason you quickly realise that the human mind contributed to the formation of Scripture itself. Take Tradition, the canon of Scripture grew out of the deliberations of the church in the first to fourth centuries. Experience still seems a somewhat difficult source for me to describe. It is possibly because so many of us are out of touch with our inner being that it makes external experience so unreliable. Without a doubt though, there is a desire to be in touch with the mysterious in all of us but perhaps an unwillingness to be encompassed by it. Maybe that is why there is so much searching among alternative spiritualities and a reliance on symbols like placing flowers at scenes of death or tragedy.
The whole essence of doctrine is to learn more about and better understand Jesus. Already we have had to think about why the Gospels treat certain stories in different ways. Matthew and Luke mention the 'virgin' birth of Christ which Mark and John do not. The death of Jesus is in all four Gospels, the resurrection of Christ in three. Why is this so? What was happening in the four centuries after Christ was crucified that necessitated the formulation of various Creeds and why are the Creeds different. Lots of new information and lots to think about!
As part of my training I have also to preach at various services and some of you will have seen me approaching people with a piece of paper in my hand to ask for their help. It's an ongoing process so you too might be asked in due course. I'm asking people to give me feedback on what they thought of my sermon. This year the questions are quite gentle and based on such matters as whether or not I could be heard or had any annoying mannerisms. They change year on year and as I gain more experience will focus more the theological content and my ability to engage with the congregation. Learning how to preach is another fascinating skill I'm trying to acquire; it is totally different from all the public speaking I have done in my life, it is a real art and one I am keen to master.
By the time you read this I will be off on our residential Summer School down in Pershore near Worcester. The theme is "A Benedictine Experience" based around the four-fold balance of prayer, study, work and relaxation. I'm told we will be 'learning to live with myself, other and the world; working within the dual necessity for community and solitude; in the presence of paradox and contradiction'. During this time we are taking a detailed look at the Book of Job which deals with some of the most painful and unavoidable questions in human experience. It sounds as though it going to a challenging and memorable time and something I will tell you about next month.