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    #1

    ask a seminarian/ chaplaincy student

    (Because why not? These threads are fun and enlightening.)

    I'm currently in my second year (of three) of a Masters of Divinity program at the Unitarian Universalist Starr King School for the Ministry. I'm studying to be a chaplain, and SKSM lets me be my Pagan self while learning about chaplaincy skills and about other religions so that I'll ultimately be as prepared as a n00b can be when I start walking into hospital/hospice rooms.

    What is seminary? What do you do there? Who goes there? Wait, you're a Pagan in seminary? What about Cherry Hill? What does ordination mean anyway? Ask away!
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    #2
    Re: ask a seminarian/ chaplaincy student

    So ... What are your feelings about being asked to do a bris? ... ... Me, I don't think I could ...
    I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them ... John Bernard Books


    Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official; "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."

    The Chief nodded in agreement.

    The official continued; "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?"

    The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied.. "When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine Man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex."

    Then the chief leaned back and smiled; "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."
    ​



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      #3
      Re: ask a seminarian/ chaplaincy student

      [quote author=magusjinx link=topic=1354.msg27396#msg27396 date=1294450783]
      So ... What are your feelings about being asked to do a bris? ... ... Me, I don't think I could ...
      [/quote]

      ...pretty sure that unless you are Jewish, most people leave that to a doctor...


      Actual question:

      What made you decide to be an official officiant of religiousy stuff?

      As a UU chaplain, how do you plan to balance your personal (pagan) beliefs with someone that is atheist or Christians...since UU's are of many different religious opinions?

      Or conversely, how you plan to balance your personal beliefs with pagans that feel the Universalist approach is BS?
      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
      sigpic

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        #4
        Re: ask a seminarian/ chaplaincy student

        Ok ... Serious ... Why did you choose seminary rather than an online ordination and online courses ? ...
        I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them ... John Bernard Books


        Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official; "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."

        The Chief nodded in agreement.

        The official continued; "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?"

        The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied.. "When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine Man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex."

        Then the chief leaned back and smiled; "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."
        ​



        Comment

          #5
          Re: ask a seminarian/ chaplaincy student

          [quote author=magusjinx link=topic=1354.msg27396#msg27396 date=1294450783]
          So ... What are your feelings about being asked to do a bris? ... ... Me, I don't think I could ...
          [/quote]

          LOL I think Thal is right on that one. The nice thing about chaplaincy is that you keep a list of community clergy from different religions that you can call in for any sort of ritual, service, or general spiritual care for which the person in need feels you are not qualified. Keeping that list up to date and comprehensive is a critical part of the job.

          [quote author=thalassa link=topic=1354.msg27398#msg27398 date=1294451746]
          What made you decide to be an official officiant of religiousy stuff?
          [/quote]

          The seminary lingo is "calling," and I don't like it (too dramatic) but haven't quite found something I like better. Spirituality has always been important to me, and when I left Christianity I spent years reading everything I could get my hands on about world religions, seeking a practice "fit" better with my convictions about the Holy, and drew me closer to Him/Her/Them. I encountered Cunningham somewhere in there, and tossed his ideas into my religious experiments. Like many of us, I was pretty much practicing Paganism for over a year before I found a group and accepted the name for myself.

          A couple of years after I started calling myself a Pagan, I entered an intense life period in which events conspired to turn my life on its head. I became more involved in and then started co-leading the college Pagan group, which involved working closely with the campus chaplains (and learning about what they do). I realized with excitement that you can actually study religion professionally, and declared Religious Studies as a major (focusing on Asian trads). And a second grandfather died, bringing me back to the hospice and the hospice chaplain. The feeling that chaplaincy was right for me crept up on me throughout those years, and solidified during a summer internship with that hospice chaplain. There are still mornings I wake up feeling f---ing insane for trying to be a Pagan chaplain in the USA: I only know of six other paid full-time Pagan chaplains in the country, and I'm young for a religious professional (most of us are on second careers). But... it just feels really right, and whenever I go through a period of serious doubt and fear about the practicality of my path, something happens to reassure me that I'm where I should be.

          [quote author=thalassa link=topic=1354.msg27398#msg27398 date=1294451746]
          As a UU chaplain, how do you plan to balance your personal (pagan) beliefs with someone that is atheist or Christians...since UU's are of many different religious opinions?

          Or conversely, how you plan to balance your personal beliefs with pagans that feel the Universalist approach is BS?
          [/quote]

          First, I'm not actually UU (and most, but not all, of my classmates are). I am, however, a theological universalist, which means that the only personal barriers to working with Christians are my lingering issues from growing up in a moderate-to-conservative Southern Methodist church. As for atheists (and conservatives/evangelicals of any religion)--the job of a chaplain is to meet the person where they are spiritually and walk with them there. I don't have to agree with anything at all about a person's religious beliefs (or lack thereof) to listen earnestly and help them process whatever's on their mind. Prayers are a bit trickier, but that's where the universalism comes in. I've prayed to Jesus before with a patient. It works out. And if someone (a Baptist, a Muslim, a hard polytheistic reconstructionist) feels that because I don't believe exactly as they do that I'm not qualified to serve them, I have someone I can call in who is. (Well... I probably won't be able to find someone for every recon sect. :)

          One more thought--I've done amateur/student chaplaincy in many settings now, and 75% of the time the person doesn't ask a thing about my religion. It's enough that I'm a religious leader, and a good listener.

          [quote author=magusjinx link=topic=1354.msg27410#msg27410 date=1294452943]
          Ok ... Serious ... Why did you choose seminary rather than an online ordination and online courses ? ...
          [/quote]

          I don't like the idea of online courses. I learn best when I'm physically with others. Despite that, I might well have ended up at Cherry Hill (online-only Pagan seminary) if they were accredited--but they've been in the process since I first found them. It's actually been good in a way that I didn't go there. I've gotten a much broader multifaith education at SKSM, which will be more useful to me as a chaplain than a strictly Pagan education would be.

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