grades

Well, everything that I have received back so far (with the exception of the sermon) has been an A. I am so much happier this year than last!!

My OT sermon and update

I was so stuck on my OT sermon. I'm not sure why I couldn't get started. I knew where I wanted to take it. I did the research, I mediated, I prayed. I just couldn't get started. Yesterday, I decided to at least get my exegesis typed and that went okay.

Today, I reviewed some of the research. Then Barbara and I went to find Ev to return a book he had lent her and ended up staying there talking with he and his roommate for over an hour. I still had to read two readings for Sheryl's class tomorrow and so didn't get to my computer until after 9:30. We'll as you can see from the time stamp (10:53ET) I am up rather late for me. But......my sermon is typed. I am sure I will review and edit it tomorrow, but it is on paper!!!

Update on the week, today was our test in Christian Discipleship. It was two examples of how we will use what we learned in class in our churches. The first question was based on the eight intelligences and the second on the 'means of grace' (sort of like the celebration of discipline by Richard Foster). Then we had to write a letter to ourselves detailing what we will do in our churches when we get back. Alice will mail these letters to us in six months to remind us of our plan!

Tomorrow we get our take home test from Sheryl. Meaning it will be really hard and really detailed on some of what we had on the first test and then covering the church from the council of ephesus and those players up through St. Thomas Aquinas.

That just leaves a quiz in Hebrew Bible on Friday. Another t/f, matching, multiple choice. So far I have three A's and one B for grades. I'm feeling this year reflects who I am so much better than last year. However, next year we have Mickey Efird again, hello D. His material is wonderful, his tests are not. Everyone stresses so badly, he does weird stuff (if that's the right intro) like writing a test, giving instruction to read all the questions before beginning, then the last question says "Put your name on the paper and turn it in". Well, do you take that literally and turn in a blank test or do you assume he means to make sure your name is on the paper before you turn it in!!!!

Good night!

final week//finals week!

Well, I got a B+ on my sermon. He didn't like how long it took me to get to the scripture and that I didn't read the scripture before I started. I explained that I had struggled with knowing how to present the sermon so that it felt like a sermon, not a presentation that had a lead in explanation, etc. However, several people said they really liked it and one gentleman asked for a hard copy.

I've turned in my lesson plan for Hebrew Bible on Hosea and have my 2nd close read ready to turn in tomorrow. I also finished my exegesis for the OT sermon in Preaching, but I'm stuck on how to start the sermon. I have until Wednesday, I'm praying I'll get an inspiration.

Other than that, there is a final in each of the first three classes. Tomorrows in Formation for Christian Discipleship is open book, but most of the questions ask us how we apply what we learned to our devotional lives and will apply them when we get back to our churches. The Early Church History test is also open book/take home, but that just means it'll be much harder and indepth than the last one. We haven't asked too many questions about the Hebrew Bible test -- the midterm was t/f, matching, multiple choice. Don't know if this one is the same or not.

We went to Duke Gardens yesterday and last week I went to the Nasher Museum. We also have attended two local churches and Duke Chapel and we always go out to brunch after. That doesn't include the "Meet Me on Ninth" and the Bulls baseball game, the trip to Walmart and the grocery store, etc. The only thing I haven't done this year is go to the pool. I haven't really felt like getting wet.

Will update you as the week progresses.

My sermon

I presented my sermon today. And surprise, surprise, they thought I spoke to fast. I took this as an often-heard criticism, until my roommate reminded me that most of my classmates are southerners of the 'yall' persuasion. Anyone from the north probably would have received this comment.

The next criticism was that I didn't read the text prior to beginning my sermon. I had struggled with this, but decided that I was presenting my sermon not a presentation and the sermon would not normally have contained a reading of the text. But I'll remember this for year four.

Also, I had made the mistake of using you instead of we or us. For some reason I did not catch this in my proof reading, I had been on the look out for we's, but not you's.

I'll know tomorrow what grade I received and will have read the instructors comments.

Other than that, we are moving on with the workload.

Hallelujah

I just had to make a quick note while I'm printing between classes-----I got an A on the TEST!!!

God is good and so is Sheryl

test part two

We took the TEST today. It wasn't so bad. I was afraid I would freeze and not be able to make the connections, but they came. I may have taken her three sentence instruction for the vocabulary to heart and been too brief. My concern was if I went too long I would give an inaccurate fact.

I gave my presentation and the class seemed to enjoy learning to sign "Jesus Loves the Little Children" (even the back row guys!). One girl said she is going to use it with her kids.

I also e-mailed my exegesis on Hosea and my exegesis and sermon on 1 Timothy that I will be preaching on Thursday.

Than means....tadah...We're half way!! I have another close read, three final exams, another lesson plan (this time for adults on Hosea 14) and an OT exegesis and sermon. It's going to be another full week, but it feels like coasting!
Oh, but I can't forget I have my journal on Philippians. We were to do 1000 word reflections on each of the chapters - he's still deciding if we need to turn these in or if they were for our own growth. (I'm still betting he'll ask for them)

Update on tests

I got my History of the Bible test back. It was a true/false, multiple choice, matching. I got 100%. It's only worth 10% of the final grade, but every little bit helps. I actually argued and won on one point. The true/false question stated: Saul was the first king of all of Israel. I said false. He said true. I argued that I had always been taught that Saul did not have all of Israel, yes he had the twelve tribes, but David was the first king of all of Israel. He gave me credit!! Like I said that 2% of 10% of the whole!!

I have finished my first sermon and exegesis, this sermon will be preached on Thursday. I was assigned 1 Timothy 1:12-17. Then I need to start working on my OT sermon and exegesis. I chose the lectionary for the 2nd Sunday I will be back, Hosea 11:1-8.

I have finished my exegesis for the History course, this is 30% of the grade. I chose Hosea 14:1-8. I'm happy with my work on this. However, another 30% of my grade is on a presentation/teaching assignment based on this same text!! I may have a little trouble with this. I wasn't paying attention when this was discussed or maybe I would have chosen a simpler text. I certainly won't be doing a children's message.

Speaking of which, I have a presentation tomorrow for our Formation for Christian Discipleship class. I remembered how excited Jack was when he showed me how to sign "Jesus Love the Little Children" so that's what I chose for that class. We had a book report due the first day and there is a final exam in this class.

Now to the other course!!! We have our midterm tomorrow. The course began with the Hellenists and we just completed Augustine. 400 years of early church history will be on this test! Also the teacher is a grad student, so we are her first ever actual course. There's been some growth on both sides in this class. She made a comment one day when we were particularly rowdy that she thought we would be like grad students. We assured her we were more like 2nd semester freshmen!! Some of us have no college, some haven't been to school in 30 years. Others have college and teaching/church experience, but that doesn't exactly translate back into information of this depth. I feel I have a good grasp of the material, but coherently spitting it back in a testing setting is something else. I will update you tomorrow (not on my grade obviously, but on my impressions).

This test is a big deal in this class. We had a close read of an early church document (I chose Ignaseus and got an A) for 5%, this exam, a second close read (I'm doing Augustine's apology - haven't started yet), and then a final comprehensive exam. I think this exam will be a 'take home' and we'll have three days to complete it.

Well, I got an A on my close reading! It was a first try and only worth 5% of our total grade, so I'm thinking there was a lot of grace. However, her notes indicated she like my presentation and flow, but since I had such a grasp of what I wanted to express my opening and closing paragraphs should have been more indepth. I'll have to remember this for the second one. Our midterm has been moved back. We are having problems getting through the material on the early church from Ignateus through Augustine.

Tomorrow we have a test in our Hebrew Bible class. I don't want to be overly confident as I was last year in the Pastor as Interpreter class (which I almost failed!), but I do think I will do well there also.

exegesis - meaning lock yourself in the divinity school library and read pages and pages of text focusing on a single word of the biblical text

Yes that is how I spent my afternoon. I actually have two exegesis due for two different classes. I have a less formal exegesis for preaching class to go along with my sermon on 1 Timothy 1:12-17. I have a second extremely formalized (meaning long 14 pages plus) on Hosea 14:2-8. Actually, I am enjoying the research, it takes me back to the Jewish Roots course that Kathy taught. The problem is, I think in short concise thoughts. I'm not sure I can expound for 14 pages even on the imagery of Hosea's poetry.

I have yet to do a final read before print out, but I have finished my close read (paper) on Ignatius's letter to Polycarp, paragraph 2. I'm not sure if I have followed the instructions as to format, but I was able to give her the 3-4 pages with references that were asked for!

I will probably be headed to the library later today to begin work on the exegesis for my delivered sermon. If I were doing this passage (1 Timothy 1:12-17) for my church, I would be ready to go. However, I do not have enough material for the exegesis questions (it is a thirteen question format rather than a formal exegesis) also I usually do some more reading on how others (http://www.sermoncentral.com/) have handled the material. (That may not be appropriate for this course, so I am resisting the urge to go there.) This was especially helpful this past year when the lectionary did not use the familiar texts during the special Sundays. In particular, this Christmas we did not look to baby Jesus coming with all the pomp and circumstance (angels and shepherds, etc) rather we looked to the second coming of Christ and the apocolypse.

Also, I want to explore Duke's Divinity Library (as opposed to the school library which I have yet to enter) prior to preparing the more formal exegesis that is needed for the Hebrew Bible course.

Just so you don't think that I truly am only spending time working/writing/reading/researching, last night we went over to 9th Street a section of Durham directly off Central Campus that has many quaint shops and a vast array of restaurants. Everything from a corner diner, a pub and grille, a mideastern/southwestern (?!?) restaurant, a falafal house, a dessert/internet cafe, seafood, etc. There is a book store, an art store, a tattoo parlor, laundromat, two boutiques. It's quite the stretch. We ran into a gentleman who was panhandling, one of the pastor's offered to take him to dinner. My roommate and I left, so I'm not sure how that worked out. There was a duet of street musicians. And then of course there were all the different groups: underclassmen, the biker's, the workers coming in to the neighborhood pub, and then there was us -- the SCOS pastors!!! Actually it felt a little like bike night in Erie;)

exegesis

Well, today is the day I need to begin actually writing things. I have two exegesis and two sermons for preaching class. A exegesis for Hebrew Bible and a lesson plan. A short paper for Early Church History and something coming up for Pastor as Teacher.

It's going to be interesting to see how a sermon based on an exegesis sounds different than a sermon based on ideas plus scripture and expounded upon from the pulpit!!

plagerism, a real problem?

Well, I am here at Duke for the summer course of study program (year 2). It's been kind of overwhelming, especially because I did not manage to do all of the precourse reading.

We just got back from a one hour lecture on plagerism. What do look out for, what not to do, where the pitfalls are. Plagerism is anything that is not original thought. What I want to know is "is there really an original thought?" I'm sure there are thinkers out there who come up with something that is new or different (I'm thinking mostly in science), but don't we really build on what we know, what we have heard, what we have experienced? I know I have never had an original thought. I'm built that way and it was a problem for me in the business world. I was great with taking on a project and completing it, but do not ask me to come up with the project!!

It's going to be interesting how my papers come out this year. Last year I was so concerned with this concept (plagerism) that the one 'term paper' I had to turn in was only correctly cited quotations. I got points taken off because there wasn't enough of 'me' in there. Well, as I've already said, me is really everyone I've ever run into. I repeat things constantly!!