Weekly Report: Week Two

Church of the Resurrection
Intern’s Weekly Report
Week 2
May 07, 2006 – May 14, 2006

Week two has been a week of contrasts: of frustration and relief, or excitement and discouragement, of fatigue and enthusiasm.

Sundays are crushing – and when I explain that to people there is always the inevitable “day of rest” joke thrown in. I am up at 6 and in bed some time after midnight (this week will be even worse as they are closing the DVP and I will need to take “the long way” to and from Church). I try to schedule Monday appointments later in the morning so I can catch some sleep – but then I look at that “blank unit” on Monday and have a small panic attack. What if the bishop calls me on it? What if he says I am not putting in the hours I should be?

I am noticing something odd and unexpected, though, in my bi-vocational life: I seem to have raised the bar across the board. The quality of my work at CIBC has improved, and even been commented on by higher-ups; it’s as if I am unable to fully compartmentalize the various segments of my life.

This is a good thing, as I am a deeply holistic thinker – and this is why I think the time I treasure most with Duke is when he leans back in his chair, folds his arms behind his head, screws his eyes shut and begins to unpack the theology of a given issue with me. I loathe “systematic” theology – and I am aware that I barely squeaked by on that course. Its not that I don’t understand it, it’s that my mind doesn’t work that way and I had NO idea what it was they wanted in terms of the assignments. I am actually disturbed that I could hand in a book report on a book I hadn’t read more than a chapter of, and still score a high-70 mark simply because I was able to pad it with the most ridiculous double-speak and jargon imaginable.

I resent that this rigid and limited method of studying theology is the latest fashion in academia; and am grateful that Duke, while clearly fluent in the subject of theology, has a much more grounded approach to its application. He has no need to resort to the excessively technical language that frankly, is the bane of modern theology.

I am frustrated as well to learn that rigid time management is not necessarily effective time management. A simple, two hour meeting with a congregant laid to rest every fear I have over the cool school; whereas prolonged and unscheduled trips to the hospital with a friend resulted in my having to bump visits with parishioners. While I understand that no minister in his right mind would refuse to help anyone simply because they are not a member of his congregation (or even necessarily a Christian), I do resent Donna making me feel bad because I have other appointments that conflict with her hospital trips. I do realize that taking her for her treatments likely counts as a pastoral visit, but I am so frustrated when I try to work my schedule around her and she bursts into tears because she is not my top priority. Or maybe I am just a really insensitive person.

I don’t know.