Another kind of preparation for study

I woke up an hour earlier than usual with a discussion going on in my head, and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up, prayed and figured out what this was all about. Following a chat with Peter after Matins and breakfast in College, I spent the morning working on a paper to contribute to thinking about preparing incoming students for entry into College, especially in relation to the new Core Skills programme to be taken together by all students whether residential or part timers. This is the vital learning dimension that embraces all kinds of pastoral work, community building and parish ministry placements. It has to sit alongside University studies and relate to life together in a learning community, whether you live in, or come and go. It's complex to organise, essential to get right, and dovetail with academic work. 

I recall from my days in College forty five years ago how often we questioned the relevance of things we were meant to learn. Since then I've found that nothing was wasted, and experience of life and ministry has forged a sense of relevance to all we learned that wasn't there at the time. Many more students nowadays come for training having already established themselves in a career earlier, so they may well make the vital links sooner than I did, though this isn't true of all. 

The wide disparity of life and religious experience of those arriving to study can pose obstacles to personal and community development. It's not a matter of intelligence, it's a matter of some having long deep roots in the life of the church, and others being adult converts with limited background, even if well versed in a discipleship that reflects their sending church community. I'm keen to find ways to prepare people to engage in their training and bond with each other in ways that make the most of what they are given. This could take some of the strain away from entering into the intense life of a seminarian.

I'd finished writing down my ideas by lunchtime, so I went into the CBS office to work on preparing Ashley's new replacement Asus Transformer, acquired yesterday and left on charge overnight. I stayed longer than intended and missed the evening Eucharist at College. I felt incredibly tired and hungry when  got home, but cooked a paella to launch a very quiet soporific sort of evening. Subdued by my mental exertions early in the day, I had no drive to complete the configuration of apps for the Asus. |It'll just have to wait.