Forgive us our debts
When we're charged with helping people prepare for ordination, many things seem like a really good idea. As I attended seminary, people encouraged me
to tack on an extra year for an internship, go a bit more slowly with my
classes, or take two semesters for Clinical Pastoral Education. The people who
did the best in our graduating class were the ones who didn’t have to work
while taking courses and spent an extra year to get all of their requirements
completed.
Ahhhh… when
I think about how beautiful life would have been if I could have taken an extra
year for an internship, gathered CPE credits, and tacked on another year for
seminary… my heart soars. All of these things are incredibly worth-while
endeavors. I’m a person who likes to squeeze the most out of an education. I
audited courses regularly and (because I had my tuition covered), always took
more classes than I had to for my degree requirements.
You might
be on a committee who thinks that a candidate needs that extra training before
they ought to be ordained. They could use some time in a hospital or a "real world" setting before they earn that REV before their names.
