Learning and Growing, Challenging and Provoking

I am at Perkins School of Theology, at SMU in Dallas this week for training to become a mentor pastor to a student intern.

Yesterday, one of the early sessions found a couple of students who have just completed their internships, sharing with us their perspectives on the process. One of the students mused that one of the purposes of the internship for her was, she hoped, so she could learn “to speak to a Sunday School class and not be thrown out.”

We all chuckled, understanding the exuberance of being an idealistic theolog with coursework fresh on the soul. I resonated with her to the extent that I remember being in seminary, and learning things and theories and connecting scripture with tradition, reason, and experience in ways that would and should be unsettling to the typical congregation.

At the same time, I also recognized that no matter how radically different my understanding has been on any topic from what I perceived to be the understanding of my congregants (be sure there are always some laity which much more nuanced theological perspectives than we give them credit for), I had always approached her question from the opposite side: “How can I explain myself and my understanding in such a way that these people, or this class, might be open to hearing something they wouldn’t ordinarily hear?”

Perhaps this is the difference between prophet and pastor.