The Theologian's Table

No, this is not about a Lifetime Channel rom-com. It may not enter the minds of the general public, but seminary students often face a stigma in the church. Sometimes they are viewed as out-of-touch, or as intellectual snobs who think they know what’s best for everyone. I was very aware of this and wrote a memo to myself before I entered seminary so that I would stay down to earth. The people who run seminaries seem to be aware of the stereotypes surrounding them too. To prevent this they offer courses that help the spiritual formation of the student, which can encompass most parts of life, but to make sure that the student knows that they too need to progress spiritually, not just the average church goer. Even though I had written a memo to myself reminding me that there are real-world problems still happening in the midst of my studies there were and still are areas of my life that need to be addressed spiritually. Though there are more than I’d care to count, ...

Jonah, the prophet of God who didn't want to do God's work. Not because it was necessarily hard, but because he knew what God was like. Jonah knew what would happen if the people of Nineveh repented and that's he what was running from. There is a good possibility in life where you might enter into a situation like Jonah's. God will examine your life and challenge the secret hate held in your heart. The thing of it is, is that  sometimes this hate can be directed at a problem that God thinks needs to be addressed where more than one person can be affected. Maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's a work issue, or maybe it's a case like Jonah's where God has called you to minister to a large group of people you do not care for and place a lot of blame at their feet. As the book of Jonah shows, however, God is a provocateur, He is insistent that the people who make themselves available to Him carry out His will. After trying to run from God, being thro...