Sarah in Seminary
Hey, ya’ll. It’s me, Sarah. The last time you heard
from me, I was in Utila, Honduras as a long-term United Methodist
Volunteer in Mission. As you can see, I’ve changed my column
name from “Update from Utila” to “Sarah in
Seminary.” Yip, I’m a seminarian, which explains
why you haven’t heard from me in months! Please allow me
to explain how I ended up in seminary. 
I went to Utila as a recently divorced school teacher from the
Midwest who had ignored a calling into ministry since high school.
While I was there, God kept putting all these Southerners in
my life. I hosted folks from Georgia and Alabama who kept telling
me about this little school called Emory University that was
home of one of the United Methodist seminaries. Indeed, Candler
School of Theology kept popping up with every mission team that
came to the island! I decided to apply to Candler, along with
two other United Methodist seminaries, one of which was in my
home state of Missouri. Upon my return to the States, I visited
each campus and decided to stay in Missouri. So a year ago, I
began seminary at St. Paul of Theology and began the candidacy
process for ordination within the United Methodist church. By
March, I had applied to be placed as a student pastor in the
Kansas City area. Of course, I didn’t get any definite
response because ministry appointments aren’t made until
closer to June, so I settled in as a part-time school counselor
and attended seminary. As the semester was coming to an end and
I was completely buried in seminary studies, I got the surprise
of my life. Around 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, May Day to be
exact, I received a phone call from a lady in the admissions
office at Candler asking if I had been getting her emails. I
had no idea what she was talking about. She went on to tell me
that she had been trying to contact me because she wanted to
offer me a full-tuition scholarship! You can only imagine my
shock! I seriously felt like Ms. America, like I had been given
a crown! I must have asked her a hundred times if she had the
right person. She was glad she had finally gotten in touch with
me because that was the last day to pay the $100 admission fee.
Of course, the minute I hung up, I called the payment office
and paid it over the phone!
As if that was not enough, the very next day, a Saturday mind
you, the district superintendent who had interviewed me back
in March called and offered me a student pastor position with
a parsonage at a great little church just outside Kansas City.
I told her about Candler’s offer and she completely understood
my dilemma. She gave me two weeks to let her know if I wanted
the student appointment. Did you catch that? If she had only
called me one day prior, that Friday morning instead of Saturday
morning, I would have accepted the ministry position with no
doubts. While I knew the timing of these events was no coincidence,
I still had a lot to process. You can only imagine the prayer
and discernment that went into the next several days of my life.
I finally decided God meant for me to be in Atlanta, so here
I am!
For those of you who don’t know, seminary is no joke!
I seriously had no idea the scholarship that goes into becoming
an ordained minister. Folks leading your churches are highly
educated individuals! My Old Testament professor -- who, by the
way, is an incredible instructor -- has a favorite quote that
he includes on the syllabus: “To underestimate the intellectual
capacity of the clergy is a far more grievous fault than to set
the standard too high.” Brevard S. Childs, a well-known
Old Testament scholar said this in his book Old Testament
Books for Pastor and Teacher back in 1977. For some of you,
that was a long time ago. But believe it or not, I was alive
way back then. Indeed, I will turn 35 this year!!! What I am
doing in seminary? What I am doing starting all over again after
over a decade of a career in education and various other activities
at which I found a fair amount of success? I’m following
God, that’s what I’m doing! Finally, after repeating
the Jonah act and trying very hard to escape God’s plans
for my life, I am following. It’s taken a lot of faith
and a lot of healing from a façade I had created of true
meaning and success in life. But I can tell you, God never gives
up. For some of you, 35 is just a few short years, even just
the beginning of life’s journey. Whether 35 years is young
or old from your perspective, I can certainly tell you that in
that amount of time I had managed to get myself into a very dark
place before I finally agreed to allow God to show me the way
out of the whale’s belly. My time in Utila was certainly
instrumental in that process. My service as a missionary volunteer
allowed me to heal from the broken life I had created and to
emerge into a new light. The relationships I’ve built with
many of you at AHMEN were rays of that light, and I certainly
count them among some of God’s greatest blessings in my
life.
So, my friends, I am excited to be back on the AHMEN website
and share this journey with you. I want to encourage you whether
you are 35 or 85, if God is nudging you out of something old
and into something new and fresh, go for it! It may not be seminary,
which is fine because you can experience that vicariously through
me, but I’m certain it is something that will open your
life to unexpected possibilities and gifts that you never imagined.
Welcome to my little corner of God’s world! I’m glad
you’re part of it!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than
all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work
in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout
all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians
3:20-21 (NIV)
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