There's something a bit disturbing about being declared a "master" of anything and especially "divinity." I'm not quite sure which course it was that rendered me worthy of this educational title. Was it the course on preaching or pastoral care? Sometimes I think the seminary potluck suppers were the things that best prepared me for parish pastoring. There are plenty of studies that reveal how pastors often lag far behind their own parishioners in prayer and other spiritual disciplines. The Spiritual depth needed to lead a worshiping community is something that is simply far too complex to teach in the way that one can teach Biblical exegesis or theological argument. And yet these other things are not inconsequential to spiritual matters. Preparing a person to make the leap from knowledge to practice is the nut that schools have long wished to crack. And maybe the nuts aren't that bad anyway.
The book of Proverbs says that "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." I don't quite understand that...and maybe that's the point. Wisdom is something that you never quite grasp. It's always just beyond your outstretched arms.
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