Formation and Ministry Resources: 2014

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Test Taking Tips

Many future priests will be taking the General Ordination Exams next week, and so I thought I would offer a post with some basic test taking advice for the Exam.

1. Prayer
Begin each day with prayer. If you are not gathering each morning with fellow test takers for Morning Prayer, try to find time to say it yourself. If nothing else, find a few minutes to read over those prayers, psalms or Scripture passages that ground you. Read the ones that will remind you that you are a beloved child of God, that will help keep things in perspective and help you remember that this exam, though it looms large at the present moment, does not define you nor your ministry.

2. Place and Atmosphere
Be sure you have a place to take the test that is quiet and free from interruptions. While you don't need to go the lengths of putting a sign up like the one pictured above, being able to take the exam in peace and quiet is important. Presumably you have made arrangements for this at your home or seminary, so that your friends and family know when not to interrupt you. The other tricky bit is that you will be taking this exam online, and so you need to be at your computer with an active internet connection. And there are so many more fun things that come over that internet connection than an exam! Facebook! Twitter! Instagram! Email! Text messages! Disable all your notifications, so that you are not distracted by where you friends just checked into or the big after Christmas sale at your favorite store. All those things will be there when you are done writing for the day and need a distracting break!

3. Timing and Writing
Be sure you have a clock nearby. Try to plan out your time. Take the first 15 minutes to read through the question and get yourself organized. Then spend 30 minutes researching and outlining your answer. Spend two hours writing. You only have to write 1000 words. This is about 10 words a minute. You can do it! Then spend the remaining time proofreading. Go back and reread the question to ensure that you have answered all the parts of the question. Also ensure that your answer does not contain any identifying information, e.g. seminary, diocese, etc. The GBEC site says to write your exam in the browser (note that only Mozilla's Firefox works), and as a back up, I would recommend that you copy and paste your answer into a word processing program on your computer after each paragraph, and certainly before you click anything that would take you away from the page. Alternatively, you can likely write in a word processing program and then copy and paste into the browser. Either way, be sure you save a back up copy of the answer you submit!

4. Food and Water
Even though you will likely be sitting in a chair for the better part of the day, be sure to keep yourself hydrated and fed. Keep a water bottle and perhaps a thermos of tea or coffee nearby along with some snacks. Although if you are clumsy like me it might be best to keep anything liquid at a little distance. :) You have an hour between the morning and afternoon sessions. Eat a good lunch. Writing is hard work. Keep yourself fueled up!

5. Let it Go!
Apologies to any fellow parents of young children, if I have just prompted Disney's Frozen soundtrack to start playing in your head. Elsa does have good advice. Work hard. Do your best. Then ultimately, let it go. When each session is over, take a break. Plan some kind of fun treat for yourself on the day off. You deserve it.

And in the end, it is always good to remember the wise words of Dame Julian of Norwich, "All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well."

You all are in my prayers as you take the Exam. Blessings!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Important Dates for 2015

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Here are some important dates to keep in mind. Please mark your calendars!

Postulants and Candidates:

April 10-11, 2015 - Retreat with Bishops at Camp Washington

Saturday, June 20, 2015 - Gathering with COM at The Commons from 9-3

January 16, 2016 - Gathering with COM & SC at The Commons from 9-3

Recently Ordained Clergy Gatherings
The Commons, 9-2

January 8

February 12

March 12

May 7

Commission on Ministry Meetings/Events

February 28 (Joint Leadership Saturday)

March 25, 5:30-7:30

April 15, 5:30-7:30

May 1, Interview Day with Potential Nominees for the Priesthood

May 16, Discernment Day Event

May 30 (Joint Leadership Saturday)

June 17, 5:30-7:30

June 20, Gathering with Postulants and Candidates

July 15, 5:30-7:30

August 19, 5:30-7:30

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Praying with our Camera and Social Media

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Anglican and Episcopal News Service recently issued an invitation to us to observe Advent with our smartphones, particularly with our cameras and our social media accounts:

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2014/11/12/anglicans-invited-to-celebrate-advent-using-your-camera-phones/

I hope you all will consider taking up this invitation and trying on a new way of observing Advent. I have been doing something similar in the month of November on the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving.

I serve on the Board of The Young Clergy Women Project, and we have been exploring the theme of thanksgiving this month via social media. We have been invited to post a photo each day inspired by a word, e.g. grace, presence, enough, etc. See post here: http://youngclergywomen.org/thanks-giving/

The hashtag for this is #thanksliving14 and you can search for it on Facebook or Twitter. If you would like to see my posts for November, you may view my Twitter feed here.

I have found this to be a remarkable exercise. It is really been a powerful, prayerful experience to have the discipline to think each day about a word related to gratitude. It is helped me pay a bit more attention and to see the world a little differently as I have been on a lookout for an image that captures the day's word.

If you engage in this activity for Advent, I wish you a prayerful and enriching experience!

Monday, November 10, 2014

The Power of Story

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I spent part of last week at a remarkable training at Sewanee called "Living in the Green." [More information on the program can be found here: http://programcenter.sewanee.edu/programs/living-in-the-green]

While I am still absorbing all I learned and thinking through how it can be asset to the work we are about in raising up leaders here in the Episcopal Church in CT, one of the biggest lessons I carry from it is that of the power of story. Part of our training was to "try on" and experience a particular way of doing discernment and conversation. This involved the use of story prompts and small group sharing. We used a passage from a speech by Howard Thurman (see an excerpt here) about the "sound of the genuine." What struck me most was the profound level of sharing that happened through this story prompt. Within a few minutes, I was deeply connected to two other individuals who I otherwise barely knew. And I also was profoundly aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit, in their stories and in our conversation.

We often talk about story. We are a people rooted in story - in Scripture, in the stories of our own Anglican tradition, in our own individual stories - and yet I so often find myself operating on the more superficial, informational level. I can be so task or goal oriented that I can forget how essential it is - to the work we are about, as well as to the building up of God's kingdom - to share and to listen to our stories. We are stronger, more deeply connected, wiser and more thoughtful beings for the gift of hearing one another tell our stories and for the gift of being heard. The Holy Spirit is at work through my time at Sewanee and the opportunities I have to engage with those in discernment, formation and in leadership positions. Clearly I need to pay more attention and leave more room for stories.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Change your bookmarks!

As a result of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut's branding process and the desire to standardize all our blogs, the url of this blog has changed to http://episcopalct-formation.blogspot.com

Please update your bookmarks so that you don't miss any formation resources. If you are signed up to receive email updates, this shouldn't affect that at all.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Local Faith Formation Resources

As I sat in Ian's presentation to our group of Recently Ordained Clergy (ROC) yesterday, I heard him mention a scholar who was going to be giving a lecture at OMSC and a light bulb went off. It occurred to me that all of you (particularly if you are new to CT) might not be aware of some of the amazing resources for theological education, for broadening our horizons and deepening our faith that are quite literally right in our own backyards. So today's post is a bit of info about a few of them. And I am sure that there are more that I am forgetting at this present moment or that I don't know about. If you know of others, please let me know! It would be great to expand this list!

So first, the OMSC . . . the Overseas Ministry Study Center (http://www.omsc.org/) is a place of study and rest for Christian Missionaries and Scholars from all over the world. It is a remarkable place that really makes global Christianity come alive! Many of its lectures are open to the public, and you can subscribe to E-News to learn more about the Center and its events.

And right across the street from OMSC in New Haven is Yale Divinity School, which of course hosts numerous lectures and programs throughout the year: http://divinity.yale.edu/ The great thing about YDS public lectures is that they are almost always recorded, so even if you can't get there in person, you can still hear the lecture. YDS digital resources can be found here: http://divinity.yale.edu/core/digital-resources And if you can get to New Haven on occasion, you should be sure to visit the Ministry Resource Center in the Divinity Library. Imagine having the opportunity to browse, sample and try out any and every christian education resource you can imagine (for children or adults) and that is the MRC.

Another great resource for lectures and programs, particularly of an interfaith nature is Hartford Seminary (http://www.hartsem.edu/). They also have an E-News you can sign up for and record many of their programs, so you don't necessarily have to attend in person. For a tiny little school in the middle of Hartford, they draw a remarkable collection of scholars and faith leaders from across CT and around the world!

If you are in Fairfield County, it is particularly worth noting that Christ Church in Greenwich has a robust adult education program, not all of which takes place on Sunday mornings. More information on that can be found here: http://christchurchgreenwich.org/learn/adult/

Another opportunity in Greenwich is the Greenwich Leadership Forum, which is a program run by David Miller (of Princeton' Center on Faith and Work). It brings business people together to talk about faith and ethics. If spending an evening in Greenwich is not convenient for you, thankfully, they also record many of the sessions (check out the video tab on their website).

So those are a few of our remarkable local resources. Please let me know of more!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A New Way Forward

Dear Blog Readers,

I had a brainstorm the other day, and so I am going to be trying something new. I realized I was frequently posting a lot of links from the same sites. Rather than continuing that I am going to offer a list below of my favorite Church/Ministry related news sites and blogs. Then going forward, I will still post resources that I think would be particularly useful to you all in your ministry. I also hope that the blog will become more of a forum for conversation and a place to offer some reflections on life, ministry and the Church.

As always I welcome your feedback. Thank you!

Blessings,

Molly

As promised, here is my list of favorite news sources and blogs:

NEWS
If you want to keep up with what is happening in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, I highly recommend subscribing to email alerts or following any (or all!) of the following organizations on Social Media:

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/
The news service of The Episcopal Church. A great source of churchwide happenings, particularly around large events like General Convention. They also are good about publicizing grant opportunities.

http://www.anglicannews.org/
A great way to find out what is happening with our brothers and sisters around the Anglican Communion and to know when the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks publicly on a topic.

http://www.religionnews.com/
A resource to help us stay current on religion more broadly - ecumenical and interfaith.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/religion/
Another broad, ecumenical and interfaith resource that can be closer to a blog (more reflections and opinion pieces).

http://episcopalcafe.com/
Part news and part blog this is a great collection of news items, sermons and reflections from around The Episcopal Church. For instance, when the current crisis started unfolding at GTS, Episcopal Cafe had the most up to date information.

BLOGS

At present these are my favorite blogs to go to hear reactions to churchwide events, such as a new TREC letter or the questions on the GOEs.

These two blogs are from priest I have been privileged to work with (in the past and currently) in CT. I respect them as colleagues and priests, and I appreciate their wisdom and insights. Even if we don't agree on everything!

http://theyoungcurmudgeonpriest.blogspot.com/
http://thesubdeansstall.org/

I am on the Board of The Young Clergy Women Project, and while as our name suggests, we are particularly focused on the ministry of young women, our Magazine (blog), Fidelia's Sisters has many pieces and resources that would be applicable to all of us in ministry.

http://youngclergywomen.org/blog/

If, like me, you are a fan of Lent Maddness, then the names Scott Gunn and Tim Schneck will be familiar to you. They each maintain blogs and often have timely and insightful reflections on the Church and ministry, in addition to Lent Maddness fun!

http://www.sevenwholedays.org/
http://clergyconfidential.blogspot.com/

If you want a sometimes snarky, but equally insightful reflection on life in the Episcopal Church, I recommend reading the blog of Tom Ferguson, Dean of Bexley Hall who blogs at: http://crustyoldean.blogspot.com/

Another blog I enjoy reading because it contains a mix of Scripture reflections and reflections on broader themes/events in The Episcopal Church is that of Evan Garner, a priest and deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Alabama. I have been following Evan's blog for over a year and enjoy what he has to say. His blog is: http://evandgarner.blogspot.com/

Finally, if you want something a bit broader on religion more generally, I recommend CNN's belief blog. CT's Danielle Tumminio Hansen (who is on the COM) has been featured on it.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/

Those are my favorites for now. I will add more as I find them, and I look forward to hearing some of yours!