I done gone and graduated!

After four years of study, discernment, discovery, highs, lows, and all the things in between, here I am in front of Martin Luther at Wartburg Theological Seminary holding a shiny new Master of Divinity¹ diploma. For someone who barely graduated high school and dropped out of community college after 5 years (yes, read that again), it was quite the moment.

It started back in 2017 with a couple of years of discernment, making sure this is what I wanted to do with my life. Then came two years of classes (interrupted by a global pandemic and a cross-country move from Chicago, IL to Northern California), followed by a third-year internship where I served a local parish while working as a prison chaplain a few days a week. This final year of seminary has been a full load of classes while discerning the next steps. I’m currently unsure of what those next steps will be. I do have some interviews coming up in late June in Northern California. When I find a congregation that I strike a love match with and they call me to be their pastor (God-willing!), I will be ordained as a Lutheran minister of Word and Sacrament. Yes, I will, for sure, keep you posted on that. But for now, I just wanted to extend my heartfelt gratitude to those reading these words. Y’all have supported me in so many ways. Some have pitched in a few bucks a month (or a year) to help me pay my mounting credit card bills, as we’ve been on a single income for a long time. Others have shared my work with others. And some of you have just… Been there. Reading and cheering me on from the digital sidelines. I’m grateful for you all. 

I knew during my first year at seminary that my writing on this blog would be impacted. My posting frequency (and quality, yes) has been sporadic at best. I’ve gone through phases where I’ve posted daily and others where it’s been more of a monthly occasion. Seminary is like being timed on drinking the ocean through a sippy straw. We’re fed sooooo much to read. I’ve been in total student mode these last four years. My mind has been singly focused on receiving information. Producing anything creative or non-academic has been a struggle. I know I’ll forever remain a student. But it’s so nice, this fine late spring day, to take a breath and know that I’m done going through the meat grinder of institutional schooling (and the early rigors of the ministerial candidacy process, which is another conversation altogether). Nonetheless, God has remained faithful.

Now, I don’t want to bash seminary or any of the journey thus far. Most of it has been great and worthwhile. I’ve learned so much and have been inspired in so many ways. There have been aha moments galore, and I’ve been shaped in ways I can’t even see right now. I truly am a different person than I was on the first day of seminary. But, man… I will not miss the endless due dates and overwhelming class schedule (this last year, I took six classes per semester!). I look forward to living a somewhat normal adult life while I prepare for my first call as a pastor. It’s such a joy to return to the bloggy wog here, where I can freely write non-academic papers (and use words like ‘bloggy wog’ with reckless abandon). I eagerly await conversing with you here far more often. 

Thanks again to all of you who enjoy and support my work. It’s the joy of a lifetime to converse with you here. Looking forward to much more.

Fare thee well,
Jonas

1. The damndest name for a degree that I have ever heard. Methinks none of us are even close to mastering the divine.