A New Place, A New Chapter.

A week ago today I moved onto the campus of the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, more commonly known as Virginia Theological Seminary or VTS.   Founded in 1823 it is the largest Seminary in the Episcopal Church.  It is located in beautiful Alexandria, Virginia, and is on a magnificent campus adjacent to that of Episcopal High School, located together in the shadow of downtown Washington, DC.

But while I could tell you facts and figures all day about the school that would tell you nothing about the fantastic community that is found here.

From the moment I moved in and had several folks offer to help me move my stuff in the August heat, to this evening, where a few of us held compline in a dorm common room and celebrated one of my classmate's birthday, my time here has been one instance of welcome followed by another.  Indeed, it's remarkable how close our class has become after only one week together.  Birthdays are celebrated, help is offered, invitations are extended and company is enjoyed.

When I consider that fellowship, think on how interesting my first classes have been, and ponder the tasks ahead of me in the coming semester the prevailing thought I have is "I can't believe how lucky I am to have three years ahead of me in this place."

Times will change: classes will get harder, pastoral ministry will stress, strain will develop, difficulties will emerge, and there will undoubtedly be people that I at times "love to death bless his heart," but knowing that these difficulties lie ahead, I know just as much how fortunate and how blessed we as a class are that we will be facing them together.  

I will aim to keep this blog better updated as this journey starts, blocking out time to write and keep, friends, family, fellow parishoners at St. Andrew's, and whoever else decides they'd like to read my writing updated.  So check back, comment, ask questions, let me know if there's something you'd like me to talk about or cover and I'll aim to let you know what I'm doing, what I'm learning, and hopefully to occasionally provide you with media of the music and liturgy that helps keep me going up here.

Looking forward to the journey!

Peace.

Day 6: The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina

When I was about 5 years old I was baptised at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of East Carolina at the Great Vigil of Easter.  This was a fortuitous first step of the many I would take in the Diocese.  I could (and have) written at some length about my relationship with the Diocese of East Carolina, but I'm going to leave a good portion of that for another day, as I'm sure my thanks for the diocese can span well more than two or three days, but I will speak primarily about my thanks for what it has done over the last couple of years. 

As anyone who's taken the time to read the bio on the right side of the page knows, I'm a Postulant for Holy Orders (Priesthood) from the Diocese, which means that Dio. E. Carolina and it's Bishop Clifton Daniel III have approved sending me to seminary.  As you can imagine, the process to be entered as a postulant is not a short one and involves approval by several individuals and committees as well as physical and mental evaluations.  The full process to be made a postulant can take upwards of two years (as it did in my case) and once granted ties you to a Diocese through three years of Seminary and two years of ordained ministry in the Diocese, so being comfortable with where you are is extremely important. 

I actually began the discernment process in 2008 in the Diocese of North Carolina where I was working at the time.  While still spending my required year at a parish before the calling of a discernment committee I had to move for work reasons.  I had the great fortune of winding up back in the Diocese of East Carolina where I had been raised.  

After attending the 2009 Diocesan convention, I was able to meet up with many people I had not seen in years, all of whom were exceptionally supportive.  After joining St. Andrew's on the Sound, starting the process over and working my way through my rector, my parish, the commission on ministry, and the Bishop, I could not be happier to be a postulant through this diocese.  It has given me more than I could ever have expected or asked for, and I'm ecstatic that I will spend the next chapter of my life working with and for such an exceptional entity.  

Day 2, Part 2

After our legislative sessions have ended for the day, I want to reflect a bit on the Traces of the Trade. The movie was somewhat uncomfortable to watch as I'm sure it was intended to be. It is always uncomfortable when someone extends their hand in an earnestly conciliatory gesture and it is rejected, but this happened repeatedly in even the abridged version we saw. It is understandable though when one considers the magnitude of what the attempted apology is for. Put in the position of an African-American in today's still oppressive society, I'm not sure I could accept an apology, either. However, one thing that struck me was when the black producer took the hand of a white descendant of a slave trader and said, roughly, "Yes, I'm angry at 'White People', but when I see you all I see is a good and decent person." If we could step out of 'society' for a moment and recognize our shared humanity, seeing each other in that light might help us to heal our open wounds that we have been so willingly ignoring for most of the last 60 years.


In our afternoon breakout I attended the Resolutions meeting to watch and join the discussion on the resolutions. There were a couple of resolutions from St. Paul's Edenton in support of the Archbishop of Canterbury (standing against the Glasspool election) and in favor of the Anglican Covenant. Those were obviously the resolutions that sparked the most debate. Our standing committee gave consent to Glasspool yesterday which may have mooted one of the resolutions and another pro-LGBT resolution was pulled in light of the Bishops Address.

Happily, a Death Penalty resolution that I am strongly in support of was perhaps made stronger by folks urging us to highlight the immorality and social unacceptability of the Death Penalty rather than highlighting the cost saving benefits. I did not agree that the resolution was highlighting cost-cutting over morality, but I am always in favor of making as unequivocal a stand against the Death Penalty as possible. I sincerely hope the resolution passes.

I am now off to a Service of Reconciliation, again at Christ Church, New Bern. My father will be singing in the service as a member of Schola Cantorum, our Diocesan Choir, and I am very much looking forward to it. Following that, Dinner, a cocktail or two, and a chance to unwind after a surprisingly busy day.


Cheers!

Convention Time!!!

This afternoon the 127th Convention of the Diocese of East Carolina will convene and begin its business. I have the good fortune of attending this convention for the first time as a full voting delegate, having attended previously as a youth delegate, Bishop's page and observer. I also am very excited to be nominated and up for election as the next Trustee of The University of the South (Sewanee), my alma mater. There is not a ton of controversial legislation up this time, though there is a resolution regarding our position on the Ridley-Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Covenant we will be voting on.

The diocese will be addressing also the "Traces of the Trade," the marks slavery has left on our society, a particularly prescient issue in our diocese, who's many ports were the place of entry for many thousands of Africans brought to this country against their will. I will have my computer and phone with me throughout convention and will be blogging and posting twitter updates from convention at @danielstroud and with the hashtag #DECC unless an official hashtag emerges. So here is an invitation to the few folks who actually read this (and hopefully that number will go up over the course of the weekend): PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS BLOG!! Or send @replies to my twitter account or post on my facebook wall and join the conversation. Convention represents everyone from the Diocese and is in communion with the whole of the Episcopal Church, and I for one take my duties seriously and would like to have feedback and input on my thoughts and decisions so that I can effectively serve those who sent me there. So please send your thoughts and prayers and wish us all a safe, productive and harmonious trip to New Bern!