#1 Rule of Mastering the Divine

After three years of balancing Master’s classes and the strains of everyday life, I am finally at a place of rest. I have finished this leg of the race. I have my Master of Divinity degree. I am now left with the questions of: What’s next? What change does this make or has this made? What was most important about this journey?

The number one thing I learned getting a Master of Divinity degree is…

After spending 7 years in total of higher level religious education studying under excellent professors, learning alongside wise and diverse peers, diving deep into Scripture and church history, I have learned that no one has or can master the divine.

The title is pretty silly. In fact, I feel as though I have left seminary knowing less than I came in. Certainly I learned many things. But I also have been made aware of many more things that I could not begin to know.

More than certainty, I have been drawn into the mystery of God. And this mystery only makes me more certain of what I do know.

We as humans have been created to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourself. May we do so for God’s glory, and pursue this noble aim in the humility shown by Christ in death. May we live not for our own pursuits, but as vessels of rest towards a tired and anxious world.

May we grow close to and be amazed by a Creator God who continues to give us life.

An unexpected learning

There were many things I expected to receive in this experience. But the thing I expected least was to form a sense of community. After all, class was online. Most the people live across the country. I assumed that they would think and live differently than I do, making relationships hard.

And yet, even from my earliest moments I felt drawn to them. I did not always love my courses or like what my peers had to say, and yet I felt a deep appreciation and love for them.

I found myself praying for them. And not the prayer that attempts to change their mind because they said something wrong in class. But, instead, praying for their endurance, for the development of their gifts, for the community they served.

Though we rarely spent time in proximity to one another, we were brought together for a time with a common purpose and a common love.

Unexpectedly, I found myself learning about how to love people. How to enjoy them. And how to better be in community.

More than the coursework, I found that this was the most valuable lesson.

After all, Jesus tells us that the world will know that we belong to him by our love for one another. Is there many greater lessons than this?

You, then, do not need to pay all the money I did to get a Master’s degree. Commit to a community of people with a common purpose. Disagree with them, argue with them, eat with them, love them, and stay with them. In this communion you will take on the practices of the Christian faith and produce good fruit. In loving others, living alongside them, you will begin to know the God you serve more clearly.

In service of one another, you will be getting your own local education on the divine.

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