Stretching, or Asking for Trouble?

One of my seminary's requirements is to take at least one class in the arts. This may be music, writing, drama, singing, dance, etc. I am not the world's most artsy person. In fact, I still carry around that young child's voice of "you stink at art." It seemed everyone else could draw and paint and sculpt, but I could not. What I could always do is write.

So, I finally got up the nerve to sign up for an art & spirituality class. I was so thankful after reading the syllabus because one of the choices for a final project was to write a paper. Hooray; that I could do. The other two choices were to create a prayer book or develop one standalone piece of art. Those scared me to no end.

I started thinking about it and realized that writing a paper was really the chicken way out. Wasn't seminary, or any type of learning endeavor for that matter, supposed to help me stretch. How would writing yet another paper help me stretch. At that moment, I decided I would do a prayer book, and it is an item I value highly. It turned out I could combine writing poetry with modifying my digital images to turn out some very nice pages.

Fast forward. Another seminary requirement is to take a class at a different seminary. This poses several challenges, not the least of which that many of them are not geographically nearby. A few others are in the DC area but not in prime "go to school at night" locations. After factoring in the conservative nature of most of them, I was not left with many choices.

A course in personal spiritual development at a seminary I pass on my way home from work caught my eye. It sounds like an exceptional opportunity. I did not initially give it serious consideration because the seminary is probably the most conversative one in the consortium. I'm talking, not only do they believe women should not preach, they won't even let women take a preaching class! How could I possibly take a class there?

After a great deal of thought, I decided, how could I possibly NOT take a class there? If I want to be able to minister to people with a wide range of beliefs, including many that I may not personally agree with, what better place?

It should be QUITE the adventure!