we said goodbye to papa and gg this morning. lots of tears and hugs. the time has come, we're really on our own. something we haven't been for several years.
yesterday matt had oreintation and as a spouse i got to join him for the opening session. i was thankful that i got to be there and experience a little of life at southern. aesthetically you just can't beat it. brick and white columns, the inside does not disappoint. no multi-purpose rooms here. high ceilings, chandeliers, everything in place and beautiful. the music was different than i've been used to for the past years, the suits and ties caught me really off guard. but somehow it felt comfortable...safe. it's so much of my past, that even though it felt different it felt like coming home a bit.
our speaker chose to speak from ephesians.....5.....15-33. yeah, i'm sure my mouth dropped open. seemed a strange passage to be preaching out of for a seminary orientation. was he going to stand there and tell me for the next 45 minutes to submit? work my butt off to support the family while my husband goes to school because what he's doing really is more important? actually, no. it was quite the opposite.
you know i'm all for matt going to school. and as those close to me know, i'm a big supporter of submission. but i'll be honest, i've been hesitant about southern. it's a different culture than i've chosen to be a part of for the past few years. and i have judged what i thought they were and what they were about. i was pleasantly surprised yesterday.
without going into great detail on his sermon, i'll just say that i heard him warn us to not think better of ourselves for higher education, we are broken just as we all are. i did hear him say that we will have a tendency to become higher critics of church, looking for this ideal. and to not be disillusioned into loving the ideal and not the actual broken, hurting people that make it up. i did not hear him elevate the institution, instead i heard him elevate Christ.
so yes, it looked different, it sounded different...but he preached Christ and his gospel. and that i know and love.
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4 comments:
THAT'S cool to hear....Nice ot know that educators are not worshipping education.
Hi, Natalie, this is Jennie Kay (Smith) Lunsford...You might remember me from Master's/Hotchkiss. I very randomly found your blog and thought I'd say hi because we're in Louisville, too! We moved here from Santa Clarita a year ago for Ryan to attend Southern. We definitely know what you mean about Southern Baptist being a different culture! There are definitely some interesting quirks that we weren't used to :), but there are lots of good things going on here, too. We looked around at churches for awhile and finally settled on Reformed Baptist Church of Louisville (it's not Southern Baptist, so there aren't really any seminary people besides us) and we like many things about the ministry there. We also liked Clifton Baptist, and a lot of seminary people go there. Anyway, I hope the transition process goes well for you guys. If we can help you with anything or if Matt would want to talk to Ryan about classes/profs or anything, feel free to contact us! Our email is thelunsfords@gmail.com.
Blessings,
Jennie Kay
so cool. and it's cool that you are being open to the different. matt isn't the only getting an education. you will be learning tons about this different place, it's culture and its flavor of Christianity.
I'd probably be in a bit of a culture shock; the south intimidates me a bit.
So glad those first moments put you at ease.
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