Last Saturday morning, I was
escorted to a seat in the front, passing through rows upon rows filled with
families of all ages. This was a
significant community event and everyone was dressed in their finest clothing. There was a master of ceremonies who would
introduce a speaker from the community, the speaker would give his impassioned
speech, then there was usually a musical presentation, sometimes dancing, even
a comedy skit, before another speaker was introduced. I lost count of the number of speakers! Trouble was – I didn’t understand a thing
that they said. All the language was in
a Karen dialect…that’s pronounced “Cur-in”…and I was attending the Karen New
Year’s celebration at my new field work parish, All Saints in Smyrna,
Tennessee. Yes…Karen refugees from Burma
smack-dab in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Soon after I began seminary in
August 2011, I was told I would have to find a parish in which to do field work
from January-December 2013. Field work
is typical in seminary – the educational experience of working in an actual
parish is called Contextual Education.
When I had envisioned myself in a different seminary, I was certain I
would do inner-city field work so that I would have a completely different
experience than my large and affluent home parish back in Houston. So, once I realized that Sewanee was a better
seminary fit for me, I had to give up this dream to work with a diverse congregation…since
Sewanee is in the “middle of No-where, Tennessee” as I have coined the
phrase and there is little variety in these nearby small towns. Imagine my joy at discovering
All Saints, Smyrna, believed to be the fastest growing Episcopal church in the
country! I will now have the opportunity
to learn parish ministry from a community of working class refugees – talk about
a new experience! God writes straight with crooked lines, as I have been told!
Although I won’t begin my Sunday
commitment to the parish until this coming Sunday, I went to experience Karen
culture last Saturday as Karens from all over Middle Tennessee gathered at All
Saints for their New Year’s celebration.
The people were friendly, gracious, modest, and humble…what a community
to become a part of! (Can you tell I’m
excited??) As the final speaker was wrapping up his remarks, a team moved up the aisle and passed out bags of chicken and sticky rice and bottled water. Events were to move outside after the last song but rain was falling in Middle Tennessee. That didn't stop the young people who started up their soccer game despite the rain. I decided I could head back to the Mountain....
I planned to include pictures I took of these events in this post...but for some reason I cannot load them tonight, sigh! Perhaps the blog elves are telling me I should make more frequent posts than I do! But I have reached the half-way point in my seminary journey - yea! I am learning wonderful things..but it is extremely demanding so blogging will likely continue to take a back seat! Thanks for journeying with me!
