Quarter is ending and I'll be back in Mississippi soon. Have written my short papers for Church History, taken my Hebrew exam, and finished my service learning hours for Theology and Practice of Ministry. Now just have to study for and take the Church History exam, and write my TPM portfolio, which includes addressing such issues as how my personality type affects my leadership style, and the way my spiritual disciplines inform my ministry.

The past weeks once again have been kind of whirlwind but included attending at Simchat Torah service at a local synagogue with my Hebrew class. Fantastic. There literally was dancing in the street (or technically the parking lot) to celebrate the congregation's having read through the Torah. After a short prayer service, the congregation gathered in a bigger space (kind of like a parish hall) to take turns carrying the Torah scrolls and dancing. Then, toward the end of the celebration, one of the scrolls was unrolled completely. We made a huge circle and held it up while the rabbi walked us backwards through the events of the Torah, with some of the recently bat- or bar-mitzvahed kids interjecting with the canting of different sections. So, if anyone ever asks if you want to go to a Simchat Torah service, your answer should be yes.

Tomorrow is a reading day, so I will try to figure out what in the world has been going on in the first 800 years of church history. Gotta get all those heresies straight. Reading church history makes me think it's only by God's grace that the church exists at all still. We've tried pretty much everything we can to break it and very thankfully we haven't succeeded.