Three quarters down and one to go, and I'll be done with my junior year of seminary. We at VTS are now on spring break, which coincides with Holy Week this year. The first day of spring break/Holy Monday also coincided with about three inches of snow on the ground this morning and more very wet snow and some rain falling throughout the day. I was out in this with a bunch of other seminarians and even more Episcopal clergy (including about 20 bishops) who walked the stations of the cross from the White House to the Capitol in an effort to protest gun violence. Was good to be out there with everyone but was very hard to hear with such a large crowd and also pretty cold. I'm kind of a wimp and perhaps not the best protester. The other Southerners I was with and I lasted till the Capitol, but did duck indoors for coffee at one point. Here's the story about this:

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/25/episcopal-church-procession-aimed-against-gun-violence/

For the rest of spring break, I'll be here in Alexandria, doing some work at my work study job and trying to read some of what I didn't get to last quarter. I'll get to serve at the Cathedral on Easter Sunday and then we'll have Easter Monday off from school and the VTS Seder that night before starting the fourth quarter. Am very excited that fourth quarter means translating the Book of Ruth in Hebrew, even though I'm not the best translator. Also means more NT and OT, a class called the Foundations of Theology (a background in philosophy before going into systematic theology next year) and a Christian ed class on reaching out to those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. Should be a good quarter, if I can survive one more round of finals and papers.