Mail Call - 12

7 Feb., 2019

Adam Baumann
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Winter Quarter, 2018-2019


29 Sept. 2018 - 1 Feb. 2019

Apparently mail service to and from northeast Indian are really slow.

Actually, that is true.  It seems that the USPS isn't very efficient this side of the Mississippi.  Then again, nothing is.

So it has been too long since I have written anything here.  And I'm not ashamed to admit I realized that because of a message in email that a comment noted that some images are not working.  I fix them when I find them, when I can.  But the pictures are just extra, the real meat of this blog is the stuff I write.

Which I haven't done a lot of in the last four months.  But, in my defense, this has been a busy four months.  And I realize that a weekly or biweekly posting is untenable at this juncture.  Maybe once a month.  Or if my posts are much shorter, which is doable too.  The reason is pretty simple: one quarter ended and my family journeyed back home for the Thanksgiving holiday, then back to the Seminary where both Homiletics and Hebrew dominated my time.  Among other classes, like some very challenging Gospels exegetical papers.  And not because the text was difficult, but the professor is a stickler for quality and a self-described tough grader.

The "big deal" this quarter is Homiletics, which includes writing three sermons.  One was video recorded, one will be just a manuscript, and one will be delivered in class.  That one is also the first sermon I will give in church, on 17 March at my field work church.  Which, honestly, will be less nerve-wracking than speaking it in class.  Yeah, I'm weird like that.

On top of all that the first years were assigned to lead chapel services.  I was assigned 15 January, a simple service of Prayer and Preaching, which meant I didn't have to worry about chanting.  But it was during Symposia week, so the chapel was packed.  If you want, you can watch it here.  You'll have to search a little bit to find the right day.  Maybe you'll even see me look up from where I'm sitting, hoping to see my family, only to see President Matthew Harrison.

Yep.  Not nervous at all.  No idea what you're talking about.  (Afterward I did get to speak with Harrison, and he said I did a good job.)

Otherwise, things keep plugging away.  I'll try to not disappear for so long again.