Pastors are Pastors in Every Language

Sitting here at the pastors’ academy in Skalholt, Iceland, I am reminded that despite our differences, pastors and seminarians are pastors and seminarians the world over. There are between 140 and 200 pastors in Iceland, and the Skalholt pastors’ academy is a chance for them to get away from their parishes, visit old friends from seminary, and get the change to refresh and reenergize for the year ahead. And as part of that refreshment and reenergizing, they do as pastors do in America; they drink festive beverages and stay up late into the night talking. Then they wake up late in the morning, sleep through breakfast and show up late to morning vespers. Especially for the pastors in the further out parishes, this is their main opportunity to see old friends from seminary and learn from what their colleagues are doing.

Last night we had the opportunity to stay up late, share festive beverages, and talk with the Icelandic pastors, theologians, and seminarians. It was amazing to see all the ways that we are so similar to our Icelandic colleagues. We traded course schedules, tales of professors and projects, and our respective struggles with Greek and Hebrew. One of the female seminarians and I got into a long discussion about people’s common assumption that going to seminary meant we were planning to be nuns. I was surprised in a country with a Lutheran state church that the assumption would exist that women in ministry must be headed for the convent. Most of all it was fun, as it always is, to spend time with our colleagues, even colleagues we had never met before. We joked, we talked, we pondered politics and theology, and we shared the classically bad humor that seminarians are known for. It is good to be here with my brothers and sisters in Iceland.

Gracious God. Thank you for our brothers and sisters in our classes, in Iceland, and across the world. Thank you for colleagues with which to share our joys and our struggles. Thank you for the workshops and trainings and meetings that bring us together and help us to remember your love and your grace in the midst of this crazy walk that is serving you. Amen.