Week three. I have survived and am still trying to get into a routine. Having a lot of free time is great but I am trying to construct a routine that works for me. This has been a little difficult cause I haven’t had a true regular week yet. Hopefully, this week I shall get a solid routine going. Prayers for that would be appreciated.
At Applied Storytelling, we read the book Pastoral Care: Telling the Stories of Our Lives by Karen D. Scheib. This book was geared towards pastors, but I gleaned some knowledge to apply to my situation. The book talked about Narrative Pastoral Care which is a pastor being a narrative listener, co-author, and companion (or bread-mate as I learned in the book of the etymology of the word. Definitely calling people my bread-mates from now on) to help people restory their lives. Restorying is when a person looks at chapters of their lives and revises or reinterprets them to see new perspectives. A narrative listener is like an active listener but more engaged, more empathetic, and helps the person see their narratives. That’s what I got from it at least. It was interesting, and I would like to possibly learn more about it and practice more with it.
Again, I learned that people are “hermeneutical beings” who are trying to make meaning out of the world primarily through stories. Again, we are storytellers. I learned a lot more psychology of narrative and found out there is narrative therapy, narrative medicine, and the way we develop as people narratively. Master narratives were discussed as well; these are culture, economics, religion etc. These are the lens that we use to interpret and construct our lifestories. Scheib coins the term “Story-o-type” which is stereotype but with a narrative flare to it.
One theological narrative I loved and have thought about before but never had the words to express it was “God as Storyteller.” I want to learn more about that theological narrative and tinker with it some more.
I also might pick up a new work study job being an associate editor for the school’s academic journal. I am doing a trial run so we shall see how that goes.
Poetry class was interesting as we used scripture as our writing prompts, specifically some of the questions that God asks Job. I think I got a good free verse poem out of that one.
On Friday, I met with the priest of the local Catholic parish and now I am in RCIA…I wasn’t expecting it but Divine Providence was in action. Then I met the RCIA instructor who also teaches at the local Catholic schools, and he has similar theological interests as me. Also, he is my point of contact with volunteering at the school so, hopefully, I will have all that taken care next week in order to start volunteering. Divine Providence again!
I also went back to Columbus to visit some friends and attend a writing seminar which was hosted by the Creative Writing Club at Capital. They were nice and invited me to come to the event and give me free food!
I wrapped up the week by playing ultimate frisbee with some of the seminarians and community members…I am very much out of shape. Luckily, Divine Providence (once again!) has given me the opportunity to have a gym membership so I am going to start working out.
Prayers and thoughts are appreciated for me as I continue my journey in higher education! Thank you for reading and have a blessed day!
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