Editors Note:  Shireen Baker and Steve DeMuth are Postulants for Holy Orders under the aegis of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish.  As Shirren and Steve remain members of the Parish during their time at Seminary and are integral parts of the Parish family until (and after) their ordination, we've asked them to periodically update the Parish on their experience.  St. Thomas the Apostle established a Seminary Scholarship Fund to support our Seminarians and all funds collected are equally distributed.  Should you wish to support the Fund please make your cheque payable to St. Thomas and note "Seminarian Fund" in the MEMO.   Donations are also accepted via Paypal.   This is Steve's update.

I've been in Berkeley since the end of August and have been trying to develop a routine. Many of Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) seminarians and faculty are up early for Morning Prayer, classes, daily Eucharist, lunch, more classes, Work Study, Evening Prayer, perhaps more classes and lots and lots of studying. I participate in a Biblical Hebrew study group on top of required discussion sections. It takes a great deal of energy to keep up with the readings and papers and this is OK since it helps combat the times when I miss being at home with Francisco and the doggies.

The CDSP community has a distinct personality. We are one block up from the North Gate of the "Cal" campus, surrounded by a number of other seminaries, and one of the best theological libriaries in the United States. Each entering class helps shape and is in turn shaped by the broad mixture of Episcopalians that find their way to this "holy hill". Surprising to me were the number of High Church folk within my entering class and the greater community.  Our liturgy professor spent a few years as a priest at Church of the Advent of Christ the King and I look forward to her lecture each week. The professors have high expectations; many of them are ordained and serve in local congregations throughout the East Bay. Each class prods and pokes at my prejudices and preconceived notions of what it means to be a person of faith in the modern world.

Living in close proximity to budding church leaders (read type A personalities) and folks from all around the United States and the globe, we rub off on each other. Some times we rub each other the wrong way. All of this comes together under what is called "formation". Mirriam-Webster defines formation as an act of giving form or shape to something taking form. We, the seminarians, are that something taking form. So everything becomes part of the learning process.

Everything we choose to do, and there is a superabundance of things to do, shapes us into something different than what we once were. Last week my head was so full of early martyrs, Hebrew vocabulary, history, legends, myths, traditions, local and national issues facing the Episcopal Church and the wider church, that even my dreams were effected.

Recently CDSP was awarded a grant to assist the work of the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music in collecting and developing theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same-gender relationships. Before coming to CDSP I was praying about the posibility of somehow being involved in this work, and today my prayers were answered. The project manager has just hired me as part of the Work Study Program as the Same-gender Blessings Project Assistant. Though I'm just putting in a few hours working on the computer, scanning documents, and doing whatever is needed, I'm blessed to be in proximity to this important work.

Father Davies mentioned to me that you pray for Shireen and me each day. We truly need it. Thank you for your love and support. I can feel it all the way up north in Berkeley.

Sincerely in Christ, 

Steve De Muth

P.S.  Visit my blog on life in seminary: http://2festinalente.blogspot.com/