A Petition
So...I've decided to circulate a petition in my senior class. Now, I've never really been the "circulate a petition" type, but I feel really strongly about this issue. I recently found out that the seminary announces the winners of several different awards and prizes at our graduation ceremony. What this usually means is that a small handful of our about 70 graduating Master of Divinity students will get special recognition at our graduation ceremony (often, a few students get multiple awards). To me, this feels really wrong. I have no problem with people getting awards (I will be applying for a couple, I think), but on a day when we are all celebrating three years of work, and the journey it took to get us through seminary, I just don't think it's right to make it a day of hierarchy. (Also, I have a satirical piece coming out in an underground campus newspaper this week, on the issue of awards; and felt this was a necessary supplement to that.) Here are the words of the petition, we'll see what happens:
I am a graduating senior, and I am signing this petition to express my desire that the names of those M.Div. students who win awards and prizes not be announced, out loud, during the graduation ceremony taking place on May 20, 2006. I believe that this should be an occasion where we can all, as a class, feel equally honored and celebrated for our years of hard work here at Columbia Theological Seminary. I do not feel it would be uplifting to the body of Christ to express greater honor to certain members of the graduating class, but could instead create an environment of disappointment, pride, comparison, and competition that are not the marks of the celebratory, nurturing, Christian community that we feel called to. However, if it is necessary, the winners’ names may be printed in the graduation bulletin and other seminary newsletters.
I am a graduating senior, and I am signing this petition to express my desire that the names of those M.Div. students who win awards and prizes not be announced, out loud, during the graduation ceremony taking place on May 20, 2006. I believe that this should be an occasion where we can all, as a class, feel equally honored and celebrated for our years of hard work here at Columbia Theological Seminary. I do not feel it would be uplifting to the body of Christ to express greater honor to certain members of the graduating class, but could instead create an environment of disappointment, pride, comparison, and competition that are not the marks of the celebratory, nurturing, Christian community that we feel called to. However, if it is necessary, the winners’ names may be printed in the graduation bulletin and other seminary newsletters.
posted by bethany at 6:54 PM
2 Comments:
Keep me updated. I'll be interested in how the petition goes over.
I'll actually be there for graduation though so I guess I'll see if it flies.
Bethany, thanks for dropping by my blog. Sorry to imply that the way I was trained is the only way -- there is certainly no truth to that.
I have however had several Associate Pastors who have practically no experience in preaching, and if preaching is going to be a major part of one's ministry, one has to practice that art.
I suppose part of my feeling is that I've seen how stressful it can be to the church and the rest of the staff when an Associate comes on board who has enormous difficulty preaching even one sermon per month.
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