Becca Seely, a member of this congregation, is pursuing a Master’s Degree at Yale Divinity School in New Haven. I have invited her to send us a brief reflection each month on her experiences there. This is the fifth installment.
Pr. Parsons

I wrote a Link article a few months ago about the diversity of worship here at Yale. Although I was quite sincere in my description, by “diverse” I mostly meant “Episcopalian.” I was not raised in church, so attending St. JME has been formative for me. From that perspective, most non-Lutheran church services feel new and different. Last semester, I had an assignment to attend a service in a tradition with which I was unfamiliar. I went to a Baptist church and it blew my mind. Hymns were projected onto a screen and the sermon was forty five minutes long! This semester, however, I am getting even further outside my comfort zone. I am taking a course on Pentecostal and Charismatic theology and it is fascinating. Speaking in tongues and faith healing make hymn powerpoints seem pretty tame. Although undoubtedly many Lutherans have a more Pentecostal experience of religion than I do, for me it is a totally different way of understanding the human relationship with God. Admittedly, I approached the subject with some skepticism, but through this course I have met Pentecostal students and learned about the blessing that they feel being filled by the Holy Spirit is in their lives. Although I don’t anticipate breaking out in tongues any time soon, I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn about and vicariously experience completely different ways of being Christian. I may sing “This is the Feast,” and you may lay on hands and prophesy, but we are all members of the body of Christ, and that is indeed a blessing.

Becca Seely