The March toward Friday

So I am slowly marching towards Ords on Friday.  These are lovely tests administered by the Presbyterian Church (USA) that all candidates must take and pass prior to being ordained.  There are technically five exams.  Bible Content is a multiple-choice bible quiz that most people start taking their first year.  I took that one and passed it my first year of seminary.  The other four, Worship and Sacraments, Theology, Exegesis, and Polity are normally taken during the third year of seminary.  In my case, I started early, and took Exegesis and Polity last February and passed them both.  So, I am two ahead of the game so far.  The thing with polity and exegesis is that they’re entirely open book so you don’t need to study a whole lot.  Theology and Worship on the other hand, that’s not the case.  The first part on both of them is open book, but after that its all closed book.  I think my knowledge of scripture, classical theology and contemporary theology is strong enough that I should be okay on theology, unless I get some really really weird question.  Worship I’m more concerned about.  I took a Theology and Practice of Christian Worship class my first year, and have used the syllabus to that class to help me prepare so I should be alright.  We’ll see.  So much of it is hit and miss, whether you get a question and can figure out what they’re looking for and write a coherent response in the hour you have to work on the question.  Basically I’ll spent six hours in the computer lab on Friday writing away.  If I pass, I’m that much closer to being ordained.  If I fail, I’ll take them again in February.  

Really this whole post has been an attempt to waste time so I don’t have to study… but I suppose I really should go study now.