February 3, 2009 — 3:49 PM
Vocational Pearl Course Syllabus
Vocational Formation Pearl
(FT 1070) Spring 2009
Tuesdays 9 – 10 am
Scott 202-203
Instructor: The Rev. Leslie Veen
Montgomery 204
415.451.2834
lveen@sfts.edu
Course Description
This is a required course for students in the M.Div program at SFTS. It offers students the opportunity to take a deeper look into ministry settings and the students’ sense of call to ordained ministry. This course presupposes an understanding of Christian ministry which is Reformed and ecumenical. We will look at particular models of ministry in the Bay Area in dialogue with the texts and readings introduced in the course. The course will make use of a variety of learning activities and styles of interaction, including lectures, small groups, and guest presentations. The focus of the course papers is the student’s own sense of vocation in conversation with the pastoral and prophetic challenges of Christian ministry today.
Learning Goals
1. Develop a critical understanding of vocation by
a. exploring the historical understanding of vocation, and
b. reflecting on personal narratives of vocational calls by people in various ministry settings in the Bay Area.
2. Identify the experiential events in their own lives that contrast and collaborate with Christian vocation by
a. exploring the various purposes for vocation, and
b. identifying and articulating how and where these purposes intersect with the student’s own sense of call.
These will be demonstrated through papers presentations made in the course as well as through small group discussions.
Required Texts
1. Farnham, Suzanne G., Joseph P. Gill, R.Taylor McLean, and Susan M. Ward. Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community. Morehouse Publishing: Harrisburg, PA, 1991.
2. Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak. Jossey-Bass Inc.: San Francisco, 2000.
3. Zaragoza, Edward C. No Longer Servants, but Friends: A Theology of Ordained Ministry. Abingdon Press: Nashville, TN, 1999.
4. Course reader
5. One of the following:
a. Lamott, Anne. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. New York : Anchor Books, 2000.
b. Norris, Kathleen. The Cloister Walk. New York : Riverhead Books, 1996.
c. Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004.
Course Requirements
1. Prepare for and participate in all class sessions and small group discussions.
2. Weekly Note Card – Bring to each class a 4 x 6 card on which you respond to a portion of that day’s reading. You can present either a question that the reading spurs in your mind, a comment about the meaning of the content, or a comment about your subjective experience of the reading.
3. Five (5) Models of Ministry (MOM) reflection papers
a. 1/2 – 1 page each – 12 pt. type, double spaced
b. Due the class period following each visit of a minister from the Bay Area
c. Reflect on the ministry of the person and how it helps you to define more clearly your own sense of call to ministry.
4. Three (3) Reflection Papers
a. 3 March: Vocation and my sense of call
i. 2-3 page – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Define vocation as you understand it drawing on the course readings and other sources as appropriate.
iii. What is your own sense of call and vocation at this period in your life?b. 31 March: The narrative of another
i. 2-3 pages – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Reflect on the novel you choose to read: How does that author talk about vocation or a sense of call?
iii. How does this narrative help you to clarify your won sense of call?c. 12 May: Theology of vocation
i. 3-5 pages – 12 pt. type, double spaced
ii. Articulate your theology of ministry by reflecting on and integrating your faith, life, theological education, and vocational calling.
iii. What model of ministry is most useful to you as you think about your own calling? Servant? Friend? Another?
iv. Make a 3-5 minute presentation to the class outlining your theology of vocation and the model that you are using.
Course Schedule
3 February Introduction to the course
10 February Defining “Vocation”
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Bonhoeffer
- Buechner
- Frost
- Malcolm X
- Stotts
- H. Richard Niebuhr
- Clayton
- Rilke
- PC(USA) information
17 February Learning to Listen – Part I
Assignment:
- Palmer, Let Your Life Speak
- Selections from Course Reader from Rilke and Rumi
24 February Learning to Listen – Part II
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Hardy
- Badcock
- Sayers
- Chittister
- Heschel
- Rilke
3 March MOM: The Multi-staff Church Pastor
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Cather
- Hillman
- Articles from “In Trust”
- Rilke
- RumiPaper #1 due
* Rev. Joanne Whitt, Pastor/Head of Staff, First Presbyterian Church, San Anselmo
10 March MOM: The Small Church Pastor
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Neafsey chapters 1 + 2
- T. S. Eliot
- RumiMOM Paper #1 due
* Rev. Amy Seymour Haney, Pastor, Windsor Presbyterian Church, Windsor
17 March MOM: The Tent-maker
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Neafsey - remainder
- T. S. EliotMOM Paper #2 due
* Rev. Susan Ashton, Pastor/Minister of Coffee, Ocean Ave PC + Peets, San Francisco
24 March Reading Week
31 March MOM: Learning from novels
Assignment: One of the assigned novels – Lamott, Norris, or Robinson
MOM Paper #3 due
Paper #2 due
7 April MOM: The Chaplain
Assignment:
Selections from Course Reader
- Dawn
- Sarton
- Oliver* Rev. Carrie Buckner, Chaplain, Alta Bates Medical Center, Berkeley
14 April MOM: The Community Position
Assignment:
- Farnham, et al, Listening Hearts
- Selections from Course Reader from Rumi and Frost
MOM Paper #4 due* Rev. Megan Rohrer, Director, The Welcome Ministry, San Francisco
21 April Discernment: Hearing God’s Call
Assignment:
- Farnham, et al, Listening Hearts
- Selections from Course Reader from Frost
MOM Paper #5 due
28 April Theology of Ministry – Part I
Assignment: Zaragoza, No Longer Servants But Friends chapters 1 - 3
5 May Theology of Ministry – Part II
Assignment: Zaragoza, No Longer Servants But Friends chapters 4 - 5
12 May Theology of Vocation – Part III
Paper #3 and Class Presentation due
