The Winter Banquet that was hosted by the Student Council of my seminary hosted is simply an amazing reminder of why I love my school! It is the weekend between classes and finals and is a pure joy. So many of us getting together to celebrate God's goodness to us. There is good food! We get to dress up. One professor did a dramatic performance of one of the shepherd's account of the nativity which was both hilarious and moving. One tech-savy student put together a gag-reel of out-takes from interviews with the professors on campus. It was a beautiful example of the joy that the people that make up this seminary have in being together. We had a live band and fun times dancing like fools.
It's been delightful to spend a goodamount of time in St. Louis without school work to do. There has beenlots of movie watching with roommates. There have been board gamesplayed with friends. There was playing in the snow. A Presbyterianministry called, “Christian Education and Publications” hosted anational Youth and Family Ministry conference on campus that Iattended. The goal was less focused on teaching and equipping andmore on encouraging and it was restful to sit under good teaching tobe reminded of what is important in Youth Ministry.
Earlier this week the governor declared a State of Emergency for the "brutal winter storm" that was looming over us. Classes were cancelled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It turned out to be a great sound and fury signifying nothing. Granted, we did get a decent amount of snow and there definitely was a lot of ice, it just didn't quite live up to the "Snowpolcalyspe" that was promised. There was lots of hot chocolate and sledding and movies. Today is Thursday and is only our third day of classes despite the semester having started last week!