Over the weekend I attended a birthday party with my daughters. One of their neighborhood friends was celebrating her 7th birthday. It's always uncomfortable going to a party like this as an adult, not knowing anyone else but the host. But I did strike up an interesting conversation with someone I discovered also lived in the neighborhood. His name is Hal. And the commonality we shared is the seminary experience.
Hal has just completed his first year in seminary via distance learning. I completed my seminary training over 5 years ago. Hal is of the Methodist tradition. And what we discussed at length was not so much our differences in theology, but our differences in polity. What I mean by polity is how your Church body organizes and governs itself. We compared and contrasted each others. he had not learned much about Lutheranism in general and certainly almost nothing about how the LCMS governs itself. So I think the afternoon was certainly fruitful for him. And while I studied Methodists before, talking with someone intimately involved within that denomination put flesh and blood on the facts and words on a page.
Lesson learned: get to know more people from other Christian traditions.
