A minor

In the comments to my previous post, Joel Wilhelm pointed out a Coldplay story in Q that confirmed my suspicions about "A Message." I had to see it for myself, so this morning I went to the magazine section at Books-A-Million and found the story in the current issue of Q. Turns out the song was inspired by the hymn. Lead singer Chris Martin also explains how "someone" - code for his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, according to Q - encouraged him to write a song based on the hymn.

The album was all but done; friends and associates said it was great but lacked "that one song" to complete it. "A Message" ended up being that song. After talking again with "someone" about writing a song based on the hymn, "someone" said maybe it would be that one song the album lacked. It was around 2 a.m., and Martin's first reaction was to lose his temper because he had already poured himself into the album to the point of exhaustion. Then he got up, grabbed a guitar, sat down and wrote the song in minutes, naked. It just happened. That's right, a Coldplay song inspired by one of the most beautiful English hymns and one of the most lovely Hollywood actresses and written by her naked husband in a matter of minutes in the wee hours of the morning. How bizarrely poetic is that?

A Rolling Stone interview confirms the hymn and the naked parts, but Q isn't free online (or in stores...sheesh, the cover price is almost ten dollars), so you'll have to go look it up yourself or trust Joel and me about the "someone" / Gwyneth Paltrow part. Come on, though, the guy was talking to someone at 2 a.m. naked. All I can say in my best Church Lady voice is, "That someone better have been Gwyneth, and of course it was. Unless, could it be . . . Satan?! No, no, we all know it was Gwyneth, and, well, isn't that special."

One of my favorite pastimes is researching graduate programs and seminaries. In fact, in many ways I think I've put off graduating for so long because I wanted to know what was next, but I'm sure there have been times when, in truth, I should have just focused on my undergraduate studies rather than researching grad schools. I know, I know, I'm a big nerd.

But lately I've been considering a few programs in particular and a slightly different overall direction in general. I'm thinking that I'll probably stay in Monroe for the next ten years or so, during which time I'll try to do the following (not necessarily in this order):

complete an MDiv from Melbourne, Western, or North Park Seminary, combining distance and traditional coursework. MA in ministry from Nashotah, or an MA in biblical studies and/or MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary; Nashotah speaks for itself, but RTS-Jackson's biblical studies/languages faculty is quite good: Van Pelt, Currid, Ireland, and Barcley. Plus, it has a first-rate counselling program under Hurley, together with the Center for Marriage and Family Therapy - one of the highest volume Christian clinics in the southern United States - under Richardson. There are also four "Common Cause" Anglican parishes in Jackson: Holy Trinity (AMiA), St Stephen's (REC), and Holy Apostles and Christ the Savior (both Kenyan).
receive ecclesiastical endorsement (and perhaps ordination as a deacon and/or presbyter) and complete the required four units / 1600 hours of CPE to become a board-certified chaplain.
either...
...or, less likely...
...or, even less likely...

If in ten or fifteen years I had accomplished some of this "from home," maybe I'd still feel like moving away for a while to pursue further studies in a place like Philadelphia, where:

if I were in full-time ministry or close to it, I could continue my education at Princeton Seminary, Biblical Seminary, Reformed Episcopal Seminary or Westminster.
if I had done the master's in library science, I could top-up my degree by getting certified as an archivist via Temple University's history department and possibily pursuing doctoral studies at Drexel, where students are often fully funded with grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
if I had gone in more of a teaching/academic direction, I could possibly pursue graduate studies in Near Eastern languages & civilizations / Jewish studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

I'm in no way set on Philadelphia; it's just an example of a good place where I could potentially kill multiple birds with one stone before moving back to Monroe. Other such examples are Houston, where there's Houston Graduate School of Theology, Cranmer House, and Rice's graduate program in religious studies; Jackson, where I could stay in my current FedEx Kinko's district, work with one of the "Common Cause" Anglican churches, continue my education at RTS and/or WBS, and do my Clinical Pastoral Education at Mississippi Baptist Health Center; Seattle, where there's Bakke Graduate University of Ministry, Mars Hill Church and the Acts 29 Network; and Portland, where there are hospital chaplaincy tracks in the MDiv programs at both George Fox and Multnomah, Rex Koivisto, and Mission Portland. All ideas are subject to change, of course, and I'll be doing good to accomplish a fraction of the above. We'll see what happens.

See also the following, more recent posts: "Another Seminary Post," "Melbourne MDiv," North Park Seminary," "Why Hospital Chaplaincy?," "Denver Programs," "Dreams," "Biblical Seminary," and "Perkins Anglican Track."

Updated May 2007