a lighter moment

Greetings again from Cairo. We have the opportunity here to celebrate Christ's resurrection twice (actually don't we do it every Sunday?), once by the western church calendar which you will be doing shortly, and almost a month later by the eastern church dating. The pictures I want to show you are of a "community day" held recently for students, faculty and staff, and seminary workers. Although most of the 150 students are housed at the seminary during the week, many of them return to their home churches to serve on the weekends. This event, which helps to build community was on Saturday, March 8th, the third one this year which serves as a relaxing, fun time for staff and students. The next one, in a few weeks, will be a trip to St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai. I am planning to attend and will comment on it in my next blog. Also, in the background of this photo are two of the three buildings of the seminary. The one on the left houses several faculty families, and the other is the administrative office building and classrooms. Classes are about half way into the spring term, and plans are being made for the fall schedule, which will begin in late September.

An additional aim of the seminary, along with the training of pastors for parish work in this context, and teachers through the master's program which I am directing this year, is to equip the faculty further for its work through providing fellowships for their advanced study abroad. Several faculty members have completed Ph.D. degrees in Europe and the United States. The girl and boy pictured to the left are not examples of this, but rather are the children of three faculty members. The young girl is one of two children in the seminary's chaplain family, (the father hopes to begin advanced study soon in Europe), and the young boy (you can guess some of the family history here) of the couple where the father is to be awarded a Ph.D. from Edinburgh, Scotland this spring. The mother is well on her way to finishing her Ph.D. dissertation at the same school. You can find out more information about the Kennedys and Chaplain Ephraim on the seminary web site (etsc@etsc.org.). The financial support of churches in the United States and in Europe is essential in this. If you are interested in more infomation, you can contact me at: roger@etsc.org. The Graduate Studies committee helps to oversee this program.

A blessed Holy Week and Easter to all. Roger.