The beginning of the end
Sunday, 04 December, 2005
The last two exams were fine, though I was a bit of a blubbering mess just before Biblical Theology (for reasons other than the exam). I answered:
Biblical Theology
- What help does Biblical Theology provide the systematic Theologian?
- Explain the significance of the call of Abraham to an understanding of Biblical Theology.
- What light does Biblical Theology throw on ONE of the following issues? e) homosexuality.
and walked out half an hour early. Unfortunately my bag was trapped in the Lower Lecture Room and I went back and forth between the front office and the DBK Centre trying to get the right key to free it. I walked home and immediately started studying for Doctrine 1. Almost being at the end of the run of exams, however, meant that my motivation was pretty low. I finished writing summaries at 3 am and went to bed.
In the morning, I learned my summaries. We walked to college and had lunch. I finished memorising stuff sitting outside the DBK centre just before the exam began.
The Doctrine 1 exam was quite straightforward. We had to answer 5 questions out of 14 and the fare was pretty standard (e.g. “What does it mean ‘to know God’?”, “ How is God revealed to us?”) They say you can probably pass Doctrine 1 by just sitting in a good Bible teaching church for 5 years and they're probably right. My personal favourite was, “Why do Christians worship Jesus as God?” (Because he IS! Duh!) I answered:
Doctrine 1
- Should we call the Bible “the Word of God”?
- Can you be a Christian without believing the doctrine of the Trinity?
- Outline the Christian understanding of what it means to be human.
- What has the Holy Spirit done for believers?
- What is the church and what is it for?
and walked out an hour early. I even managed to retrieve my bag. I had to stick around because the Graduating Students' Dinner was on that evening so I sat on the steps outside the DBK centre and knitted. Members of the Moore College Board walked by on their way to some official meeting. Fi finished and came out and sat with me. There were all these college wives with their kids running around, holding party poppers and balloons. Fi explained they were fourth year wives who were waiting for their husbands to come out so they could congratulate them on finishing. She went off to congratulate her own husband and then the rest of my year arrived, jubilantly celebrating the end of the exams.
Most people were heading off to the Malborough for a drink but Ben and I went to the Ice & Slice for gelato with a bunch of other people. Tho invited us to hang at Chappo House before the dinner but on the way we had the delightful surprise of running into Little who was on her way to congratulate Seamus for finishing. We were there talking so long that it was time to go into the dinner.
Everyone was dressed up very nicely compared to us. We felt a little bit out of place. In addition, most of the people were third and fourth years. Ben and I wound up on a table with a couple of the Jenners plus some third years. We were getting pretty tired by that stage. The food was okay—the beef too salty and the lemon meringue pie too lemony—and I nearly dozed off during Michael Hill's speech but it was a nice dinner and it was a nice way to end the year. Afterwards we got a lift home with the Jenners.
And then it was the last day. Ben and I slept in and walked in to college for chapel. Wives and kids were also there so it was pretty packed. Michael Hill preached and spoke on much the same topic as the night before but I think I was better able to listen. We had communion and they ran out of bread and juice because there were so many people. Some of the girls said to me afterwards how exciting it was to see everything they had learnt over the year coming together—in the songs, in the Bible readings, in the creed and confession, etc.
Then speeches were made and gifts were given to farewell the Raiters who are going off to Victoria where Mike is going to be principal of the Bible College of Victoria. We gave them a large framed photograph of Sydney harbour plus a Sydney Swans scarf and jersey (to make him really popular with the Victorians!) As he was saying thank you, he got a bit teary!
We also thanked and farewelled the senior students, welcomed the new ones on board, watched some very amusing videos the senior students had put together and then it was time for the faculty-student debate. The topic was “Old dogs can't teach new tricks” and the faculty were on the affirmative. Their team consisted of Mike Raiter (who managed to use every lecturer's name in a pun in his speech), Michael Hill and Bill Salier (whose speech was my favourite—especially the random bit with the lyrics from “My Sharona” which he had Googled just that morning and whose speech seemed pretty random but still managed to tie everything together at the end to prove his point). The students were nowhere near as brilliant, though they were very amusing—particularly Linden saying that we ought to side with the students being the winners of the debate because Fourth Year—the Year of Whingers—was single-handedly responsible for for the 30% decrease in workload which will take place from 2006 onwards.
At the end of the debate, the bursar who was acting as referee got up and made this really long speech about soccer rules and how they applied them to each member of each debating team and he went on for about 20 mins—so much so that Rod Farraway had to ring the bell several times trying to get him to stop so that we could all go out to lunch. And then at the end of his spiel he declared the debate a TIE!!! Aaarggh!!
The whole of college had lunch together and it was a sausage sizzle with lots of yummy salad. Unfortunately, because of the poor weather, we had to sit inside. Hans, Philip Swan and the guy who plays the bass whose name I don't know were funking it up in the DBK centre with jazz music. I managed to catch up with Tim and Liz and little Miriam (who was doing little smiles in her pram). And then Dani came over with a card and told me that for the entire week they had been hoping that I'd stay right to the very end of an exam instead of going home so they could give me this card and say thank you for putting up my notes on the web—“We've all gotten through first year, thanks to you!” she said. I thought that was really sweet of her and everyone else!
And then all these people came up to give hugs and say goodbye and then it started to hit me that my life was now going to change in a B I G way and that I wouldn't see some of these people whom I'd been seeing everyday Monday to Friday any more and some of them I probably wouldn't be seeing again until, God-willing, heaven itself, because they were going back home—home overseas or home out of state or home a long long way away from Sydney. And even if they were staying on at college, I wouldn't see them because I'd no longer be at college. The enormity of it all was just starting to sink in. I should have been prepared for it but I wasn't; part of me still thought that I'd be rocking up to class on Monday, ready to hear another interesting lecture on the Bible.
I was supposed to be organising a social thing with the rest of my chaplaincy group but I couldn't find them and I had to go to my women's chaplaincy group afternoon tea thing. We all squeezed into Fi's house in Little Queen St and ate cake, drank tea and talked about the holidays. Everyone was going away or doing stuff except for me. We prayed for each other and then I walked home feeling like another door had closed in my life.
Ben wasn't back yet and the car was still there for some reason. Elsie showed up not long after with lots of bags and stuff. She and I went down to the IGA and I bought some bits and pieces for the dinner that evening with Guan and Mary, Loretta and Kenny and Arnjali and Maheesha. I was making spag bol for the first time in pretty much a year and it was nice just standing in the kitchen chopping stuff and stirring stuff and talking with Elsie about MTS stuff, ministry stuff and depression stuff.
Ben arrived with the rest of the stuff I needed for dinner to make a green salad. Then everyone else started to arrive and miraculously they had all found the place okay (must be my wonderful instructions!) and sat around happily chatting in the lounge room while occasionally one of them would come and ask if I needed help in the kitchen. Remembering Ainsley Poulos' elective on Hospitality, I calmly delegated so the whole dinner was pretty much a no-stress affair. When the Sabapathies turned up, we sat down to eat and, as usual, I had massively over-catered (okay, you don't need 1.5kg mince to make spag bol for 9 people, especially if they're having salad too). Guan helped me to do a bit of washing up after dinner and talked to me about CBT (which I think I might probably need to do at some stage). I also got to catch up with Arnjali which was lovely because I'd been meaning to catch up with her all year.
Desert was this fabulous peanut and chocolatey thing Guan had made (both Uns are super cooks) and mango jelly that Elsie had made. So yummy! Everyone stayed until it was fairly late and then all said their farewells.
Even though I was a bit apprehensive about having people over (given the state of the house which isn't a pig sty but hasn't been cleaned properly since we moved in), I was glad that I arranged to have something nice on that night. It made finishing college a bit less of a sad thing and it was nice to just chill out and relax with friends I felt comfortable with.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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