If you can't tell already, I have never kept a blog before. I have never published my ideas, experiences, and thoughts publicly. This is a totally new experience. And yet, it seems fitting to start one now, as I am on the brink of another totally new experience - that of CPE. CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education, and it is a required component for those seeking to be ordained in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). I myself am in that group - I just finished my first year of seminary at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. And now here I am in my new apartment in Chicago...
I don't really know how this experience will go...(I was referring first to blogging, and then realized I feel the same about CPE tonight...) My reason and interest in keeping a blog during this time in my life (and who knows if it might extend further?) is as an outlet and a place of processing... I hope that having motivation to write about my experiences in a format that will be seen by others and not just myself will force me to sort out whatever needs to be...my thoughts, feelings, experiences... I know this summer (did I say I'm just doing CPE for the summer?) will be challenging personally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually...and I'd like a way to motivate myself to write about it regularly. I don't find that journaling always does that for me...I do journal quite often, but really I go through phases and I might feel less inclined to journal this summer than to blog...
So here I am. Here we are. At the beginning. It's the night before I begin. A little more about CPE - I'm doing one unit, which is typically done over the summer. You can also do it over the course of a semester, or there are year-long CPE programs. The ELCA simply requires me to do one unit. CPE is typically done in a hospital setting, gaining practical experience as a Chaplain Extern (as my hospital ID badge says). I will be in a group of eight students, five are fellow seminarians, though not from my seminary and I doubt I know them. One of the others is a priest, and the last has done CPE before. As far as I know, I have not met any of these people previously. We all go through the experience together, meeting as a group to talk about our experiences, work through our personal issues, and hone our skills for conflict management. We are led by a supervisor, who is a hospital chaplain. I will meet all of these people tomorrow (less my supervisor who I met face-to-face last week), and find out more about what exactly we'll be doing. From what I know this week will consist mainly of orientation matters.
That seems like a good place to start, and a good place to finish my first blog. Feel free to leave comments or contact me should you have any questions or want further information. Thanks for being on this journey with me - I am happy to have your company, thoughts, prayers, love, hugs, phone calls, emails, etc.
Anticipant, hopeful, and a little nervous,
Kirsten
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