Seminary Blog
The voice of the Seminary Community, with new articles each Friday written by Students, Faculty, and Friends.
The Seminary Resumes On-Site
On September 3, the Seminary of the Christian Community in Toronto began another year with nine students, many of whom had waited many years to arrive due to many circumstances, including the recent travel restrictions. Students came from around the world, Peru, Chile, Brazil, the United States, Russia and the UK. The Seminary experience began with a moving Sacrament of Marriage conducted by Rev. Patrick Kennedy. This was a fitting beginning, as the overarching theme for this year's Seminary studies is Christ's redemptive deed on Golgotha and continued redemptive work in the sacraments.
Greek in the Seminary: Impressions
Studying Biblical Greek is an important part of the Seminary curriculum. It allows students to immerse themselves even more into the world of the New Testament and helps them find more tools to work with the Scriptures. In the Fall of 2021, an online introductory Seminary course in the New Testament Greek was attended by both Knowing Christ and Distance Learning students. It was taught by Daniil Kalinov, who has taken over this position from Rev. Matthias Giles.
In this blog post, you can read a few impressions of this course from the students.
The Journey of “Dying” and “Becoming” in a Process of Art
The Journey of “Dying” and “Becoming” in a Process of Art, Article posted by Silke Chatfield
Art classes with Regine Kurek are always very inspiring.
We have worked on individual paintings up until the Easter break, working with only one or two colours at the time. Slowly the third colour was added, exploring the Goethean colour wheel exercises. After the Easter break, Regine had something very different in mind for us. Rather than working on individual pieces, we were led into working on one large piece over a period of 5 weeks. This exercise was based on the “Seven Life Processes”…
The Beloved Community, May 30th to June 3rd, 2022
The Beloved Community 2022 Article posted by Silke Chatfield
The past week saw a very special event in the life of the Seminary. For the past three years there had been a series of talks on the theme of “Beloved Community”. Its tender roots started growing out of the worldwide Covid pandemic, a time when the people could no longer meet in person.
How does Community building happen when people are physically separated?
Ordinations 13th to 15th of May 2022
Ordinations 13th to 15th of May 2022 Article posted by Silke Chatfield
Last week we all came together to celebrate the Ordinations of four new priests.
What a truly inspiring event it was!
People from far and near gave their willing hands and time to prepare for this weekend, from sorting out accommodation to setting up tables and chairs. It was community building in action! Much was helped by the warm sunshine, the leaves and flowers that suddenly burst forth with vigour.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth: Christ’s Priestly Prayer
Links to the Seminary’s The Light in Every Thing Podcasts on Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel in the spirit of the Ordinations held May 14 - 15th, 2022
Episode 1 asks the following question: “What does it mean to be a Community of Christians within the wider world today?” Then, Episode 2 asks: “Who are we to be in this world as Christians?” Finally, Episode 3 asks the question: “How do we find true protection in this world?”
Ordinations May 14-15, 2022 Toronto, Canada
Preparations are under way for the Ordinations, May 14 - 15th, 2022
The altar and Sunday point to the central Christian Sacrament, the Communion. This sacrament, as all inner striving and endeavours in this spirit, contains the continuing mystery of Christ and the Sun, working into the future; that is how it seeks entry to the inner being of Christians.
Rudolf Frieling
from The Hope of the World, Floris Books
The Priesthood of the I: An Interview with Rev. Jonah Evans
Article offered by Janna de Vries of an interview with Rev. Jonah Evans preceded by an introduction by Daniil Kalinov
Could you share something about this imagination; what does the North American Seminary strive for in the development of a priest-to-be?
Our main impulse for the seminary is to help cultivate in the students a conscious, free, heartfelt, prayer-filled relationship with Christ Jesus. This being is the god of the human ‘I’, he carries our true I in himself, and when he comes close, he speaks: “I am your true I and I bestow it on you when we have a relationship.” We work with questions like, “How can I begin to find my truest self in him?” And then, “How can I start to find that at the altar?” and then, from the altar, “How can I turn and try to find that in you?” We need human beings that can be priests in the priesthood of the I, the new mystery.
Notes from the Seminary: Chapel Anniversary, Holy Week, Good Friday Workshop on Jonah’s Sign
Article by Marc Delannoy
On Palm Sunday, April 10th, 2022, the 20th Anniversary of the Chapel of the Congregation of the Christian Community in Toronto was celebrated. I am sad not to have been present but am very pleased to see the photos displayed in the foyer and the book produced for the occasion.
Interestingly, I see in many photos my home congregation’s priest, Rev. Susan Locey. Year after year, month after month, she has been so steadfastly coming to my home congregation in Ottawa by making the five-hour drive from Toronto to offer my tiny affiliate community the Act of Consecration. What wonder to see how Susan was so instrumental in bringing about the building of the Toronto chapel for the local congregation!
On War, Hate and Violence
Article written by Daniil Kalinov
There are many works of art that can be called “anti-war”. It seems that every major conflict in the 20th century brought together with it a host of films, books, poems and musical pieces that would like to help digest such a traumatic experience. Their goal is to understand why such a terrible event could happen, how could we make meaning of it, and what can be done so that it doesn’t repeat itself. And, as the current events show, we still have a long way to go before we can reach satisfactory answers to such questions. So, in this essay, I would like to share my thoughts on these topics, starting with one particular “anti-war” film. This film is “Come and See” by Elem Klimov. It depicts, in an almost hyperrealistic style, the atrocities that have happened to the civilians in Belarus under Nazi occupation. And at first it can seem that this is what the film aims to do: to simply confront the viewer with the reality of these events. However, what reveals the true genius of the director is the final scene which goes far beyond recreating the events in a documentary fashion. And this scene is what I would like to zero in on.
“What does love look like on Zoom?”
Article written by Claudia Pfiffner
What does love look like in our thinking, feeling, and willing?
This question came up at the end of Rev. Patrick Kennedy's presentation on the Trinity Epistle during a "Living with Christ" class.
I reflected upon this question and what came to mind is the current situation of considering whether to move from online back to in-person meetings.
Zoom meetings have become so familiar to us…
Chronos and Kairos
by Claire Jerram
As a Waldorf teacher in the early grades, I often wished for more time to prepare for the many hours with the students. My colleagues in the middle school complained of the opposite problem: enough time to prepare, but too little time with the students. Yet even they had two hours a day. Compared with a teacher, a priest may not spend two hours with a congregant in the space of several weeks.
“Living with Christ” - In Person and Online
Article by RC
Perhaps sometimes my heart is too closed to the experience, or maybe other people or other factors prevent it for me; but the fact that it sometimes doesn’t work, just underlines the amazingness of all those times that the experience that I’ll call the feeling of the presence of Christ Jesus does actually happen. I credit my participation in this [‘Living with Christ”] group with helping me draw closer to Jesus and to deeper participation in the life of the Christian Community in recent years. I am now in year two of the seminary’s “Distance Learning Program” (DLP2) and I try to attend the services as often as I can.
Light Bulb Moments
by Silke Chatfield
Stepping through the door of the Seminary is like stepping into another world.
Outwardly, not so much different; there is community, laughter, joy, an endless supply of good coffee and snacks and of course the daily celebration of the Act of Consecration of Man.
Inwardly it is a different story, for me anyway. When the “Knowing Christ” group (the program for the first year at the Seminary) started the studies at home in the Fall Semester, we were all separated and only connected via zoom. We began by reading through the four Gospels, reading one or two chapters each day. This was a new experience for me.
Letters to the Ground: Ordination Preparation Group
by Damien Gilroy, Erica Maclennan, Nigel Lumsden and Robert Bower
Beloved Ground,
You are the sublime yet humble counter-balance to the infinite periphery and magnitude of the cosmos. You are the most precious life bearing blue and glistening jewel of all the worlds. You are beloved of gods, glorified and nurtured by divine spirits. Yet so little are we humans conscious and grateful for your majesty in all existence. It is time now to try to speak some words of recognition to you, O ground, of how you benefit our earthly lives and spiritual evolution.
Participating in the Act of Consecration of Man: Once a Month or Twenty-Four Times a Month
by Claudia Pfiffner
I am a member of the Ottawa affiliate of the Toronto Christian Community congregation. Once a month Reverend Susan Locey from Toronto visits Ottawa and celebrates the Act of Consecration of Man. The service is held in a rented room in an old high school building where Polaris Waldorf School is also housed.
While studying at the Seminary I have experienced the Act of Consecration of Man almost every day. It is held in the beautiful, large, and purpose-built chapel of the church building of the congregation of the Christian Community in Toronto.
About the Seminary Patreon Podcast “The Light in Every Thing”
By Lory Widmer Hess
In their conversations, Jonah and Patrick demonstrated not just a what, a lump of information, but a how, a method of taking in, digesting, discerning, reflecting and summarizing experience or content that truly brings it to a higher level. I found the listening to be an amazing journey of discipleship in itself, one that I could return to again and again.
