Life in Seminary (2)

SPIRITUAL FORMATION

What happens when a student graduates from a seminary intellectually stimulated and equipped but spiritually unnourished? What happens when a student leaves the seminary with a theological degree, but at the same time brings along with him low self-esteem and emotional baggage as a result of the hurts that were inflicted upon him while he was in the seminary?

Many students that I know graduate from the seminary in such bad state. This, I suspect is the result of seminary's overemphasis on intellectual formation and underemphasis on spiritual formation. Looking at my own seminary, it is fair to say that there is no lacking of programs and activities catered for the nourishment of our spirit. We are required to attend chapel services every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On every Wednesday, we gather in smaller groups (called pastoral group) headed each by a lecturer to have our small fellowship. Now and then, we are also required to attend special occasions such as Day of prayer and fasting etc.

However, are we so naive to believe that the tons of sermons (sometimes ill-prepared by the lecturers probably due to their busy schedule), the countless worship services and prayer meetings will be adequate for our spiritual formation? Certainly, these programs have beneficial effects on our spiritual health, but they are still impersonal programs or platforms that should take on a secondary role in our spiritual formation.

If that is so, what or who takes on a primary role in our spiritual formation? There can be none other than our lecturers! When Jesus spent his last 3 years on earth with his disciples, he did not plan out a hectic schedule of 'spiritual' programs for his disciples and then disappeared and watched from a distance. On the contrary, Jesus walked alongside them, journeyed together with them and shared in their struggles and joy. While journeying together with them, Jesus was forming their lives.

As much as the chapel services and prayer meetings may be beneficial to us (sometimes otherwise due to the ill-prepared services and sermons), yet what we need even more is a personal, human encounter with "the other". We need lecturers who are not legalistic policemen who watch us from afar, waiting to pound on us when imperfect human beings like us fail to abide with the rules or policies of the institution. We need lecturers who are not academic policemen who discourages and warns us when we fail to meet the academic requirements. We need lecturers who are not rushing bees that are so busy that we dare not approach them outside classroom hours lest we waste their precious time.

We need lecturers who like Jesus to his disciples, are willing to walk alongside us and journey together with us. We need lecturers who see themselves as our spiritual guides and are seriously serious to be responsible of our spiritual formation. We need lecturers who sincerely care, who genuinely listen and who sacrificially willing to help us in our struggles.

Without such lecturers, all the external rituals (chapel services and prayer meetings etc.) are meaningless. Without such lecturers, the soul of the students are left unnourished. Without such lecturers, intellectual equipping alone is futile as a holistic formation involves both the mind AND the soul.

To be continued...