Exeter update: teaching and church

Dear friends, family, colleagues, and all,

Last week was a very rich week, and there are interesting things to report!

The autumn term started here at the U. of Exeter, and I am sitting in on and providing teaching assistance for an entry level theology course that my PhD advisor is teaching. Each Thursday afternoon, all the students (over 50 of them!) come together in a small lecture hall to hear my advisor lecture and take part in group activities. Then each Friday, on a permanent basis, the students are divided into three groups, which meet separately for one hour to go into more depth on the assigned readings for the week. This entry level theology course is for first year undergrad students, freshmen as we would call them, and I was very, very impressed with their level of involvement, and with the questions they asked and answers they put forth.

I also met a couple of people last week, including another PhD student and a professor, who specialize in areas related to what I am working on, and I was very excited about these new connections.

Church on Sunday was also a highlight!  It was Harvest Sunday in the worship service, followed by the Harvest brunch.  I'll start backwards by talking about the brunch first!

I did bring food, some ginger and carrot cakes I bought at a local store that sources its products from local farmers and bakers, but I was afraid to stay for the brunch and be alone or unknown, because this was only my third Sunday at this church.  But a woman invited me to sit with her, and the group that formed at our table was quite interesting. The brunch was interesting too. They are very organized and orderly.  You have to wait to be invited to go up to the pot luck buffet table for the main dishes. Then, you have to wait again to be invited to go up to the dessert table --- and this was a very long wait, although I didn't want dessert.

Another of the treats at the Harvest Brunch was that they had a quintet playing the piano, french horn, clarinet, oboe, and flute.  They played some music at the beginning, before we ate, but I had no idea that they were going to perform a concert for us after we finished eating.  The concert was about a half-hour long, and included a combination of very beautiful and classical musical pieces about autumn or the seasons, one singing number, and several poetry readings.  I have never been to something like this at a church, as part of a brunch, and I thought it was a lovely "gift" of music and poetry.

Finally, I loved the worship service yesterday morning. It was a service in honor of the harvest, and also in honor or remembrance of all who suffer from food shortages or who are hungry, and all who labor to grow or produce the foods that we eat.  It also was about things we could do differently to help with food crises, and it included people bringing up to the front of the church their donations of food for three food pantries or charities in Exeter. The service was led by the Elders of the church (about 10 of them) and some young boy and girl scouts (that may not be what they are called).  There were skits, demonstrations about the shortage in the world of farmable land, and special prayers and hymns.  I picked up some good pointers, including some good prayers and hymns about creation and God as creator!

That's all for now.
Jane