A Labor of Love

I was recently a part of an exercise that can best be described as “speed dating.” Along with a couple dozen other UTS students, we rotated from room to room, trying to put our best face forward as representatives from area congregations did the same. It’s internship placement time at UTS.

Students in the Master of Divinity program are expected to do a minimum of two internships (well, three if you count the “mini-internship” the typical first-year student does in the mix). I am currently in the throes of my clinical pastoral education (CPE) unit at a large hospital. Next year I'll be doing my congregational internship with one of my speed dates.

It’s a combination of exciting and nerve-wracking to be in this position of entering a relationship with a congregation I’ve barely had a first date with, but I also have hope it will work out in the end. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started my CPE experience and now can’t imagine how anything else can be more fulfilling than being present with people who are sometimes simultaneously at their best and at their worst in the life-or-death situations at the hospital. Now I’m looking at the specter of congregational ministry. I’m uncertain if I’m cut out to work in congregations, but that’s pretty much how I felt when I entered my chaplaincy internship. 

These degree requirements are extraordinarily difficult. They’re time-consuming and are a much different learning experience than sitting in a classroom. But they are also an opportunity to apply what we’ve learned in an academic setting and make a real difference in the lives of others. On the days when it seems unbearable to pick up one more book or write one more paper, I reflect on how I’ve touched the lives of others and how they’ve entered my heart, and I stretch and grab my highlighter and get back to my studies. It’s a labor of love, and it’s time to learn to get to know a new love in my life.

- Jayne Helgevold, MDiv student