Student couples at ESR, Part I: Eva Abbott and Van Temple

In recent years, the ESR community has been blessed with the addition of several couples who have decided to pursue seminary studies together. In this series, we will profile our current couples-in-residence. Below we feature Eva Abbott (left in the photo) and Van Temple: 

When I (Eva) started working in pastoral care in 2012, I quickly realized I needed more knowledge and training to do it effectively. After taking two courses on-line through ESR, I applied for and was awarded a one year scholarship to continue my studies. Van was nearing the end of a four-year effort to create an affordable housing organization in New Orleans and needed a sabbatical for rest and discernment. Moving to Richmond and joining the ESR community have revitalized, deepened and directed our passion for justice. I’ve found academic study both exhilarating and exhausting, and Van has been thrilled to audit several ESR writing classes. We are both very grateful for the welcome and guidance from professors, administration and staff.

Professionally, Van has restarted his land trust consultant business, and I will be exploring ministry direction in my upcoming 9-month internship. I’m in conversation about a chaplaincy internship at the Veteran’s Hospital in Cincinnati and an advocacy position with a local nonprofit committed to community well-being and justice. Both of us have also gotten active in the local Indivisible resistance group and are watching, with wonder, something new emerging in us and in the community.

You can read the 2nd post in this series, on Elizabeth and John Edminster, here: http://esrquaker.blogspot.com/2017/03/student-couples-at-esr-part-ii.html 

Emma Churchman: Working the 7 Deadly Sins Into Your Business, Part II

ESR graduate Emma Churchman describes herself as "a business mentor with a seminary degree and mad-genius psychic skills." In her latest blog series, she explores the concept of the "7 Deadly Sins" and urges us to "actually look at what has stereotypically been called the 'shadow' side of your power – via the framework of the 7 Deadly Sins – as a way to motivate you towards a beautiful outcome in your business." Below is a preview of the four next posts in her series:

Wrath

Wrath, or Anger – can be an incredibly powerful force, because it represents passion. And passion can help us move past resistance. As we’ve explored in previous blogposts moving past your resistance is absolutely critical for your success as a conscious entrepreneur.

Your anger has to move you towards your goals – because it is really destructive to just hold anger in your own body. Folks who hold anger often experience symptoms like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, weight gain, migraines, and general body tension.

The beautiful thing about being a conscious entrepreneur is that you have the capacity to feel your emotions, and the emotions of others, exquisitely, but then it’s as easy to allow all of these emotions to get stuck in your body, especially anger!
So, how do you utilize anger in a healthy, productive way to reach your goals?

Read more here: https://emmachurchman.com/deadlysinwrath/

Quaker Water

Below is an excerpt from ESR MDiv student Jack Rowan's article appearing in the latest issue of Western Friend:

David Foster Wallace’s ideas are not revolutionary; indeed, they are the crux of nearly every civic ethics and religious catechism. However, the visceral examples and uncomfortable honesty he employed to make his points transformed the twenty-minute video of his commencement speech into a generational touchstone. In one example, he worked his audience into a cheering crowd by delivering a rant against arrogant, gas-guzzling, rude drivers with self-satisfied bumper stickers . . . and then he interrupts his own rant to make his point – that his audience’s ready cheers are exactly the sort of response he is encouraging them to resist. He emphasizes we must counteract our own arrogance and self-satisfaction, and resist our ready assumptions that we know who others are based on a few clues and our own self-focused immediate circumstances. He emphasizes, “It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.”

Yoga for a Messy World: Creating Calm in the Chaos

ESR MDiv graduate Steve Cleaver delivered the following message during Joint Seminary Worship in Bethany Theological Seminary's Nicarry Chapel on Friday, March 10, 2017:

Welcome-1

Welcome. My name is Steve Cleaver. This is “Yoga for a Messy World, Finding the Calm in the Chaos.” If you are look for the “Eschatological Humor of Martin Luther and John Calvin”, then this is not it. Bathrooms are out in the hallway. Note your exits. (points). There are no oxygen masks under your seats.

Silence, turn off, discard or destroy any technological devices that are going to distract or deter you from living in the present moment. If asking the question, What Would Jesus Do, he didn’t have a cell phone. At least it is never mentioned in the bible. None of this talk will come to you by text or phone. That I promise.

Any time you find yourself not in the present, you find your mind wandering into other places and times, wondering why you are here, wondering how soon is lunch or if you unplugged the iron, just tap your finger, and say quietly to yourself, this is my finger. Try it now. (pause) This is my finger. Your body is your portal into the present moment. Let’s meet there.

Emma Churchman: Working the 7 Deadly Sins Into Your Business

ESR graduate Emma Churchman describes herself as "a business mentor with a seminary degree and mad-genius psychic skills." In her latest blog series, she explores the concept of the "7 Deadly Sins" and urges us to "actually look at what has stereotypically been called the 'shadow' side of your power – via the framework of the 7 Deadly Sins – as a way to motivate you towards a beautiful outcome in your business." Below is a preview of her first two posts in the series:

Embracing Desire

The only force that is as powerful as our need for survival is DESIRE. Unfortunately, we’ve been taught by all kinds of “spiritual authorities” for thousands of years that desire is wrong.

We’re taught that we should be grateful for what we have. We shouldn’t want more, but be satisfied with our lives. This is especially true when our lives are pretty good.

There is nothing wrong with having a gratitude practice. Gratitude is beautiful!

If we practice gratitude in order to make ourselves feel better because we don’t think we can attain greater abundance, or we don’t think we deserve an even more abundant life, then suddenly having a gratitude practice causes us to settle. It creates a limitation.

“It could be worse” is not a reason to stay where we are!