Dear friends,
I am sure that if many of you would see me you would smile and ask me how I was doing. I, in my own way, would smile back and say, “great,” or “fine,” and ask you how you are doing. Such pleasant interactions are missed since this is a newsletter of sorts. I am in fact doing well. I am currently in Tallahassee, Fl working as an intern at a parish called St. Peter’s Anglican Church, where I am fulfilling internship requirements for my Masters of Divinity program at Nashotah House Theological School in Wisconsin. It is a blessing to be able to be doing and applying this specific kind of trade that I have been studying the last year. I am teaching an 8 week class on the book of Ecclesiastes, preaching, and helping with services.
Nashotah House is a unique place in that it forms future clergy for the work of the ministry by a very old way of practice. We all live on a semi-remote piece of land in between Milwaukee and Madison on Upper Nashotah Lake where we have a rhythm of life much like many monasteries throughout history. A large bell calls us to worship three times a day, every day of the week. The first bell rings at 8:00, the second at 12:30, and the third at 16:30. We have breakfast together after the morning service followed by class then lunch. Depending on what day it is, after lunch we either go to another class, our designated work crew, or to the library to study. Then our day (officially) ends at the last appointed time of prayer. After the evening prayers, I usually get some exercise, have dinner, and get back to work.
This way of life has been really formative for me. I have learned is the importance of quietness and patience. Our lives are very busy and we are prone to different struggles, even in a monastic community. I found the value of being diligent in prayer regardless of the how ‘busy’ I felt I was. I learned that the times of prayer helped me to focus not on just what I was doing buy why I was doing it.
I am studying to get a Masters of Divinity in order that I might continue on in my ordination process. I am in that process because I believe that I am on a path of becoming like Jesus Christ, as the scriptures say, and because I am part of the larger body of believers I have been gifted by the Holy Spirit with certain gifts that help build the body. Therefore I am humbly pursing the call to ministry so that I might be used as an instrument for the body of Christ.
Along with learning to be quiet, I have learned to be patient. We live in a culture that is to get things really quickly. So moving to a different state in order to study for three years to get a degree takes time and patience. Studying to learn the depths of scripture and 2,000 years of church history takes time and patience. Most of all, letting go of old relationships and forging new one takes time and patience. I have been learning, continue to learn, and will learn my entire life to be patient for good things to come.
Learning to be quiet and patient is what has been forming me to becoming a future priest. With those characteristics, I hope the Lord will use those things to help shape a generation of people who are waiting expectantly on the Lord to use them in this chaotic world as people of peace.
If you think this endeavor of bringing peace on earth is important, then we can partner together. I need help to get there. School is a full time endeavor that takes a lot of energy and is rather expensive. I have a small part time job at a local restaurant as a server on the weekends, however it does not completely satisfy the expenses I have. If you are interested in helping me, please keep me in your prayers and consider how you can help financially. This blog will keep you updated with prayer request and other happenings in my life.
You will find below ways to give money.
Sincerely,
Fabien Pering
- Donate online by going to nashotah.edu, clicking on ‘give,’ then ‘support a seminarian,’ and find my name
- Make a check out to Nashotah House Theological Seminary, writing my name on the memo line, and sending it to 2777 Mission Rd, Nashotah, WI 53058
- Donate online by going to apostlescolumbia.org, click on ‘giving,’ ‘click here to donate online now,’ ‘continue to online giving,’ and write SEMINARIAN FUND in the memo text box
- Make a check out to Church of the Apostles, making a special note to write SEMINARIAN FUND on the memo. Then send the check to 1520 BULL STREET, COLUMBIA, SC 29201
A Desert Father 