This Saint Patrick’s Day on Tuesday will be the thirty-fifth anniversary of my ordination. I have been contemplating this week all the things I learned, and all the things I did not learn, in a seminary education from 1981 to 1984.

• I did not learn how to pastor a congregation through a pandemic.
• I did not learn how to hold meetings through Zoom, or any other online platform.
• I did not learn how to lead worship in front of a camera for a YouTube or Facebook Live audience.

 So, I have been thinking about asking my seminary for my money back.

But then, I remember what I did learn.

• I did learn that God loves us, even in the midst of plague, famine, or a wilderness journey.
• I did learn that being a pastor will require learning something new every day.
• I did learn that Jesus said, “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”

Perhaps that M.Div. degree is worth it after all.