Divinity Journey – May, 2025
Divinity School Blog #8: 5-29-2025
It is barely a week since I have returned from Duke Divinity School immersion week. In my hybrid program we are graced with the presence of other students during our time together on campus three times per year. During this week – one in winter, one in spring and one in late summer – we are drawn together as a community and hold ourselves up and hold each other accountable to our calling. As I near the end of my first year I am grateful to have been able to be on the journey with so many wonderful people – young and old, scholarly and practical, and along a continuum of ecumenical traditions that cloak ourselves as Christians in hope and faith.
This week was memorable because I took time for people. Over the previous week on our beloved campus, I worked hard at my studies, but realized on the last day that I did not make space for others. It surprised me a little, but perhaps not too much, that I had so deeply focused on my academics that I forgot how to gather meaningfully in fellowship. This time though I had dinner with a dear friend one night in the city, dinner with my Spiritual Formation cohort another night, and lunch with two friends on a third day. I had the privilege of seeing fellow Year One cohort participants, and also took the time to make new friends and to expand my knowledge of my natural surroundings. I returned home more refreshed and ready than any previous immersion week.
As I settled into a return to my “normal” life I was reminded how God created us to be His people in community. As God reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12:12, ” For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” We quite literally, do need each other. In my week-long immersion I saw many talents and treasures and I was grateful that God made us so unique and different that we harmoniously work together for His greater good.
When was the last time that you stepped out of your comfort zone and took a moment to enjoy God’s glorious world and His people? If you haven’t done so for awhile, I pray that you take some time this week to gather in fellowship, not only for yourself but for the lonely, sick, hurting and worried that God calls us to lead so that we may be one body in Christ. And if those meet-ups lead to joy, relief, comfort, laughter and love, praise God! Praise God for whom all blessings flow, and know that your light made a difference. I promise it’s shining right back to you when you least expect it, warmed by the grace that he gives us, not because of what we do, but just because He loves us. Amen!
Kathleen Leigh Lewarchick
