Excited for Ministry, Thankful for the Journey

Photo by Sarah Mae Gabuyo, a winner of the Student Council's Spring Photo Competition

Graduation…the time has finally come. But to be honest, I’ve been having this same thought for the last two weeks:

“I am SO READY to get out of here and not touch a textbook for a LONG TIME.”

As serious as I am, I have to also share that my time at Wesley has been a joyous one. It has been three years of constant learning, growing, and experiencing. What I am grateful for is that this learning and growing wasn’t just in the areas of academia, but also in the areas of pastoral ministry. I can confidently say that one (of the many) things Wesley has taught me is learning how to be a servant of God in different ministry settings.

For me, there is a lot of excitement as I think about graduation. My general personality is that I enjoy working. I am excited now that I can work in more of a full time ministry. However, I do give love to all those who have walked with me through my time here at Wesley that has allowed me to get extremely excited about full-time ministry. Little things like breaking bread with classmates, friends, and mentors and big things like talking about theology and ethics allowed me to be excited about transitioning into ministry.

I definitely won’t miss writing papers, but I am told that people who say that are likely to come back to school for their doctorate. But what I will definitely miss is the time I was able to share as a seminarian. Just like I always tell those in college to enjoy their time in college because they will never get another college experience, I see myself telling myself to enjoy the little time I have left now as a seminarian because I won’t have another experience like this.

Although I tell this Wesley community that I am so ready to leave, transition, and work, there is so much excitement to move forward, taking the things I learned from Wesley and applying them to my current ministry setting. I tell this Wesley community how much I will miss Wesley, how much I will miss being a seminarian, how much I will miss breaking bread with other seminarians, and how much I will miss the community.

All in all, I also tell this Wesley community again how grateful I am for my three years here. Yes, there were definitely highs and lows. But I look back from day one to now, and all I can say is thank you. My prayers go out to all the other graduates and also to those who are on their track to graduating in the future.

Daniel Chun is a graduating seminarian at Wesley.
To read other articles in this issue, click here.
To read the full Journal, click here. 

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