March 2025

In 10 days I'll submit the final two assignments of my seminary career. In a month I'll complete my internship at Covenant Woods, a Continuing Care Retirement Community, which has been an incredible place to learn and grow. In less than two months I'll graduate from UPSem with a Master of Divinity. Recently I've spent a lot of time reflecting on the last 3 years. Time has seriously flown by and actually, I'm at a loss for words right now (shocking, I know!) to describe my time in seminary and the discernment process. For now, I'll just share gratitude for all the folks who've supported, encouraged, and prayed for me during this time. Here are some March updates:

At the UPSem Richmond Student Awards ceremony, I received the E.T. George Excellence in Homiletics, Worship, & Public Speaking award. This is a great honor and gift! When I shared this news with my grandmothers, I was reminded that I never posted about another award I received back in December. Last Fall I applied for a scholarship from Grace Presbytery via First Presbyterian Church Fort Worth, TX. In December, I received a notification that I'd received the scholarship, the Karl Travis Excellence in Preaching award. Again, what a gift and this one is especially neat since my dad attended college with Rev. Travis. Perhaps these awards are a sign of my future call to ministry... :)

At the beginning of March, Charles and I spent a weekend in Texas with family and friends and got to witness our niece's baptism. No trip home is complete without spending time with my St. Andrew liaison, Julie. We enjoyed catching up although I missed being at worship or at Super Wednesday with the rest of our St. Andrew family! In mid-March, Charles and I enjoyed a birthday dinner with my mother-in-law in Prince George's County, MD for her birthday. We also attended a faith & justice event through RISC called the Nehemiah Action. I had the privilege of visiting a Muslim mosque for an interfaith panel, the observation of the Maghrib prayer (4th of the 5 Islamic prayers each day), and participated in Iftar, which is the breaking of the fast during the Holy Month of Ramadan. And I preached on the 3rd Sunday of Lent at my internship, Covenant Woods. I closed out the month of March by working a 12 hour hospital shift at VCU Hospital. Chaplaincy is hard, y'all, especially in a trauma setting. I'm grateful for the Spiritual Care team there who does such important work and that I've had the privilege of working there as an intern and a PRN Chaplain.

Charles was able to attend the Student Awards Ceremony at UPSem Richmond last week. Here's a photo of us.  You might notice here that we've been keeping some news close to our chests but since it's now obvious just by looking at me, Charles and I are excited to share that I'm pregnant and we're expecting a baby girl in early-June. We're thrilled, eager, of course a little nervous, and incredibly grateful for the privilege to become "Mom" and "Dad" this year. 

Thanks to my advisor and pastoral care professor who "stood-in" for our homiletics professor in presenting the award to me since my homiletics professor is on sabbatical right now.

UPSem's Annual Tulip Fest was a wonderful event.

During a time in our nation when there's so many unknowns, when the news hurts my heart each day --- and when frankly, I'm struggling to know how to respond, I'm trying to lean into what I'm learning in my Christian Ethics class this semester. Last week in Christian Ethics I presented on Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon who was a professor at UPSem, a womanist theological ethicist, and the first Black woman ordained in the Presbyterian church. In 2012, Rev. Dr. Cannon preached at UPSem's Sprunt Lectures (an annual alumni and community event for which UPSem is known). Dr. Cannon began her 2012 sermon by “calling for the order of the day.” She proclaims that the longtime Presbyterian tradition of “calling for the order of the day” is a “signal that there’s no more time for foolishness…so our lives become a living testimony to the Bible’s injunction to seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God.” -Cannon, 2012

So, as God calls us to do in Micah 6:8 and as Jesus emphasizes in the parable of the Good Samaritan, I'm trying to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly...to love my neighbors and all strangers and to "go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37). Friends, I'm grateful to be doing this work, the work of Jesus, the work to which God calls us, alongside each of you.

When I leave pastoral care visits, I usually say "take care of yourself." This follows the question that I've asked during this visit which is "how are you caring for yourself?" So friends, I'll close this blog post in the same way. Take care of yourself. I'm trying to do the same. We've got each other. And God's got our backs.

With Gratitude, 

Caitlin

February 2025

Hi Friends, I don't know about y'all, but February flew by for me. I sat at my computer yesterday and after I read this week's Shield, I realized "Oh no! I only have one day of February left to blog!" So here we are. It's always good to be e-connected with y'all. And I'm excited to be in Denton next week! I'll miss being with y'all at church on Sunday. I'll be worshiping with my family at FPC Dallas because my dad will baptize our niece at her home church that day. But maybe I'll run into you around town while we're visiting 😀 

At the end of January I preached at my internship about our call as God's children and how that intersects with each of our vocations. That hit home for me!

At the end of February I preached about partnership as part of our call as disciples. I preached on the book of Philemon, which is just one chapter. That was hard work --- I wanted to do justice to the text and I also wanted to address the harm that interpretations of Philemon have caused in the USA (in regards to how Christians have used the book of Philemon as an affirmation of enslavement). The sermon seemed to land well with folks. I'm grateful for how God worked through the congregation and through me as we reflected on the apostle Paul's letter to Philemon together. 

*The sermon recording is linked here and starts around 18:00.

During the month of February I also worked two hospital shifts as a PRN Chaplain. Each of the two shifts had a couple of extremely difficult moments and a couple of marvelous moments. Each time I'm at the hospital I'm reminded of what a gift it is to be alive and to be in relationship with each other.

Another big part of February was getting myself organized as the Final Level Student Representative on Richmond's Student Government Association. I coordinated a meeting, sent lots of emails, and am now working with a few other Final Level students to coordinate our Final Level Gift, which is part of the tradition of Final Levels leaving some sort of legacy for the UPSem community. As I continue this work, I'm also preparing for my third and final UPSem Board of Trustees meeting where I serve as the Richmond Student Representative. That meeting is in April so I'm working with my Charlotte counterpart to put together a listening session with students so we can write a report for the Board that {hopefully} represents all students.

Below are glimpses of the month of February as a Final Level seminary student who has just 6 weeks of classes left!

February began with a Saturday lunch hosted by our friend who cooked homemade Southern & Northern Indian food for us.

The following weekend we took our friend out for our favorite burger in Richmond --- Cobra Burger.

We have Chapel every Wednesday on the UPSem Richmond campus. During February, one of our chapels was a Lunch Chapel which centered on the Table. It was a beautiful spread of Mediterranean food and great conversation.

During Spring Break we traveled to Tampa, FL to visit Charles' Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. We went fishing, relaxed by the pool, walked every day, and watched Charles' cousin play soccer in the state quarter-finals (he scored a goal that helped them win!). We also got to visit friends of ours from Fairfax who live in FL now with their two little girls. 

We enjoyed our long weekend getaway to warmth and family!

We arrived home from FL to snow in Richmond a few days later. We didn't let the snow stop us from attending our first VCU Men's Basketball game last week. This week we went to a VCU Women's Basketball game with the VCU Hospital's Spiritual Care Department. Fun was had by all!

I hope y'all are able to care for yourselves in ways that are most meaningful to you. 2025 brings a plethora of changes for all of us as we witness the work of our elected officials and the impact that so many folks are experiencing.

I hope you're able to find moments of joy and peace amidst all that's going on in our country and world.

With Love & Gratitude,

Caitlin

January 2025

Hi Friends, 

The end of January is near and I feel like this month encompassed multiple months! From experiencing my first water crisis (and unpacking all of the privilege that holds) to working at the hospital to continuing to love my internship to starting my last two classes of seminary to trying to apply for one job/call or do some sort of networking for future jobs/calls every day, January is busy! During January we worshiped at an Episcopal church, a PCUSA church, and I'll preach at my ecumenical job this Sunday. We road tripped to Charlottesville, VA and we head to the Washington DC area for a day trip this weekend.

UPSem Richmond's annual Calvin Ball, which is named after John Calvin, of course. 

This is a photo of some of our Final Level Students, the Class of 2025, which includes students from 5 degree programs and a couple of certificate programs.

The water in our apartment complex shut off before the water on campus. So we walked to campus in the snow to fill up some tap water. Thanks, UPSem!

The Spring semester began with a water crisis in Richmond. We didn't have any water at our apartment for almost 72 hours and we were on a boil advisory for 48 hours once our water returned. The lack-of-water situation was mostly just a nuisance for us. We were lucky to find bottled water at Kroger on day two of the crisis and to have a seminary student's mom deliver water to us from Southern VA. 

The water crisis reminded us of all those, in our country and our world, for whom safe water isn't a reality. Even just our short walk to the pool for water to flush our toilets made us think about all those who walk for miles each day to obtain water. 

All those living in our apartment complex got creative with water-storage containers, which we used to collect pool water so that we could manually flush our toilets.

A student's mom drove 3+ hours from Southern Virginia to deliver drinkable water to UPSem folks.

What a generous woman who provided so much relief to so many of us!

Our friend, Annabelle, also delivered us some water from her bathtub, which she'd been able to fill up, for us to flush toilets.

On January 3rd, I worked my first overnight Chaplain shift at the hospital since the summer. You never know what to expect at the hospital and on this particular night, I had 14 calls from 10pm-8am. 'Twas a busy night!

A quick moment of respite to eat some bacon and tater tots on the 11th floor of the hospital at about 7am.

On New Years Eve we walked/hiked 4 miles to Monticello in VA.

These are the 33 books that I read in 2024. I'm proud of my bedtime routine, which includes reading for pleasure to help me relax, and for the ways I've found balance with school readings!

Peace and blessings to you and yours during this season. I look forward to being in Denton in March for a long weekend.

Warmly,

Caitlin

 

December 2024

We journeyed through the waiting period of Advent and now we celebrate and honor the season of Christmas. Last year I preached on Epiphany weekend and I started my sermon by gauging when folks take down their Christmas decorations --- in my family, we keep using Christmas dishes and keep all of the Christmas decorations out until we celebrate Epiphany. I'm not sure how common this is. Perhaps we follow the church calendar for our family's tradition because my dad is a minister?! Whatever the reason, it's a tradition that my husband and I carry on. So we're still enjoying our Christmas lights, nativity scene, my favorite 80 year old singing Christmas tree (it was my Grandmother's when she was a child), and our friends' and families' holiday greeting cards which hang in the kitchen.

This time of year is one that is typically slow for students. There's a break from classes and deadlines. But this year, I'm not taking much of a break. I worked as a PRN Chaplain at VCU Hospital on Christmas Eve and am doing that a couple more times during break. I worked at my internship 3/5 days of the first week of my holiday break. And our Christmas plans included the day-trip to DC to see family, which is always well worth it, but also an exhausting day because of traffic. I'm also in job-applying mode, which takes a lot of time and energy. But it's an exciting time to discern and learn where God might be calling me!

We hosted family for the first time for Christmas, which was a lot of fun. Charles' Mom came to town on Christmas Eve, we ate dinner, then went to Ginter Park Presbyterian Church's 9pm worship service. We stayed in our pajamas all of Christmas day as we talked with each of our families in England, Grenada, Nigeria, Oregon, Texas, Florida, and DC and enjoyed my mother-in-law's cooking. On the 26th we drove into the DC area and spent the day with Charles' Dad and his siblings. We're grateful for the love of family and friends always, and especially during the holiday season. I know that the holiday season is a particularly difficult time for some folks, especially those who are hospitalized, so we hold them close to our hearts. 

Here are a few photos from December:

Christmas Eve worship service

My first day back on duty at VCU Hospital since August!

After a delicious Ethiopian dinner with Charles and Dr. Lemma, who is a mentor, tutor, and friend of mine from UPSem.

We had a busy December 22nd with baking and preparing to host.

Celebrating the end of our third fall semester of seminary.

At the Board of Trustees meeting in November we had professional headshots taken for the website. I'm impressed with mine and it looks nice (if I do say so myself!) on my updated LinkedIn profile as I apply for calls/jobs.

November 2024

What a joy it was to be in TX twice in November! The first time around I got to attend St. Andrew's Men's Breakfast on Wednesday (thanks for having me!) and Super Wednesday where chicken fried chicken was the meal --- yum. It's always a gift to see the St. Andrew community. I also got to participate in my CPM Final Assessment where they voted for me to be "Certified Ready for a Call." I'm thankful for the support of my liaison, Julie, who was at my side during the assessment, and for my CPM liaison who supported me in many ways including that day. We celebrated with my mom, dad, Lisa, and my grandmother with lunch at Mazatlan after the final assessment. 

Now that I'm "Certified Ready," my Personal Discernment Profile (PDP) is almost ready to be posted in the Church Leadership Connection (CLC) System. Once I post it, I'll be able to apply for church calls. I'm excited to see where God is calling me and to learn about various churches as I go through the process.

My second trip to TX was for Thanksgiving with my husband. Our whole immediate family gathered at my parents' house and I also got to see some of my extended Langford and Culp family, too.

The Charlotte Student Representative and the Richmond Student Representative (me!) for Union Presbyterian Seminary's Board of Trustees. This is on UPSem Richmond's campus. Behind us is the chapel where Charles and I were married last year (Watts Chapel).

Post-CPM Final Assessment with my liaison extraordinaire, Julie

Sun shining brightly in our eyes as we concluded our volunteer shift. UPSem students (and spouses, hi Charles!) partnered with Ginter Park Presbyterian Church to run a water stop at the Richmond Half-Marathon and Marathon. Charles and I volunteered last year, too, and it's a lot of fun.

Day trip to Washington DC for the University of Iowa vs. University of Maryland football game in College Park, MD. I surprised Charles with tickets to the game for his birthday. We saw his siblings, his mom, his aunt, and some friends while we were in town for the day.

Thanksgiving in TX with our whole immediate family and some extended family throughout the week.

Blessings to you and yours as the holiday season begins. Thanks for the continued prayers and support.

Love, Caitlin

 

October 2024

What a joy it is to update y'all with my monthly blog posts. Below are some photos with updates about how October is going.

I started the month by attending the Presbytery of the James' Women's Retreat at Camp Hanover. Our theme was "water," which was timely with the hurricanes having just hit NC, FL, and TN.

I've dreamt of a "potato party" for a long time and decided that my birthday would be a great time to bring my dream to life! John and Cate, two seminary friends, have birthdays within days of mine so I threw a "potato party potluck" birthday party for us. We invited everyone on the Richmond campus. We had potatoes galore and played an epic, 12 person game of Skip Bo! What a joy it is to celebrate birthdays with seminary friends.

We traveled to Hartsville, SC during Reading Week for the wedding of Cate, a seminary friend.

Then we drove to Mt. Pleasant, SC to see the George-Edwards family for more Reading Week fun. We celebrated Charles' birthday there and went to a middle school orchestra concert, which was impressive!

It was during a run with Charles in Mt. Pleasant that I got an email notification and decided to open it as we ran--- I received the news that I passed the Theology Ordination Exam! I was shocked and thrilled. That day I began the preparation for my final assessment with Grace Presbytery, which is November 14th.

To close out Reading Week, we drove back to Richmond. Then we went to MD for the day to support my sister-in-law in her Senior Day for marching band. 

After Reading Week I got back to the grind of school, internship, and I continued my final assessment preparation. Over the weekend we went to a Telugu Indian Food Festival that our seminary friends hosted. The event raised funds for their new Telugu ministry that's forming with the support of a Richmond church.

After the food festival, we went to campus for Fall Festival, which was hosted by Richmond Student Government Association (RSGA). I am the Final Level Representative this year so I stayed for most of the event and helped clean up.

Last Sunday I preached at Gregory Memorial Presbyterian Church, which is about 40 minutes away from campus. Charles and I came home, we ate lunch, I took a nap, I edited my sermon, and then I headed to my internship site where I preached for their Sunday Vespers service. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to preach and to flex that sermon-preparation muscle, which needs to be flexed (I spend HOURS on sermon preparation and it can feel really hard!).

This week I'm spending the bulk of my time working on final assessment preparation. For my final assessment with Grace Presbytery, I do the following: write an exegetical paper based on the week's lectionary text, write a sermon based on the exegetical paper, preach the sermon to the Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM), complete my Personal Discernment Profile (PDP) which is like a job application that I'll put online for church calls and it includes 5 essay questions, complete a basic form, write a 3000 word Statement of Faith, and write an original Prayers of the People. 

Outside of preparation for the final assessment, I'm also spending time preparing for Union Presbyterian Seminary's Board of Trustees meeting, which is 3 days of next week. I am the Richmond Student Representative on the Board. Yesterday I co-hosted a listening session for students online and today I'm hosting a listening session for students in-person after our Wednesday Chapel service on campus.

Thanks for the continued love, prayers, support, and encouragement. I'll be in Denton twice in November (for my final assessment and then for Thanksgiving) so I hope to see you when I'm there. Unfortunately I won't be there for a Sunday service because of flight costs and having a Monday morning class. But I'll be at Super Wednesday on the 13th so hopefully I'll catch up with many St. Andrew folks then.

Blessings,

Caitlin

September 2024

Before I started seminary, I was interested in doing an internship at a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) like Good Samaritan in Denton. I thought I'd do Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at a CCRC and loved that UPSem had a relationship with a CCRC where I could do CPE. This was one of the pros in the UPSem column of my seminary research. I couldn't wait to go to UPSem and do CPE at a CCRC.

Well, even the best laid plans and ideas sometimes don't work out! Grace Presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) suggested that I do CPE in a hospital where I could experience the full range of life. I took their suggestion (and am so glad that I did!) and did CPE at VCU's hospital, as y'all already know. So I'd completed my church internship, my CPE internship, and then had a dream to do a "for fun" internship at a CCRC. I wasn't sure how this would happen or when I'd do this "for fun" internship. But I still had this dream.

Thanks to a connection from a member of my church internship site, I connected with the Director of Spiritual Care at a local CCRC. The Director was about to retire but said he'd connect me with his successor. The new Director of Spiritual Care reached out to me in June 2024. I explained that I'd be doing CPE over the summer and that I'd love to meet with her in August. We met in August, I expressed interest in preaching at the CCRC's weekly Vespers service, and of volunteering. After our meeting, I was offered a monthly pulpit supply gig in addition to a Chaplaincy Internship at this CCRC. Wow!

Since the moment I felt called to attend seminary, I've had detailed ideas and plans. This summer and fall are a reminder to me of how God is present in my life and in all our lives. Plans are good. I love plans. AND...God's plan is not always my plan. God's plan isn't always our plan.

I need this reminder! 

In addition to interning and preaching monthly at the CCRC this school year, I'll also work as a PRN Chaplain at VCU's hospital. I'm thrilled to practice spiritual care in two different settings and to flex my preaching and worship planning muscles, too. I'm grateful for these opportunities and the ways that God continues to work through me. I'm also thankful for the many folks in my life who serve as connections, mentors, supporters, challengers, and encouragers.

God's plan is not always my plan. 

Here are some photos from September:

Classic "first day of school" photo --- it's the third and final year for me!

Live jazz music at Byrd Park with seminary friends

Some of the UPSem gals celebrating an upcoming wedding. 

This was a marathon day for Charles and me --- we drove to Arlington at 7am, met our friend's baby and spent time loving on her, went to a baby shower in Alexandria, VA, and then drove back to Chesterfield, VA for this wedding party. What a gift it is to have friends.

Charles and I had a day-date to Sweet Wynns where we tasted ice-cream and each made our own pint! This was a gift from my parents for Christmas last year and we had tons of fun.

Friday, September 27th arrived which means it was time to take the Theology Ordination Exam. I'm grateful for my sweet and funny husband who got us breakfast and then carried all of my exam materials to and from campus.

In my third and final year, Master of Divinity students are able to have reserved library carrels! How exciting. This is mine all set up for the Theology Ordination Exam. The exam was a long 9 hours and I have a feeling that I'll be taking the exam again in January. But I'm glad I gave it a try before I have even taken Theology class (I'm currently in week 5/24 of theology class at seminary).

Another UPSem outing --- this time to a concert by Flamy Grant and their openers.

Thanks for the continued prayers and support. 

Blessings from Richmond,

Caitlin