April 3, 2009

Kairos A Publication of the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Community Issue #177

Good Friday Service

Friday, April 10th, 11:00 a.m. Shelton Chapel. The central elements of this service
are: the reading of the Passion account according to John; the prayer of Good Friday;
and the Solemn Reproaches of the Cross.

The Great Vigil of Easter

Saturday, April 11th, 8:30 p.m. McCord Atrium. The proclamation of the resurrection of
Jesus Christ in Light, Word, Baptism, Eucharist. Dr. Jennifer Lord, Presider; President
Ted Wardlaw, Preacher; Amy Wiles, Cantor.
On this holy night we will gather with Chris-
tians around the world to celebrate Christ’s Passover
from death to life. The early Christians continued to
observe the first Passover in which God delivered
the Hebrews from slavery at the hands of Pharaoh.
They saw the death and resurrection of Christ as
their passing over from death to life, from darkness
to light, from bondage to freedom. On the night be-
fore Easter they baptized those who had been pre-
pared during Lent, and observed a night vigil, await-
ing the coming of the Lord.
As our celebration of the Three Days of Je-
sus’ death and resurrection comes to culmination,
we too gather in vigil and prayer. A new fire is kin-
dled – the new creation we share in Christ. We fol-
low the paschal (Easter) candle in procession, a pil-
lar of fire which is for us the light of Christ’s resurrec-
tion. As the light spreads among us, we sing an an-
cient hymn (the Exsultet) that extols the great joy
and glory of this night of nights.
Then, using primal narratives from the He-
brew scriptures, we tell some of the greatest stories
of our faith. These are more than stories from long
ago; they are pictures and icons of the resurrection.
© 2009 Austin Presbyterian
Theological Seminary
Their power is unleashed for us today as we partake
of the new life of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We
are a pilgrim people and move from station to station
this night – next to gather around the baptismal font.
On this night we will join with Christians
around the world as new sisters and brothers in
Christ are plunged into the waters of death, reborn
as children of God. Surrounded by the newly bap-
tized and the saints through the ages we renew our
baptismal vows, renouncing all that is not of God
and promising, with God’s help, to live as the body of
Christ in the coming year of grace.
We keep this wondrous night in vigil, our
lamps lit, awaiting Christ’s coming, both now and at
the end of time.
At the Lord’s table we meet our risen Lord,
as we feast on the food of the promised land. But
this night is only the beginning of the great fifty days
of Easter, in which we shout our alleluias and cele-
brate the great banquet of victory. Alleluia, Christ is
risen indeed!
Note: See details for the Easter Vigil Break-Fast on page 2.
Inside This Issue
Chapel Schedule 2 The Debt Snowball 5
Announcements & Events 2-3 What I Learned in Seminary Today 6
Explorations in Identity 4 Weekly Calendar 7
 Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html Page 2

Chapel Schedule
April 6—April 9
Commencement

Corner
Monday: Service of the Word
Scott Spence, preacher Mark your calendars!
Tuesday: Service of Word and Baccalaureate
Sacrament, Dr. Bill Greenway,
preacher
Sat., May 23
6:00 p.m.
Thursday: Service of the Word
Jong Seo Kim, preacher Commencement
Sun., May 24
Friday: Good Friday
(see Page 1) 2:30 p.m.

Senior MDiv students preach in chapel on Both Events Will Be Held At

Monday and Thursday this week. University Presbyterian Church

See Alison in the dean’s office

EASTER VIGIL BREAK-FAST
Following the ancient Christian tradition
of gathering to share King Ranch Chicken and
Green Bean Casserole – the Easter Vigil will
conclude with a Break-Fast Pot Luck meal. The
service should end between 10:30 and 11:00
p.m., at which time we will continue our celebra-
tion of the Light of Christ with food and fellow-
ship.
Needs for the Pot Luck include savory
and sweet dishes, plastic ware, plates and cups.
Refrigeration and microwave reheating will be
available.
E-mail Kathy Escandell and let her know
what you’d like to bring
(kathy.escandell@austinseminary.edu).
for more information.
NOTE: Detailed commencement
information will be coming shortly!
Commencement Announcements
Deadline for ordering extras is Friday,
April 3. To order more announcements, sign up
at the McCord desk or e-mail/call Randal Whit-
tington at 404-4808. We’ll print enclosure cards
with your name. If you wish them to say some-
thing other than the name that will appear on
your diploma (per the Registrar), please let me
know.

Korean American Parents’ Night Out

Clergywomen Conference
Korean American women students are
invited to the annual Korean American Clergy-
women PC(USA) Conference at McCormick
Theological Seminary, May 26-29, 2009. Finan-
cial aid is available. Please see Alison in the
Dean’s office for more information.
Mark your calendar for Friday, April 17,
Hicks Community House, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
RSVP by Wednesday, April 15, to Laurel Dixon,
Babysitting Coordinator 473-8797 or
laurel.dixon@austinseminary.edu
Space is Limited!

Are you the next Kairos Editor?

We are looking for creative, computer-savvy applicants for the position of Kairos Editor. Please make
application— e-mail is OK — to Jackie Saxon (jsaxon@austinseminary.edu) on or before April 10, 2009.
All you have to do is to say that you are interested and to describe both why you want to be the editor
and what qualifies you for the position. Interviews will be conducted in April by outgoing Kairos Editor,
Paul Dubois, outgoing Student Body President, Melissa Koerner, and Jackie Saxon.
 Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html Page 3

PCUSA ORDINATION EXAM INCOME TAX ISSUES FOR CLERGY

PREPARATION WORKSHOPS
Ordination Exam preparation workshops are
offered only once a year, so do take advantage
of these if you plan to take ordination exams
this August or next January. One of the num-
ber one reasons people fail to pass an exam is
a failure to read the question thoroughly or a
failure to follow general directions. Don’t be
one of those failures. All workshops will be
held in McMillan 210. Contact Ann Fields for
more information.
Worship & Sacraments
Wednesday, April 29, 6:00-8:00
Led by Jen Lord
All students, as well as ordained faculty and ad-
ministrators are invited to our second annual
Seminar on Income Tax Issues for Clergy.
• Thursday, April 23
• Presented by Debbie Steinbach, CPA and
spouse of Rev., Phil Steinbach, an Austin
Seminary graduate
• 6:00-8:00 PM
• McCord 204
This seminar is strongly encouraged for all sen-
iors. If you are a junior or middler, please be
aware that we plan to offer this seminar again
next year. This is not your only chance. Con-
tact Ann Fields for more information.

General Overview PCUSA SENIOR SEMINARS

Monday, May 4, 6:00-7:00
Led by Lesley Davies from GA in Louisville, The remaining Senior Seminar is listed below.
and Shane Webb, APTS MDiv Student Please plan to take advantage of them. Con-
tact Ann Fields for more information.
Biblical Exegesis
Monday, May 4, 7:00-8:00 Pastoral Ethics
Led by Andy Dearman (required by many presbyteries)
Led by David Johnson
Church Polity Wednesday, April 15 & Thursday, April 16
Wednesday, May 6, 6:00-8:00 6:00-8:00
Led by Fred Morgan McCord 204
Theological Competence Both Sessions are Required for
Thursday, May 7, 6:00-8:00 Pastoral Ethics credit
Led by Dave Jensen

Student Senate Minutes

April 1, 2009
Present: Melissa Koerner, Sarah Hegar, Matthew Thompson, José Lopez, Lindsay Hatch, Amy Wiles
Excused: Chris Kreisher, Ann Fields

OLD BUSINESS
▪ Harmonium exhibit goes up tomorrow in McMillan.
▪ Corpus Christi has put a hold on their exhibit because of possible insurance reasons.
▪ Spring Fling – Amy priced sub sandwiches at Subway and Thundercloud which has a party tray that feeds 15-20 for
$50. We’re looking at 2 trays. José will take care of chips, cookies, and drinks. The event will take place at Pease
Park on Shoal Creek.
▪ Manna Coffeehouse – Lindsay will contact some performers.
▪ April Mannas – either April 15 or 22 Chizason Chunda (tentative), April 29 Ann Fields.
▪ Spring Flung - Senate is looking into renting a moonwalk or an inflatable water slide. The event will start at 5:30.
Pinatas and Hey Cupcakes could be involved. Food will include beans, rice, a special Mexican entrée, and flan.
 Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html Page 4

A Miniseries of Reflections from Travels Abroad

By Mary Elizabeth Prentice, MDiv Middler
Part Seven: Identity, Labels, and Assumptions

A person walks into a bar in Northern Ireland and
the bartender asks, “Are you Catholic or Protestant.”
The person answers, “Neither, I am an atheist.”
The bartender asks, “Well are you a Protestant
atheist or a Catholic atheist?”
While this is not always the case in Northern Ire-
land there are quite a few labels that people want to as-
sign easily to groups. I found this to be true in attempting
to explain 2,000 years of history of the Christian Church to
a group of teenagers in a pub on the island of Iona. My
spring break was spent helping to lead a group of young
people from FPC Waco on a “Pilgrimage and Peace” tour
of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We started our pilgrimage in Edinburgh, seeing
the birthplace of today’s Presbyterian Church. We
stopped outside John Knox’s house just a mile down the
street from Edinburgh castle. It is a house where docu-
ments and manifestos were written to establish a new
identity as Christians during the Reformation. (note: if you
have ever read John Knox – he was a pretty angry dude).
We spent two days in Edinburgh looking at sites of the
Reformation and then headed to the island of Iona. Iona
is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland. In
523 CE, St. Columba of Ireland sailed east to get away
from Ireland and landed on Iona, where he established a
monastery. This little piece of heaven on earth was part
of the missional efforts of the early church and is today a
location of the Iona community, a community centered on
justice and reconciliation in the world.
From Iona we headed to Belfast. Belfast was my
home for a year, but it is a city of great complications.
Even after a year of living there I did not understand all of
the conflict. I tried my best to explain the history of the
Christian church and the conflict of Northern Ireland in
fifteen minutes (I think I would have made Dr. Babinsky
proud). I tried to explain the labels of Republican-
Nationalist-Catholic and compare them to Loyalist-
Unionist-Protestants. I was trying to break the mold of
assuming all Catholics are Nationalist and all Protestants
are Loyalist. You can be Catholic and NOT a Republican
and you can be Protestant and NOT a Loyalist.
As we went to a ’drop-in’ to visit with families and
young people in Belfast, I tried to warn the young people
in my charge not to call the families and young people
they would encounter at the drop-in Irish: These people
were not Irish, they were Northern Irish. I tried to
enlighten FPC youth that the young people of the drop-in
would say they were Protestants, but not Christians. . . go
figure. So my fifteen minute history lesson and explana-
tions of labels probably did not go over well, but I tried.
So often we are trained to label and sort people
into categories. This can be to our detriment. And here I
see a connection with the situation in Israel/Palestine,
which I experienced during the January travel seminar.
Labels are incredibly important in Israel/Palestine.
Peter, our guide, is a Palestinian Christian. He is an Arab
living in East Jerusalem, a disputed territory. To say that
a person is an Arab is to say that this individual speaks
Arabic. To say a person is Palestinian today can denote
a political and social label and can assume that the per-
son is an Arab. But this is where assumptions are dan-
gerous.
You can speak Arabic, live in Israel, but not be an
Israeli citizen. For instance, Peter’s family has lived for
centuries in the land of Palestine. He speaks Arabic, He-
brew, Italian, French, and English, yet he is considered a
resident of Israel, while a Jewish neighbor is considered a
citizen of Israel. Because of these labels, Peter is a “sub-
par” citizen (His words not mine – see
http://files.me.com/meprentice/t7ap80) He does not have
the same voting rights, access to medicine, and general
justice as those who are labeled ‘citizen.’
Likewise when we read or hear talk of Hamas, the
“terrorist group” that controls the Gaza Strip, news report-
ers often will not differentiate Palestinians from Hamas.
Thus readers can walk away assuming all Palestinians
are affiliated with the Hamas. This assumption is far from
the truth. There is a huge population of Palestinians living
in Bethlehem who are Christians. There are Palestinians
who hold Jordanian passports, but cannot vote in Jordan
or Israel. Needless to say, like in Northern Ireland, labels
can be confusing and complicated.
The joke about a Protestant atheist and a Catho-
lic atheist may simplify things a bit, but it helps to illustrate
a point about identity. While labels are helpful at catego-
rizing things/people/objects, so often assumptions come
with the labels. So often these assumptions that flow
from labels cause division, separation and exclusion.
Now, when I look to identity, I carefully try to seek a
greater understanding of the labels before subscribing to
them.

Do you have something to say to Kairos? Something to add… Something to refute?

If so, we’d like to hear. We are committed to dialogue.
Letters to the editor will be published. See page 7 of this issue for our editorial guidelines.
 Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html
Helpful Information from the Financial Aid Office
By Sally Wright, MDiv Junior
What is the Debt Snowball?
Dave Ramsey, the personal finance guru, came
up with an idea that he calls the Debt Snowball. And, if
he didn’t create it, he at least made it popular. It is a way
to systematically approach repaying debt. The idea works
on the power of feeling successful. Once I have paid off
one of my lowest credit card balances, I see how easy it
really is. And, I want to continue to do it. I pay towards
the smallest debt first while still maintaining minimum pay-
ments on all other debts.
How do I use the Debt Snowball?
First, I write down all of my debts from smallest to
largest, including the minimum payments. I add up the
amount of all my monthly minimum payments, and then I
figure out how much additional money I am willing to give
toward debt repayment. I allot the money by paying the
minimum payments on all the debts except the smallest
amount. For the smallest balance amount, I pay the mini-
mum amount plus the additional money I set aside. After
the first loan is paid in full, I move on to the next smallest.
But, instead of just paying off the minimum, I take all the
money I was using to pay of the first debt and add it to the
minimum on my second. So, the money literally just
snowballs, and I pick up momentum as I continue to pay
off debt.
Here’s an example of the Debt Snowball:
I have two credit cards, a car loan and a student loan.
• Master Card with $1,400 with a 7.9% annual percent-
age rate (APR); minimum payment is $16.81
• Discover Card with $2,500 with a 10% APR; minimum
payment is $33.04
• Car loan with $8,000 with a 5%APR; minimum pay-
ment is $84.82
• Student loan with $11,000 with a 4.75% APR; mini-
mum payment is 115.33
• Total minimum payments: $250.00
• Additional money for loan repayment: $50
• Total money budgeted toward loan repayment:
$300.00 per month.
I pay the minimum payments on all the debt ex-
cept for Master Card with a $1,400 balance. For the Mas-
ter Card, I pay the minimum plus the extra $50, which is
Page 5
equal to 66.81. I pay this for 22 months until this debt is
paid off. Then, I move on to the Discover Card and pay
the minimum plus all the money I was paying toward the
Master Card. This total is $99.85. And, after 24 months
the Discover Card is paid off. So, two years after I started
paying off debt I have paid off two credit cards. For the
car loan, I will be paying the minimum plus the amount
that I was paying towards the Discover Card and that
amounts to 184.67. After 32 months, the car loan will be
paid off. And that leaves the total amount budged, $300,
for the final loan, the student loan, which will get paid off
in 14 months. The idea is that I do not need to increase
the amount I have allotted toward paying off debt. And I
only made a $50 dollars a month extra commitment to pay
off all debt.
However, if debt reduction is a priority, it requires
that you not use your credit cards any more or take on
any more debt. The goal is to become debt free. And, as
you continue to pay off the debts, you may increase your
payments to shorten the time to repay the debts. But, that
is a discussion between yourand your cash flow.
This particular example of the Debt Snowball
places the loans in order of smallest to largest balance of
the loan. There is another method of the Debt Snowball
and that is to pay off debt according to highest interest
rate to smallest interest rate. This is cheaper in the long
run because you are paying off expensive loans first.
However, I particularly like paying debt off according to
balance and not interest rate because it gives me a psy-
chological boost when I pay off a debt. It gives me a good
feeling of accomplishment.
Here are some more debt reduction resources:
• For a calculator to help order your debts; it will tell you
how long and how much to pay on each one:
http://www.whatsthecost.com/snowball.aspx?country=
us
• This link is an excel spreadsheet of the Debt Snowball
Calculator:
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/08/26/free-
debt-snowball-spreadsheet/
• For a plethora of debt-related calculators:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calculators/debt-
management.asp
 Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html
A Weekly Column Offering Musings, Insights, and Reflections on the Seminary Life
‘The New Normal’
By Paul Dubois, MDiv Senior
I first heard the phrase at about 11:15 am on
March 11, 2009, and it has held my attention for three
weeks now. It is present when I read. It is present
when I pray. It is present when I converse. Maybe if I
write about this phrase I will be able to let it go. Maybe
I won’t be able to let it go. Who knows? Maybe its
presence in my life, in my mind, is the new normal.
I met with a retiring pastor this past week. As I
listened in fascination to his recounting stories from
more than 50 years in the pulpit, I detected a thread of
lament about how life in the church–from the standpoint
of a United Methodist elder in the Southwest Texas
Conference–had changed during that time. He missed
the good old days when we did not have a resident
bishop, and the conference had to get along through
self governing by consensus. Relationships, especially
between those who disagreed, mattered. Once a year
an itinerant bishop would show up to fix appointments,
then return to Houston, having checked the box. The
eventual appointment of a bishop to attend to our con-
ference in the late 1960s introduced an established hi-
erarchy with all responsibility and authority centered in
the office of one individual. Relationships were reori-
ented. Agendas came down from above, and were no
longer cultivated from below. Things changed. A new
normal had set in.
This past week I learned that my internship will
occur as planned. I’m eager, but also a little cautious
about this impending change. You see, since July of
1996 I have either worked out of my home, been self-
employed, or been a student at Austin Seminary. The
occasional business meeting aside, it has been nearly
13 years since I have had to go to a place to work, to
be present before a task, before other people, or before
a boss. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I don’t quite have
the wardrobe for this sort of life. Nonetheless, this will
be my new normal.
Three years ago, as we prepared to sell our
home in far south Austin and move to the seminary
campus, my children decried the impending change.
They struggled with it for a year or two, but now agree
that this new normal has been a good thing–living in
town, close to places and events, so much activity, so
much culture, so much texture that enriches their lives.
They cannot imagine living in suburbia again, and
loathe the thought of it. The new normal they struggled
with has become for them the comfort and support of
tradition (but I cannot tell this to teenagers). Another
Page 6
new normal will certainly present itself to us one day.
As I look back at what I have just written, I see
another word that I have used more than once without
intention: the word ‘impending’. It seems to go along
with ‘the new normal’. The impending new normal.
The new normals of our lives seem to come from
changes beyond our control. Sometimes we seek a
particular change, but there are associated and neces-
sary consequences that cannot be avoided. They are
thrust upon us, overwhelming us in the sense that we
must swim in them or be drowned. Adapt or die.
The Hebrews did not want to leave Egypt, at
least not once things got tough in the desert. Some did
not want to leave Babylon, either, not even to go home.
Surely there were other people who had remained in
Jerusalem and were not excited at the impending return
of the exiles. But in they came. One person’s benefi-
cial new normal is another’s cursed new normal.
What do we have to hold on to? To what can
we tether our lives? Or do we drift into the prevailing
normalcy? I want to find a rule. I want to find a hard
and fast rule that I can take into the impending new nor-
mal. Something that won’t let me down. Something I
can depend on.
Maybe the new normal is chaos. Maybe this is
the essence of all new normals. Maybe the flood never
really subsided. Maybe I have to contend with it from
now until the end. But if this be the case, I still have the
ark. I still have the vessel of God’s saving grace. The
ark–that is, the church–doesn’t always keep me dry, but
it keeps me afloat.
But this metaphor eventually fails, too, because
I don’t want to simply float; I want to swim! I want to
push back against the world and live as one created in
the image of God, the image of a God who creates, the
image of a God who acts. I want to forge my way
through the new normal, not simply survive it.
It occurs to me that I’m writing about atonement
here. Amid the turmoil that the normalcy of the world
throws at me, and my often misguided responses to it, I
hope for the assurance that the God who called me into
being restores me to God’s presence, and calls me to
even more. I want to float in the substitutionary work
done on my behalf by a God who became human to
bring me a saving grace. And, I want to wade into the
new normal’s chaotic waters with the courage of the
moral exemplar God who became human to teach me
how to swim. I do want it both ways—I want to float
and to swim. What is there, really, to fear about the
next, or any, so-called ‘new normal’? It will never have
the last word.
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Monday, April 6th

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Worship: Service of the Word Shelton Chapel
Scott Spence, preacher
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Spiritual Direction – Scott Quinn McCord 202
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Acts 2:42 – Jose Lopez Knox Dining Hall

Tuesday, April 7th

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Service of the Word and Sacrament Shelton Chapel
Dr. Bill Greenway, preacher
WEEKLY CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Chapel Team: Scott Spence and Mary Elizabeth Prentice

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. MSSW/MDIV Group – Nikki Stahl McCord 201
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Methodist Student Group – Paul Dubois McCord 203
4:15 – 8:15 p.m. Reading, Writing, and Study Skills – Light German Knox Dining Hall
APRIL 6-APRIL 12, 2009

Wednesday, April 8th

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Administration Advisory Committee – Nancy Reese Trull Boardroom
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Midweek Manna – Student Senate Stotts Dining Hall
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Spiritual Direction – Jean Springer McCord 202
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Corpus Christi – Scott Spence McCord 201
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Student Senate – Melissa Koerner McMillan 206
12:45 – 2:30 p.m. Korean Bible Study – In Hye Park McMillan 204
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Spiritual Direction – Barbara Schutz McMillan 205
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. APTS Choir Rehearsal Shelton Chapel
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Special Education Events Commission – Timothy Lincoln McMillan 105
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Insights Commissions – David Jensen Trull 115
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Doctor of Ministry Committee – David White McMillan 105
6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Balcones Community Orchestra – Outside Group McMillan 211

Thursday, April 9th

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Worship: Service of the Word Shelton Chapel
Jong Seo Kim, preacher
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Call 2 – Gail Dalrymple McCord 204
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Spiritual Direction – Barbara Schutz McCord 202
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Interfaith Comm. for Palestinian Rights – Outside Group McCord 204

Friday, April 10th

11:00 a.m. The Passion reading according to John Shelton Chapel
The Prayer of Good Friday and the Solemn Reproaches of the Cross.

Saturday, April 11th

8:30 p.m. Service of Light; Service of Readings; Gather in Vickery Atrium
Service of Affirmation of Baptism; Service of Eucharist.
Easter Vigil – Jennifer Lord, presider; Ted Wardlaw, preacher;
Amy Wiles, Cantor; Kevin McClure, directing music.
Potluck meal follows. Dress for being outside and walking our APTS grounds.

Sunday, April 12th

3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Veterans for Peace – Outside Group McCord 203

Submissions to Kairos: Email submissions to the editor, Paul Dubois, at Kairos@austinseminary.edu. Calendar events and room reservation
requests should be sent to Katherine Sweet at ksweet@austinseminary.edu or made in person at the McCord desk. Editorial decisions are based
on urgency, availability of space, and editorial guidelines. Deadline is Wednesday at 5:00 P.M. Submissions made after deadline must be
accompanied by a dunkel.

Kairos Editorial Guidelines

1 Kairos is the voice of students at Austin Seminary.
2 Kairos generally carries no advertisement for sales of goods or services by individuals. An exception is the sale of a student’s library or other
study aids.
3 It is not possible to make all program announcements which are submitted by individual churches. Kairos is more likely to be able to run an-
nouncements which apply to ecumenical or interfaith groups or groups of churches.
4 No letters which attack individuals or groups will be run in Kairos. This is to be distinguished from letters which might criticize the actions of
individuals or groups.
5 Kairos will publish letters to the editor that contribute to Christian conversation on the APTS campus. All letters must be signed.
Issue 177 www.austinseminary.typepad.com/portal/kairos.html Page 8

Mary/You Wore Love Like a Quilt

joyful marigold laughter stitching comfort into wild ways
kindly gently wiping away tears
loving eyes twinkling brown in halos of robin blue
giving wisely and freely to pleading humble hearts
trusting faithfully forever safe forever strong
you wore love like a quilt
hands smoothing away hurt with playful suns
and dusky dark patterns of silver and shadow
seamless days and nights wrapped mary mother
mother mary in my heart in my heart

Liam Moore, Paul Mustol, Naomi Hansen, Joseph Akers, Nate Lange, and Ella St. Cyr.

Poem written of Malartha Bosier.

Photos courtesy of Austin Seminary.
Babies created of God.