New Students, Fall 2004

Pondering the Enormity of God:
Marsha Anderson

Marsha K. Anderson of Fayetteville, NC, believes her call to seminary began during childhood, when she was involved in the church on regional and local levels. "I always assumed I would be in leadership activities, but I rejected the idea of becoming a pastor when the idea would occasionally come to mind," she says. During an educational semester in Spain, she found herself with non-Christian friends and beginning to question everything connected with her faith. "I reclaimed my faith, and it had become more open-minded and liberating," she says. She graduated from Wake Forest University and enrolled in a fellowship-supported Master's degree program in mathematics at the university. "I was bombarded by the feeling that mathematics was not right for me. It wasn't fulfilling my intense desire to do something real and important in the lives of individuals." She decided to enroll in the Johnson Intern Program created by the Chapel of the Cross, an Episcopal parish in Chapel Hill, NC, that offers young adults the opportunity to deepen their relationship with God and with their neighbors through service. "I participated in weekly spiritual formation experiences, such as one that introduced me to contemplative prayer," she recalls. The thought began to creep in that being a pastor might be a good option after all. "How amazing it would be to help other people come to know God better and actually make a living at it," she says. She decided to consider seminary and on her first LTSP visit "felt at home." Her expectations are being exceeded as she continues on her first-year journey. "Every day I feel more settled in this call," she says. "Even though I am filled with questions and doubts, I believe I have been led to seminary to explore God and my belief more fully. The more I ponder the enormity of God, the more I am overwhelmed with a desire to create a world where God is worshiped, adored, feared, loved, embraced and questioned by everyone."