Surviving the Sacraments Exam

A few weeks ago all the Phase One probationers had to write an examination on the Sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion). This was the culmination of about eight weeks of instruction, which is required by the Church before we are able to administer the Sacraments in our home churches.

However, this privilege is a limited one, whereby we are authorised only to administer the Sacraments within our home Circuits, and then only for this year. Such dispensation needs to be renewed annually until such time one is ordained.

Getting back to the examination itself, one would think that as a holder of a Masters degree I've written more than my fair share of examinations, and would therefore be used to them. Well, let me tell you, I found this to be one of the toughest that I have ever written, largely because I've forgotten the art of speed-writing. Three hours was simply not sufficient for me to do the paper justice, and it was probably by some miracle that I was able to completely leave out 20% of the paper and still pass!

Unfortunately for many of my colleagues, they did not get through - in fact, only four out of the eleven of us got through. My heart bleeds for them, especially one student who did very well in the questions that he managed to answer but did not allow sufficient time to garner sufficient marks to get through.

My prayers will be with them as they prepare to write a supplementary paper in October.