Hey hey, Episcopal seminary seniors! Around the world, Christian clergy are breathing one big collective sigh of relief and thinking, “Now that Christmas has passed, I finally get a break.”

But not you. HA! Oh, not you. Pretty soon, your travails with the General Ordination Exams will begin.

Before I continue, I should note that my wife frowned when she read my last GOE post and said, “You’re a little too cavalier here.” So if you’re reading this right now, I just want to take a moment to thank you for putting up with the bossy, know-it-all attitude I’ve cultivated on this blog. In real life I’m actually pretty shy.

Meanwhile, if you’re in the final throes of exam prep and are sneaking a peek at this site, here’s a quick roundup of useful links that may come in handy while you’re taking the GOEs. Bookmark this post and you’ll have them all in one place.

Holy Scriptures

• Bible Gateway
• Unbound Bible (helpful for parallel translations, even though it pains me to link to Biola)
• Interlinear Bible (both Hebrew and Greek from BibleHub)
• Hebrew Concordance (BibleHub)
• Greek Concordance (BibleHub)

Church History

• Episcopal Church Archives
• Episcopal Church Timeline
• Brief History of the Episcopal Church
• Historical Documents of the Church (BCP)

Christian Theology

• What We Believe (Episcopal Church)
• Catechism of the Episcopal Church (BCP)
• Christian Classics Ethereal Library (free online ebooks, including Hooker, Cranmer and more)

Christian Ethics and Moral Theology

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (University of Tennessee at Martin)

Christian Worship

• Book of Common Prayer (full text online)
• Revised Common Lectionary (Vanderbilt)
• The Lectionary Page (with a fantastic calendar function)
• Hymnary.org (pure magic for looking up hymns on any given Scripture or theme)
• A Great Cloud of Witnesses (Church Publishing, the most recent update to Lesser Feasts & Fasts)
• Enriching Our Worship Series* (Church Publishing)
  • 1: Daily Office & Holy Eucharist
  • 2: Ministry with Sick & Dying, Burial of a Child
  • 3: Burial Rites for Adults, Burial of a Child AGAIN for Some Reason
  • 4: Renewal of Ministry, Welcoming of New Rector
  • 5: Liturgies for Childbearing, Childbirth, & Child Loss
  • 6: Witnessing & Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant: This resource has been cannibalized replaced by the catchily named I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing, which encompasses two different liturgies:
    • Celebration & Blessing of a Marriage 2 is the marriage rite from the Book of Common Prayer, with slight adaptations to make it gender-neutral. (Discerning eyes will also note some other subtle changes; e.g., “the procreation of children” is replaced with “the gift of children.” Frankly, I would recommend this change even to fertile young straight couples, as I have never met a couple who wants all their wedding guests to think about their procreative activities during the ceremony.)
    • Witnessing & Blessing of a Marriage is a substantially revised gender-neutral marriage rite with more contemporary language if you like that sort of thing, in which case why are you an Episcopalian exactly?

*Some bishops REALLY do not like Enriching Our Worship and forbid, or at least sternly discourage, the use of these resources in public worship. If your bishop is one of these, remember that they will be reading your GOE responses, and maybe lay off the wacky Eucharistic prayers.

Practice of Ministry

… You don’t need any extra resources for this one. Just write from your heart. The practice of ministry, in the end, is what this is all about.

May God bless you and keep you, GOE-takers. I’m gonna be praying for you all week. Good luck!