Well, since my last confession, several things have happened. We got a call from the doctor on Tuesday after Misty and the girls left for Texas. Looks like she will need surgery after all. So pray for her and for the rest of the family while mom recuperates. My four girls have been out and about since Tuesday morning and my house has never been quieter. I like quiet for a while, but it is getting old. I just want to tell some child to pipe down.
This quiet week was spent preparing for our church musical patriotic celebration this evening. I will tell you that up until today, I wondered if we would pull it off. But, true to form, the choir and other music groups pulled it together and did a phenomenal job. I wish I had recorded it after all. We had a covered dish supper and then our program of patriotic music. It went well and there was a full, very responsive house. I will refrain from discussing the fact that we had more at the patriotic shindig than we had in church this morning. God and country always seem to have a way of bringing out the best in people. I guess I should just be happy about it and not over analyze it. It was well-received and another point of endearment. It is nice to have fans.
In other news, last week I found out my "Understanding Music" class at the community college did not make. Well, this week, I was commandeered to teach another section of the course that did make but had no teacher. Odd, I know. So, now I have to prepare for a class with at least 30 students in it that I will start tomorrow evening. Funny, because of the timing, I missed the first two class meetings. At least I will get paid for the class and I do not have to prepare very much. It is nice to teach classes for which I already know all the answers.
I was watching this episode of Firefly, a cancelled sci-fi television show from a few years back, the other day. One of the main characters was a shepherd, a 26th century version of a pastor. In this episode, a very disturbed, yet highly intelligent young woman gets hold of the shepherd's Bible and begins to make corrections and ripping out problem passages. She starts telling him all that is wrong with it mathematically. Noah's ark is a problem. She wants to fix the Bible. The shepherd takes the Bible from her and tells her that you don't fix the Bible. It fixes you. I thought this was a good way to explain what faith does for us. It is not about everything in the Bible having to make perfect sense, but about the way it infiltrates us and changes us.
The movie follow up to the series, Serenity, also brings up the subject of believers. In a negative light, it discusses a man who is determined to undermine the plans of some of the main characters. This man is called a believer, and believers are dangerous because they do not see anything but what they believe. I have thought about this a good deal, how important it is to have something to truly believe in. It appears that most of us only pretend to be believers. Clearly, most of us are not dangerous and only true believers are willing to die for their cause.
This week I go back to Alabama for the second session with my ordination counselor. I was worried about it, but I have come to terms with my issues. I am sure things will be fine. But even if they are not, I know God will have a plan. He always seems to have a plan, whether or not I understand it or not--whether I like it or not. So, I might as well get used to it.
I got a new Bible this week called the Orthodox Study Bible. I have been tracking the progress of St. Athanasius' Academy's English version of the Septuagint since they began over a decade ago. The translation was begun by the same group of former evangelicals who entered the Antiochian Orthodox Church several years ago after searching out the ancient faith. [Their spiritual journey was chronicled in the book Becoming Orthodox by Peter Gilquist.] It purports to be a definitive translation of the Greek Old Testament for Orthodox Christians and contains commentary from an Orthodox perspective as well as thoughts from the Church Fathers. It is based on the New King James version of the Bible, but has some interesting differences in translation, not to mention its inclusion of the apocryphal books included in the Septuagint. You know, I like the Maccabees and Sirach as much as the next guy, though I must admit it is interesting and a little unnerving to see them and all the canonical books in Orthodox order. And, no, Malachi is not the last book of the Orthodox Old Testament. I have decided to try to read through this Bible during the rest of 2008. Should be fun, you know, in an Orthodox way.
I came across this passage in Genesis 16 concerning Hagar and Sarah. It is the passage in which Sarah offers Hagar to Abraham in order to raise up children since Sarah is barren. Hagar conceives and Sarah is jealous, behaves rather badly, and throws the now pregnant Hagar out of her house. Hagar is on the run and running out of options. The Angel of the Lord, a theophany in Orthodox understanding, calls out to Hagar and promises that her son will be a great nation. Hagar then calls God "the God who sees me" in this new Orthodox translation, as opposed to only the "God who sees" as the NKJV translates the verse. It is amazing how one word changes the entire meaning for me. Imagine, God sees me, and that is his name. He is known as the God who sees me. When I feel alone and do not seem to know how to cope, the God who sees me is there. It makes me want to be a dangerous believer.
This quiet week was spent preparing for our church musical patriotic celebration this evening. I will tell you that up until today, I wondered if we would pull it off. But, true to form, the choir and other music groups pulled it together and did a phenomenal job. I wish I had recorded it after all. We had a covered dish supper and then our program of patriotic music. It went well and there was a full, very responsive house. I will refrain from discussing the fact that we had more at the patriotic shindig than we had in church this morning. God and country always seem to have a way of bringing out the best in people. I guess I should just be happy about it and not over analyze it. It was well-received and another point of endearment. It is nice to have fans.
In other news, last week I found out my "Understanding Music" class at the community college did not make. Well, this week, I was commandeered to teach another section of the course that did make but had no teacher. Odd, I know. So, now I have to prepare for a class with at least 30 students in it that I will start tomorrow evening. Funny, because of the timing, I missed the first two class meetings. At least I will get paid for the class and I do not have to prepare very much. It is nice to teach classes for which I already know all the answers.
I was watching this episode of Firefly, a cancelled sci-fi television show from a few years back, the other day. One of the main characters was a shepherd, a 26th century version of a pastor. In this episode, a very disturbed, yet highly intelligent young woman gets hold of the shepherd's Bible and begins to make corrections and ripping out problem passages. She starts telling him all that is wrong with it mathematically. Noah's ark is a problem. She wants to fix the Bible. The shepherd takes the Bible from her and tells her that you don't fix the Bible. It fixes you. I thought this was a good way to explain what faith does for us. It is not about everything in the Bible having to make perfect sense, but about the way it infiltrates us and changes us.
The movie follow up to the series, Serenity, also brings up the subject of believers. In a negative light, it discusses a man who is determined to undermine the plans of some of the main characters. This man is called a believer, and believers are dangerous because they do not see anything but what they believe. I have thought about this a good deal, how important it is to have something to truly believe in. It appears that most of us only pretend to be believers. Clearly, most of us are not dangerous and only true believers are willing to die for their cause.
This week I go back to Alabama for the second session with my ordination counselor. I was worried about it, but I have come to terms with my issues. I am sure things will be fine. But even if they are not, I know God will have a plan. He always seems to have a plan, whether or not I understand it or not--whether I like it or not. So, I might as well get used to it.
I got a new Bible this week called the Orthodox Study Bible. I have been tracking the progress of St. Athanasius' Academy's English version of the Septuagint since they began over a decade ago. The translation was begun by the same group of former evangelicals who entered the Antiochian Orthodox Church several years ago after searching out the ancient faith. [Their spiritual journey was chronicled in the book Becoming Orthodox by Peter Gilquist.] It purports to be a definitive translation of the Greek Old Testament for Orthodox Christians and contains commentary from an Orthodox perspective as well as thoughts from the Church Fathers. It is based on the New King James version of the Bible, but has some interesting differences in translation, not to mention its inclusion of the apocryphal books included in the Septuagint. You know, I like the Maccabees and Sirach as much as the next guy, though I must admit it is interesting and a little unnerving to see them and all the canonical books in Orthodox order. And, no, Malachi is not the last book of the Orthodox Old Testament. I have decided to try to read through this Bible during the rest of 2008. Should be fun, you know, in an Orthodox way.
I came across this passage in Genesis 16 concerning Hagar and Sarah. It is the passage in which Sarah offers Hagar to Abraham in order to raise up children since Sarah is barren. Hagar conceives and Sarah is jealous, behaves rather badly, and throws the now pregnant Hagar out of her house. Hagar is on the run and running out of options. The Angel of the Lord, a theophany in Orthodox understanding, calls out to Hagar and promises that her son will be a great nation. Hagar then calls God "the God who sees me" in this new Orthodox translation, as opposed to only the "God who sees" as the NKJV translates the verse. It is amazing how one word changes the entire meaning for me. Imagine, God sees me, and that is his name. He is known as the God who sees me. When I feel alone and do not seem to know how to cope, the God who sees me is there. It makes me want to be a dangerous believer.
Peace.
1 comment:
There is some wonderful and moving insight here. Thank you for that. Tell Misty we've been praying for her. Sorry she has been feeling so badly.
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