Kingdom Quotes Pt. II

Get the sticky notes ready! Here are some more thought provoking things I've heard/read/said in recent week(s):

We might not how what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.


Too often we talk to our God about how big our mountains are instead of talking to our mountains about how big our God is.


When you get no credit, remember: you don't work under people, you work under God.


The world needs Christians who don't tolerate the complacency of their own lives.


Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.


People will come miles and miles to hear the Word of God, but they won't cross the street to hear what you have to say. Remember that.


Never let good enough be good enough.


It seems like every time we try to bring heaven down to earth, we bring hell up from below.


God doesn't call the equipped; God equips the called.


You have to go as far as you can see to see how far you can go.


We must live simply so others may simply live.


It's not hard. It's heart.


I hope you are all enjoying advent! =)

It's Advent!

My first day back made me realize two things: (1) I really missed this place; (2) I really needed that break! Phew! I had quite a wonderful break thanks to many, many people! It was very much filled with joy and fun:

TV. I haven't watched tv in 3 months (not kidding), and the first thing I see when I turn on the tube... black friday commericals. Good job America. I got to watch some football, and the Ellen DeGeneres show! Yay!

Food. I am in no place to scrutinize any food served at any institution, so I will just say that it was good to have some home cooked meals. It's been awhile.

Hockey. Both watched and played. WBS Penguins lost to Hershey in a shootout, but we went with a fun crowd (and I got to eat dippin dots with my best buddy)! Then, the pickup roller game was quite competitive.

Soreness. I practiced with my high school basketball team, worked out more than usual (running, situps, and pushups), played with my dogs, and played a three hour roller hockey game. Results: I will be sore for the rest of the week.

Church. Guess what? It's Advent! WHOOOOOOOOOO! I love advent! Love it! L-O-V-E it! Oh, it's simply wonderful! Best hymns of the year, if you ask me! And liturgical purple! And candles! And Jesus! And joy! And waiting... oh, I am eager for the waiting. Plus, it really highlights some of the best parts of scripture! Oh joy! I'm really excited! Anyway, I got to spend the first Sunday of advent in West Chester! What a blessing, indeed! Boy, do I love my church family. What wonderful people! =) It's really an excellent place! And... in case anyone was wondering... we sang O Come O Come Emmanuel in chapel this morning--my FAVORITE! Eeeek, I am ridiculously happy!

Well, I'm back in the bubble! What an excellent break! I very grateful to have wonderful friends to come back to, too! Now, if only the weather will catch up with us... hello, it's advent! Where's the snow, and frosty weather?! I'm not complaining, though, it makes travel easier when it is 60 degree outside! Be seeing you again soon, FPCWC family! Until then, the Lord be with each and every one of you! =)

Thanks-living Brake

**Deep exhale** Phew, finally time for Thanksgiving break (or brake...if you, like me, want things to slow down for a bit)! So now I have some time to sit down and reflect on the past week, and it was quite the week!

Teaching Ministry Interview. So, firstly the thing I am second most excited about (the first being Advent)--teaching ministry. Here at PTSem we have a program under the field education department called "Teaching Ministry." It is basically a church placement with an emphasis on education--usually in the form of a Bible/book study. I applied about two weeks ago, and I got selected for an interview! Yay! They only select ten people for each year's cohort, so I still have to make it through the interview. One of the coolest things about Teaching Ministry is that you get to choose a faculty adviser to help guide you along the way! Princeton Seminary is pretty awesome!

CPE Interviews. I am about to be swamped with interviews! Ahh! As soon as I return from Thanksgiving break, I have two interviews with CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) sites (plus the Teaching Ministry interview)! One of them is very near to my home--Geisinger, and the other is in North Dakota! I am also hoping to hear from a hospital outside of Norfolk, VA. Whatever happens, I fully plan on doing my CPE this summer! Who knows where it will be at this point?!

Hebrew Test. If you've been loosely following this blog, you probably know that I am in a Biblical Hebrew class. It is probably my most challenging class, but at the same time, it is easily my favorite class! Anyway, I had another Midterm on Monday and spent much of the weekend preparing for it! Turns out, I did pretty darn well! Yay! ...oh and special thanks to all of those wonderful people back at First Pres WC that ensured I was riding a sugar high all weekend while studying (haha)!

Thanksgiving. Finally, onto turkey day! I am sorry to say that I am going to miss West Chester's interfaith service tomorrow night (good luck David Pickett and all else who are involved); I really enjoyed it last year. Unfortunately, my car broke, so I am relying on my dear brother for transportation! The week should be fun, though. I am a little nervous about leaving this Christian bubble, but I am anticipating that it will actually be refreshing! Plus, I get to see a lot of amazing people that I have not seen in a long while, including: my parents, my brothers, my best buddy, my church family, my high school basketball coach, my hockey friends, and my pets!

So, today I depart for a bit of a rest and a deep breath before the last two weeks of the semester and Advent! I am super excited for Advent and Christmas! I am planning on doing some kind of Advent study, probably this one: http://www.journeythischristmas.com/chapter.html. Last year, I did a devotional series that could be found here: http://www.d365.org/followingthestar/ (I highly recommend it). Finally, I would suggest that all of you watch this, it is a very thought provoking video about Advent/Christmas in our American culture: http://adventconspiracy.org/ (video top right).

All the best to each of you! May your Thanksgiving also be a time of thanks-living.

Surprise! A care package!

Two things stand between me and Advent: Hebrew midterm (Monday) and Thanksgiving (Thursday). I intend on spending a good portion of the weekend wrestling Hebrew, and then the beginning parts of next week waiting for Advent (which is kinda funny, in a way-- I'm waiting to wait). Anyway, I did not anticipate these study sessions to be filled with snacks, candy, sticky notes, new pens, and encouraging letters... BUT I was surprised to receive a package confirming that, in all actuality, they will be filled with such wonderful things:

Care package from good 'ol First Pres WC!

Thank you First Pres West Chester! I miss you all so much! I am very grateful to have such a wonderful church! God willing, I will see you all the first Sunday of Advent (27 November)! I can't wait! =) In the meantime, have a marvelous Christ the King Sunday! 

And now with joyful gladness, I wait all the more eagerly for Advent.

"I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you all as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power."  

Paul's Letter to the Church in Ephesus Chapter 1:15-19

Kingdom Quotes Pt. I

This post has been in the works for quite some time now. It is simply a list of things that I've thought of, read, or heard somewhere. Many of them are now on sticky notes around my room. I hope some of these statements are thought provoking to you and may become sticky notes on your wall:

This is the kingdom: loving your neighbor as yourself.


Christians are people who are completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.


God's Word gets things done.


You can come through my door but Your presence is in the way. You can come into my church, just don't move any of the furniture.


Sometimes God just has to say, "I love you too much to answer that prayer!"


Last time I checked, the death rate of the world is still at 100%.


Lord, we come before you as humble as we know how...


The more you acquire the more you desire.


We have met the enemy, and they are us.


In the call there is a promise, and it won't quiet down.


People will not care about how much you know until they know about how much you care.


If God has done it, I cannot undo it. I am not holding onto God, God is holding onto me.

Keep in mind that many of these quotations are context dependent, so if any of them rub you the wrong way, I encourage you to inquire about the context before losing sleep over it.

Peace be with you all!

Torah Day!

You're never going to believe what I did! I touched a Torah scroll! That's right, the first five books of the Bible, handwritten on calf skin with a quill and ink and over 90 years old! Now, to be fair, I touched it through my sleeve, for you're not supposed to touch something so holy with your grimy, greasy fingers... but it still counts!

Plus I met a really cool rabbi. He's been a rabbi for over 25 years, and he taught us a lot about Jewish culture and worship services. It's all very interesting. All of the things I learned that day in just 50 minutes is incredible, so if you want some details, you're going to have to ask me in person or email me. It would be a very looooong blog post if I explained it all here.

Anyway, here are some pictures!

Nelson and Katie were by Levitical Laws about Leprosy (left)! It's a very long scroll (right)!

The offset text in Exodus indicates Miriam's song in Chapter 15.

I held the part of the scrolls that contains the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 (ref Golden Calf, Really?)... coincidence?

Five books, handwritten. Wow!

One interesting fact that I will take a minute to share with you is this: if one (just one) letter on this entire scroll, which wrapped itself all the way around a PTSem classroom, becomes illegible or defected, the scroll is not longer used. In Judaism, it is tradition to bury the scroll in a graveyard. They do not just throw it out, for it is a holy document.

I'll be checking this off my bucket list! What a wonderful experience! 

The Weeping Prophet

Jeremiah. Hmm. Jeremiah. If you have ever engaged in any kind of non-specific, overall general Bible discussions with me, you are probably well aware that I am absolutely fascinated with the book of Jeremiah. In my opinion, it's difficult not to be. I can go on for ages and ages about the different kinds of features this book has to offer. Now, before I scare too many readers off, I shall restrain myself from doing so, and talk just a little bit about a few of my favorite passages.

Chapter 1: Jeremiah's Call and Commission--I'm just a sucker for call stories. It very closely follows the "typical" structure for a call story in the Bible. Compare to Moses (Exodus 3) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6). 

Chapter 4:23 "I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void." Reference to Genesis 1 and the creation story. Hebrew for "waste and void" is to-hu va-vo-hu ( וָבֹהוּ תֹהוּ ). If I remember correctly, it only shows up together as a clause three times in the entire Old Testament, and quite frankly, we have no idea what it means. It does get translated as "waste and void," though.

Chapter 7:16 "As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry or prayer on their behalf, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you." This passage tells me several things: 1. God was really angry. 2. Jeremiah had a deep love for his country, Judah. 3. The people really screwed up this time. Also: compare to Chapter 11:14.

Chapter 20--holy moley, what a lament! Some argue that this passage is even blasphemous. I, for one, think it's truly authentic. It shows the true humanity, vulnerability, anger, and anguish of Jeremiah. Not to mention, it is terribly beautiful poetry! "...within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones..." He ends with saying that he wished he had never been born. **I just wrote a paper on this particular passage... and loved every minute of it (nerdy, I know).

Chapter 29:10-12 "I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me."

Chapter 31--very important part of Jeremiah. Here, he speaks of the eventual return of the exiles and the new covenant. Some say it is a prophecy referring to the new covenant in the NT, but others would be slightly offended by such a statement. Read it and see what you think, paying special attention to vv. 31-34.

Chapter 32--buy a field? What? Why? The Babylonians and their mighty king Nebuchadrezzar are literally besieging Jerusalem as this is going on! I couldn't think of a worse time to buy a field. BUT, it's what the LORD said to do. So he did it. Faithfully.

Jeremiah isn't organized in complete chronological order, so you may find yourself getting lost within it, and that's fine. Try to keep track of the kings (I know some of them have veeery similar names i.e. Jehoiachin and Jehoiakim) and you'll be fine. 

This book is great. Throughout, you can see the struggles that Jeremiah and God (via Jeremiah) are going through. Jeremiah preaches judgment & repentance, submission, and eventually hope to people who really don't want to hear what he or the LORD have to say. Overall, very enthralling and exciting book, and really important to Israel/Judah's history. Easily my favorite to read in the OT. I would love love love to do a Bible study on it one day.

Stay tuned for my next blog concerning my real-life interaction with a rabbi, Jewish tradition, and a Torah scroll! =)

All the best, friends. 15 days til Advent... yay!!!

Not the sign I am looking for...

Being the dedicated student that I am, I do much research concerning the social lives of others. In this research, I oftentimes see photos posted by others on their own virtual, personal bulletin boards that catch my eye. Sometimes, they even make very interesting statements. Most recently, I stumbled upon the following:

Coincidentally enough, my research on the social well-beings has made a statement about my own eternal well-being. This picture, in my opinion, has far greater implications than perhaps initially intended. By saying: "God Loves You, Unless..." this implies that there are people that God doesn't love. Hmmm... really? Also, "In that case..." tells me that grace is dependent on something else, which is against the very definition of grace itself. Furthermore, "You are going to Hell," is a human statement, not a God statement. Who is anyone to tell anyone else that they are going to hell? Who is in a position to condemn? Christ Jesus.

Perhaps this sign just rubs me the wrong way because it applies directly to me. God doesn't love me, and I'm going to hell? I can't in good conscience agree with those statements. We are told that God is Love. So, I believe that there is no one outside of the reach of such love. And honestly, I wouldn't agree even if I didn't have tattoos.

In the days preceding Advent, there is only one sign I am looking for, and it's certainly not one that promotes this kind of message.

Is it to little for you to weary mortals, that you must weary my God also?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. 

Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.*

Isaiah 7:13-14

I shall continue to post interesting things that I may find in my investigations of the social lives of others.

* in Hebrew:  עִמָּנוּ אֵל

Behold! Lo!

Let me begin by apologizing for my lack of blogging as of recent. There is truly no excuse for it other than the fact that I am finding other amazingly fun things to do... like Hebrew! Yay! Now, I don't know how many, if any, of you have taken any Hebrew or know anything about Hebrew, or want to know anything about Hebrew... but I figured I would share an fun/interesting fact that I learned in class today.

So, there is this word in Hebrew:           הִנֵה    pronounced "Hin-eh." Now, this word doesn't really have a meaning, unless you want it to. You see, in the Biblical text, it oftentimes is used to draw the readers attention to something. Therefore, I suppose in a sense, it's sort of an emphatic indicator word. The interesting thing is how it can be translated. For instance, in Genesis 22, it is used in two different ways. When the LORD calls out to Abraham, he responds using the correct conjugation of this Hebrew word. In the English, it is translated as the famous words, "Here I am." However, later on in the very same chapter, it is used to draw attention to wood and fire (yes...wood and fire). Here it is translated as, "Behold, [the wood and fire]!" Basically, translation of this word (when it actually is translated) is dependent upon context. Some Bible translations... NIV, NRSV, ESV, etc tend to only translate it when it is "sensible" to do so; others, most notably the KJV, have a problem not translating it, so it will oftentimes just show up  as "Behold!" or "Lo!"

Reading through the KJV can make this sound quite humorous at times. I guess it is just not a word that we use in everyday English. Some of my friends and I started using it a lot following class (even signing it to one another), and it was a good laugh. It just sounds funny in our language, and its a shame that there really is no English equivalent to compare it to. We really don't have any emphatic indicators... well, at least that I can think of off the top of my head. Hebrew can be one funky language. Well, I shall dive back into my Hebrew endeavors!

      הִנֵה    ...this is what studying Hebrew can look like. =) Fun fun fun!

"Lo, Behold!"

All the best dear friends, all the best! 

This is seminary...

This is a prayer...

A Seminarian's Prayer

God,
We think about you all the time.
We think about people who think about you and think about what they wrote about you. And then we write about them.
And yet sometimes, God, we cannot find you even in our thoughts. Our minds do feel like a labyrinth in which we have gotten lost and Scripture feels too much like the bricks blocking the exit than the string that guides us out.
And so we grow tired of thinking.
We talk about you all the time. We throw your name around like we own it. We hide our confusion about you into declarative statements, saying that we know you are like this and we know you wouldn’t do that.
But we don’t know.
We don’t know you, at least not as much as we would we like.
Forgive us our hubris and our eagerness to talk about you which so often exceeds our desire to listen to you. It’s just so much easier to talk about you than to say it to your face.
But, God, we remember that you called us here, though there are days when this ivory tower looks nothing like your Kingdom and we certainly don’t look like we belong within it.
Remind us, God, that appearances can be deceiving, that grades do not measure our worth.
God, we want to fight for justice, to stand for mercy, to love our enemies. But also, we want to take a nap, spend an evening alone with our families, and go to bed not worried about books still unread on our night table.
You said once that to follow you, there were crosses we had to carry. We know this small academic cross is tiny compared to the one you carried once, but some days we can hardly even drag it behind us, let alone pick it up.
But thankfully, You also said once that those who are weary should come to you. So here we are.
Because to whom else could we go?
Because at the end of the day, there is no one else that we would rather think about.
- Jennifer Wyant

This is a "party..."

  Note the Doritos, cereal, and candy.

This is one of our posters...

 This is our sense of humor...

This is seminary.

 

A Book Review: Love Wins

Rob Bell's book Love Wins has been in the news and spotlight for two reasons: first, well, he's Rob Bell--famous preacher from all those Nooma videos (and apparently a writer for a new ABC show); and second, because his book has been accused of making universalist claims. For those of you who do not know what universalism is... (my definition) it is basically the idea that everyone gets into heaven, no matter what.

Let me preface this discussion with a spoiler alert. If you have not read the book and wish to, which I highly recommend, stop here. If not, continue. =)

Rob Bell's style of writing feels more like you are reading a sermon than reading a book. It is a very distinct style and feels like he's simply have a conversation with you. It's pretty sweet (but repetitive at times--intentionally). So I am going to walk you through each chapter touching on what jumped out to me. Page numbers precede the quotation. Comments are in italics.

What About the Flat Tire
6 "So is it true that the kind of person you are doesn't really matter?"
9 "Often times when I meet with atheists, and we talk about the god they don't believe in, we quickly discover that I don't believe in that god either."
     **Rob Bell loves hypothetical and rhetorical questions in this book. He really makes you think.
     **9 is an interesting point. Prefacing such conversations with particular definitions of what one believes God to be is important.

Here is the New There
25 "I've heard pastors answer, 'It will be unlike anything we can comprehend, like a church service that goes on forever,' causing me to think, 'That sounds more like hell.'"
35 "Here it is, a big, beautiful, fascinating world. God says, 'Do something with it.'"
45 "It often appears that those who talk the most about going to heaven when you die talk the least about bring heaven to earth right now."
50 "How would we each do in a reality that had no capacity for cynicism or slander or worry or pride?"
     **He talks about the idea of "Kingdom" a lot, which I like. I would argue that he is saying: what we do here on Earth DOES matter.
     **25 made me laugh; 50 is another one of his interesting rhetorical questions. Very thought provoking.

Hell
72 "It is absolutely vital that we acknowledge that love, grace, and humanity can be rejected... we are terrifyingly free to do as we please."
     **"Terrifyingly free," he explains this well, but some theologians may disagree.

Does God Get What God Wants?
99 "What we have in common--regardless of our tribe, language, customs, belief, or religion--outweighs our differences."
108 "To be clear, again, an untold number of serious disciples of Jesus across hundreds of years have assumed, affirmed, and trusted that no one can resist God's pursuit forever, because God's love will eventually melt even that hardest of hearts."
109 "At the center of the Christian tradition since the first church have been a number who insist that history is not tragic, hell is not forever, and love, in the end, wins and all will be reconciled to God." 
     **This is the heart of the issue for many critics, and also the theme of his book. 
     **Honestly, I don't think he is preaching universalism here. You have to read the whole book to really understand what he is trying to say. Don't take it out of context, please!


Dying to Live
136 "When we cling with white knuckles to our sins and our hostility, we're like a tree that won't let its leaves go. There can't be spring if we're stuck in the fall."
     **His personal rendition and analogy of absolute devotion.

There are Rocks Everywhere
144 "Paul finds Jesus there, in that rock, because Paul finds Jesus everywhere." (I Cor 10)
     **Do you find Jesus everywhere?

The Good New is Better than That
168 "Grace and generosity aren't fair; that's their very essence."
170 "Hell is our refusal to trust God's retelling of our story."
175 "Hell is refusing to trust."
     **168 for more on this I recommend Phillip Yancey's book What's So Amazing About Grace.
     **His emphasis in this chapter is our response to God's grace and trust in God.

The End is Here
197 "Jesus passionately urges us to live like the end is here, now, today."
     **Do we live like this?


Overall, I enjoyed the book. I think a lot of the critics are just looking for something to criticize. Rob Bell certainly doesn't bluntly support universalism. He even clarifies such issues in numerous interviews before and after the book's publication. I think MSNBC was extremely harsh and unfair with him. They were leading him into absolute, polarizing questions... giving him either-or questions that were just not cool. They oversimplified God. Despite their behavior, Rob Bell was very gracious in his remarks to his interviewer. Many of the people accusing him of being a universalist (in my experience) have not even read the book cover to cover. They are taking things out of context and giving too much weight to the opinions of others. Furthermore, I don't think the intention or even the main scope of this book should be classified under "who gets in and who doesn't." In my opinion, we shouldn't be worrying about that anyway. What we need to be more concerned with is the kingdom here and now, not there and later. If nothing else, this book asks a lot of good questions that will make you think about your own ideas of heaven, hell, the kingdom, sins, faith, righteousness, grace, and most of all... love.

I stumbled upon this shortly after finishing the book. Coincidence? =)

All the best to each of you! Thanks for reading!