Continuing my trek through college years before I came to seminary.
Philosophizing. Unknown to many a person, I was also a Philosophy major in college. It initially started as a minor, but since many of the BA degrees have overlapping general education requirements, I was able to change it to a major by adding only a few more classes to my workload. Much of my philosophizing took the form of reading, reading, and more reading. So much reading, which definitely prepared me for seminary! Many of the classes also taught me a lot about the logic of philosophy and how one forms a solid argument. I read many philosophers: Descartes, Kant, Spinoza, Hume, Smith, et al, and trust me when I say that I did not always agree with what these people philosophized about. As a matter of fact, in retrospect, it seems as though I disagreed far more than I ever agreed. Hmm, interesting.
BioMedical Ethics. Another class I had to take for my Philosophy major was ethics. I took BioMedical Ethics because I thought it would be really cool. Much of our class time was spent going over what the readings actually said and meant. Since I usually felt like I read and understood the readings, this means that much of my class time was spent not paying 100% attention. So what would someone like me do instead? Good question with an interesting answer: I kept a prayer journal. I still have my ethics notebook to this day, and it consists of about 20% ethics notes, 80% prayer.
Speech team. To this day I cannot tell you how I ever managed to fit speech team into my schedule. I have no idea. All I know is that is was a ridiculous amount of fun! I eventually had to give it up because my involvement at the clinic and at church was consuming all of my speech-practice time. While I did it though, I normally competed in Informative Speech, After Dinner Speech, Poetry, and Impromptu. My favorite was definitely Informative, but I was the best at Impromptu. I remember practicing Impromptu speeches down in our cave in the basement of main hall; after giving my two-minute prep, five-minute speech with perfect timing, my speech team advisor said something to me, "You did everything perfect. Perfect prep, perfect intro, perfect points, perfect conclusion, perfect timing... except I didn't hear a word you said. Don't talk at people; talk to people." And since then, I have been learning how to engage listeners when I speak. And now, especially, when I preach.
How this helps: Theology, Praying, Preaching.
Next Post: A Humble Job
Shalom, friends!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Before I came to Seminary: "You're a Psychoanalyst?!"
Before I jump into telling you a little bit about my college years, I have some excellent news! As of yesterday I have a field education placement! Wooo Hoo, break out the grape juice and fizzy apple cider! It's a small country church in PA, and the pastor there is quite amazing. Check out Forest Grove Presbyterian's website: http://www.forestgrovechurch.org/ Anyway, before I came to seminary:
Psychology. As some of you may already know, I was a Psychology major in undergrad (at West Chester University). Although my fascination spreads to many areas of Psychology, my main focus was on autism through the scope of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). After only a few months of studying a theoretical side of autism, and more broadly--learning disabilities, a professor recommended that I get some practical experience. This took on several shapes: a year-long internship at a charter school applying Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) on all three tiers (individual, classroom, school-wide) where I had the opportunity to work with a sophomore, a 3rd grader, a 4th grader, and a whole 3rd grade classroom, a mentor-ship through a local YMCA with a 20 year old Extended School Year (ESY) participant, involvement in "Parent's Night Out"--a monthly broad scale babysitting event for parents of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), joining Council for Exceptional Children and Psi Chi. To this day, I still love Psychology.
Autism clinic. After getting involved in all of these wonderful forms of busyness, I also heard of a wonderful place called SPARC (Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center). The same professor who suggested that I get involved with everything that was mentioned above also thought I may benefit from working at SPARC... so I did. At first I was only involved in the feeding program (since it was in the morning time before class and work and everything else), which uses ABA techniques to help children with feeding disorders (different than eating disorders). Ages in this program usually ranged from two to twelveish, although no one who sought help would be turned away. After a semester, I was also involved in social skills training. Social skills focused more specifically on ASD and the age ranges were from about five to fourteen. I can't tell you how much useful experience I got from working at SPARC. I loved my job so much that it convinced me to seek a Ph.D in psychology (autism research was the topic of my proposed potential disertation). I was accepted into two different five year programs: Fuller and Michigan--both of which I turned down to come to seminary. =)
"The reaction." One of the practical things I learned from my experience in Psychology has been to anticipate "the reaction." So what is "the reaction." Ok so, envision this, you're at some social event, you're chatting it up with some new people, and the topic of what-you-do-for-a-living comes up. And since you are being me from last year, you would say, "(I'm a student), I work at an autism clinic." Then you get "the reaction": this surprised look, guarded posture, speech filled with anuniciated pauses, and usually a question like, "So, you're a psychoanalyst. And you're reading my behavior then?! Tell me what I'll do next!" It's always quite interesting, and some version of the above response is bound to occur. I have also noticed that this happens to pastors and seminarians. Except now, the verbal response is more like one of those hard questions of theology, "Why do people suffer?" "Prove to me that God exists." "If God is good... then [insert comment here]." In general, people have some quirky views and expectations of what they think psychologists and pastors are like.
Pastoral Care. In my four years at WCU, I took every single psychology course offered except for six. These included classes like: Pharmocology, Psychology of Learning, Applied Behavioral Analysis, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Women, Intro Psychology, Counseling, Theories of Personality, Psychotherapy, Abnormal Psychology, Positive Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Behavioral & Statistical Psychology, Human Sexuality, Family Systems Psychology, Adult Development, Infant-Child & Adolescent Development, Psychodrama, Biopsychology, Animal Behavior, et al. Each of these classes has taught me something very important about human development, human behavior, and/or the human mind. All of which have been incredibly helpful in my pastoral care endeavors here at seminary. I am quite literally breezing through my Pastoral Care class because I have such a heavy background in clinical theory and practice.
How this helps: Pastoral Care, Clinical Pastoral Education, working with children.
Next Post: "Don't talk at People!"
God's Blessings!
Psychology. As some of you may already know, I was a Psychology major in undergrad (at West Chester University). Although my fascination spreads to many areas of Psychology, my main focus was on autism through the scope of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). After only a few months of studying a theoretical side of autism, and more broadly--learning disabilities, a professor recommended that I get some practical experience. This took on several shapes: a year-long internship at a charter school applying Positive Behavioral Support (PBS) on all three tiers (individual, classroom, school-wide) where I had the opportunity to work with a sophomore, a 3rd grader, a 4th grader, and a whole 3rd grade classroom, a mentor-ship through a local YMCA with a 20 year old Extended School Year (ESY) participant, involvement in "Parent's Night Out"--a monthly broad scale babysitting event for parents of kids with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), joining Council for Exceptional Children and Psi Chi. To this day, I still love Psychology.
Autism clinic. After getting involved in all of these wonderful forms of busyness, I also heard of a wonderful place called SPARC (Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center). The same professor who suggested that I get involved with everything that was mentioned above also thought I may benefit from working at SPARC... so I did. At first I was only involved in the feeding program (since it was in the morning time before class and work and everything else), which uses ABA techniques to help children with feeding disorders (different than eating disorders). Ages in this program usually ranged from two to twelveish, although no one who sought help would be turned away. After a semester, I was also involved in social skills training. Social skills focused more specifically on ASD and the age ranges were from about five to fourteen. I can't tell you how much useful experience I got from working at SPARC. I loved my job so much that it convinced me to seek a Ph.D in psychology (autism research was the topic of my proposed potential disertation). I was accepted into two different five year programs: Fuller and Michigan--both of which I turned down to come to seminary. =)
"The reaction." One of the practical things I learned from my experience in Psychology has been to anticipate "the reaction." So what is "the reaction." Ok so, envision this, you're at some social event, you're chatting it up with some new people, and the topic of what-you-do-for-a-living comes up. And since you are being me from last year, you would say, "(I'm a student), I work at an autism clinic." Then you get "the reaction": this surprised look, guarded posture, speech filled with anuniciated pauses, and usually a question like, "So, you're a psychoanalyst. And you're reading my behavior then?! Tell me what I'll do next!" It's always quite interesting, and some version of the above response is bound to occur. I have also noticed that this happens to pastors and seminarians. Except now, the verbal response is more like one of those hard questions of theology, "Why do people suffer?" "Prove to me that God exists." "If God is good... then [insert comment here]." In general, people have some quirky views and expectations of what they think psychologists and pastors are like.
Pastoral Care. In my four years at WCU, I took every single psychology course offered except for six. These included classes like: Pharmocology, Psychology of Learning, Applied Behavioral Analysis, Developmental Psychology, Psychology of Women, Intro Psychology, Counseling, Theories of Personality, Psychotherapy, Abnormal Psychology, Positive Psychology, Social Psychology, Research Methods, Behavioral & Statistical Psychology, Human Sexuality, Family Systems Psychology, Adult Development, Infant-Child & Adolescent Development, Psychodrama, Biopsychology, Animal Behavior, et al. Each of these classes has taught me something very important about human development, human behavior, and/or the human mind. All of which have been incredibly helpful in my pastoral care endeavors here at seminary. I am quite literally breezing through my Pastoral Care class because I have such a heavy background in clinical theory and practice.
How this helps: Pastoral Care, Clinical Pastoral Education, working with children.
Next Post: "Don't talk at People!"
God's Blessings!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Before I came to Seminary: Introduction
Greetings beloved friends and family!
I've been thinking about different things I can write about in my blogs to keep all of you interested. At the same time, I am reading a book (several actually)* that I would classify under something like a "faith memoir" genre. Now, now, now, if you think about it, we all have that story of our lives that can be told from such a perspective. This got me to thinking about memorable portions of my life that have eventually led me to seminary. Don't get wrong, I didn't always know that I was destined to come to seminary. As a matter of fact, I was oblivious to God's tugging for the majority of my life. So, I have decided to rewind my life a little bit over the next few weeks to show how exactly I ended up at this place called seminary.
I'll start in college and work my way back to my childhood, hoping to capture specific moments in time without forgetting about the big picture of that section of my life. I must forewarn you, this history is not particularly faith-filled and may be boring at times. But these are the things that stick out to me when I think about my journey through life thus far. If nothing else, it is an interesting tale of how God has been an ever present force in my life, even when I didn't recognize it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I anticipate joy in writing it.
Next Post: "You're a Psychoanalyst?!"
God's Blessings! =)
*Lament for a Son, A Grace Disguised, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (all stemming from my Pastoral Care class).
I've been thinking about different things I can write about in my blogs to keep all of you interested. At the same time, I am reading a book (several actually)* that I would classify under something like a "faith memoir" genre. Now, now, now, if you think about it, we all have that story of our lives that can be told from such a perspective. This got me to thinking about memorable portions of my life that have eventually led me to seminary. Don't get wrong, I didn't always know that I was destined to come to seminary. As a matter of fact, I was oblivious to God's tugging for the majority of my life. So, I have decided to rewind my life a little bit over the next few weeks to show how exactly I ended up at this place called seminary.
I'll start in college and work my way back to my childhood, hoping to capture specific moments in time without forgetting about the big picture of that section of my life. I must forewarn you, this history is not particularly faith-filled and may be boring at times. But these are the things that stick out to me when I think about my journey through life thus far. If nothing else, it is an interesting tale of how God has been an ever present force in my life, even when I didn't recognize it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I anticipate joy in writing it.
Next Post: "You're a Psychoanalyst?!"
God's Blessings! =)
*Lament for a Son, A Grace Disguised, When Bad Things Happen to Good People (all stemming from my Pastoral Care class).
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Praying Paul
Greetings dear friends! It's been a wonderful week here at PTS, and the weather is being as inconsistent as ever. I'm cool with it, though, because it means that there is a rare nice day here and there--nice enough to have Hebrew Exegesis class on the Chapel steps last Thursday! Anyway, we have entered the Lenten season, which means we have about seven weeks until Easter Sunday! Woo Hoo!
Lent Discipline. To many people, Lent has been a season of giving something up--chocolate, coffee, cookies, cursing, whatever... Less often, I see people endeavoring into the realms of new disciplines. Both of these observations have inspired my plan for Lent. Now now now, having a background in Psychology means that I read a lot of studies about such endeavors: taking on too much too fast usually ends in failure, temptation gets stronger the longer it persists, and it takes about 60 days to develop a new habit. All this considered, I have decided to give up three of my dining-hall weaknesses: cookies (which are consequently on NW's top ten list of awesome things in America), ice cream (which kinda stinks now that they got rid of all that cherry ice cream and replaced it with my two favorites--choco mint chip and cookies and cream), and granola (which you can eat as slow as you want because it practically never goes soggy)! So, wish me luck with all that! The far more interesting part of my Lenten plan is my new discipline: Praying Paul. This might not be the most accurate description of what I am actually doing, but my plan is to memorize an awesome section of Paul's letters everyday. Sometimes this is a single verse, sometimes it's five or six. The point is that I will be memorizing even more Scripture than I already do, and to be quite honest, I have been obsessing with the Prophets and Psalms a little bit too much lately, so this should jazz up my rememorizing a bit! I'm getting most of my suggestions for passages from my brain, my friends, and a nice little book titled A Still More Excellent Way.
Psalm Sing. I foreshadowed the Psalter celebration two posts ago, but man o man it was pretty darn cool! There was a reception with tasty snacks, lively people, and a book signing. We all then ventured over to the Chapel to sing a little bit. It was quite a fun and uplifting night. Check out the first page of my Psalter:
Lent Discipline. To many people, Lent has been a season of giving something up--chocolate, coffee, cookies, cursing, whatever... Less often, I see people endeavoring into the realms of new disciplines. Both of these observations have inspired my plan for Lent. Now now now, having a background in Psychology means that I read a lot of studies about such endeavors: taking on too much too fast usually ends in failure, temptation gets stronger the longer it persists, and it takes about 60 days to develop a new habit. All this considered, I have decided to give up three of my dining-hall weaknesses: cookies (which are consequently on NW's top ten list of awesome things in America), ice cream (which kinda stinks now that they got rid of all that cherry ice cream and replaced it with my two favorites--choco mint chip and cookies and cream), and granola (which you can eat as slow as you want because it practically never goes soggy)! So, wish me luck with all that! The far more interesting part of my Lenten plan is my new discipline: Praying Paul. This might not be the most accurate description of what I am actually doing, but my plan is to memorize an awesome section of Paul's letters everyday. Sometimes this is a single verse, sometimes it's five or six. The point is that I will be memorizing even more Scripture than I already do, and to be quite honest, I have been obsessing with the Prophets and Psalms a little bit too much lately, so this should jazz up my rememorizing a bit! I'm getting most of my suggestions for passages from my brain, my friends, and a nice little book titled A Still More Excellent Way.
Psalm Sing. I foreshadowed the Psalter celebration two posts ago, but man o man it was pretty darn cool! There was a reception with tasty snacks, lively people, and a book signing. We all then ventured over to the Chapel to sing a little bit. It was quite a fun and uplifting night. Check out the first page of my Psalter:
You know, I really love the Psalms. What a wonderful book! You should go read a few! They're short, and there is one for every occasion. Also, I will be sure to have my Psalter with me as I travel to West Chester and Weatherly over Spring Break if any of you want to look at the pure dead brilliance contained on the pages of this incredible collection of Psalms!
Palm Sunday. First Pres WC is having a Palm Sunday 5K run/2k walk that you should all try to attend. I am currently training for the distance of 10K, which includes five days of gym time and at least four evenings icing knees. So, if you are a seminiarian reading this, I encourage you to join me in my training. If not, you should go to about.com and get a good training schedule for yourself. More details can be found at: http://www.firstpreswc.com/palm-sunday-5k
I hope all is well with each of you, and I hope to see you soon (whoever you are)! The LORD be with you! =)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Kingdom Quotes: Pt. IV
I have been hearing, reading, and saying more of these little memorable quotations this semester, so here are some more for your investigation:
It is a story about God, too, whose name is not only Yahweh but also Immanuel, who will not leave his beloved creatures to their fates even when they defy him to his face or thrust a spear in his side.
If you've been up all night and cried until you have no more tears left in you--you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness, You feel as if nothing else was ever going to happen again.
It's a description, not a prescription.
When you reach out to grab God's sleeve, you are not able to hold on because you are strong. You are not able to hold on because you are smart. You are able to hold on because God is holding onto you, and God will never, never let you go.
In the Psalms, ideas rhyme rather than words.
God's grace does not nullify human responsibility; it enables people to obey.
So much of the Christian faith is not about teaching something new, but rather about reminding everyone of that which we already know.
When you're down to nothing, God is up to something.
Only when God is all you have left do you realize that God was all you ever really needed.
Life is a hell of a thing to happen to a person.
Don't preach to people what they want to hear; preach to them about what they will wish they had heard.
I tried to teach a congregation about chanting, and they just looked at me with big eyes. So now I just do it; they may not know what they are doing, but they do it anyway.
God Bless! =)
It is a story about God, too, whose name is not only Yahweh but also Immanuel, who will not leave his beloved creatures to their fates even when they defy him to his face or thrust a spear in his side.
If you've been up all night and cried until you have no more tears left in you--you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness, You feel as if nothing else was ever going to happen again.
It's a description, not a prescription.
When you reach out to grab God's sleeve, you are not able to hold on because you are strong. You are not able to hold on because you are smart. You are able to hold on because God is holding onto you, and God will never, never let you go.
In the Psalms, ideas rhyme rather than words.
God's grace does not nullify human responsibility; it enables people to obey.
So much of the Christian faith is not about teaching something new, but rather about reminding everyone of that which we already know.
When you're down to nothing, God is up to something.
Only when God is all you have left do you realize that God was all you ever really needed.
Life is a hell of a thing to happen to a person.
Don't preach to people what they want to hear; preach to them about what they will wish they had heard.
I tried to teach a congregation about chanting, and they just looked at me with big eyes. So now I just do it; they may not know what they are doing, but they do it anyway.
God Bless! =)
Monday, February 20, 2012
Psalter Celebration
I was checking through my post history just a few moments ago, and I realized that last semester I posted about once every three or four days. This semester, however, I am posting roughly once a week. Tonight is the exception. Four days ago was the last time I posted, and now I am posting again! Wooo Hooo!
Exegetical Working Paper. This weekend I did some serious exegeting (ref Exegetical Tools)! That's right, friends, a little extra-Jesus in my life... this time in the form of the Gospel of Luke chapter 13! I have an assignment due tomorrow for New Testament that is basically a condensed outline of the steps one is to take when interpreting a passage. It's a very exciting process, and a learning one at that! The precursor to being a preacher, Hallelujah!
Seminary Basketball. Here at seminary, basketball can get pretty serious. We don't compliment the other team after every play. We are only nice to the refs the vast majority of the time. And we care more about having fun that winning. What kind of basketball players are we? ;) Seriously though, it is really a lot of fun! We even had an awesome cheering section last game (that came up with some quite interesting cheers)! Here is part of the "trash-talking":
Psalter Celebration. Sing praise to the LORD you people his saints!!! I cannot wait. I can't. It's impossible for me to wait. Waiting for singing is hard. And in the mean time, I have been journaling through the psalms, which is hard and does not help with the waiting. I will journal about a psalm, look up the arrangement in the Psalter we are using, and then get super excited about singing them! Ahhhh! There is a book signing reception on Friday (for PFAS) followed by a Psalm sing! Yippee! And before all of this, I have my Psalms class where I will be singing. My voice might not be working by Saturday, but that's okay because I love singing!
Lent. Oh lent. It's been almost a whole year since I engaged in Lenten behavior. So the question is... what to do for lent? I have a couple ideas floating around in my brain, but if you have any suggestions (or challenges for that matter), throw them at me! I will post about what I decide to do sometime soon.
Well friends, I continue to pray for all of you each night! It has been a while since I have seen many of you, and you should know that I miss you all! I hope to make a series of visits over Spring Break, March 3-11.
God Bless!
Exegetical Working Paper. This weekend I did some serious exegeting (ref Exegetical Tools)! That's right, friends, a little extra-Jesus in my life... this time in the form of the Gospel of Luke chapter 13! I have an assignment due tomorrow for New Testament that is basically a condensed outline of the steps one is to take when interpreting a passage. It's a very exciting process, and a learning one at that! The precursor to being a preacher, Hallelujah!
Seminary Basketball. Here at seminary, basketball can get pretty serious. We don't compliment the other team after every play. We are only nice to the refs the vast majority of the time. And we care more about having fun that winning. What kind of basketball players are we? ;) Seriously though, it is really a lot of fun! We even had an awesome cheering section last game (that came up with some quite interesting cheers)! Here is part of the "trash-talking":
Enter the workout-gym with a ball, leave with a note with a game date upon it. =)
Psalter Celebration. Sing praise to the LORD you people his saints!!! I cannot wait. I can't. It's impossible for me to wait. Waiting for singing is hard. And in the mean time, I have been journaling through the psalms, which is hard and does not help with the waiting. I will journal about a psalm, look up the arrangement in the Psalter we are using, and then get super excited about singing them! Ahhhh! There is a book signing reception on Friday (for PFAS) followed by a Psalm sing! Yippee! And before all of this, I have my Psalms class where I will be singing. My voice might not be working by Saturday, but that's okay because I love singing!
Lent. Oh lent. It's been almost a whole year since I engaged in Lenten behavior. So the question is... what to do for lent? I have a couple ideas floating around in my brain, but if you have any suggestions (or challenges for that matter), throw them at me! I will post about what I decide to do sometime soon.
Well friends, I continue to pray for all of you each night! It has been a while since I have seen many of you, and you should know that I miss you all! I hope to make a series of visits over Spring Break, March 3-11.
God Bless!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Cherry Ice Cream
So it's Thursday, which for me means the longest day of the week. I can hardly complain, though, because it is probably the most action packed day for me! Classes, classes, classes, breakfast, lunch, dinnner, L&C (Liturgy and Choir) Chapel, coffee dates, board games, and basketball! This past week has been one of wonderful hilarity. Here's a recap:
Valentine's Day. For one who is single, this could be such a boring day. BUT, this one was not. There were pretty cupcakes at lunch, valentines in my mail box, and a good night watching some BSG with my best friends!
Valentine's Day. For one who is single, this could be such a boring day. BUT, this one was not. There were pretty cupcakes at lunch, valentines in my mail box, and a good night watching some BSG with my best friends!
From K.O.'s mother (left) and S.B. (right)!
Cherry Ice Cream. Here at the seminary, we are fortunate enough to have ice cream at most meals. The only problem is that this ice cream is 99% of the time CHERRY! There are four spots for huge jugs of ice cream, and at least two of them are always filled with cherry (while the other two remain empty). Why is this? you may ask. Well, because nobody likes cherry ice cream here. It rarely ever gets eaten. I can count on one finger how many students I have seen eat and enjoy this cherry ice cream. As a matter of fact, some of the prospective students were eating it last week, and the rest of us were thanking and praising God for such activity! This is because in order to get new ice cream, we need to eat the stuff that is there already! Ahhh, we're so sick of cherry ice cream! Well anyway, the other day some students took it upon themselves to cover the Aramark suggestion board with comments to get rid of the cherry ice cream. The following day, we all found this telling us what was for dinner:
It's good to know Aramark has a sense of humor. Also, they got rid of the cherry ice cream, and we got Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, and Cookies and Cream! Heavenly after cherry! =)
Well friends, I am about to be late to New Testament, and we're talking about Matthew, which is kind of a lot a bit important. I hope to update again this weekend, but no promises! Wish me luck with basketball tonight and my continued Field Ed search! All the best and God Bless! =)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Throwbacks
Happy LORD's day! It's been a long and busy week for me here in Princeton, and again I will say, sorry for the lack of updating. I know that I haven't updated in a while when I receive more personal emails than Facebook notifications. There is truly nothing to worry about, I have just been busy in a way that is away from a computer.
Swimming through books. "Busy in a way that is away from a computer." What does that even mean? Well, quite simply, that I am swimming through vast amounts of books this semester. Despite my lack of a theology classes, I still have a whole lot of reading to get through. I must say, however, that I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge in just the last two weeks. On top of all of the academic reading I have been engaged in these past two weeks, I also can't seem to put down my books for pleasure. So even when I don't have to read, I find myself reading anyway.
Drawings. Some of you may remember my wonderful artistic skills from my Daniel 7 drawing. And when I say "wonderful," I really mean "terribly stick-figurish, not-at-all artistic, but still rather humorous." Well, you may be surprised at how much you can tell about how somebody interprets a passage of Scripture by how they imagine it; and since we have no tangible way to enter into the imagination of others, we are forced to look at "wonderful" pictures. Or better yet, if you find yourself wrestling with what a passage means, try to draw it. Sometimes the passage is really abstract, but give it a try anyway. For instance, here is my own rendition of Mark Chapter 1 (Baptism) and Chapter 16 (Death).
Basketball. Ahhh yeah! Basketball has officially begun! I'll be busy with basketball Thursday nights for the rest of the semester! Woooo Hoooo! I love basketball, and I am happy to report that the Throwbacks (that's the team I am on) won our first game decisively 35-16. We have team Red this upcoming week, and I can't wait!
Hebrew. If we choose not to mention my bad pronunciation, I am getting pretty good at this Hebrew stuff. I feel confident enough to just pick up the Hebrew Bible and read (slower than in English, of course). I still need a lexicon every now and again to look up a word or two, but I can definitely read and understand the gist of the story. It's really awesome, especially when you consider that I really didn't know any Hebrew in August. Go PTSem on your Hebrew teaching methods! Quite impressive. I am also happy to report that I am truly enjoying my Hebrew Exegesis class. It is a lot of reading and translating, but our professor is incredible and we are learning so much! I am very well pleased!
What is really being examined here? As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in a Psalms class where we are singing and journaling through all of the Psalms. This should be ridiculously fun, right? Well, yes... and no. It's fun because I love singing (that does not mean that I am good at it, it just means that I enjoy it). It's also fun because the Psalter we are using is pure dead brilliant (for you NW)! There is a great diversity in the tunes, but there is also an element of recognition, which I appreciate. Some of the Psalms have taken tunes that I know well and given them words of a Psalm. It's really quite awesome. The less fun part about all of this is that while singing and journaling, you are exploring these prayers in a deeply spiritual way. With very few exceptions, the Psalms is the only place in the Bible where we explore the inner-workings and consciousness of a person.While examining these ancient prayers, I have found that they have also been examining me.
Well beloved friends, I will make a conscious attempt this week to not let my blogging get away from me. I hope all is well with each of you, and I am praying for you all--every night. Until next time (well really, and forever), the LORD be with you. =)
Swimming through books. "Busy in a way that is away from a computer." What does that even mean? Well, quite simply, that I am swimming through vast amounts of books this semester. Despite my lack of a theology classes, I still have a whole lot of reading to get through. I must say, however, that I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge in just the last two weeks. On top of all of the academic reading I have been engaged in these past two weeks, I also can't seem to put down my books for pleasure. So even when I don't have to read, I find myself reading anyway.
Drawings. Some of you may remember my wonderful artistic skills from my Daniel 7 drawing. And when I say "wonderful," I really mean "terribly stick-figurish, not-at-all artistic, but still rather humorous." Well, you may be surprised at how much you can tell about how somebody interprets a passage of Scripture by how they imagine it; and since we have no tangible way to enter into the imagination of others, we are forced to look at "wonderful" pictures. Or better yet, if you find yourself wrestling with what a passage means, try to draw it. Sometimes the passage is really abstract, but give it a try anyway. For instance, here is my own rendition of Mark Chapter 1 (Baptism) and Chapter 16 (Death).
Hebrew. If we choose not to mention my bad pronunciation, I am getting pretty good at this Hebrew stuff. I feel confident enough to just pick up the Hebrew Bible and read (slower than in English, of course). I still need a lexicon every now and again to look up a word or two, but I can definitely read and understand the gist of the story. It's really awesome, especially when you consider that I really didn't know any Hebrew in August. Go PTSem on your Hebrew teaching methods! Quite impressive. I am also happy to report that I am truly enjoying my Hebrew Exegesis class. It is a lot of reading and translating, but our professor is incredible and we are learning so much! I am very well pleased!
What is really being examined here? As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in a Psalms class where we are singing and journaling through all of the Psalms. This should be ridiculously fun, right? Well, yes... and no. It's fun because I love singing (that does not mean that I am good at it, it just means that I enjoy it). It's also fun because the Psalter we are using is pure dead brilliant (for you NW)! There is a great diversity in the tunes, but there is also an element of recognition, which I appreciate. Some of the Psalms have taken tunes that I know well and given them words of a Psalm. It's really quite awesome. The less fun part about all of this is that while singing and journaling, you are exploring these prayers in a deeply spiritual way. With very few exceptions, the Psalms is the only place in the Bible where we explore the inner-workings and consciousness of a person.While examining these ancient prayers, I have found that they have also been examining me.
Well beloved friends, I will make a conscious attempt this week to not let my blogging get away from me. I hope all is well with each of you, and I am praying for you all--every night. Until next time (well really, and forever), the LORD be with you. =)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Kingdom Quotes: Pt. III
Time for more Kingdom Quotes! =)
Interpretation was a matter of fitting the biblical story into another world with another story rather than incorporating that world into the biblical story.
Patience with others is love. Patience with self is hope. Patience with God is faith.
You can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when adults are scared of the light.
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.
The phrase, "God only knows," is so much funnier when you're translating.
The remarkable thing is that the God who made Heaven and earth cares that I am hurting.
Find somebody that no one loves and love them.
I pray that while you are here you not only believe in God, but also know deep down in your soul that God believes in you.
Faith is trust without reservation.
Listening: Don't just do something. Stand there.
Among your duties as a minister, you are a custodian of memory. You are there to remind people of what they can easily forget.
Peace with each of you! =)
Interpretation was a matter of fitting the biblical story into another world with another story rather than incorporating that world into the biblical story.
Patience with others is love. Patience with self is hope. Patience with God is faith.
You can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when adults are scared of the light.
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.
The phrase, "God only knows," is so much funnier when you're translating.
The remarkable thing is that the God who made Heaven and earth cares that I am hurting.
Find somebody that no one loves and love them.
I pray that while you are here you not only believe in God, but also know deep down in your soul that God believes in you.
Faith is trust without reservation.
Listening: Don't just do something. Stand there.
Among your duties as a minister, you are a custodian of memory. You are there to remind people of what they can easily forget.
Peace with each of you! =)
Friday, February 3, 2012
"Let's Sing through the Psalms"
Wow! What a week one! It's been long, crazy at times, but all around super-exciting! Oh, and furthermore, I think I have a routine--hiyah! I'm still in debate over which pastoral care class I want to be in, but I am hoping to make that decision by the end of the weekend, so I don't get behind in whichever one I choose. Other than that, the rest of my classes have been simply wonderful.
New Testament. Easy peasy thus far. I love the NT... I love Jesus, and I love Paul, so it should be no surprise that I love the NT! A friend asked me the other day: "Which do you like better, the New or Old Testament?" I said... "Yes." It's hard to choose and I have no intention of picking one over the other. I love them both! =)
Women in OT Narratives (Hebrew Exegesis). ...or as I call it for short, "Old Women Hebrew." The professor in this class is amazing. We jumped right in with translation this week and worked on Genesis Chapter 2. She is really good with the Hebrew language, which I find pure dead brilliant, and we studied many of the grammatical intentionalities and puns within the story of Genesis 2.
Pastoral Care. As I said above, I'm still on the fence about this one.
Speech. This class is a continuation of the one from last semester. It is usually a lot of fun, but not when you have a sore throat and feel an illness coming on. Ashley + physical activity + sleep + orange juice + zinc = I will beat you illness bug, I will defeat you!
Psalms. Wow Wow Wow! My favorite class, hands down. If you have followed this blog, you may know that it is hard to compete with Hebrew for my favorite class. Well, Psalms just surpassed it without even looking back! The premise of the class is an hour long lecture and then an hour of singing through the psalms (ten-fifteen at a time). What a truly amazing class! I hit my sore throat with a cough drop, but that didn't last long once we began singing through the first ten Psalms! Despite my shortcomings of singing this fine afternoon, it was the beginning of a great journey through the book of Psalms. We are also required to journal through them in our own study and write a few prayers and liturgies along the way. Check out this brand new book, though:
I would highly recommend this Psalter. Martin Tel, director of music here, was senior editor, and trust me when I say that the man is a pure genius. It is worth the investment!
Well, beloved friends, I am off to enter into a weekend of endless reading! I continue to keep all of you in my prayers! God Bless.
P.S.--the groundhog saw his shadow, so six more weeks of "winter." =)
New Testament. Easy peasy thus far. I love the NT... I love Jesus, and I love Paul, so it should be no surprise that I love the NT! A friend asked me the other day: "Which do you like better, the New or Old Testament?" I said... "Yes." It's hard to choose and I have no intention of picking one over the other. I love them both! =)
Women in OT Narratives (Hebrew Exegesis). ...or as I call it for short, "Old Women Hebrew." The professor in this class is amazing. We jumped right in with translation this week and worked on Genesis Chapter 2. She is really good with the Hebrew language, which I find pure dead brilliant, and we studied many of the grammatical intentionalities and puns within the story of Genesis 2.
Pastoral Care. As I said above, I'm still on the fence about this one.
Speech. This class is a continuation of the one from last semester. It is usually a lot of fun, but not when you have a sore throat and feel an illness coming on. Ashley + physical activity + sleep + orange juice + zinc = I will beat you illness bug, I will defeat you!
Psalms. Wow Wow Wow! My favorite class, hands down. If you have followed this blog, you may know that it is hard to compete with Hebrew for my favorite class. Well, Psalms just surpassed it without even looking back! The premise of the class is an hour long lecture and then an hour of singing through the psalms (ten-fifteen at a time). What a truly amazing class! I hit my sore throat with a cough drop, but that didn't last long once we began singing through the first ten Psalms! Despite my shortcomings of singing this fine afternoon, it was the beginning of a great journey through the book of Psalms. We are also required to journal through them in our own study and write a few prayers and liturgies along the way. Check out this brand new book, though:
I would highly recommend this Psalter. Martin Tel, director of music here, was senior editor, and trust me when I say that the man is a pure genius. It is worth the investment!
Well, beloved friends, I am off to enter into a weekend of endless reading! I continue to keep all of you in my prayers! God Bless.
P.S.--the groundhog saw his shadow, so six more weeks of "winter." =)
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