Light a Candle: Peace

We are now into the second week of Advent. I have somehow managed to avoid the hustle and bustle of the holidays thus far this year. Now we will venture into the lighting of the second candle of Advent: Peace.

Peace. For some ungodly reason, consumerism has shaped this holiday into "hustle and bustle," and rushing around to buy gifts and get everything else done for the holiday. I am simply letting that pass me by this year. I feel like I am standing still and the rest of the world is a blur around me. This is just fine with me--after all, it is a lot less stressful! Peace and modern day consumerism seem to be complete opposites of one another. Take this for instance: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid." John 14:27. Sounds to me like some people have the whole idea of Christmas backwards... or as Advent Conspiracy will tell you, "Upside Down." The peace of Advent is a quiet, still, and patient longing for the birth of our Savior.

Waiting Here for You. This is the name of both a book and a song. In his short Advent book, Pastor Louie Giglio says, "Waiting is not wasting when we are waiting on the Lord." Ironically, it's a quick read if you're interested in purchasing this book, it is $5: http://268store.com/store/product/933/Waiting-Here-For-You/. It helps bridge the 2,000 year gap and explains why everything that happened so long ago is relevant today. Furthermore, Giglio helps build anticipation... which, according to him, is essential during the Advent season.

The video to the song "Waiting Here for You" by Christy Nockels can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3OEGnH5x8g, and I highly recommend it, especially as we continue to wait for Christmas to arrive.

Peace be with you!

peace

Light a Candle: Hope

First and foremost... bad news bears: Nelson Mandela has passed away at age 95. He was such an inspirational leader in South Africa, and really, made a great impact on the world. We need more people like him.

Today, we'll talk about the Advent candles and what they symbolize.

Hope.  Light is a strong theme throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons. Up here in PA, where the days get shorter and shorter as we approach Christmas, this symbol of light is also very literal. With all of the darkness, we tend to look forward to the light. With all of the cold, we tend to look forward to the warmth. The first candle that we light during Advent is the Candle of Hope. I've seen hope in several places this week...

'Tips for Jesus.' Apparently people from a movement, @tipsforjesus, have been leaving unheard of and "crazy generous" tips on their tabs at bars and restaurants. Read the full article for specific examples!!

'Christmas Smile' : A Book for Every Child. An effort backed by Chris Tomlin (Christian Rock artist) to give a book to every child in the city of Atlanta this Christmas season. Watch the video to see how you can get involved!

'Reimagining Christmas.'  A background article about how the Advent Conspiracy got started!

Fortunately, if you are looking for hope in this world, you need not look far! Great things are happening everyday. I encourage you to be a part of it if you are able and willing. Hope is always within reach.

Happy Advent!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

hope

Advent Resources

Today is the first day of Advent! Wooohooo! November is finally over, and we are officially into the waiting period of the Christmas season--Advent. It is my favorite time of year, so I decided to share a few resources with you all in hopes that you may utilize one or more.

Olivia's Advent Calendar. I've mentioned this in previous posts, but today was the first day of the Olivia Advent Calendar. She and her family will be posting a video each and every day during the Advent season. They post links to the newest video on their Facebook page!

Facebook page: "Olivia's Advent Calendar"

This years "theme" is different than in years previous, so I thought I would also share the link to my favorite EVER video... just in case the video from today seems too long for your liking.

Favorite: "I Hate It When My Snakes Fall Off"

Following the Star. Another yearly Advent thing that I try to keep up with is the "Following the Star" Devotional. It is specifically devoted to this season of the year! It only takes about five minutes, and I highly recommend it.

http://www.d365.org/followingthestar/

The Journey of Advent Conspiracy. One last resource I will leave you with is the Advent Conspiracy website. It delves into the contradiction of consumerism that this time of year seems to produce in the States. Furthermore, it suggests, dare I say, a radical new idea of what we as the human race could do instead of participating in the fad of consumerism.

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

Anyway, I leave you with this week's NT reading from the Revised Common Lectionary.

"And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here."

Romans 13:11-12


hope

Thanks-living

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. From what I saw on Facebook this morning, most of you are very happy, very thankful, and very full human beings! I spent the day at work, but I still was able to eat Thanksgiving dinner and salvage the day! =)

Kid for President. I was originally going to write a post about being thankful and living in such a way, but instead, I found this video and thought it was worth sharing. So watch it and enjoy:

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-11785/20-things-we-should-say-more-often.html

Black Thursday. Since when did Black Friday become Black Thursday? This year, most stores were open and started their deals the night of Thanksgiving. I don't agree with the whole premise of Black Whatever-Day-It-Is, but what is the thrill in moving it to Thanksgiving night? Back in the good ol days, when I was growing up, you had to wake up suuuuuuupppppper early to even think about getting any deals! Now, you get deals if you sacrifice your Thanksgiving. Isn't that simply sending the message that consumerism > family? Just a thought.

Olivia's Advent Calendar. Advent begins this Sunday! Wahooo! I love advent. One of the newer things I enjoy about advent is Olivia's Advent Calendar. It is a daily video made by this young girl and her family of her opening her advent calendar every single day. I'll spare you additional details, but it is definitely worth checking out. Here are some from last year:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=olivia%27s+advent+calendar+2012&sm=3

Catching Fire. Adam and I saw Catching Fire last weekend, and it was very good. I highly recommend that you all go and see it! I'm not going to lie, it brought me to tears a time or two.

Enjoy your weekend!

"Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and help you."

Isaiah 41:10

Catching Fire

Today marks the day of the release of the 2nd of three Hunger Games movies entitled Catching Fire. I won't be seeing it until tomorrow, but based on the trailers and reviews, it is a must see. IMDB has it rated at 8.2 out of 10 stars! Just to give you a frame of reference...

The Dark Knight Rises: 8.6 stars
Avengers: 8.2 stars
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2: 8.1 stars
The Hobbit: 8.0 stars
Thor, The Dark World: 7.7 stars
Iron Man 3: 7.4 stars

Read more about the movie and watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1951264/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Hunger Games Trilogy. I am a strong believer in reading books before you see any movie based on a book. I have read all three Hunger Games books, and I must say that thus far they have done a pretty good job with the movies. The director has not cut out overly important scenes, the special effects are better than I could have hoped for, and the cast is impressive! I have extremely high expectations for this movie because the 2nd book, Catching Fire, is my favorite of the trilogy of books. Adam and I are going to see the movie tomorrow after work, and I can't wait! If the trailers are good representations of the movie, I will not be disappointed (they give me goosebumps every time).

Divergent. I just finished a book entitled Divergent by Veronica Roth. It is the first of a trilogy of books: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant. I am a sucker for book series. Anyway, this book is in many ways similar to the Hunger Games. If you enjoy the Hunger Games, I am sure you will enjoy Divergent. They are also making it into a motion picture sometime in March. Watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309/?ref_=nv_sr_1.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

"Above all, love each other deeply..." 1 Peter 4:8

Different Isn't Dangerous

Hello again! I have officially taken up my blog once again and plan on writing a new post every Tuesday (maybe more often as the Advent season is swiftly approaching). I believe that my recent experiences with the church have made me slightly less oblivious to the things going on around me. Therefore, I invite each and every one of you to comment below if you agree or disagree in any way with the things I say. I doubt everyone will agree... especially with this topic.

Gay marriage. Who cares if gay people want to get married? As a matter of fact, who cares if someone is gay? I don't understand why there are so many people out there that have such an issue with gay marriage and gay people. People are people, and even more importantly, everyone (whether you personally like them or not) is a child of God. I'm honestly waiting for some of the homophobic/ anti-gay readers to come at me with their Bible swords, unsheathed and prepared to argue... Please, I'm inviting any disagreement. I'm eager to see how someone can use a story of love to promote hate, judgment, marginalization, and condemnation.

Different is dangerous. Why is it that people who are different from you are oftentimes considered dangerous and a threat? Different people should be feared, and we need to protect ourselves from them and "their ways." I've heard this all before in so many ways... and let me tell you, I am sick and tired of it. "Do not judge, or you too shall be judged." Don't open someone else's closet if your aren't ready to reveal or own. So I say to the secular haters... please, I'm inviting your hypocritical disagreements.

Pure hate and nothing else. To me, it takes so much more effort to hate than to love. To hate, you are intentionally using your energy to promote conflict, dissension, pain, hurt, and fear. To love, you are letting go of unfair judgments and letting your heart do what it does naturally. I'm not saying it is easy to love, but I think it is certainly our homeostasis... our natural tendency. And we need a whole lot of love to battle the vast amounts of hate in this world,. So you, all of you, get to work!

Here is a quick read for everyone: Pastor Faces Church Sanctions for Officiating Same-Sex Marriage

^^Good for him!^^

"Now eagerly desire the greater gifts, and yet I will show you a still more excellent way."

I Corinthians 12:30-31

Related posts: General Conference [Not Assembly]

Spiritual Scars

It has been a long while since I wrote a blog post--almost a year and a half, as a matter of fact-- and so much has changed in that period of time. I no longer attend Princeton Seminary, I haven't been to a church willingly since April 29, 2012, and my observations about the Kingdom seem to have changed from "idealistic" to "realistic." At first, I thought it was anger that I felt toward the Church and God, but the more and more I thought about it over this time, it is actually frustration that I feel within myself. Permit me to give a little background before I jump right into my main point.

Bursting my bubble. If you were an avid reader of this blog, you may recall several posts where I referred to being in a Christian bubble while at seminary. Well, my bubble was torn open May 2, 2012 when my grandmother passed away. Without going into great detail, the only people I felt genuine support and sorrow from were non-church going friends and my predominantly non-believing family members. Furthermore, the church handled the funeral in a very "money-seeking," "members-only" kind of way. I was unable to receive communion because of my un-affiliation with the Catholic church, and I was rebuked for not kneeling before entering the altar area... "This is holy ground, ya know!" They treated "different" as "dangerous," and this is when I realized I left the safety of seminary.

By the numbers. It was hard to pretend that I was alright after the passing of my grandmother. The circumstances following her death, PTSem's handling of my "time-off" from May term, and financial burdens were among key factors in my decision not to return to Princeton. Since that decision...
     I have received ONE email from a pastor (a reply, actually).
     I have been contacted ZERO times by my session; ZERO times from my session or presbytery liaison.
     I answered THREE phone calls from a CPM secretary.
     I replied to TWO emails inquiring about my return to PTSem ("yes" or "no," not "why" emails).
     I received at least FIFTY facebook messages between two women from my church.
          -One of these women does not even work or attend there anymore; the other I have always admired.
          -ZERO messages, calls, or emails from everyone else.
Presbyterians have never rebuked me for standing on holy ground, but they have taught me to expect more in the way of hospitality, caring for others, and above all, love.

Spiritual Scars. I always wondered what it would feel like to have spiritual wounds. How badly would it hurt? Would it involve being angry and hating God? Would I feel bitter and resentful? Lost and broken? Would I come to no longer believe? I felt sad, lost, and frustrated... and maybe a little responsible and guilty. I used to think "If I didn't leave Princeton, maybe the church would not have turned its back on me..." I don't regret my decision to leave Princeton, but I do bear the spiritual scars from the consequences of that decision.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27

One-Goal Games

Hello blog-readers and happy Friday! I am super excited that it is nearly the weekend for a number of reasons! First I get actual cases at work next week! Whoop whoop... good bye paperwork, hello kids! Second, it's Pocono Race Weekend and Hillclimb weekend... which means I will have limited hearing abilities and a whole lot of sunburn come Monday morning! And finally, I plan on playing a ridiculous amount of unofficial hockey this weekend! So, if you are a hockey player, come down the rink tomorrow at two! =)

One-Goal Games. Between the team I coach ("junior league") and the team I play on ("adult league"), I have had just about enough of these one-goal, close game, overtime and regulation losses. My kids have been working their butts off to lose three straight games by one goal, and my adult league team has lost four games by one goal, two of which were with less than five seconds left! Unbelievably terrible luck! Ugh... that changes tonight though! (Hopefully)

Pictures. I'll post more next week. =)

And so the weekend shall begin. I hope you enjoy yours! =)

#100

Greetings! This is official post number 100! Whoop whoop! For all of those who have read these posts from the beginning, I salute you--good work! This will be a relatively short, quick update.

CPM. I love meeting with this committee. There are some pretty awesome people in this group--friendly, funny, dedicated, humble, caring, etc etc. Oh, and they said yes to continuation of my status as inquirer. After I take the Bible Content exam in August, I will have to meet with them again. At this time, I hope to become a Candidate--so exciting.

Weekend in WC. It really wasn't the entire weekend... I arrived in beloved WC Saturday night and only stayed until Monday morning. I got to hang out with my college friends, which I haven't done since Christmas (which was shocking when I realized this). I went to church, spent the better part of Sunday with none other than DM (street fair, mall, and chinese food)--just like we used to do. We even got some Star Wars watching in while I was there! Fun fun fun.

Respite. My time in West Chester was also a time of rest for me. Rest from hockey. I didn't realize how much abuse hockey can do to your body until I woke up after a rest day and EVERYTHING was sore. I mean everything, too--back, arms, knees. When I got back, I went right back to the grind with a jr league practice, reffed a roller game, and then played in a roller game. I love it, though--every minute.

Weekends. My weekends are filling up with fun things, especially weddings, pretty quickly. I am trying to write in another visit to West Chester, but it may not be until late July. For all of you that I did not see and/or get a chance to talk to at church on Sunday, I hope to see you the next time I am in town. Until then, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know how you are doing! =)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summers! Peace.

CPM coming up!

I have no excuse. Absolutely none. It has been nearly two weeks since I have posted anything, and there is really no reason for it. I really don't go on my computer all that much since I don't have papers to write, or documents to download, or a bazillion emails to tend to. Now that I am on a computer... mostly just to download and print out hockey schedules for my team, I figured I would write a quick update.

Paperwork. My work is still pretty much only paperwork. This is quite boring and tedious. In about one week's time I am moving into more hands-on stuff, and in two weeks I should have my very own cases to work with! Yay! Boredom be gone!

Hockey. After all my days of paperwork, I routinely head to the hockey rink to coach, ref, or play some puck. This is an everyday occurrence. I know that I promised pictures and video, but my skating/reffing pants and/or athletic shorts aren't very accommodating to phones or cameras. Also, the weather has not cooperating very much. Rain rain rain! Ugh!

CPM Meeting. Woo, something exciting coming up on my schedule (well really there are plenty of exciting things--weekend trips, Pocono, dart parties, bike runs, cookouts, iron man games, all star competitions, etc etc). I am meeting with Donegal Presbytery's CPM this Monday in Lancaster! This means that I will be in West Chester this Sunday! Ah yeah! And I hope to see all of you whom I haven't seen in a very long time. Anyway, I have annual consultations with the CPM to kind of just check in with them and let them know how things are going! It should be quite fun, actually... no nervous nelly here! =)

Again, I am sorry for the lack of updating. I will do my best to update throughout the summer with things that will be interesting to read about. I hope all is well with each of you! Take care of one another and be kind to everyone. Blessings and Peace!

Summer begins!

It has become pretty clear to me that I am going to be pretty bad about updating this over the summer--sorry. I have been quite busy, and by the time I get home at night, I am exhausted! Work, hockey, dogs, chores, church, etc etc... it doesn't end. It's a good thing that I love everything I am doing, and I am happy to report that I am beginning to develop a nice little routine for the summer! =)

Hockey. Now that there are 12 teams in the adult league, there are games every day of the week. Coaching/ reffing MWF, playing/ reffing STuThSa! Ahhh! That's a lot of hockey! The teams I coach should be pretty competitive this year, and the team I play on will be a serious contender for the championship. I am going to try to post some league pictures and/or videos on here sometime soon. Keep checking back.

TSS. For a summer job, I am basically doing TSS work for Carbon County focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorders. To this point, I have been absolutely swamped with paperwork! Ahh, it should lighten up next week or so, and I'll be ready to put it in cruise control until the end of the summer.

A Whole New World. Talk about a change of pace. Wow! I almost feel like I have encountered some kind of serious culture shock. Home is so much different than Princeton--it's unbelievable. It's hard to articulate, but there is a profound difference in what matters. For instance in Princeton, intelligence and 'book' knowledge are of extremely high value. In NEPA, however, people can't care less about the main differences in theology between Luther and Calvin. On the other hand, knowing how to jump start a car isn't too important in Princeton, but you'll get funny looks if you don't have that trick in your back pocket up here in NEPA. And trust me when I say that this is only one of a handful of differences! This is going to be quite an interesting and fun summer...

I will try to update this as often as I can, especially now that I have even more people to keep in touch with (hooray for new friends). Realistically, I am aiming for once a week updates. Take care, friends! =)

Aristotelian Ethics

Hello again, friends! I am nearing the end of my first year at Princeton, and it has been absolutely incredible. The only things that stand between me and summer are a Young Adult Ministry paper and an unpacked dorm room.

Aristotelian Ethics and Young Adults. This is the basis of my final paper for the short-term intensive class that I am in. I am nearly completely finished with the paper, and I think it turned out better than I hoped. I took the knowledge I acquired through my Philosophy degree (it's about time I used that one) and smashed it together with the knowledge I gained the past three weeks about Young Adult Ministry to form a 14 page paper about young adult moral decision making and the church. Toward the end of my paper, I suggest ideas for how church leaders will be able to use the philosophic understandings of young people to create a sense of belonging and family in the church. To me, it's all very interesting.

Paul. More so than ever I have been reading a whole bunch of Paul. Between my Lenten discipline of Pauline scripture memorization, New Testament class, and the Romans conference, I have been swimming through Paul's letters a lot this semester. Recently, I have stumbled upon this (a reference to 2 Corinthians 12:7):

Well, I have some serious proofreading and packing to do! I'm still pondering about what to do about my blog for the summer (keep writing, take a break, write more, write less, write about new topics, write about Biblical topics, etc etc). Let me know if any of you have any suggestions or comments about the matter ("Before I came to Seminary" was a series suggestion from a friend, so comments are extremely helpful)! Take care and God bless! =)

Kingdom Quotes Pt. VII

According to the good record keeping of my blog, I have not posted a Kingdom Quotes post in quite sometime. So here we are... if you are interested in author or publication, just Google it--most of the time when I hear these things, it is not explicitly stated. If you cannot find an author or publication, it was likely said by me, one of my friends, or a professor. Email me, and I shall reveal to you who said it! =)


In our effort to bring out the details, we obliviously avoid sitting in the madness.


Hold on to your needs tightly but your strategies for holding them lightly.


We gain understanding by looking backward, but we must live looking forward.


Many persons have the wrong idea about what constitutes happiness. It is not obtained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.


Whatever you are, be a good one.


Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.


Hope is faith that held out its hand in darkness.


Some people had the lights scared out of them. I had the light scared into me.


Where there is anger, there is usually pain underneath.


Some people think that holding on is what makes us strong, but sometimes it's the letting go.


Love is giving someone the power to destroy you but trusting them not to.


For every good reason there is to lie, there is a better reason to tell the truth.


All the best!

Clothe yourself with... grace

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience... And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12, 14.

Amazing Grace. Here, I am not referencing the awesome song Amazing Grace, but rather a perfume that I recently encountered. I took an unexpected trip home and found that my mom has a perfume called "Amazing Grace." Of course, the first thing I think about is the passage above (and how awesome of a Sermon illustration this would be)... except the passage doesn't explicitly name grace as one of the things to clothe yourself with. I think it should. Not only does this wonderfully-smelling spray give you a literal way to clothe yourself in grace, it also gives a somewhat motivational definition on the box:

Grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, kindness, reverence, and the list goes on.

It's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce.

Being the smartest the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest can't help.

Being a humble person can; 

and a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

So, in the morning when you put on perfume or cologne, I encourage you to also put on some grace. Grace is something you receive (spray on yourself), but it should also be something that others benefit from (pleasant smell). Regardless of perceived merit or worth, treat others better than you would want to be treated. 

Book of Wisdom. As some of you may already know, the Protestant canon differs from the Catholic canon. In the Catholic canon, there is a book entitled The Book of Wisdom, and it's somewhat comparable to Proverbs. Well, I had to read this little excerpt:

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die; and their departure was taken for misery. And their going away from us, utter destruction, but they are in peace. And though in the sight of men, they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be rewarded; because God has tried them, and found them worthy of himself.

It is quite insightful, and if I have time this summer, I may read some of what the Protestants consider non-canonical works. We'll have to see!

Summer is quickly approaching, woo hoo! I can't wait. I'll be working at a clinic in NE PA, coaching/ reffing/ and playing hockey, and helping out at a local church! It should be a fun fun fun summer! I hope that all of your summers are looking to be quite fantastic as well! Peace be with you! =)

Biblical Scholar vs. Theologian

Greetings dear friends! It's great to see that you have taken a minute out of your busy life to check up on my life... or at least my blog! Today I will be writing about a phenomena that I have observed over the past school year here in Princeton--classifying! Now, I'm not talking about judging or labeling or anything with a bad connotation--just classifying classmates.

Classifying. Since we have a pretty diverse population here at PTS, we have this tendency to classify ourselves according to several criteria. I will do it to myself here:

Ashley. From Pennsylvania. Went to West Chester U. Majored in Psychology and Philosophy. Presbyterian. Ordination track. MDiv 2014. Unmarried (i.e. does not live in CRW). A tad liberal. Loves sports. Huge hockey fan (Go Pens!). Plays guitar. Can't sing. 

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like an "About Me" profile description. Not that this is an all inclusive list (and I'll be waiting for the sassy comments some of my friends will have to add), but I want to suggest that we make just one more distinction here at the seminary...

Biblical Scholar vs. Theologian. I can already hear the squeaky voices of people protesting, "They're not mutually exclusive!" And I totally agree, they're not. You can probably consider yourself in both categories. But in my experience with humans at seminary, you tend to have a burning passion for one or the other--a preference, if you will. Since most of us are only here for three years, you kind of need to pick which of the two you enjoy more (although I would argue it is less of a choice and more about just who you are)--Biblical studies or theology--and fill up your electives with those kinds of classes. I suppose, if you really want to be argumentative, you can propose the addition of Patristics, but I have yet to meet anyone who would fall into that category here at a Presbyterian school.

As for me, I definitely fall into the category of Biblical Scholar. I would choose reading the Bible or Hebrew over the Institutes, Dogmatics, or Confessions any day! And I very well may quote the Bible more than any other human I have ever met, which I guess can be kind of annoying at times.

The best part of all of this classifying is that I get to be friends with people who differ in every single category from me! No kidding, I am convinced that my best friend here differs in all of the categories (except the unmarried thing)! Anyway, it's a great community of Biblical scholars and Theologians, and I find myself in the midst of Theologians more often than not. Horray for diversity within unity!

Anyway friends, take care of yourselves and each other (especially those very much unlike you)! =)

Groaning for Love

Greetings again, beloved friends! It has been a loooong few days, so I am going to give you all a recap that is as concise as I can possibly make it:

General Conference decision. If you are an avid reader of this blog, you may remember a post about the United Methodist General Conference occurring in Tampa, FL this past week. My specific interest about this conference was their decision about removing the phrase, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching" in their Book of Disciple. Unfortunately, they voted not to remove that statement. You can read more about it at these two links:

http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=8054757&ct=11740597&notoc=1

http://www.gc2012conversations.com/2012/05/03/delegates-fail-to-agree-that-they-disagree-on-sexuality-issue/

Groaning for Love. The past few days I have been involved in the Romans Conference here on campus. It has been such a wonderful conference with great preaching, singing, lectures, papers, and workshops. Since Romans is arguably my favorite authentic Pauline letter, I was totally geek-ing out through most of this conference. I heard a sermon called "Groaning for Love" based on Romans 8:18-39 (remember 8:31 is what this blog is named after). It was a pretty awesome sermon emphasizing that God groans with creation until eventual future glory, and nothing (that's right nothing) can separate us from the love of God! Oh, do I ever love that passage! =)

The Shape of the 'I' in Romans 7. My favorite lecture of the entire conference was "The Shape of the 'I' in Romans 7" by none other than our esteemed Professor of New Testament, Beverly Gaventa. She spoke about the referent of 'I' in chapter 7. Her argument was that 'I' in conversation could be used in referent to the speaker or the subject of the matter being spoken about. She argues that in this case, the use of the 'I' is comparable to the prevalent use of the 'I' in the Psalms as a way for a reader or listener to engage the 'I' as their own. So in the Psalms, one would pray a psalm using 'I' as if it were their own prayer. I know this sounds confusing, but just pull me aside the next time you see me, and I will excitedly explain it more clearly! I was totally wow-ed by this lecture though! Dr. Gaventa took two of my favorite things, Romans and the Psalms, and smashed them together in a very meaningful way!

Also, just as a sidenote: There was a man who looked exactly like Sigmund Freud at the conference. Dr. Freud would have been celebrating his 156th birthday this week! I hope I didn't bore you too much with my loving Romans out loud! Peace and Blessings!

Be Still

The Romans conference started today here at PTS, so I have even less free time than normal. This being said, I shall make this post relatively short because I have somewhere to be in 20 minutes. Oh, and this conference is absolutely wonderful thus far! Anyway, a pervasive theme that seems to have infiltrated my life recently is stillness. So this is what I leave you with...


Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God."


"Still." A Song by Hillsong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXywFuTf65I

Hide me now

Under Your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father you are King over the flood
I will be still and know You are God
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/h/hillsong_united/still.html ]
Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know His power
In quietness and trust

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father You are king over the flood
I will be still and know You are God

"Be Still." A Song by The Fray. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nUuBjz4Vhc

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know that I am here
Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still, be still, and know

When darkness comes upon you
And covers you with fear and shame
Be still and know that I'm with you
And I will say your name

If terror falls upon your bed
And sleep no longer comes
Remember all the words I said
Be still, be still, and know

And when you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to be
Be still, be still, be still

If you forget the way to go
And lose where you came from
If no one is standing beside you
Be still and know I am

Be still and know that I'm with you
Be still and know I am

Blessings and Peace. =)

Dunbar's Number

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday! Summer is quickly approaching; I could tell by the smell of the air, the sound of the birds, and many of my own personal habits that are apparently exclusive to summer time! I still have nearly two weeks of class left, but I am totally pumped for the summer to be here already! This may end up being a smorgasbord of a blog post with a little bit of everything, but we'll see how it goes... so here goes!

Dunbar's number. I want to do an ekphrasis activity with you. Pretend that you are holding psychological research in your one hand. Good. Now pretend that you are holding ministry in your other hand. Wonderful. Now smash your hands together! If you are able to do this in a practical sense, you have my complete, undivided attention. Yesterday during class we were briefly discussing the pros and cons of large churches and small churches. Pros: large--resources, small--intimacy. I'll let you come with with cons of your own. Anyway, during this conversation my professor mentioned the theoretical cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one could maintain stable social relationships known as "Dunbar's number." I'll spare you the research details, but the main idea behind this number is that one person can only have a close, deep, intimate relationship with about 12 other people on the first level, and more common social relationships of 150 people on the second level. This has serious implications for effective ministry. I was able to find the actual research study and read it--for which I am grateful; but I was also able to find an NPR article that is far less boring if any of you were interested in further information:

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/04/136723316/dont-believe-facebook-you-only-have-150-friends

Before I die I want to "love and be loved." After a few hours of basketball last night, I decided to give into the petitions of my upper back and relax--no reading, no more physical activity, no practicing guitar, no more movement. The one thing I am able to do while "relaxing" is listen. So I checked my church website and discovered that they posted a sermon that I had not yet listened to. And thanks to this sermon, I was no longer relaxing, but rather engaged in some serious critical thinking about things he brought up in his sermon about family. You could listen to the sermon here (22 April): http://www.firstpreswc.com/listen. One thing that I found particularly interesting was something he mentioned about a wall in New Orleans. It is simply a black wall with a bucket of chalk next to it, and it says, "Before I die I want to [blank]..." and you are to fill in the blank. There are some very interesting sentences posted here, but the most profound ones are the ones about love. And the one that my pastor emphasized in his sermon and the one that hit me was, "Before I die, I want to love and be loved." This means that there are people out there that have never been loved before. Considering this sermon and this observation along with my reading the book of Romans yesterday (specifically CH 14), it got me to think about what it really means to be part of God's family. I'll let you think on that as well...

So maybe not a complete smorgabord of a blog post! I was going to write about more things, but I got a little carried away with the length of the things I did write about. So maybe there will be a post tomorrow! Who knows?! We'll see. Anyway friends, take care of yourselves and each other. =)

Let's Talk About Sex

The song "Let's Talk About Sex" was playing as I walked into my Models of Young Adult Ministry class this morning! If you weren't awake by now, you were now! This specific topic was not explicitly named on the syllabus, but all of the readings for today were somehow related to the topic of sex in one way or another. The professors were definitely hinting at it... as were the authors of the assigned book and articles for this mornings class. "Churches are scared to talk about sex..." the readings say, so let's do it... let's talk about sex.

Sex is such a touchy thing. Indeed it is, and it seems like everywhere one turns, no one else wants to talk about it as a serious discussion. As a group of 50 seminarians, we changed that today. We started off with a classroom poll (anonymous) about sex, marriage, and ordination. What we found is that not everyone agrees. On most of the specific questions, the class was split 60-40. Knowing this going into the discussion was quite interesting, yet expected in seminary. We then talked about what the Bible says about sex and marriage. Each of us had to work through our own definitions of 'touchy' words like: chastity, fornication, adultery, fidelity, sex, hooking up, and marriage. It seemed like one of the harder definitions to develop was "marriage" in light of the ongoing controversy about same-sex marriage and homosexuality in the church. 

Studies, studies, studies. Much of the assigned reading for today's class contained research material about what emerging adults (ages 18-29) thought about sex and the church. The key point that many of these research studies made was that sex is something we need to talk about in the church with our young people. We can't keep avoiding it and pretend that everybody "just knows" how things are "supposed" to be. Church leaders especially need to initiate conversations about this topic. 

Purity vs. Liberation. We then had a guest speaker who talked about common views of sex in the church. He spoke about the two prevailing, yet opposing points of view. (1) Purity--people must remain pure until marriage; (2) Liberation--no one has any right to tell me what is morally right or wrong. Our speaker then suggested a third route: sexuality from a perspective of witness of and to the gospel. He didn't make any very solid claims, but he did cite a whole lot of Corinthians and Ephesians. Overall the lecture left us with more questions than answers.

This was quite the class to have bright and early on a Monday morning, but I'm glad it happened. If we can't talk about sex at seminary, how are we ever going to be able to talk about it in our churches to our congregations? The conversation was so compelling that it even overflowed into the lunch hour and dominated table conversation. Nobody pretends that we are all going to agree of the topic from a theological perspective, but I think it was clear today that this is something we cannot ignore--we need to talk about it. Anyway, this is how my week has started! I hope to write another post about other things going on sometime soon. Now, it is time to read about tomorrow's topic! The Lord be with you now and always! =)

"...never go down the drain!"

This week has flown by! Holy moley, where did it go already?! It's Friday, but it feels like a Monday! This is insane! I am going to attempt to recap the week, but I feel like I have lost it... it's just gone already! Sheesh! =)

Visiting Home. I have not been to my home church in I don't know how long, but it's been awhile. I know I have not worshiped there since Christmas... which is weird when I think about it. Fortunately, I was able to make it to the mid-week program this week, which just so happened to be the final week of it for the church-year! Phew, that was close! I brought a friend of mine, and we had a wonderful time. It was great to see all those wonderful, familiar faces, and First Pres WC has a way with hospitality! Every time I am there it feels like I never left! Also, great news for my church mom! HOOOORAY! =)

Saying Good-bye. Do you want to know something that I do not like? Saying good-bye. Yep, it's pretty much one of the worst things ever. The school-year is coming to a close here, and the first of my very dear friends has already departed, and I won't get to see him for three months! (Holy cow--that's too long)! There are many others friends who I also won't get to see for the entire summer because they have this whole love-thing going on for the West coast or whatever! But worst of all, there are friends that I won't get to see for an even longer time! International students (one Scottish friend, in particular) and graduating seniors won't be coming back in the fall! Ugh, this stinks! The only upside is the awesomeness of Skype... that is all.

Another good-bye we had to do as a community yesterday was a good-bye to all of the Youth Conference participants! This is a bitter sweet thing, but a necessary one nonetheless. The final sending-off was a worship service yesterday where none other than Kenda Dean was preaching. She is a pretty awesome preacher! She preached from Revelation 21, and took it in a very optimistic direction and related it to the the Youth Conference. She reminded us--quoting Mr. Rogers--that, "You'll never go down, never go down, never go down the drain!" Overall, very interesting and a good close to the conference.

Short-term class. My intensive course started today! Wooo Hooo! There is so much reading about "emerging adults," which I should probably be working on now, but my eyes need a break! The interesting thing is that I am reading about a demographic group that I am still a part of! Oh Sociology... it's been too long! Anyway, it was quite wonderful today, and I anticipate it being just as wonderful the next two and a half weeks! It also includes a field trip to DC and Virginia! Oh yeah! =)

Romans. I have a lot of "favorites" in the Bible, and sometimes they change quicker than I can keep track of. One of my favorite, favorite epistles is definitely Paul's letter to the Romans! Oh, and guess what? There is an entire conference just on that Epistle here at PTS next week! I can hardly wait! Three whole days of Romans--sounds all kinds of fantastical to me! It's going to be cha-awesome! Okay, I am geeking out a little bit here--sorry, moving on...

It's weird to think that I am very nearly 33% done with my education here at Princeton! Two more years to go! Yippee! I hope all is well with each of you! Please, continue to send me any prayer requests you may have. Blessings and Peace! =)