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

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

Something on a Stick

Hello and happy Friday! I have a few things to update you all about, so I am going to jump right into it!

Holy Book Sales Batman! Do you have any idea how many books I have bought this week? Too many! Our book store was having a 50% then 75% off sale all week on overstocked textbooks! Say what?! So I got my butt moving and headed on down to the bookstore! I bought a few books on preaching, one on pastoral care, and a feminist commentary! All for under $25! Woo Hoo for me! On top of all of that, the seminary hosted a used book sale (where all the books are donated) the latter half of this week! Most of the books are seminary-appropriate with a few exceptions of leisure books! All paperback books were $2 and all hardback books were $5! So I got my butt moving and went over to the book sale in our gym! I bought a Hebrew Bible, two Greek Bibles, a normal Bible, an old Bible, a Common Book of Prayer, Chronicles of Narnia, and a Bruggeman book on Preaching! All for $12! NOW, I have so much reading for this summer! Yay!

 

Themed Dinners. Throughout the semester our cafeteria has hosted a series of themed dinners. I don't remember all of them, but some of them included: Taste of the UK day, African American Appreciation Dinner, Valentines Dinner, and just the other night--"Something on a Stick Dinner," which was quite impressive. Check out my dinner:

 Everything is on a stick!

There will be another update coming very soon. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to post the other fun things that happened this week right this moment (and perhaps you don't have the time to read it all anyway). And finally, for my beloved church friends in WC: I was hoping to be able to make the Palm Sunday 5K this Sunday (and I even got ahead on my school work for just such travel), but unfortunately my knee has been giving me some serious problems as of late--all of which are my own darn fault--so I will likely not be able to join with you all in running that race. Best of luck to each of you, and I hope you have a wonderful time! =)

My Worn Out Bible

Hello beloved friends! I hope all is well with each of you, and that your week is treating you well. My week is crawling by, but it may actually be a good thing. For some reason I am as motivated as ever this week and I am being impressively productive. I think I am going to begin my huge exegesis final paper later on this week! I was also able to get some pretty darn sweet books at our Bookstore's 50% off overstock sale, so I might get crackin on those as well! Anyway, today's post stems from a question I was asked a few weeks ago:

How many times have you read the Bible? I don't have a number waiting proudly in response because I don't know the answer. The whole thing? Cover to cover? ...or sections? Gospels? Letters? Narratives? Prophets? Law? Pastorals? Apocalyptic? New Testament? Old Testament? Apocryphal works? I've read it a lot of times, and some sections more than others; but in order--cover to cover? I don't know. Between just reading, devotionals, reading for class, getting caught up in readings, filling in the contexts of sermon scriptures, exegeting, writing papers, reading for reading's sake... I have read enough to have very little room left in the margins for additional comments, ripped and scruffled pages, water damage, coffee stains, rips and tears, and a severely worn out binding. Let me put it this way: I have read the Bible enough times for it to be tired and worn out... enough times to justify actually buying another one of the same translation. 

Hannah, Paul, and the Psalms. My Bible has really been getting a work out this semester, especially recently! Despite doing the assigned readings for New Testament and my daily devotionals, I have also been spending a whole lot of time in I Samuel reading about Hannah. I am preparing a Bible study comparing her song in Chapter 2 to Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-1:56), and writing my exegesis paper on her story. Next, I've been spending a good deal of time with my beloved friend Paul. Other than reading all of his letters for NT, I also did an exegesis paper and several speech readings from Romans. Finally, the psalms--I have been wrestling with these all semester long in my psalms class. I will be sure to write a post when I finish singing and journaling through all of them.

Paul

I must say, it has been good to expand my biblical knowledge this semester! I'm very grateful! I hope to see all of you very soon! Peace be with you. =)