(It must be 'break' since I am finding so much time to wander others blogs and write in my own!)
Here's an interesting post, comparing the recent SBL (Society of Biblical Literature) gathering with the Cirque de'Soleil - on Ben Witherington's blog.
Cirque-d-bible
I find it interesting because the circus theme is one that I am a few former collegues in the literacy world would call the IRA (International Reading Association) and at other times the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) gatherings - although I can say, I don't think I ever saw any crying - even for my first presentation.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
We forget that people are watching...
I am a journaler, and while much of my most personal stuff never sees the light of day, my blogs are different. I was reminded of this today, and it made me pause and reflect. (And so I post it here, for all eyes to see.)
You see, all that 'happened' was a bumped into a prof. of mine who had been at a conference for a few days. She met up with another prof., one who had been earlier introd. to me by my prof. So when se saw me today, she said, "Oh yadah yadah, says hi! And she told me about your blog and I checked it out." I said, "Oh cool," and kept running to print directions (I was on my way out to PA for the week.) But as I was walking to my car I began to 'panic' a bit.
First, I wondered how the second prof. knew of my blog at all. But then I recalled my continued signature on my Trinity email....ah yes, inviting the world to join in my conversation. So, that's cool...I mean I don't think there is anything 'special' or 'profound' in my ramblings, but other ramblers joining me makes for a larger and grander rambling.
Second, then I had to contemplate what I had actually posted on this page. I don't really ever put anything up that I don't mind the world to read, but I thought for a bit, what if. And truly it has just been rambling, after rambling of late.
Thirdly, and probably the most important I began to think about what this type of communication and reflection means in our society. I mean, we have read studies, and heard news reports about teens and places like myspace.com or facebook.com and posting the most personal (and sometimes extremely dangerous) content. Then there are blogs and sites that reveal the most obscene and offesive material and commentary. But its a free world, right? Freedom of speech and expression, yes!?
So as I began driving down the highway, I just said outloud...we must post responsibly. And then I laughed at myself, that I had taken it just so intensly. I mean, there is nothing on my site that is 'irresponsible' because I filter what I have to post by saying, "Anyone in the world can read this. My mother can read this."
So are there people watching what is being posted? The map on my site says yes....and my conversation in the library entry says yes as well. Are you watching? What are you thinking?
You see, all that 'happened' was a bumped into a prof. of mine who had been at a conference for a few days. She met up with another prof., one who had been earlier introd. to me by my prof. So when se saw me today, she said, "Oh yadah yadah, says hi! And she told me about your blog and I checked it out." I said, "Oh cool," and kept running to print directions (I was on my way out to PA for the week.) But as I was walking to my car I began to 'panic' a bit.
First, I wondered how the second prof. knew of my blog at all. But then I recalled my continued signature on my Trinity email....ah yes, inviting the world to join in my conversation. So, that's cool...I mean I don't think there is anything 'special' or 'profound' in my ramblings, but other ramblers joining me makes for a larger and grander rambling.
Second, then I had to contemplate what I had actually posted on this page. I don't really ever put anything up that I don't mind the world to read, but I thought for a bit, what if. And truly it has just been rambling, after rambling of late.
Thirdly, and probably the most important I began to think about what this type of communication and reflection means in our society. I mean, we have read studies, and heard news reports about teens and places like myspace.com or facebook.com and posting the most personal (and sometimes extremely dangerous) content. Then there are blogs and sites that reveal the most obscene and offesive material and commentary. But its a free world, right? Freedom of speech and expression, yes!?
So as I began driving down the highway, I just said outloud...we must post responsibly. And then I laughed at myself, that I had taken it just so intensly. I mean, there is nothing on my site that is 'irresponsible' because I filter what I have to post by saying, "Anyone in the world can read this. My mother can read this."
So are there people watching what is being posted? The map on my site says yes....and my conversation in the library entry says yes as well. Are you watching? What are you thinking?
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Idolatry Reigns
Today is the day that many Ohioans (and for sure, Michiganders) just seem to lose it. They just seem to let everything go - that is, except for OSU football. Today OSU goes up against Michigan, and this is apparently the most heated and contested football even ever!
I mean seriously, on the television news reports they are advising Michigan fans (are those even legal in this state?) not to wear Michigan clothing, to not drive cars with Michigan plates, etc...Truly does it get that bad?!
There is the typical dumpster and couch burnings (scary how that is so typical) but there are also 'curfews' that are being set. Students who live in the dorms are required to check in at 10pm, 12am, and 2pm. If they do, they are entered into a lottery for some big bowl game or something. How crazy is that? For protection of the people and property, the institution must go so low as to brib the students!?!
Yes my friends, idolatry reigns at OSU! I am so tempted to wear my Michigan sweatshirt today, but I ask if it is worth it? Should I end my life now, just to make a statement. I mean, that's what the news broadcasts are implying right - that wearing a Michigander enblem will mean absolute pain if not impending death, right?
Well, I'll pass on that today, but I ponder the insanity that is found in this love of hometown football.
I mean seriously, on the television news reports they are advising Michigan fans (are those even legal in this state?) not to wear Michigan clothing, to not drive cars with Michigan plates, etc...Truly does it get that bad?!
There is the typical dumpster and couch burnings (scary how that is so typical) but there are also 'curfews' that are being set. Students who live in the dorms are required to check in at 10pm, 12am, and 2pm. If they do, they are entered into a lottery for some big bowl game or something. How crazy is that? For protection of the people and property, the institution must go so low as to brib the students!?!
Yes my friends, idolatry reigns at OSU! I am so tempted to wear my Michigan sweatshirt today, but I ask if it is worth it? Should I end my life now, just to make a statement. I mean, that's what the news broadcasts are implying right - that wearing a Michigander enblem will mean absolute pain if not impending death, right?
Well, I'll pass on that today, but I ponder the insanity that is found in this love of hometown football.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
End of my 'last' Fall quarter
Well, indeed I have all but finished my 'last' Fall quarter here at Trinity. I still have one more essay to write, but it is kinda a fun one for my Being Lutheran in America class. We all call this class BLA, for its initials, but it is far from BLA. The prof. (Cheryl Peterson) is great and learning more about the history of the Lutheran Church in America and its most recent challenges, struggles, and growths, has helped me begin to sense even more the need for us to understand and be able to articulate our identity. As Peterson puts it, what do we (as Lutherans) have to offer the world that is 'unique'? Why would anyone be Lutheran?
Anyway....this quarter was heavy (busy-wise) but a lot of very exciting things have begun to unfold and form for me. I have begun to see this return to seminary as a truly formational piece. You know, many complain that Pastoral Leadership class has been a waste of time. And true, while it hasn't been standard academic fair, and not at all academically challenging, it has been a learning piece for me. I have learned about leadership styles and responses as people respond to the 'grey' or 'fuzzy' areas. Leadership is played out as we respond to that which is in front of us, and our visioning it ahead. How we live into the experience shows a lot!
And egos also come out...like I am 'so good' and I 'know it all' that I don't need to be here. That's just scary. Because there is still so much for us to learn. There is still so much for me to learn, so I need to hear what I am saying too. I am just as much a part of this - I don't want to sound like I am bitching and complaining, and pointing fingers. I just hope and pray that my leadership and presence amidst all of this is seen by others, and can be a good example/challenge.
More later, I am off to meet up with a few friends for some drinks and fun.
Anyway....this quarter was heavy (busy-wise) but a lot of very exciting things have begun to unfold and form for me. I have begun to see this return to seminary as a truly formational piece. You know, many complain that Pastoral Leadership class has been a waste of time. And true, while it hasn't been standard academic fair, and not at all academically challenging, it has been a learning piece for me. I have learned about leadership styles and responses as people respond to the 'grey' or 'fuzzy' areas. Leadership is played out as we respond to that which is in front of us, and our visioning it ahead. How we live into the experience shows a lot!
And egos also come out...like I am 'so good' and I 'know it all' that I don't need to be here. That's just scary. Because there is still so much for us to learn. There is still so much for me to learn, so I need to hear what I am saying too. I am just as much a part of this - I don't want to sound like I am bitching and complaining, and pointing fingers. I just hope and pray that my leadership and presence amidst all of this is seen by others, and can be a good example/challenge.
More later, I am off to meet up with a few friends for some drinks and fun.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Some recent Dietrich Bonhoeffer ramblings...
"And we cannot be honest unless we recognize that we have to live in the world estis deus non daretur. And this is just what we do recognize - before God! God [himself] compels us to recognize it. So our coming of age leads us to a true recognition of our situation before God...Before God and with God we live without God. God lets [himself] be pushed out of the world on the cross. [He] is weak and powerles in the world, and that is precisely the way, the only way, in which [he] is with us and helps us." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 360.)
"Efforts are made to prove to a world thus come of age that it cannot live without the tutelage of 'God'. Even though there has been surrender on all secular problems, there still remain the so-called 'ultimate questions' - death, guilt - to which only 'God' can give an answer, and because of which we need God and the church and the pastor." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 326.)
"We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know; God wants us to realize [his] presence, not in unsolved problems but in those that are solved. (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 311.)
"To talk of going down fighting like heroes in the face of certain defeat is not really heroic at all, but merely a refusal to face the future. The ultimate quesiton for a responsible [man] to ask is not how [he] is to extricate [himself] from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 7)
"God is known by faith to be the ultimate reality, the source of my ethical concern will be that God be known as good [das Gute], even at the risk that I and the world are revealed as not good, but as bad through and through. All things appear as in a distorted mirror if they are not seen and recognized in God." ("Christ, Reality, and Good: Christ, Church and World, in Ethics, p. 48.)
"In Christ we are invited to participate in the reality of God and the reality of the world at the same time, the one not without the other. The reality of God is disclosed only as it places me completely into the reality of the world." ("Christ, Reality, and Good: Christ, Church, and World: in Ethics, p. 55.)
"Radicalism hates time. Compromise hates eternity.
Radicalism hates patience. Compromise hates decision.
Radicalism hates wisdom. Compromise hates simplicity.
Radicalism hates measure. Compromise hates the immeasurable.
Radicalism hates the real. Compromise hates the word."
("Ultimate and Penultimate Things" in Ethics, p. 156.)
"Perhap it was in those very times in which the world seemed to be relatively in order that estrangement from faith was especially deep and alarming." ("Ultimate and Penultimate Things" in Ethics, p. 164.)
"Efforts are made to prove to a world thus come of age that it cannot live without the tutelage of 'God'. Even though there has been surrender on all secular problems, there still remain the so-called 'ultimate questions' - death, guilt - to which only 'God' can give an answer, and because of which we need God and the church and the pastor." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 326.)
"We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know; God wants us to realize [his] presence, not in unsolved problems but in those that are solved. (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 311.)
"To talk of going down fighting like heroes in the face of certain defeat is not really heroic at all, but merely a refusal to face the future. The ultimate quesiton for a responsible [man] to ask is not how [he] is to extricate [himself] from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live." (Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 7)
"God is known by faith to be the ultimate reality, the source of my ethical concern will be that God be known as good [das Gute], even at the risk that I and the world are revealed as not good, but as bad through and through. All things appear as in a distorted mirror if they are not seen and recognized in God." ("Christ, Reality, and Good: Christ, Church and World, in Ethics, p. 48.)
"In Christ we are invited to participate in the reality of God and the reality of the world at the same time, the one not without the other. The reality of God is disclosed only as it places me completely into the reality of the world." ("Christ, Reality, and Good: Christ, Church, and World: in Ethics, p. 55.)
"Radicalism hates time. Compromise hates eternity.
Radicalism hates patience. Compromise hates decision.
Radicalism hates wisdom. Compromise hates simplicity.
Radicalism hates measure. Compromise hates the immeasurable.
Radicalism hates the real. Compromise hates the word."
("Ultimate and Penultimate Things" in Ethics, p. 156.)
"Perhap it was in those very times in which the world seemed to be relatively in order that estrangement from faith was especially deep and alarming." ("Ultimate and Penultimate Things" in Ethics, p. 164.)
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Time and Deadlines
Yikes, the quarter is creeping, rather zooming to a close. Two weeks from now, the Fall quarter will be complete here at Trinity. And I have four rather 'BIG' pieces to complete in those two weeks.
A 15 page Bonhoeffer paper - connecting DB's call to the need for aloneness, amidst community, and the need for pastor's to practice Sabbath. I have a page written and an outline of where to go, but there is still so much more to do!
An 8 page final essay for Being Lutheran in America. Basically we are answering the broad question, "What does it mean to be Lutheran in the 21st century" through the lens of several other small points of focus.
Then I have a 2 page piece on the positioning of Hagar and Sarah in Genesis. This doesn't sound like a big thing, but try putting such a huge thing into a 2 page paper!
Finally, I will have a final case study and analysis for Pastoral Leadership. The case study hasn't been handed-out as of yet, and so that is just sitting there.
Additionally, I am preaching at a two-pointer about three hours north of here on Sunday. I will head up on Saturday and a colleague and I have booked a hotel room so we will go up early and just take some time 'down.'
Oh yeah, and did I mention the first call paperwork that is due in by December 1!?! I have put that on the 'low' for now, and the weekend before Thanksgiving, I will focus on those important life decision papers.
Keep me in your prayers and I look forward to seeing some of you real soon!
A 15 page Bonhoeffer paper - connecting DB's call to the need for aloneness, amidst community, and the need for pastor's to practice Sabbath. I have a page written and an outline of where to go, but there is still so much more to do!
An 8 page final essay for Being Lutheran in America. Basically we are answering the broad question, "What does it mean to be Lutheran in the 21st century" through the lens of several other small points of focus.
Then I have a 2 page piece on the positioning of Hagar and Sarah in Genesis. This doesn't sound like a big thing, but try putting such a huge thing into a 2 page paper!
Finally, I will have a final case study and analysis for Pastoral Leadership. The case study hasn't been handed-out as of yet, and so that is just sitting there.
Additionally, I am preaching at a two-pointer about three hours north of here on Sunday. I will head up on Saturday and a colleague and I have booked a hotel room so we will go up early and just take some time 'down.'
Oh yeah, and did I mention the first call paperwork that is due in by December 1!?! I have put that on the 'low' for now, and the weekend before Thanksgiving, I will focus on those important life decision papers.
Keep me in your prayers and I look forward to seeing some of you real soon!
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