Living life with steps of faith

A young man is put to death for blaspheming God's name during a fight.  It wasn't the fight that killed him, but his misuse of God's name.  We read about this incident in Leviticus 24 and it serves as the antidote for the famous, "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" legislation. I read the story and I am humbled by the fullness of God's holiness.  I live by grace and sometimes I allow that grace to interfere with my checking myself for sin. How many times have I injured another person and felt justified and even proud?  Have I ever been disrespectful with God's name? Would I have survived during the time period in which the Law was being discovered? I am a good girl, but not that good. None of us really are. Yesterday I had to have a disciplinary conversation with a young girl on my soccer team about something she did that unintentionally caused harm.  She didn't mean it for evil, she just really didn't know any better.  She could have felt justi...

A young man sits dreaming out his window, looking out across the sky at the beautiful sunset and the painted sky.  He dreams of another life and as his mind wanders he dreams of receiving recognition, just once, through the attention of the man his people honor with the title of "emperor."  He realizes that it is just a title, and the man is an ordinary man, but the title still makes this man special and revered.  So special, in fact, that they are willing to move walls and structures in order for people to honor this man.  The boy sits and dreams and imagines this "emperor" as weak and dying and in the midst of his great weakness the "emperor"sends a message to this Chinese boy who sits at the edge of the empire.  To the boy, he recognizes the reality that a thing like this would never happen, but in his fantasy he also realizes that a message like this would never make it to him, because he is too unimportant and too far off and there are too many peopl...

2 Kings 7:9   “Then they said to each other, ‘We’re not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go out at once and report this to the royal palace.’” Israel was in a bad place.   They were surrounded by their enemy, the Arameans, overwhelmed by famine, and prices were exorbitant.    The government had given up. Four men with leprosy met outside the city gate.   As the marginalized of the community, they realized their fate had been set.   They were going to die.   One man suggested to another, “let us desert to the Aramean camp; if they spare our lives, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.”   At twilight they set off to the enemy camp and when they arrived they were surprised to find it deserted!   God had defended the Israelites by making the Arameans hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army. The Arameans fled...

Wow! I am not a fan of assessments personally - I usually find that they tell me what I already know. But this assessment is incredible! I had never before really considered that people have different languages of apology and that different people need different types of apology. This assessment showed me why some people's apologies never fully feel acceptable to me (and even at times seem insensitive) while others really speak to my heart and make it much easier to forgive. Here is the assessment: Apology Language Profile It is created by the same person who wrote about the 5 love languages. My results: 9 Expressing Regret 5 Accepting Responsibility 3 Making Restitution 2 Genuinely Repenting 1 Requesting Apology I also re-took the 5 love languages assessment. What I discovered was that my love languages are different for my husband than what t...

“Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts.” – Psalm 145:4 (The Message) “You should write that down.” How often do I hear those words? I tell a story about a way I have witnessed God in either my life or someone else’s and I get the response, “you should write that down.” Why? So I don’t forget? How could I possibly forget? So, I don’t write it down and I forget. One of the gifts of faith that can be passed down from generation to generation are the stories about our encounters with God. These stories are powerful and they are part of our legacy. The stories don’t have to be about something out of the ordinary, they can be quite simple. How I found strength when someone shared a kind word at just the right time. About that job promotion that was unexpected, but much needed. Or that moment when I witnessed a red full moon for the first time and just knew that God exists. They are stories about why we believe, why we worship...

Call me old fashioned, but sometimes the church just feels too overcommercialized. This morning I was looking at a resource book for church leaders (a.k.a. catalogue) and saw a new “package” of church materials that promotes something that I believe in. The problem with it is that it is a “package.” The idea that if you buy this audio-devotional for your teens, this video curriculum for your adults, these banners and postcards, and everyone goes and sees a certain movie and talks about it together afterwards you will start a movement. Perhaps I am just a bit jealous because it requires resources to do this. But at the same time, I am just weary of marketing fads. But then again if they work, why should I complain? Why do we need all of this pizzazz in order to convince people of the message that is already contained in the Scriptures? The message of God’s Kingdom – which is very different from the message of the kingdoms of this world. Kind of ironic using “cultural tools” to sp...

Even though I was very much opposed to Sarah Palin being the Republican choice for President... er, I mean Vice President, I would be a huge supporter of her starting her very own talk show. The release of Palin's new book, "Going Rogue" and her much (too-long) awaited appearance on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" seem to have appropriately gained U.S. Americans attention as well as my own. I agree with both Jeff Simon, from "the Buffalo News" and Oprah, Sarah Palin would be a great talk show host. (See Simon's article: http://www.buffalonews.com/494/story/864456.html ) Palin would be a draw for conservatives and Christians and perhaps she could still end up being the "magic" the disillusioned Republican party needs. She may not be President, but we all know how influential talk show hosts and media personalities can be -- just look at "O." Perhaps McCain wasn't too far off course - Palin perhaps is the key to his party's futur...

"And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons." - Mark 1:39 This morning I called my good friend who happens to also be a rabbinical student. Like usual, we had a great conversation. We met last year during a summer chaplaincy training program and felt a nearly immediate bond. In some ways it was as if we were the same person, yet formed by different religious traditions. She is the identical twin I never had. In our conversation I realized an area in my life where I have in a way "compromised" my Christian faith. On several recent occasions when I've introduced myself to friends of friends or new neighbors I have only identified myself as a graduate student rather than as a seminary student. I mentioned this in passing during the morning call and my friend kindly called me out on it. I excused myself by saying that people don't expect a rabbi to proselytize while they expect a pastor to try to con...

Tonight as I read a book on Music and Theology for class, I made the conscious decision to look up in the dictionary words for which the definition was unclear. I was amazed by the impact this simple tool had on my comprehension of the book. Words that I had simply assumed the meaning of based upon contextual tools and use in other life circumstances gained a depth of meaning and color they hadn't previously revealed. As I read, the message of the text became a masterpiece illuminated by a master painter. As I wondered over why the author chose to use one word over another to articulate an idea--poetry emerged. The melody was replaced with an intricate harmony of ideas, language, history, worldview, and education. I realized that in order to hear a word, one must first know what the word means. To not know what the word means is to make the word equivalent to a sound uttered by an immigrant in a foreign tongue. It is disguised in such great manner that it is not repeatable or memor...

The most difficult decision I've had to make thus far in preparing for our wedding ceremony was selecting the maid of honor. I have two best friends who I have asked to be bridesmaids and I love them both dearly. I call them both "my best friend." I know that the word "best" implies only one, but for me, I've never been able to nor felt a need to choose one of them over the other. They are each my best friend in a different and unique way. Recently my grandmother asked me to read the book "The Shack." At one point in the story the main character is asked which of his children he loves the most. His answer is simply that there is not one child he loves more than another, he just loves each child differently. How would a mother choose between daughters as maid of honor? How would a sister choose between siblings to be the maid of honor? In my situation it would have been the easiest to choose my sister, but I really want to have one of my best frien...

I think about my faith as something that is lived out, explored, and formed through passionate discussion. I suspect some of it comes from my denominational affiliation – we like to have disagreement - part of unity for us is to have diversity. If we don’t have diversity then we aren’t truly unified. When we meet as a national association, we do not come to agreement on much, but we do agree to worship together. It is in and through our corporate worship, the recognition of those around us and their diversity, and the focus on our one God and our Savior Lord Jesus Christ, that we find unity. Our intellects don’t have to be in complete conformity and in fact conformity would be seen as interfering with the true practice of faith, but our worship must recognize the diversity. As a result, conformity in a church raises my pulse. It makes me uncomfortable. I want to run and flee when I hear a sermon that shouts “You must believe this” or I look around and everyone looks alike. I wa...

I just wanted to share that I visited the seminary I will be attending next year and I love it! The people are so kind and friendly and care about ministry. I want to share with you the outline from the Samuel Class I visited. I really enjoyed it: 1. Discussion about how we read a text (out loud, to ourselves, in a group outloud, with character voices, etc.) and how just the reading of the words influences our interpretation. 2. Exegesis of the text. 3. Discussion about the various ways the text has been interpreted through history. Literal, allegorical, etc. Even include recent interpretations in movies. 4. Discussion about how the text can be presented to the church during the worship service. 5. Reflection on how the text speeks to us personally as ministers, what does it say about ministry, leadership, and following God. It was great, we went from studying the text to teaching it to personal life application!!! Yeah! I loved it!

"May our homes be filled with dancing May our streets be filled with joy May injustice bow to Jesus [I love that line] As the people turn and pray [this one too] From the mountain to the vally [I like to imagine this - people from around the world, every walk of life] Hear our praises rise to You From the heavens to the nations Hear the singing fill the air May our light shine in the darkness As we walk before the cross May Your glory fill the whole earth [Amen] As the water over sea Hallelujah Hallelujah" From the song "Hear Our Praises" by Reuben Morgan published by Hillsong Publishing and Integrity's Hosanna! Music It is nice sometimes to take a step back, and read the lyrics of a song as poetry.

It has been a while since I've lived life in the indirect discourse. Ministry to me, over the past several years, has been an active profession that has occurred directly in manner of speech and interaction with others. It has been a while since I've thought about the indirect discourse of our lives, the ministry that occurs whether we want it to or not. Tonight I realized, rather remembered what a testimony our daily lives are to the gospel message that we hold so dear. Whether we like it or not our lives reflect our theology and our theology creates a message that others see and observe. Some will not like this theology, it may make them uncomfortable and thus they will create space between persons, whereas others might find this theology curious and draw nearer in order to find out what makes the theology tick and if there are any loop-holes in it. Others may choose to ignore it and just maintain that relationship of regular acquaintances, whereas others may align with ...

Okay, as a Communication major I was thrilled when I came across a social map of New Testament relationships. If you are at all interested in the social networking of Biblical characters and communication theory, you've got to check out this site: ESV and mapping NT Social Networks . You might also want to check into Biblical name weights and frequency and dispersion of Biblical name weights . Of if you are interested to find out who the top 50 most important people are in the Bible (based upon the frequency by which they appear) or even the 50 most significant women in the Bible, check out Logos Bible Software Blog . So, for those less interested in the Communication and Social-Relationship Theory aspect of this blog, you might want to check out who Zeruiah is, she seems to be pretty important based upon this research!

Tonight my mother and I figured out one reason I have avoided having significant conversations with her most recently. As she already knows, I get quite bothered when after my finishing a story she responds with "You know what you should do...." or "You know what you could do..." Prior to tonight, I have blamed my discomfort with these statements on my having had a lot of people make such statements to me in the ministry in which I lead and then give me a laundry list of to-do's for which the person giving the list was far more qualified and networked to act upon. But tonight, I made the realization that the reason it really bugs me, is that I expect her to respond in the feminine manner of recognizing the feelings shared in the story with comments such as "oh, I know how that feels" or "that really has to stink" rather than in the stereotyped masculine manner of solving the problem with "well, you could..." And this I think is the ...