how well do you know scripture?

so... i take my first ordination exam tomorrow - the bible content exam (or as i like to call it - the bible trivia exam). it is, arguably, the easiest of the lot, as the rest aren't multiple choice or so straight forward.

i am telling you this not only to ask for prayers but also to inform you of a great resource on the web for studying for this thing. now, you might be wondering why i would tell all of you about this resource because, probably, none of you will ever have to take this exam. well, i thought that i would pass it along and challenge all of you to take a few to see how you do. it is 100 questions through all areas of the bible (pentateuch, historical books, prophets, psalms and wisdom literature, gospels, acts and pauline letters, and the "rest of the nt"). all of it is multiple choice, and you can even take the different areas separately. at the end, it will show you what you missed (and got right if you want!). plus, it has the bible references to each question that you can click on to read.

the website is: http://www.whitneyhq.com/biblecontent/

who knows, you might find out that you knew more than you thought... or less than you thought. if you are feeling generous, give a donation while you are there. it will keep the site working for those of us who rely on it!

cheers (and happy testing),

jw <><

tradition...

He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" ... "So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God."

Matthew 15:3, 6

i have found great comfort and meaning in the traditions of the church. i have been able to dance with my full attention on the Lord who is leading me in worship because the steps are familiar after years of attending sunday services. they are steps that the saints before me have learned to be effective in giving glory to God. this worship that i share with the generations before me serves as a reminder of my part in this story that God is writing with His people throughout history. what's more, in times of trouble, i have had the apostles' creed and the Lord's prayer close by to remind me of God's presence and who He is for us. i have found instruction in the teachings of the church fathers. tradition is indeed a wonderful thing.

there is great danger to tradition, though. there is a danger to become too comfortable and forget to tremble before God Almighty. there is a danger to worship tradition instead of what the tradition points to. there is a danger that tradition (the living faith of those who have come before) will be come traditionalism (the dead faith of those still living), allowing us to go through the motions while forgetting what we are doing.

for these reasons, tradition, which is a time-tested gift handed down to each generation, requires that each receiving generation must reaffirm it and claim it as their own. each generation must work hard to come to an understanding of the tradition, holding up the tradition to allow God to re-affirm it... or perhaps correct or reject it. in doing so, each generation must accept, change, or reject it themselves. this scrutiny by each generation is extremely important, for what is not understood and not tested should not be accepted. then again, it should not simply be thrown out because it isn't understood. instead, attempts should be made to come to an understanding. without these efforts, it quickly becomes traditionalism.

when left unchecked, tradition has a tendency to be elevated above God. perhaps we should consider what traditions we cling to that have been left unchecked and are, perhaps, making void the word of God. what about our traditions concerning worship? what about our traditions surrounding christmas and easter? there are many, many more that i could question but to name them would be superfluous.

the point is - how have we done at receiving, understanding, and testing traditions in light of who God is for us? how have we done at making sure our traditions are used as a tool to lead us to God instead of becoming a god? do we know why we say and do the things we do? are they meaningful to us and glorying to God?  just something to think about...

cheers,

jw <><

just part of the journey...

Fear and trembling come upon me,

and horror overwhelms me.

And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest;

truly, I would flee far away;

I would lodge in the wilderness;

I would hurry to find a shelter for myself

from the raging wind and tempest."

Psalm 55:5-8

i must admit... there have been times when i have wished like jenny from forrest gump that i had wings that i could fly far, far away. life certainly deals us some hard times, and the natural tendency is to try to find a way to escape. this is what walter cannon in 1915  dubbed the fight or flight response. i think there are very few times that we actually want to stay and fight. i think we usually fight only because we have been cornered and have no other options.

so i think i have done a pretty good job at "flying," figuring out how to circumvent hardship. i have simply avoided things that i knew would later put me in an uncomfortable situation. but i have done this at the expense of experiencing great things and being put in situations where i am forced to grow.

i have since learned that the key to life isn't trying to avoid hardships or figuring out how to fix them when they come. the key is to live in them. that's right, folks!  live in them. this seems pretty non-sensical, but it is how God, in His perfect wisdom, intends for things to be. 

in one of my classes with dr. barnes last year, he pointed out something very interesting to us about God's chosen peoples' journey from egypt to the promised land. have you ever looked at this on a map? the israelites could have gotten to the promised land in no time. a straight journey from egypt to israel really isn't that far... even on foot. apparently, there was even a highway connecting the two places! but instead, God had them take the long route, wandering through the desert for decades. why? because it is only in the desert that they couldn't have done things on their own... it is only there that they had to rely on God. it is there that they figure out what it means to be the people of God. it is there that they have time to realize that God alone sustains them. this, of course, comes with a lot of difficulty and mess ups. even when the promised land is in sight, they aren't ready for it, so they end up wandering for another 40 years.

our problem is that we want to skip the desert. we want to avoid it. and when we find ourselves in the desert, we are looking for the shortest way out. in doing this, we are missing the point. the objective is not to find your way out. the objective is to live in it, discovering God where He has placed you and allowing Him to use your experiences to move you closer towards Himself. the psalmist knows this. he prays, "But I call upon God, and the Lord will save me... Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved." 

i am learning to stop looking for a way out. i am learning to stop looking at the map to find short-cuts and have begun paying attention to the One leading me, trusting that He will lead me out when He is ready... when i am ready. i am learning to look for God in the desert. interestingly, manna and streams abound, proof that God is sustaining me. i have witnessed water flowing from rocks - amazing. God is good and worthy to be praised - even in hard times!

the journey will be long... but the promised land will come. there will be peace because i am learning in this desert to rest in God.

cheers,

jw <><

SIXBURGH

what a time to be in the burgh!!!  the past few weeks have been very exciting.   just as you would imagine people to decorate their homes for christmas or halloween, pittsburghers have decorated in the same fashion for the super bowl... haha!  it is quite a sight to see!  there has also been extravagant pep rallies, parades and  trimming a steelers tree downtown!

the town closed over 100 roads yesterday -- some in oakland, downtown and the southside.  i am guessing to reserve places for people to congregate and go NUTS basically... haha!  well everyone definitely went nuts.  there were people going crazy filling the designated "crazy space", as well as every other street in the WHOLE town!   to counter act this craziness, pittsburgh supposedly had over 500 cops on crowd duty.

we almost could not drive home last night.  we went to a rockin party at my friend darcy's apartment!  she let me borrow her towel throughout the whole game, so i could do the most appropriate steelers cheer there is!  i must say... i did a pretty awesome job even though i was a first time twirler!

there were parades of people on every street twirling terrible towels and screaming and waving.  if you honked at them to move out of the street, they just got more excited because they thought you were pumped the steelers won... haha!  (which is true, but we also wanted to park our car safely in the seminary lot before it got burned or flipped over!)  this may seem a little extreme, but the steelers winning puts the fans way over the top with celebrating.  for some reason it makes everyone very destructive... which scares me a little!  we also saw and heard lots of fireworks during our short drive (but long time getting there) home.

in oakland (neighborhood with pitt and carnegie melon), the craziest of the crazies were hanging out.  this is where they flip cars and burn couches.  the chopper for the news was showing fires in the street last night.  they were burning shirts to start... then a dumpster and who knows how many couches.  this is insane!  who is donating their couch to this cause!!!!???? seriously!  also, i saw parking meters smashed into bar windows.  i am kind of wondering if my school will still be there tomorrow... haha!

today, all the schools had a 2 hour delay that they have been planning since last week. they do this so everyone will not skip school the next day (this goes for bus drivers, teachers and students!!!)

tomorrow is the town victory parade with all the players!  i wish they would cancel school for that!  i mean, come on, this does not happen everyday! 

so... there you have it y'all!  i hope you have a lovely picture of steeler town to go with the six pack!

GO STEELERS!

e l i z a b e t h

the ear of a teacher...

The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens - wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

Isaiah 50:4

this is especially for you teachers out there. i know that not everyone has been blessed with the gift to teach; however, i think this will be applicable for everyone.

it is interesting that this passage in isaiah not only says that this "servant" has been given a tongue to teacher, but, also, and perhaps more importantly, he has been given an ear to listen. there is a cliche - do not speak before you think. i think that God wants even more than that, though. God instructs us, especially teachers, not to speak before we listen.

why? because before we can teach, we must give the subject matter we are teaching an opportunity to "speak" the truth of itself to us. there must be a time for our notions about an object to be corrected by the object itself. this cannot be done through study and observation alone. spending time listening first is the only way to teach honestly, for how can we teach what we do not truthfully know.

this is especially true for God. we can read all about God... in the bible, in theology books, in forwarded emails. we can build up all kinds of knowledge about God, and we can think we have this God-stuff pretty much down based on this learned knowledge. but this knowledge does not mean that we "know" the subject matter - God. it would be inappropriate for me to sit somewhere public, observing someone without them knowing it, and then think that i can make a judgement about who this person is without ever having talked with them. i could probably tell you a little about this person, but i think, for the most part, i would be very wrong about him/her. you see, relationships are dynamic and mutual. we have to constantly hold our ideas about someone up to this person and allow them to be corrected. this is the only way to truly get to know someone.

God gives us the opportunity to do this with Him.  He gives us the opportunity to move towards the truth of who He is. One of the psalms in the lectionary today states, "...you have given me an open ear" (psalm 40:6). the more literal translation is, "...ears you have dug for me." this might be a gross imagine, but it is describing the fact that God has dug out holes in our head in order to hear Him correctly. God has to give us the ability to hear Him, as we cannot hear Him otherwise because He is wholly other (this is the meaning of "holy"). you see, we cannot inherently understand God. He is beyond our common experience in His transcendence. there is nothing for us to compare Him to or no previous experience that allows us to assimilate Him into our knowledge. but God has blessed us with this ability to hear and know Him. however, we must be very careful. this relationship we have with Him demands our constant correction and repentance in understanding as we come to know Him more.

can you imagine if i thought that i could teach about God simply because i had taken some seminary classes? this alone is not what prepares me to teach. it is certainly helps in my understanding of God, but in the end, all the seminary classes in the world cannot provide what i need to teach about God. instead, i must be attentive to who God is revealing Himself to be through listening to Him.

as we are all students, i challenge you all to listen for God, allowing Him to reveal Himself and correct your notions of who He is. i pray that you would not think that simply going to church or reading the bible would be enough. a relationship, as i am sure all of you know, takes more than this. i also pray that you will discover what i have discovered - that He is a lot more majestic and amazing than i could have ever imagined on my own. i also challenge all you teachers out there: be careful how you teach. be sure you are not only reading books about your subject matter, but make sure you are spending time in silence, allowing your subject matter to "speak" to you the truth of itself.

cheers,

jw <><

SNOW!!!!

i am excited to say that we have had  18 inches of snow this month, and it is still snowing! today it is snowing while the sun is shining!  it is SOOOO beautiful!  

wednesday was a snow day for pittsburgh!  it was snowing up, down and sideways!  so...  jon and i went out for a walk in our snow globe town!  this was high quality snow!!!

e l i z a b e t h

the environment...

i will admit that i am an environmentalist. i believe that God, the Creator of this magnificent universe, has entrusted us with the care of the earth He created. we do much to pollute and destroy it, thinking that we can strip it of all that it is worth. this is irresponsible. instead, i think that we are called to tread lightly and do what we can to protect this gift that God has given to us. we need to work towards more sustainable living, not taking more than the earth can give and replanting what has been taken. this is not only an issue of environmental morality, but it is an issue of human morality, as we have created situations where people in certain areas have nothing to live on due to the stripping of resources. let us remember that we have been called to participate with God in what He is doing in this world through Jesus Christ, the Word through whom the creation came into being, and I think part of this work is the redeeming of creation.

with that being said, however, i wanted to share an article with all of you. it was written by the founder of the weather channel, john coleman. this article brings into question a recent belief that has been wildly popular and is driving political agenda; further, it is one that i believed to be correct. i will let all of you make up your minds about this article, though. regardless of its truth or fiction, i do not think it relieves us of our responsibility to take care of our corner of the world.

http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/38574742.html

cheers,

jw <><