PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK SEVEN: Remember your word to your servant

Verses 49-56

WEEK: I II III IV V VI

July 27: Verse 55--in reading the NLT this morning ("I reflect at night on who you are, O LORD, and I obey your law because of this.") I see they have translated this verse with a causal connection. Does this verse support a causal connection between meditation and obedience?

July 26: Verse 53--are those who forsake God's law from Israel or elsewhere?

July 25: Verse 54--the psalmist says that God's statutes are his songs. This is very different from our songs (and mean hymns, not just choruses--we must discern both by the Word).

July 24: Verse 52--there is a connection to tradition and longstanding community: "...your rules from of old..."

July 23: Verses 50 and 56--in verse 50 the life-giving promises give comfort, and in verse 56 obedience to God's precepts is a blessing. This reminds me of feedback loops.

July 22: Verses 52-53--What is the relationship between taking comfort in God's rules and having hot indignation because of the wicked? God is a perfect intertwining of mercy and justice and the more we know him, the more we balance our mercy and justice. There are situations and people in this world who are evil. These situations and people deserve hot indignation, but my doing of this indignation is only righteous when I spend time loving God and his word.

July 21: Verse 53--"Hot indignation seizes me..." I wonder, when I feel hot indignation, is it for the sake of God's law or because I've been offended in some way. I think it is likely the latter.


All verses are quoted from the ESV.

AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC

ocean life-jelly
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

Our office here at Biola had our annual summer outing yesterday. We went to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. Every time I go I am amazed at the beauty humans rarely see. Some of the pix are bit blurry (flash is disallowed--and rude), but still...

MAKE SEMINARY BETTER!

11. In light of (9) and (10), Christian colleges, seminaries, and churches should incorporate apologetics into their institutional/educational life, mission, and vision. Specifically, every Christian college, university, and seminary should require at least one class in apologetics for every degree in their curriculum. Moreover, every discipline should be taught from a Christian worldview, since all truth is GodÂ’s truth. This has significant apologetic value in and of itself. The Constructive Curmudgeon: Christian Apologetics Manifesto: Seventeen Theses

Groothiusraisedd an excellent point. As a seminarian who is getting ready to graduate with a Master of Divinity in Dec, I call on seminaries to strive for balance by teaching less theory and more skill. Teach seminarians how to do theology, apologetics, biblical exposition, etc. Too many disciplines outside of "practical theology" amount to mere indoctrination in the prof's or school's belief system. Yes, there is a place for learning facts and details. Readings in good, deep books, accompanied by summarizing, analyzing, and quizzing, will take care of this. Class time, though, should be at least 50% skill development. Seminarians should be taught to think critically and theologically about every subject they encounter on the curriculum chart. There is a reason pastors rarely crack open a theology book or lexicon--their seminary probably put very little effort into connecting the facts and details to real ministry life. Further, many pastors graduate with a skill set in one hand, facts in the other hand, and little (or no) practice in getting these together--let alone a real understanding that they are parts of the same thing.

Of course, changing curriculum in a seminary (or any school) is an often difficult process involving deans, curriculum committees, and Provosts. Given this, the call goes out to professors: If you are an apologist or a theologian (these two especially), somewhere in EVERY course teach students HOW you do what you do. Take down the wizard-of-Oz curtain and reveal the stuff behind the PowerPoint slides. And to students: ASK "how" questions and refuse to let the profs off the hook. Read. Develop skills. Learning is your job.


UPDATE 072005: Groothius responded to some questions (one asked by yours truly):

1. I do not place apologetics above theology. Apologetics is dependent on theology for what it defends. Moreover, rightly formulating doctrine (avoiding contradictions, imprecision, pedanticism) serves the apologetic cause. I rail quite abit against the lack of solid theology in Christianity today. See these books by David Wells: "No Place for Truth" and "God in the Wasteland."

Well said.

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK SIX Let your steadfast love come to me

verses 41-48

WEEK: I II III IV V

July 20: Verses 47-48--"your commandments, which I love..." I wish this were true enough to declare, loudly, and in an open place. But it is not. It's not that I do not love his commands; it's that I'm okay with them. I don't have a passion for obedience. I think I should.

July 19: Verse 46--"I will also speak of your testimonies before kings..." This verse got me wondering. If David wrote this--and there is no clear indication either way--the verse takes on different meanings depending on whether it was written before or after he became king. Of course, if it was not written by David, this is wild wondering. Such is the nature of meditation.

July 18: I noticed this morning that compared to the previous sections, this one has very few verbs that refer to God's actions.

July 17: Verse 41--In The Message, this verse reads, "Let your love, GOD, shape my life with salvation".

July 16: Verse 45--Does following God's precepts really make a wide place to walk in? I have this theory called Monkey Bar. When I was in elementary school, we had monkey bars on the play yard. They consist of some sort of stable metal framework, firmly set in the ground. The monkey bars themselves are very stable--rigid even. Children playing on the monkey bars are an entirely different story. Those with the skill are able to fly around on the monkey bars in absolute freedom. The rigidity of the monkey bars makes this freedom possible. I think obedience might be like that.

July 15: Verses 42-43--the parallelism in these verses sheds some light on what the psalmist is expecting and claiming. He is expecting that he will have an answer and that this answer has to do with God's word continuing in his mouth. Having an answer to taunters is in direct relationship to having God's word in your mouth. Might this be meditation--muttering on the Word consistently? He is claiming to trust God's word/hopes in God's rules. This shows that his trust is not merely for the current situation, but for future situations AND for the completion of hope in God's presence. So, might it be that spending time mulling over, muttering, and cultivating a passion God's word is more than duty? Might it be that this begins to transform our souls to be able to comprehend and participate in God's kingdom? (Hmmm... sounds like Romans 12:1ff...)

July 14: Verses 41-42--In college group we have been living in hesed, steadfast love. As we travel through the story of God, we continually see that God's justice is always with his hesed, and his hesed is always with his justice. The theme runs throughout the story of God. These verses connect God's hesed with the ability to stand up under the enormous stresses brought on by enemies. It seems that without God's hesed, the trust in God's word will not result in having an answer for the taunters. The ability to stand come not from our own effort, but from God's hesed.


All verses are quoted from the ESV.

FLIKR UPDATE

spider
Originally uploaded by LauraS.

more pictures have been added to flikr

JUST FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES...

...really...

I posted a new amazon wishlist in the sidebar, just in case you might possibly want to send me a gift. I'm really not hunting for gifts, honest--though I will graciously receive them ;-)


I just don't want something like, say, Left Behind or The Prayer of Jabez or a parka... no offense

FIND A STARBUCKS

Thanks to Starbucks Gossip, there is now no need to panic when visiting out of your area...

Find a Starbucks in your Neighborhood

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK FIVE Teach me, O LORD, the way...

Verses 33-40

WEEK: I II III IV

July 13: Final, Verse 40--"Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life!"--This life teaches us that life here is insufficient and is more like death than life. Two young men that I minister with are experiencing this first hand right now. I pray that their hearts may tend more and more toward the heart of God so that they might understand and experience the reality of the life of God.

July 12: Verse 34--A bit of word study today. "Observe": to guard, watch, watch over, keep. "Keep": to keep, guard, observe, give heed. This is not mere dutiful obedience; it is something else more personal and passionate.

July 10 & 11: Verse 38--When God confirms his promise, my fear of him increases. What is it that I am in awe of? His power? No, rather his hesed--his steadfast love. Someone so great and courageous to love me in my messiness is most certainly to be feared.

July 9: Verse 37--this verse gives a sharp contrast between "worthless things" and "life in your ways". I wonder, are those "worthless things" merely gropings for "life"? Where do I grope to find life?

July 8: Verse 34--What is the relationship between understanding and observing God's law? It seems that the "whole heart" aspect of observing God's law is in direct proportion to our understanding. [Verse 37: maryellen brings an excellent--though exceedingly uncomfortable--obedience issue: dare we TV addicts pray verse 37 ("Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things")?]

July 7: Initial thoughts--the pathway, and life itself, are found within the structure of God's word and work.


All verses are quoted from the ESV.

IOC drops baseball, softball from games

Not that I watch these particular sports--not even during the Olympics--but, ouch! Then again, maybe our last women's team just kicked too much butt...

MLive.com: SportsFlash - IOC drops baseball, softball from games

BTW, anyone know what "roller sports" are?

thanks to brad for the link

UPDATE What I'm Reading

EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION
by Karl Barth
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (2000), 206 pages

What I'm Reading

DON'T PANIC...

If you used to be on my blogroll and have been removed, don't panic, I just probably just moved you to Bloglines; on the other hand, there is that rare occasion that my interest fades...

WHO KEEPS LOOKING FOR ME?

So, I have this other blog that I messed up and can't post to anymore, but I look at its site meter once in a while. Quite often, there is evidence of someone looking for a "laura springer". It's getting a bit creepy, frankly. So, if it's a reader of Laura's Writings and you really are looking for this particular "laura springer", fess up!

CHURCH THOUGHTS FROM July 3

This past Sunday the preacher said that while the family is the basic unit of society, the individual is the basic unit of the church. My immediate response (thankfully silent) was NO! As I pondered this, I speculated that the basic unit of the church is the congregation, but now that I've had more time, I don't think that is right either. I think the basic unit is somewhere in between. We share in a common life, evident in the common bread. Community is too common a feature of the assembly of the people of God (as seen in the many metaphors in the gospels) for the individual to be the basic unit.

PSALM 119 MEDITATION: WEEK FOUR My soul clings to the dust

Verses 25-32

WEEK: I II III

July 6: Final entry: Verses 25-32 gives us look at God-following through the binoculars of grace and effort. The psalmist makes it clear that all is from God and is God's doing, but he also speaks of his efforts and commitment. I think discipleship is still like that. Our salvation is worked out in the dance between us and God. It is his work. It is our work. The two are inseparable.

July 5: Verse 30, the post-sorrow strengthening of verse 28 is followed by moral strengthening. Maybe the sorrow is over his own inability.

July 4: Verse 28, "my soul melts for sorrow." Why is the psalmist's soul melting? The attackers? His own moral inability?

July 3: In verse 26, the occasion is the psalmist's confession. In verse 32, the occasion is God's enlarging the psalmist's heart.

July 2: In verse 26, the psalmist speaks of the source of his assurance for his demands is in the dance between his telling (confessing) and God's answering.

July 1: Part of my meditation process is highlighting the verbs. I use yellow for psalmist's action and green for Yahweh's action. I noticed this morning that in verses 25-32, the psalmist and Yahweh engage in an intertwining dance. The actions of both are interwoven and related such that removing the action of one makes the entire endeavor null. In our interactions with God, we and he are necessary participants. This is not a dictatorship on God's part nor a science experiement on ours. It is romance--a messy, intertwined, rhythmic dance.

June 30: This past Sunday, one of our missionaries was speaking and shared the custom of face-down greetings. As I read the passage this morning, that is the image that came to mind for verse 25: "My soul clings to the dust..."


All verses are quoted from the ESV.

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

The TFB College Ministry watched and discussed The Last Temptation of Christ this past Friday. While some may question (and indeed have questioned) the wisdom of this choice, I stand by the decision. Yes, the film is rated R—for good reason (nudity). Yes, the film depicts a Jesus that is not based upon the gospels. Yes, the film has assumptions that are, well, heretical.

So, why show the film? All too often we concentrate so much on Jesus’ divinity that we utterly forget his humanity. He was not part human. He was fully human. This film is a fictional investigation of Jesus’ humanity. The notion of humanity portrayed in the film was that, in its essence, humanity is flawed. Scripture does not teach this. Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” God judged all of creation—humanity included—to be very good. In its essence, humanity is the image of God. Jesus’ humanity is just that sort of humanity. He is the "Last Human" come to pay the death debt that the rest of us cannot pay--the death debt earned by the "First Human" (Adam). The film, with its false assumptions, completely missed that point. Most of the students Friday night did not miss that point. For that I am pleased and thankful.

Question the wisdom, if you will, but I would rather show and a meaningful, substantive R-rated film, than merely show a deceptively "safe" PG anyday.

Read the hollywoodjesus review

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DISCUSSION ON PSYCHOLOGY AND CHRISTIANITY

This week, I participated in an interesting discussion over at Cerulean Sanctum: Psychology a Pseudo-Science?.

In the end, I disagree with Dan's conclusions, but his is a voice that must be heard.

My take:
The psychologists I know study God's creation--the soul--and use the tools of psychology to bring people to God. They are much like the preacher of Proverbs who studied creation to learn about God from general revelation. Psychology is the application of wisdom--a God-given faculty of the human mind--to an understanding of the soul.

We do need to look to Scripture, absolutely, but this does not negate the need for intelligent, wise investigation of God's creation to the end of healing.

Give it a read.