Month: September 2012

Bible in a Year: Day 3

The Reading

  • Luke 6:27-49
  • Genesis 6:1-22
  • Genesis 7:1-24
  • Psalms 3:1-8

Standout Passages

“I am sorry that I made any of them. But the Lord was pleased with Noah.” – Genesis 6:7-8

“Noah was 600 years old when the flood came.” Genesis 7:6

“They will live no longer than 120 years.” Genesis 6:3

“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45

 

A Chat with the Husband Later…

I have issues attempting to read the bible literally. Mainly because it doesn’t work to over literalize things. Specifically, you run into issues with things like God deciding that he is sorry that he made “any of them” but still being pleased with Noah (who, in a literal interpretation, would have to be placed amongst the “them” that so displeased God). Instead, you have to read without the deeply literal sense and separate Noah from being a part of “them”.

I know I’m failing at elegant writing here, but it’s late and I’m tired, and I’ve already done this once today, so what you get is what you get. I’m jumping strait into the section of Luke that we read. I’ve never been a fighter on my own behalf. I’m willing to protect others, but I’ve got a long history of not fighting back when it comes to myself being the one at threat. My Mother does not appreciate my tendencies here (neither does my husband…). This came up in a conversation with my Mom recently, and reading this was a good reminder for myself about why I’m not completely crackpot in my nature (just a little bit, but so’s everyone else. Just in other ways).

Another abrupt jump, so just that I can recode this thought. I’ve always found it funny that people give God credit in victory, but rarely treat defeat in the same way (blaming themselves instead of crediting God). Is Psalms 3 the source of this practice?

Bible in a Year: Day 2

The Reading

  • Luke 6:1-26
  • Genesis 3:1-5:32
  • Psalms 2:1-12

Standout Passages

“Cain and his wife” – Genesis 3:22

“Happy are those who go to him for protection.” – Psalms 2:12

 

A Chat with the Husband Later…

On the whole this was a dry section of the Bible, but how much entertainment value can you find in a section that devotes a huge amount of its words to genealogy? But I suspect things will get more interesting. An overlying theme in the readings seemed to be establishing a deeper understanding of sin and evil, so it makes a nice followup to the previous reading.

I did, in Genesis, get a little fixated on the snake, who previously didn’t “go around on his belly”. This sort of suggests that the snake wasn’t a snake to begin with, and may have been more of a lizard! And this is actually backed up by genetic leftovers like the free-floating legbone remnants in the skeleton of a snake!

This section of Genesis isn’t very kind to Women’s rights, either. We see women glossed over and mostly written out of the scripture here, aside from to punish all of us for the evils of one woman. But it seems in line with the time in which it was originally recorded, when such far-reaching consequences were the norm and people sought deep justice (See the bit about Lamech killing a guy for striking him).

Then, moving on, I don’t really have much to say about the reading from Luke. All in all it just established the Pharisees as closed mind and caught up deeply in the process rather than the faith as they grow to despise Jesus.

And finally, the Psalm, which feels like a continuation of one, and another discussion in which “Happy” and “Religious” share the same meaning.

Faith Practices for 4 September 2012

The Readings

Word of Life

  1. Honestly, it’s another of those situations in which I’m working my way towards knowing anything about the subject.
  2. I don’t find it impossible, but I will admit that sometimes just being a good person is difficult, let along living up to the sort of person that Jesus was.
  3. Through learning and through devotion. Through practicing the words and acting within them, carrying out the instructions they give.
  4. It means to not just be religious, but to be the sort of person Jesus taught us to be.
  5. The world would be quieter. The world would be more attentive to the needs of others, for listening is one of the greatest ways to respect the needs of others because you cannot respect (or act on) what others need without knowing.
  6. Think more.
  7. Anger is a naturally quick emotion, being slow to give into it means that you have mastered yourself, and put others before you enough to assume that the anger is not justified until such time that it is deeply proven.
  8. By following the other tenets discussed. If we listen more, consider things before we speak and refuse to be ruled by out anger our tongues are well bridled and kept to reign, going only as we wish them to. (Clearly this answer comes from a girl who rides…)
  9. I define it by action. By living the word in each day and trying to carry out good works that help those around you.
  10. To take action, to not just know that their are problems, but to act to attempt to solve these problems.
  11. Limitations of funding, time and will are the first and foremost. People also must sometimes overcome fear to help others.

Word Among Us

  1. The grandfather is, in my opinion, the very ideal of christian. He put others first and went out of his way to assist others.
  2. My life is blessed with a number of doers. My in-laws are spearheads of community efforts to do good within my church. My own father takes wonderful care of an elderly couple that lives near him.
  3. I do enjoy listening to stories others have to tell. You can learn so much about people when you listen to those little pieces of their lives they are willing to share.
  4. Practice, like most things in life.
  5. We live in a culture of immediacy, in which we act quickly on our impulses (there are entire TV channels devoted to impulse shopping). This same culture is also one that demands retribution and values those who get revenge.
  6. Empowering.
  7. I would like to think that I would be the person I am, but I’m not sure that’s possible… Even though I’ve not always devoted myself to learning God’s word, my parents did ensure that I knew the values in them…

Faith Practice in Daily Life

  • Living in a Christian community is an opportunity to see what others have to teach you, and to see how others who are already experienced and well practiced at living in the word are doing so.

Explanation of my Slacking…

I feel terrible for falling off the wagon already, so I’m at least going to let you all know what’s going on. I’ve been off color for several days, and I’ve been busy with family things. To make up for it, starting tomorrow the husband and I are going to pull double study days to make it up. It’ll take awhile to catch up, but we will do it!

Discipleship for 3 September 2012

The Readings

Word of Life

  1. Being honest, I don’t know a great deal about the pharisees and scribes beyond what little I remember form previous days at church, and what I’ve read in this recent post. This is part of why I’m spending as much time as I am. I need to know this stuff before I attempt to bring up a child to know this stuff.
  2. Strained is a word that well describes the relationship of Jesus to the Pharisees and the Scribes. He was shaking the boat. Boat-shakers are not generally appreciated until they’re done shaking and the boat is steady again.
  3. Jesus threatened the authority of past tradition, and of the Pharisees themselves in his choice not to honor the old ways, or to demand those same ways of his students.
  4. Probably not. They seemed to be looking to discredit Jesus and I believe they wanted to find a way to cling to the old ways.
  5. Jesus wanted them to see beyond the letter of the law, and into the spirit of the law. He wanted them to be more than followers, but to be doers (Oh! How unintentionally clever of me to accidentally link this back to yesterdays’ themes!)
  6. It clearly is. We see it every day in people who pick and choose the parts of the bible they put forward to defend their views. Today people will put forward a religious faith and do all in accordance with Gods will in attending church and putting on the proper face, but in the way they live their lives they are selfish, self-centered, and unwilling to provide help for those who need it.
  7. The “Sunday Christian”. They put on sunday clothes and go to church, but if they dive past someone on their way there they won’t even stop to check that they’re all right. They’d simply drive on to avoid being late.
  8. Listening is easy. You only need to stop talking. Understanding is harder. You have to be willing to set aside your preconceptions and take in that which you hear, blend it into your own existing knowledge, and let it grow from there.
  9. Kindness seems to be at the heart of much of what Jesus teaches. Living well not just for yourself, but for others and towards others.

Word Among Us

  1. I can totally relate to him. I remember thinking similar things as a child.
  2. My mother would let me play with my food. I was notoriously unwilling to slow down and eat. She used tons of ways to make sure I got enough.
  3. If I drink caffeine at the wrong points in the day I can actually end up unable to sleep. And I suspect I have some sort of food allergy (I haven’t kept my food diary long enough to be sure, but it’s looking like at least some sensitivity to dairy) that disrupts my stomach terribly.
  4. Not particularly. Aside from digestive issues related to classes of foods and things like allergies.
  5. Definitely not. Good is a matter of how you treat yourself and others and has nothing to do with church. Though church can teach a child to be a good person, and can encourage people to stay on the right path, it cannot make anyone take the proper path in life.
  6. Treating others well, treating yourself well, and acting with kindness and compassion towards the world around you.
  7. Negative. People shouldn’t put forward faces so false.
  8. Through practice. It can be hard sometimes, but simply working every day to be the best person you can be can help you to actually become that person you’re striving to be.
  9. It’s seen time and time again. The biggest way I see it is those who believe in the “sanctity of marriage” and want to shut out part of the population from the legal benefits of marriage in the eyes of the government.
  10. See previous answer.
  11. By simply striving to live within Jesus will, and walk in his ways.
  12. To put others first more. To worry less about myself and what I want, and worry more about what others need.

Bible in a Year: Day 1

The Premise

Kitsu has decided that she’s going to spend a year reading the bible, little by little, using a schedule devised by Bible Study Tools Online. Her husband is going to do it, too. And they’re going to discuss it each night once they’ve both done the reading. It should be interesting…

The Reading

  • Luke 5:27-39
  • Genesis 1:1-2:25
  • Psalms 1:1-6

Standout Passages

Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners – Luke 5:30

New wine must be poured into new wineskins! – Luke 5:38

The sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night – Genesis 1:16

Woman is her name becuase she was taken out of man – Genesis 2:23

[Happy People] succeed in everything they do – Psalms 1:3
(Happy people read “they” in the text, but do to context, this appears to be the meaning of “They” as far as Kitsu can tell…)

 

A Chat with the Husband Later…

The chatting part of this adventure is going to be the part that is the most fun. The Nut (He’s specifically Valk’s Nut, which you’ll understand once his Blog is up and running and I link it in one of these posts. The short version is that this is what I’m calling the Husband in these posts) and I started talking about the Psalm, and the interesting twist of meaning. I also told him about the fact that some variations of translation do imply that the “happy” might be translated as “devote” or “religious”.

From there we got into Luke, which was a story that the Nut loved, and I hadn’t encountered directly. I did encounter it in today’s sermon, though, so it was a nice stroke of luck that let me understand the sermon a bit better. The bit I quoted above from 5:30 is actually the piece of it that was also directly quoted in the Sermon.

Then we moved on to talking about Genesis, which is always interesting. The Nut contends that it’s two variations on the creation story (citing the differences of ordering as his primary evidence). I’m leaning towards it being one story, first the reader’s digest version followed by an up close and more detailed version in full text. I attribute the differences of order to that the texts are so old, and traveled by word of mouth for so long before they were written down. In all honesty, I suspect either interpretation has some validity. Some of the difference could even be chalked up to targeting different groups and needing different variations to appeal to them.

Then we moved onto Genesis, where we quickly became fixated on the fact that the word “Man” is taken from “Woman” in english, and thus the language change seems to have stripped a certain amount from the text here. Man is “Aish” in transliterated hebrew, while Woman is “Ashe”. So we still don’t see it, but I suspect there might be something in the characters that we’re missing simply because we don’t know how to read hebrew script. Given a chance, I think we might have to ask Pastor (who’s also the Nut’s Father).

Sermon for 2 September 2012

A Preface

I would like to open this, the first of my posts, with a few quick details for those reading this. First off, this is from a Lutheran Perspective. And not just any Lutheran, but the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America brand of Lutheran. I figure it’s only fair to warn people that I’m from the “Progressive” branch of this faith so that you don’t go into things expecting something I’m completely not.

Secondly, I would like to note that (while I’m not linking directly to it) I am using the Good News Translation of the Bible (sometimes called “Today’s English Version”) for all texts. As soon as I can manage, I’ll update the links so that they link to this version.

Readings

  • First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, Deuteronomy 4:6-9
  • Second Reading: James 1:17-27
  • Psalms 15:1-5
  • Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, Mark 7:14-15, Mark 7:21-23

Kitsu’s Thinking

I can’t help but think that today was an incredible Lutheran set of passages. There are layers of cautions about putting scripture before tradition, and worshiping the Lord rather than the traditions to which we have become accustomed.

The Pastor’s sermon had an emphasis on the place of tradition within the church, and the idea that tradition, in both life and religion, should serve a purpose. That is to say, avoid tradition for tradition’s sake, keep those that still hold true to the heart of the matter instead of simply binding yourself to a tradition without thought to why that tradition is or is not significant.

Now, stepping away from the sermon itself a bit, There are a few lines of the scripture that jumped out at me today. The first is James 1:26. It reads “Do any of you think you are religious? If you do not control your tongue, your religion is worthless and you deceive yourself.” and the second is Mark 7:21-22 which reads “For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly“. It seems like a great deal of the emphansis in the passages read is also towards the fact that we are the source of our own downfalls… That we are the greatest danger to ourselves…

The state of this planet seems to support that! To me, it says that we should all work harder to be better people, to take better care of one another. To be better to the very root of our souls. On the cover of today’s bulletin are the words “Be the doers of the world” (James 1:22).

Better advice for life cannot be had.