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
- Mark 7:1-23
- Daily Discipleship Sunday, August 28-September 3 (B)
- Isaiah 58:5-8
Word of Life
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- I can totally relate to him. I remember thinking similar things as a child.
- 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.
- 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.
- Not particularly. Aside from digestive issues related to classes of foods and things like allergies.
- 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.
- Treating others well, treating yourself well, and acting with kindness and compassion towards the world around you.
- Negative. People shouldn’t put forward faces so false.
- 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.
- 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.
- See previous answer.
- By simply striving to live within Jesus will, and walk in his ways.
- 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.
Mission Launch Planned
This site is the future home of Kitsu’s journey deeper into her Lutheran Faith.
She plans to accomplish this journey by begining the following practices, starting on the First of September with the following:
- Posting a blog of her throughs on the sermon every Sunday night by 9PM CST.
- Posting a blog related to the ELCA Daily Discipleship for that week every Monday by 9PM CST.
- Posting a blog related to the ELCA Daily Faith Practices for that week every Tuesday by 9PM CST.
- Posting a blog containing something inspiring every Thursday by 9PM CST.
Kitsu plans fully to expand this posting schedule once she acquires a study bible and can begin to post something personally selected and directed by herself (this will probably be a Wednesday and Friday post). Kitsu thinks she’ll take Saturday off, for now. Until she thinks of something great for that day.
On how to treat women like property:
Why am I the only person in the world who thinks it’s incredibly degrading when someone addresses an envelope “Mr. & Mrs. <Mr’s Name> <Last Name>”?
It’s rude.
I am not, nor have I ever been named “Mrs. Paul Peterson”.
In fact, I will never be Mrs. Paul Peterson. My name is Kelly.
Collectively, the Husband and I are “Mr. & Mrs. Peterson” or “Mr. Paul Peterson & Mrs. Kelly Peterson”, or perhaps “Paul & Kelly Peterson” if you’re feeling informal.
You could even simply write “The Petersons” if you’re not up to including two first names.
When I alter my first name to match my husbands’ in addition to my surname, I will let people know. Until then, stop using an archaic and outdated practice from the days of women as chattel and let that degradation of equality die the death it deserves.
