Well, it is finally here. On Sunday morning I’ll be flying to Vancouver to spend 2 weeks at Regent College. I will be taking two classes (Puritan Theology for Today with Dr. J.I. Packer and Spirituality in the Thought and Life of the Church Fathers with Dr. Christopher Hall) and attending a writing conference with Luci Shaw.
I’ll try to stay up on writing while I’m gone so that I can process what I’m learning but also to keep family and friends up to date.
Last week Sunday morning, Rachael and I awoke to a loud “thud” on our roof. The thud was followed by a methodical walking around; we couldn’t for the life us figure out what in the world it could have been. I ran outside to check it out to find a large peacock on our roof! All day long it hung around our house, flying into a nearby palm tree, or going to our neighbor’s house. It provided a good laugh and some entertainment.
This past Wednesday, Rachael and I had a wonderful chance to go the San Diego harbor and go kayaking. Tony Bons, from church, has two kayaks – a double and a single. He was gracious enough to take us. It was absolutely beautiful! We surprised that the harbor wasn’t busier, which was nice. You can see in the background of the picture that we kayaked right near downtown. Rachael really like it a lot – maybe some day we can pick up a new hobby!
I recently had a student ask me if it is okay for Protestants to make the sign of the cross, or to cross oneself. We see people do it all the time – when someone scores a touchdown, when they hear a tragic story, or when people superstitiously see a black cat. I thought the question a good one and so did some investigating and came across this great article by Nathan Bierma, from Calvin College on that very topic. He describes the history of “making the sign” and some practical implications for Protestants. It also was of interest to me in light of my recent blog “Worshipping with our Senses.”
Check out the link, “The Shape of Faith”
I’ve been reading through the OT in preparation for my OT Theology class in a few weeks. After reading the Pentateuch (the 1st 5 books of the Bible) I was struck by how physical and concrete the Israelite worship services were. If one reads the latter part of Exodus and Leviticus with a bit of imagination (and I think one has to or he will get drown in the abundance of details) he will be able to hear, smell, see, and touch the beauty of worship. Here is just a sampling of the senses. (more…)
Just a word about teaching from my friend Augustine.
“In a word, the function of eloquence in teaching is not to make people like what was once offensive, or to make them do what they were loth to do, but to make clear what was hidden from them. If this is done in a disagreeable way, the benefits reach only a few enthusiasts, who are eager to know the things they need to learn no matter how dull and unattractive the teaching may be. … Learning has a lot in common with eating: to cater for the dislikes of the majority even the nutrients essential to life must be made appetizing.” (Augustine, On Christian Teaching)
