Greetings everyone. I am extremely busy now that we are down to a week and a half left of this quarter. I have to finish my exegetical of Psalm 82, write one more history paper, and take two tests. I have my sermon wrote, now I just have to keep practicing it so I can preach it Sunday. I will preach it first, make any adjustments I decide upon last minute to the manuscript and post it up here on Sunday. So preview alert, sermon will be up Sunday, I promise. My exegetical on Psalm 82 is really fascinating because it is one of the most controversial Psalms written. Before you say, "Why did you pick the most controversial one?", realize I was assigned it and did not pick it. However, it has been a fun project, I just need to turn all my notes and highlights into a ten page academic paper, which will take some time yet. I did receive two care packages this week, so that was an amazing blessing for finals week. One was from my field work church and the other was from a church in Minnesota. Why the church in Minnesota you ask? Because the fourth year student from my field work church last year took a call there last May and is now the pastor there. His LWML group sends these packages out to all of their college students and in their sweet note told me I qualified. They sent me post-it notes, a pen, and then cookies, bars and candy, and last but not least a tooth brush and toothpaste. They aren't helping me lose any weight, but they are helping me take care of my teeth against all of that sugar. I thought it was very sweet of them and sent them a thank you letter. Other than that I am just going about my normal life. We lost in the IM Championship Flag Football game today, but it was against a fun team so it wasn't that bad. We are in the IM Championship Ultimate Frisbee game on Thursday. This is my last week with the sixth graders so I am trying to plan some fun projects for them. I am going to miss them after this quarter.
In New Testament Lectionary, we discussed some pretty powerful and amazing stuff over our eschatological theology while translating 1 John 3:1-3 from the Greek. If you are not sure what eschatological means, it is all of the end time stuff like death, second coming of our Lord, resurrection of the body, and how it will all happen. I will try to get that discussion up here when I have more time. Dr. Gibbs is the eschatological guy on campus and he has some really amazing views on the subject. The best part is they are all scriptural based. However, what I do want to give you to think about is 1 Corinthians 13:13. This is most commonly used at weddings and the previous verses as I'm sure you all know give a great definition of love. However, in this verse it gives use the three great blessings the Lord gives us: faith, hope and love. Love is the greatest of these three. Dr. Gibbs, the eschatological guy, told us how he understands this verse. Paul here is writing this as an eschatological view that when the Lord comes back the second time and every knee bows and every tongue confesses He is the Lord, love is the greatest of these three blessings. It is the greatest because it is the only one left. Faith will give out to sight as we kneel in the glory of our Lord, hope to will give out to reality since we will then have what we have been hoping for all this time, and love is the only thing left. The love our God freely shows us, even though we do not deserve it. The love that caused Him to send His Son as our Redeemer from sin, death, and the Devil. The love that will cause Him to send His Son the second time to call all believers home, restored in their resurrected bodies and ready to enter the new creation. This amazing and powerful love that He gives us is all that is left. So it truly is the greatest and what comfort that gives us that even when faith and hope are gone because we have our Savior in front of us, we know we still have His love upon us as His called and redeemed children. All Praise be to Him who gives us this love, the greatest blessing He gives us, for it is out of this love that He created us, redeemed us, and calls us His own. Amen.
Dear Heavenly Father,
We thank you so much for the gift of the faith you have called us into, the hope you give us through that faith, and especially the love you freely give us at all times. We do not deserve to be called Your children, but because of Your love for us, we are just that. Give us Your Spirit to strengthen our faith, keeping us in the one true hope of Your Son's return, and help us to love You as the one true Almighty God that You are. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Half a month in a page
Greetings to you all in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior. It has been two weeks since I last wrote to you. Some of the major high lights of those two weeks include my family's visit, two successful weeks of teaching, and another great secession of Bible Study. Mom, Dad, and JoAnna were here from Thursday night through Sunday morning last weekend. Friday, Mom and JoAnna went to chapel with me, and then after my classes were done, we all went down to the Anheuser Busch brewery for their free tour. It was a lot of fun and it is a great tour. I highly recommend it if you ever get the chance. One out of every two beers sold in America is a product of Anheuser Busch; that's A LOT of beer! I thought it was really cool because after taking the Schlafly brewery tour twice now, both times they ended it with the fact that all the beer they make in a year, Anheuser Busch can make in four hours. I believe it after seeing the place. Then we went to Ted Dewes, a must do in St. Louis. The rest of the evening was just supper and then chilling. After they went to bed, a friend was having a birthday party in the cafeteria. It ended up being about thirty guys and two kegs, but it was a lot of fun. Then Saturday morning, Nate, Kari, and the nephews came over from Illinois, and we went down to the arch. It took four hours of waiting around, sitting around, and trying to entertain the boys, but they enjoyed the ten minutes they were at the top. Sunday they went home and I went to church. Bible Study after church went great. We had some of the original regulars come back, plus some of the new ones who tried it the week before came back. It was the first week we did not get through the lesson, and we did not even get half way through it. We got off on some major tangents, but they were incredibly important points for the chapter. The one guy who is now coming asks some great questions and it has been good to have him. Towards the end, James, the other seminary student came in and we worked well together bouncing ideas back and forth. It was kind of funny though because he was in the back and I was at the front so as we talked back and forth discussing exactly what we were trying to explain to the group, they looked like a crowd watching tennis, moving their focus back and forth. So this Sunday we will finish chapter four and hopefully make it through most of chapter five too. I have been so thankful that not only has the Lord given me curious members who ask great questions, but most of the time, I can draw back on things we discussed in class or with professors to help me be confident in my answers. I pray it keeps going well for all of our benefit.
Teaching six grade for the last two weeks has been so much fun. At first I was kind of glad that I did not pursue my teaching degree because I could see that I am much happier at the seminary and field work church than I was in the classroom. However, as I get to know the students more and more, and am getting more in depth in the lessons I am teaching, I really am remembering how much I love working with kids and being in the classroom. However, I still think I chose the best path because hopefully as a pastor I will get the best of both worlds. I will get to work with the kids in Confirmation classes and youth group, but still not be in a classroom all day every day. I have one week left, and to be honest I am going to miss both the time in the classroom and the kids. They are a great group of sixth graders. Their knowledge of their faith impresses me so much and has shown me the vital importance of sending your kids through the Lutheran education system if possible. As a sixth grader at public school, I didn't know a fourth of what these kids know about the Bible and the church. God is at work in these schools for sure and I pray He continues to bless all the students fortunate enough to be there.
Other than all of that, my life is going good. We are down to two weeks left of the quarter which just does not seem possible. I have a lot to get done in those two weeks, but I will survive. My thought for the day comes from Psalms and Writing class. We were discussing Psalm 23, which is a famous Psalm most of you probably know by heart, and looking at the 7 (a holy number) connections to the longings of the righteous in the Psalter. We read the book by Creach at the beginning of the quarter which discusses the life of the righteous longing to be in the presence of God. The 7 connections to Psalm 23 that correlate with this idea of longing to be with God are: (Some of these translations are according to the Hebrew)
1. Psalm 27 verse 4- One thing I ask of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life
2. Psalm 73 verse 25- Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides
you.
3. Psalm 84 verse 10- For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, I would rather be the
door keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
4. Psalm 92 verse 13- They are transplanted in the house of the Lord, they flourish
in the gardens of our God.
5. Psalm 23 verse 1- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything.
6. Psalm 23 verse 6- I shall return to the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
7. Psalm 23 verse 4- for you are with me.
The first 4 are the idea of the righteous longing for the Lord outside of Psalm 23. Psalm 92 directly correlates with Psalm 1, where the trees are not planted but transplanted by streams of running water. We see here God takes us from the world of sin and transplants us into His gardens next to streams of running water where we can flourish. Then in Psalm 23, there are the main three places that show the righteous longing to be with their Lord. All the righteous need is their Lord, when they are with Him, they literally need nothing else. Verse six goes back to being in His house like Psalm 84 and 27, but the verse is not simply dwell, but to return back to His house where we belong. Then in verse four is the most important part of the entire Psalm. Some commentaries say that this one line is the purpose or theme of the entire Psalter. There are 26 words (in the Hebrew) then these three words, and then another 26 words. Hebrew poetry has this style of putting the most important point exactly in the middle. The three words are (in Hebrew its three words): for you are with me. That is the message this Psalmist was trying to tell us is the most important point. Then like I said, some people believe this is the most important point of the entire Psalter: for I am with you. Three words in the Hebrew, five in English, but what more powerful words could there be than our God telling us, for I am with you. He is literally all we need, because with Him we have everything. Not because of anything we have done, but because He has done everything for us out of His free grace and mercy. He gives us our faith, our daily bread to strengthen and nourish that faith, our Savior that saves us from our sins, and our eternal life we already have in Him. He gives us everything including the very breath we breathe each and every day. What an amazing God we have, and we know we have Him with us because He specifically tells us in His Word, and in this Psalm, for I am with you. All Praise be to Him who gives us everything so that we lack nothing, and tells us, "for I am with you."
Thank you Heavenly Father,
For with You as our God we have everything we could possibly ever need and more. Give us Your Spirit to long for You, to long to be in Your presence just as the righteous of the Psalter did. Be with us each and every day and in all that we do, just have You have told us You will be with us. Thank you for the life we have in Your name, made possible through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Teaching six grade for the last two weeks has been so much fun. At first I was kind of glad that I did not pursue my teaching degree because I could see that I am much happier at the seminary and field work church than I was in the classroom. However, as I get to know the students more and more, and am getting more in depth in the lessons I am teaching, I really am remembering how much I love working with kids and being in the classroom. However, I still think I chose the best path because hopefully as a pastor I will get the best of both worlds. I will get to work with the kids in Confirmation classes and youth group, but still not be in a classroom all day every day. I have one week left, and to be honest I am going to miss both the time in the classroom and the kids. They are a great group of sixth graders. Their knowledge of their faith impresses me so much and has shown me the vital importance of sending your kids through the Lutheran education system if possible. As a sixth grader at public school, I didn't know a fourth of what these kids know about the Bible and the church. God is at work in these schools for sure and I pray He continues to bless all the students fortunate enough to be there.
Other than all of that, my life is going good. We are down to two weeks left of the quarter which just does not seem possible. I have a lot to get done in those two weeks, but I will survive. My thought for the day comes from Psalms and Writing class. We were discussing Psalm 23, which is a famous Psalm most of you probably know by heart, and looking at the 7 (a holy number) connections to the longings of the righteous in the Psalter. We read the book by Creach at the beginning of the quarter which discusses the life of the righteous longing to be in the presence of God. The 7 connections to Psalm 23 that correlate with this idea of longing to be with God are: (Some of these translations are according to the Hebrew)
1. Psalm 27 verse 4- One thing I ask of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life
2. Psalm 73 verse 25- Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides
you.
3. Psalm 84 verse 10- For one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, I would rather be the
door keeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
4. Psalm 92 verse 13- They are transplanted in the house of the Lord, they flourish
in the gardens of our God.
5. Psalm 23 verse 1- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything.
6. Psalm 23 verse 6- I shall return to the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
7. Psalm 23 verse 4- for you are with me.
The first 4 are the idea of the righteous longing for the Lord outside of Psalm 23. Psalm 92 directly correlates with Psalm 1, where the trees are not planted but transplanted by streams of running water. We see here God takes us from the world of sin and transplants us into His gardens next to streams of running water where we can flourish. Then in Psalm 23, there are the main three places that show the righteous longing to be with their Lord. All the righteous need is their Lord, when they are with Him, they literally need nothing else. Verse six goes back to being in His house like Psalm 84 and 27, but the verse is not simply dwell, but to return back to His house where we belong. Then in verse four is the most important part of the entire Psalm. Some commentaries say that this one line is the purpose or theme of the entire Psalter. There are 26 words (in the Hebrew) then these three words, and then another 26 words. Hebrew poetry has this style of putting the most important point exactly in the middle. The three words are (in Hebrew its three words): for you are with me. That is the message this Psalmist was trying to tell us is the most important point. Then like I said, some people believe this is the most important point of the entire Psalter: for I am with you. Three words in the Hebrew, five in English, but what more powerful words could there be than our God telling us, for I am with you. He is literally all we need, because with Him we have everything. Not because of anything we have done, but because He has done everything for us out of His free grace and mercy. He gives us our faith, our daily bread to strengthen and nourish that faith, our Savior that saves us from our sins, and our eternal life we already have in Him. He gives us everything including the very breath we breathe each and every day. What an amazing God we have, and we know we have Him with us because He specifically tells us in His Word, and in this Psalm, for I am with you. All Praise be to Him who gives us everything so that we lack nothing, and tells us, "for I am with you."
Thank you Heavenly Father,
For with You as our God we have everything we could possibly ever need and more. Give us Your Spirit to long for You, to long to be in Your presence just as the righteous of the Psalter did. Be with us each and every day and in all that we do, just have You have told us You will be with us. Thank you for the life we have in Your name, made possible through Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Managed Midterms
Hello and greetings in the name of our Lord. The last couple weeks have been very busy with a wedding, travels, midterms, and all the other stuff that seems to pile on top. Last Tuesday I made it to Nebraska safely. I did pass a wreck going the other direction that had body bags around what little was left of the vehicle. I looked up the accident report online the next day and saw two kids in their twenties died so that was kind of sad. However, the Lord blessed my travels. Wednesday I got to hold one of the most precious babies girls I have ever held. Bill and Jami, my family that adopted me in Nebraska had a baby girl on the 18th of September, her name is Jordyn Lynn. She is so adorable and just that amazing stage to hold and snuggle with. However, I had to cut my snuggle time short because Dillon their two year old son who is my little buddy had to wrestle with me too. Wednesday night the guys of the wedding went out for a mini bachelor party. Nothing too crazy but some good stories. Thursday after decorating the reception hall, us guys went golfing. I played some of the best golf I have played in a long time so that felt good. Then after rehearsal at the church, we went to the dinner at Valentino's. It had been quite awhile since I have eaten there, but it was good. Then the wedding party went bowling together, which was a blast, and a good way to get to know each other a little better. All of the bridesmaids were from California and all of the groomsmen were from Nebraska so it was a fun mix. Then the bridesmaids and bride went home because they had to be up early Friday for makeup and hair. The guys hit a bar or two on the way home and then finally called it a night. Then Friday was pictures and the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and everything went very well. The reception and the rest of the night was a blast. It was just a really good three days to forget all reality and just enjoy the vacation time of relaxation and laughter with friends. Then Saturday I drove back to St. Louis and went to bed as soon as I got back because it was kind of late.
Sunday, all reality of homework and midterms hit and it hit hard. However, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were four straight days of nothing but class, work, and locking myself in my room to do homework. It was not much fun but I got everything done, and I feel done well. I got one back already and got a high B on it so I was happy with that, since it was for my Hebrew class and I am not an expert in Hebrew. Last night was our first vicarage meeting workshop. It was long and boring, but pretty important information I guess. It just stinks because every time vicarage is even mentioned I get more and more excited for call day (which will be Wednesday, May 1st for anyone wondering) and my vicarage. I then get bummed out because I still have to get through two and a half more quarters before it is here. The more I talk with my classmates the more we all realize second year is a completely different from first year. And it's not like its a bad different, just definitely different. Its hard to explain unless you're here for two years straight. I keep telling myself if I can get through the rest of this quarter I will be fine. However, I got my classes ready for registration for next quarter and I think next quarter is going to be even harder. Partially because I am taking more classes and some decently hard ones, but also partially because Christmas break in the middle of the quarter kind of messes with schedules and classes. But do not get me wrong I will gladly accept any two week break they give me. I do feel like my head is finally above water again though so I am getting more back to my happy-go-lucky self each day.
I am also excited because my family will be here in a week from tomorrow. Now I just have to make sure I use next week wisely to get ahead of homework so I can spend time with them when they are here.
Oh I forgot to mention today was my first day in the sixth grade classroom at Abiding Savior Lutheran School. I am in Pastor as Educator class, which requires three weeks in the classroom teaching religion class. I have 23 sixth graders I will be teaching four mornings a week for three weeks. I am pretty excited about it because I always did enjoy being in the classroom and working with kids. I think it will be a great experience and a fun time, the only downfall is getting up extra early to be at the school by 8 every morning. It is about 25 minutes away, but there are four of us at this school so we carpool. I just observed today, will observe again tomorrow, but start teaching first thing Monday morning. Since I have had experience in the classroom with sixth graders at Seward, my teacher Mrs. Johnson, told me she is just going to let me do my own thing and help me if I need any tweaking along the way. So again it is exciting, but it is also one more thing of doing a lesson plan every night for the class each day.
I have some pretty amazing things I am learning in class right now and I really want to share them with you all. However, I have been so busy writing papers, reading, and getting ready for tests I have not had the time or desire to type them out for you. I apologize, but will try to get some good ones in the days to come. My thought for today is pretty short because I have to be at a meeting in twenty minutes. However, it is one I personally struggled through this week. No matter how busy life gets, no matter how little sleep we have gotten, no matter how many things just seem like they were put in your life to cause you stress, we must always try to remain positive and remember who we are serving. There have been a lot of things lately I have found myself complaining about, and I hate being a negative person who finds it easier to complain than to just remember the Lord is with me and I have such a happy blessed life from Him. While studying the Psalms Dr. Lessing pointed out that so often in the Psalms, especially Psalm 19, we see the voice of creation praising God. We see the rocks, the sun, the moon, and all of creation have a voice that cannot be silenced. How does creation have a voice that is praising God? Creation is praising God when it is doing exactly what God made it to do. The grass that grows, the leaves changing color in the fall, the sun rising every morning, the moon following its phases; these are all ways creation sings it praises to the God who created it. But Dr. Lessing pointed out that isn't it kind of funny, that humankind, the prize possession of His creation, put above the rest of creation to have dominion over it, is the one creature that complains and whines the most? The lowly grass that gets walked on praises God daily, and yet we who have a happy healthy life, complain at the smallest things. We who know what He did for us, His act of salvation through the death and resurrection of His Son, for our sinful lives, whine when we do not get our way in the littlest aspect. We who have His Spirit with us, living and reigning in our hearts, would rather speak badly about someone, or be upset by things that do not even affect us, instead of just singing His praises for the daily and abundant riches He gives us, His undeserving children. I will admit, especially this week, I have been very guilty of this. However, we have so much around us to remind us who we should be praising. Every time you see the green grass, the trees standing tall, the rain falling, the wind blowing, or even a bug flying around, remember they are serving the only God they know and praise Him by doing what they were created to do. We need to do the same and really should be setting the example for the rest of creation, not the other way around. Especially since we have and are able to read and know God's Word telling us exactly what He wants us to be doing. All Praise Him who forgives our whining, complaining, and unnecessary bad moods, but loves us and continues to bless us as His children, not because of anything we did, but because of what He did for us through our Savior Jesus Christ.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Please help us to remember that everything we do is for Your glory. Everything we have and are blessed with comes from You out of Your free grace and mercy. Help us to be strong in our faith, positive in our attitudes, and live a life that shows the love You give us no matter what is going on in our lives. Let all we do and say be for Your glory only. In Your Son's name we pray. Amen.