This week the required reading is Genesis 1-2:4a. That's right we're starting from the beginning. I don't know if any of you know this but the scholars have decided that there are four sources, or particular points of view that are written in the OT. These are divided up by the capital letters J, E, D, and P. Both J and E use human characteristics to describe God. Think of anger, compassion, and thinking. And they also deal with God's use of natural phenomena. Think of plagues, storms, and floods. Apparently, it can be a little difficult to separate them and I wouldn't worry about it too much but it's good to know. J is interested in stories of how a place got it's name and how certain customs came about.
The D "writer" teaches a special theology of history( which I haven't learned about yet) and P contains long genealogies and instruction for worship. P is also big on miracles.
What you need to know is that P author has written what the section we're supposed to read.
So get reading and check back tomorrow. I'll have some really neat observations to report. And... I want to hear yours.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Church on Sunday Feb 25/09
As you may or may not know I attend the church of the Epiphany on 74th and York Av. This is the church where I was baptized and confirmed and where I have met the most incredible people around. What follows is my take on the Sunday service.
I'd like to start with hymn 539 "O Zion haste". I strongly recommend it due to the fact that the chorus or refrain is bomb.
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace, tiding of Jesus redemption and release."
It's the word publish that really gets me.. being a writer and all.
This Sunday we read from the old Testament, Jonah 3:15. And in OT form God speaks directly to Jonah- for the second time. Why can't God speak to me like that directly clearly unmistakable sadly I have no such luck. In the story, God is apparently ready to annihilate the city of Nineveh due to the populations sinning ways. However after Jonah tells them of their fate, they repent by fasting and wearing sack cloth and God changes his mind.
It's funny but the OT God that I've heard is such a harsh disciplinarian can apparently have a change of heart. This is good thing for me. Being a person of no faith for so many years. I take heart that God can find favour with me as I find favour with him. I'm not convinced it was the sack cloth that did it but instead the idea of sincere change.
Next, we heard a reading from the Gospel of Mark 1:14-20 which is read by Jennifer. In this part of the gospel Jesus finds two fisherman Andrew and Simon ( later known as Peter) and tells them to drop everything, abandon their family business of fishing, leave their wives and children and come and follow him. Without blinking an eye they do just that.
This theme of being able to change sets the tone for the sermon delivered by Andrew. He speaks of a calling. What would I do if Jesus called me? Could I drop everything? Would I even consider the option? What have I done? I've been resisting "a calling" all of my life but at the same time hoping I'd just get up one day and there it would be my calling the career made just especially for me all laid out on a silver platter. One day I'd live with no calling and a split second later I'd have a calling. Was there something wrong with me? Why couldn't I say I've had that experience.
I used to get jealous of my husband who is an artist , who was an artist since I met him and will be an artist till the day he dies. I'd ask myself how come some people know their calling and act on their calling and I can't seen to see the horizon through the trees?
Then Andrew said something quite interesting. He said once you get a calling you've got to train it, and accomplish it. And then I saw it was my error in understanding a "calling" that was the problem. A calling is not just something that hits you over the head, changes your life for the better and lets you exist in a perpetual state of happiness, In my case I indeed had a calling a calling to be a writer, and it was up to me to write, to learn to grow with that calling- to take an active role with my calling and make it part of me accepting it like a marriage the good and the bad.
We all have a calling and a calling I believe comes from God. How was I supposed to hear it without faith in my life. What was there to hear? It was not till I engaged in faith that I was able to listen to what was always there- always set before me.
I'd like to start with hymn 539 "O Zion haste". I strongly recommend it due to the fact that the chorus or refrain is bomb.
Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace, tiding of Jesus redemption and release."
It's the word publish that really gets me.. being a writer and all.
This Sunday we read from the old Testament, Jonah 3:15. And in OT form God speaks directly to Jonah- for the second time. Why can't God speak to me like that directly clearly unmistakable sadly I have no such luck. In the story, God is apparently ready to annihilate the city of Nineveh due to the populations sinning ways. However after Jonah tells them of their fate, they repent by fasting and wearing sack cloth and God changes his mind.
It's funny but the OT God that I've heard is such a harsh disciplinarian can apparently have a change of heart. This is good thing for me. Being a person of no faith for so many years. I take heart that God can find favour with me as I find favour with him. I'm not convinced it was the sack cloth that did it but instead the idea of sincere change.
Next, we heard a reading from the Gospel of Mark 1:14-20 which is read by Jennifer. In this part of the gospel Jesus finds two fisherman Andrew and Simon ( later known as Peter) and tells them to drop everything, abandon their family business of fishing, leave their wives and children and come and follow him. Without blinking an eye they do just that.
This theme of being able to change sets the tone for the sermon delivered by Andrew. He speaks of a calling. What would I do if Jesus called me? Could I drop everything? Would I even consider the option? What have I done? I've been resisting "a calling" all of my life but at the same time hoping I'd just get up one day and there it would be my calling the career made just especially for me all laid out on a silver platter. One day I'd live with no calling and a split second later I'd have a calling. Was there something wrong with me? Why couldn't I say I've had that experience.
I used to get jealous of my husband who is an artist , who was an artist since I met him and will be an artist till the day he dies. I'd ask myself how come some people know their calling and act on their calling and I can't seen to see the horizon through the trees?
Then Andrew said something quite interesting. He said once you get a calling you've got to train it, and accomplish it. And then I saw it was my error in understanding a "calling" that was the problem. A calling is not just something that hits you over the head, changes your life for the better and lets you exist in a perpetual state of happiness, In my case I indeed had a calling a calling to be a writer, and it was up to me to write, to learn to grow with that calling- to take an active role with my calling and make it part of me accepting it like a marriage the good and the bad.
We all have a calling and a calling I believe comes from God. How was I supposed to hear it without faith in my life. What was there to hear? It was not till I engaged in faith that I was able to listen to what was always there- always set before me.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Old Testament
I'm really reading ahead of my class as they all announced to me last week, but I can't help it. This stuff inspires me. I especially like the way that God talks to people. God and Abraham have these direct very intense conversations. In fact God not only speaks to Abraham he appears to him physically, Genesis 18:01, "The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre."
God appears here in physical form accompanied by two angels. All three are in human form as they reveal themselves to Abraham. In fact Abraham runs to feed them preparing curds and milk and calf meat. And believe it or not, but God and his two angels actually sit and eat with Abraham.
It feels to me like these OT humans are being followed by God as if the earth is somehow God's own stage for the human soap opera. He tunes in everyday, lets his presence be known, lets people know if they've please him or displeased them and exercises a reward or punishment as he sees fit.
I've also noticed a change in the way God communicates with man. He speaks directly with Abraham and his son Isaac yet Isaac's son Jacob talks to God only in dreams. This is an example of God moving from direct communication with man, to communication with man in a dream state.
I think it's also, significant that God speak to woman as easily as he does man. However,
in the Abraham story he does not speak directly, he does not speak through a dream but he uses and angel to speak to Hagar about the son she will have, the son fathered by Abraham. Genesis 16:11. In this instance, God uses angels to facilitate communicate with woman making woman and man equal in the eyes of God and both worthy of some form of communication.
This made me think that maybe God was trying to find the best way to communicate with his creations and maybe he figured that direct communication was not a good idea so he moved on to dreams.
There is however one very odd scene in Genesis 32:22 where Jacob actually physically wrestles with God and comes out of it with damage to his hip socket. I have not come across any incident where God takes on a physical form and interacts with a human unless you consider the pregnancy of Mary as instance where God interacts on a physical level.
Is the case with Jacob an example of God testing his communication methods with man? If so it was terribly unsuccessful and painful for man. I do not believe this type of communication is ever attempted again until the pregnancy of Mary.
So so far in the OT God is a very pro active communicator who does not let sex dictate who he communicates with. God talks to man as equally as he talks to woman. So where did we get this idea that the male figure in religious organizations somehow gets the upper hand in communication with God?
God appears here in physical form accompanied by two angels. All three are in human form as they reveal themselves to Abraham. In fact Abraham runs to feed them preparing curds and milk and calf meat. And believe it or not, but God and his two angels actually sit and eat with Abraham.
It feels to me like these OT humans are being followed by God as if the earth is somehow God's own stage for the human soap opera. He tunes in everyday, lets his presence be known, lets people know if they've please him or displeased them and exercises a reward or punishment as he sees fit.
I've also noticed a change in the way God communicates with man. He speaks directly with Abraham and his son Isaac yet Isaac's son Jacob talks to God only in dreams. This is an example of God moving from direct communication with man, to communication with man in a dream state.
I think it's also, significant that God speak to woman as easily as he does man. However,
in the Abraham story he does not speak directly, he does not speak through a dream but he uses and angel to speak to Hagar about the son she will have, the son fathered by Abraham. Genesis 16:11. In this instance, God uses angels to facilitate communicate with woman making woman and man equal in the eyes of God and both worthy of some form of communication.
This made me think that maybe God was trying to find the best way to communicate with his creations and maybe he figured that direct communication was not a good idea so he moved on to dreams.
There is however one very odd scene in Genesis 32:22 where Jacob actually physically wrestles with God and comes out of it with damage to his hip socket. I have not come across any incident where God takes on a physical form and interacts with a human unless you consider the pregnancy of Mary as instance where God interacts on a physical level.
Is the case with Jacob an example of God testing his communication methods with man? If so it was terribly unsuccessful and painful for man. I do not believe this type of communication is ever attempted again until the pregnancy of Mary.
So so far in the OT God is a very pro active communicator who does not let sex dictate who he communicates with. God talks to man as equally as he talks to woman. So where did we get this idea that the male figure in religious organizations somehow gets the upper hand in communication with God?
Friday, January 23, 2009
My EfM Class
I've started taking an EfM class to further my interested in bible studies. EfM stands for Episcopalian for Ministry. No, I did not sign up to become a minster but my priest Jennifer Linman suggested it to me so I thought it would be a good idea. To tell you the truth I'm not comfortable with the people in my group but that's what groups are about. Anyone who has taken group therapy knows that shit will happen. I'm here really to study the bible and I try to focus on that.
My four year course starts with the Old Testament which I prefer because it makes me feel more human. The new Testament makes me feel like I have to aspire to the person that I want to be.
The characters in the OT especially the women I can identify with. They do stuff. Did you know that Abraham gave his wife Sarah to the Pharaoh who she lived and slept with for many years? All true. When the Pharaoh found out and asked why Abraham doesn't answer. In fact the Pharaoh send him away with all kinds of sheep, and goats and makes him rich. Ironically God punishes the Pharaoh who was really a victim of Abraham's wife swapping trick
On top of it all Abraham gets rich for lending his beautiful wife out for hire. And it's no big deal God doesn't seem to mind.
My four year course starts with the Old Testament which I prefer because it makes me feel more human. The new Testament makes me feel like I have to aspire to the person that I want to be.
The characters in the OT especially the women I can identify with. They do stuff. Did you know that Abraham gave his wife Sarah to the Pharaoh who she lived and slept with for many years? All true. When the Pharaoh found out and asked why Abraham doesn't answer. In fact the Pharaoh send him away with all kinds of sheep, and goats and makes him rich. Ironically God punishes the Pharaoh who was really a victim of Abraham's wife swapping trick
On top of it all Abraham gets rich for lending his beautiful wife out for hire. And it's no big deal God doesn't seem to mind.
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