Times of refreshing

http://bible.us/Acts3.19.ESV Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,

So it begins

http://bible.us/Acts1.8.ESV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

Result of Jesus making the mute speak, the lame walk, the blind see - glory! Matt 15:30-31

Tim Keller on family versus the office

Tim Keller on not spending so much time in the office doing ministry:

So you might as well have a strong relationship with God and a strong family and have people mad at you, because they're going to be mad at you anyway.

[HT: Unashamed Workman]

Magary says, "Keep your Hebrew healthy."

Thoughts from Preaching the Old Testament, Keeping your Hebrew healthy by D. Magary.

Tips for retention:

We will propose strategies on two fronts. Strategies for review will address the importance of revisiting the fundamentals of the language, especially vocabulary and grammar. Strategies for use, or text-focused strategies, will speak to the importance of regular Hebrew use and engagement with the biblical Hebrew texts. (p 33)

Not the flash cards and the audio CD's again! It must be done, it must be done. Remember the alphabet song.

On the importance of using Hebrew:

The most important thing pastors and teachers do in any given week is communicate to people what God has said. The most sacred moments they spend in ministry are the moments in which they are proclaiming the Word of God-the most important words ever written! The man or woman who has the responsibility to communicate to others what God has said needs to know exactly what God has said! A challenge far greater than learning Hebrew is keeping it vital and healthy for use in lifelong ministry. The whole point of studying Hebrew and Greek in seminary is to be able to have direct access to the biblical text-the very foundation for Christian faith and practice-in the languages in which God's Word was originally written. (p 30)

Magary gives excellent, practical advice for his two pronged approach of review and use. He also really appeals to the importance of keeping your Hebrew up (or in my case, elevating it to acceptable levels). One final exhortation:

Everything in the text matters! Every word is important. Every structure reflects a choice that an author has made. Nothing is superfluous. Every component of the text has its function. Knowing how to navigate the Hebrew text by reading and understanding what is actually there makes the difference, at least for a pastor, between preaching the text and preaching the translation. As we have already noted, translators make hundreds of decisions, many of which affect the interpretation of the passage. If the only access one has to the biblical text is through a translation, what does one do where translations differ? (p 52)

This is a good word to not let your languages slide.

This 'is' my body: sympathy for a former president

Bread & Wine
Originally uploaded by cas lad.

Since the question of what is meant by Jesus' words, "This is my body," was brought up during our Life Builders time, I thought this would be a good opportunity to take a more careful look at this debated statement. Without sounding too Clintonian, our first stop is to examine the word 'is'.

From Carson, Exegetical Fallacies, pp 57-58

Few words with broad semantic range cause more interpretive difficulties than the copula eimi (to be). Caird (Language and Imagery, p. 101) provides a useful list of what he calls the “main types” of copula usage in Greek:

a) Identity: “Is the law sin?” (Rom. 7:7)
b) Attribute: “No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)
c) Cause: “To be carnally minded is death.” (Rom. 8:6)
d) Resemblance: “The tongue is a fire.” (James 3:6)

This is very helpful and is obviously pertinent to any consideration of the four most disputed words in the Bible, “This is my body.” Several branches of Christendom treat “is” in the sentence as a statement of identity; but quite clearly the semantic range of “to be” is broad enough that identity cannot legitimately be presupposed: it must be argued. ... Caird proceeds to argue that the statement “this is my body” cannot be one of identity, because “Jesus cannot be supposed to have identified the bread in his hands with the living body of which those hands were part.” But if “body” in this instance has a slightly different referent that the body of which the hands are a part, then “is” is being used metaphorically, and all metaphors belong to class d.

To restate: if we agree with the various classifications of 'is' above, then unless Jesus is referring to the bread and wine in the same way he would refer to his hand, the 'is' must fall into category d. Even if you believe in transubstantiation, there is a difference in Jesus' physical body and communion elements: Christ's body contains both the accidents (form) of flesh and blood and the substance of flesh and blood, while the communion elements retain the accidents of the bread and wine. The argument in transubstantiation is whether the substance has changed. But the point is this: clearly there is a difference between Christ's blood and wine.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia (newadvent.org)

Finally, Transubstantiation differs from every other substantial conversion in this, that only the substance is converted into another — the accidents remaining the same — just as would be the case if wood were miraculously converted into iron, the substance of the iron remaining hidden under the external appearance of the wood.

Again, there is a difference between an iron bar and an iron bar that has all the appearances of wood. The 'is' in "This is my body" is in category d.

Another home

A friend of mine, Tim, has a post about his wife's grandmother's (Mormor) funeral:

In the last months of her life, Mormor often prayed – “Jesus, just take me home”. You see, this world is not our home. To those who don’t know Jesus, this world is as close to heaven as you’ll ever get. But to those who know Jesus, this world is as close to hell as you’ll ever get.

I had the privilege of spending a week at Shepherd’s Home – a home for mentally and physically handicapped adults. The man who ran it asked me – what do you think we have to clean the most around here. I had no idea. He said – the windows. Because everyone here knows Jesus is going to return in the clouds, just as he left – and they will meet him in the air and get new bodies – and they press their hands and face up to the windows watching for Him.

We are not home yet. But Mormor is. She has fought the good fight – she’s finished the race – and now she is Home. I’m going to miss you Mormor, we all are. But we are so happy for you. Thank you for the life you lived, the way you loved, the prayers you prayed, and the example you set.

May we all have dirty windows as we spend our time here doing the work God has set out for us.

Cora Elizabeth Hessel 07.16.07

On July 16th, 2007 at 8:00pm Cora Elizabeth Hessel came to join the rest of us in the world. She was 11 lbs 3oz and 22 inches long.

Carrie had a rough go of it - a long day of labor and pushing only to end in a C-section. But it was all in the Lord's hands and He was gracious to us.

Here are a few pictures from the hospital:







For a few more pictures visit here.

9/11 – A time of reflection

Where were you when you first heard about the attacks? I remember that I was typing at the computer listening to “Mike and Mike” on ESPN Radio. Mike Greenberg seemed extremely concerned about a report of a plane crashing in NY while Mike Golic (initially) wanted to get on with the broadcast. I turned on the TV and the story had begun.

How we react to certain things is an interesting phenomenon. Having been upset over (my perceived) lack of interest in some previous world disasters, I wasn’t (at least initially) as caught up into the horror of this one. In all honesty, I was more affected by the response of the people around me than to the tragedy itself. Maybe I already had a healthy dose of “this world is a bad place” but I was truly mystified that some people were too paralyzed to travel, to go out of their rooms, to come back to college. In retrospect, I was probably too jaded to sympathize properly and too proud, secretly wanting show my 'greater' concern by telling people “this world has been a bad place for a long time – read your papers.” Today I am ashamed of both of these attitudes.

I had some appointments set up with some college students (I was on campus staff at the time) so we talked, prayed, watched TV, and gave blood. We coordinated group worship services that evening. This event consumed our ministry for a good couple of months.

There is no real interest on my part on seeing a 9/11 documentary or movie. But I do want to reflect, mourn, and move from 9/11 in a way that honors Christ. Whether 9/11 deeply touched you or you are struggling on how to respond, here are a couple of articles that have helped me this morning:

Bill Williams: a pastor at ground zero during the 9/11 rescue (HT: Jim Martin)

Mark D. Roberts – a prayer on the 5th anniversary of 9/11


And one more Timothy George - Theology for an Age of Terror