I started the book of Jeremiah on my plane ride to Chile, and it's been an interesting book so far. My goal is to complete the entire Bible by the time I graduate college, and I'm doing pretty decently so far. After Ezekiel and Psalms, I won't have any more "major" books to complete in the old testament... the minor prophets should be relatively quick reads, I think. If anyone wants to catch up to me in Jeremiah so we can read and comment together, you can listen to the first 26 chapters of Jeremiah here (this is really easy to multitask with other work). It's 94 minutes long.
My reading today was Jeremiah 25 & 26, and Jeremiah chapter 26 really stood out to me. Basically, Jeremiah has just delivered Epically bad news to all the kings of Jerusalem, Judah, and other parts of Israel. God has given them chances to repent of their evil ways, but they haven't listened (what's new in the OT?), so God is about to bring all the kingdoms of the North, including Babylon, against them.
Of course the leaders in Israel react negatively to Jeremiah's message... who wouldn'treact poorly if someone told him that his nation had been really sinful and was about to be completely overrun because of it? However, the most interesting part of this passage is a comparison between Jeremiah, and another prophet (who was also prophesying correctly in the name of the Lord) named Uriah. When Jeremiah is confronted by people in Israel wanting to kill Him for His message, he says to them: "Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster He has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth to LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing."
In contrast, Uriah sought to fix his situation under his own strength. "When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. " King Jehoiakim sent men after him. "They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people."
One of my life themes is always seeking not to control my life and do things under my own strength, but instead letting God take control and following His far superior wisdom. This is really hard to do. If I found out the Chilean government wanted to kill me or imprison me, I'd want to go hide away in another country to "be safe." But the safest place in the world is always exactly where God wants you to be. Uriah's course of action makes a lot more "sense" to us. But Jeremiah's course of action... trusting in God to take care of him, and standing behind his message was the much safer and more powerful course of action. I pray that I can have the boldness to follow God's plan no matter how much "sense" another course of action makes.
Equally here, it's easy to want to "fix" situations I find dissatisfying. I've been striving a lot in making friends instead of enjoying to experiences I have had. The meat and potatoes of this passage is trust, though, and I'm excited to start trusting God more with my time and activities here.
Love you all!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Top 3 reasons to observe lent
Growing up Catholic and later becoming a non-denominational Christian, I've seen an interesting spread of attitudes and practices surrounding lent. For the most part, Catholics have the strictest view, with dietary customs such as not eating between meals and giving up meat on Fridays. Every Catholic church I've attended has had a positive view on giving something up for lent, and using the 40 days prior to repent and prepare one's heart for the amazing blessing that happens on Easter. The six Sundays during lent are days of celebration, and these days actually ARE NOT included in the 40 day count. The Byzantine tradition, including Orthodox Greek churches do consider Sundays part of lent, and therefore believers must continue their practices through the weekend.
During my life-church adventure, I attended two Lutheran churches, both of which still practiced lent. In non-denominational churches (with pretty strong baptist roots), we did not. Neither The Father's House NY, a church I attended for about one year, nor my current church, Pittsford Community Church, have any special practices for lent.
I looked online to see the baptist view towards lent and found this extremely slandersome post:
http://jwest.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/why-baptists-dont-observe-lent/
I'd like to reply with the top 3 reasons to observe lent.
1) Lenten observers enter into a continued tradition of people who fast and pray. Until the protestant reformation, nearly every Christian practiced a life of repentence and sacrifice for the 40 days preceding Easter. Moses spent 40 days with God on Mount Sinai, and Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days before He began His ministry. By fasting and praying more strongly before Easter, we get to join into this communion of believers in faith and in practice.
2) Lent gives us time to really focus on repentence. I do agree with Jim West that repentence needs to be practiced 24/7/365, but we are human, and lent gives us a time to sharpen our focus. If we really try to do something 24/7/365, we can't and we lose focus. With God's help we can focus a whole lot more, and learn discipline that transfers to the other 325 days.
3) God knew exactly the amount of time we needed to change our habits and customs. By omiting small things that deter us from the life God would want for us, these changes are often times long-lasting. It takes a conscious decision to start a habit again after a successful lenten season.
That being said, Jim West needs to tone down. We are all Christians and the ways we express our honor and reverence to God are all important as long as they serve their purpose.
During my life-church adventure, I attended two Lutheran churches, both of which still practiced lent. In non-denominational churches (with pretty strong baptist roots), we did not. Neither The Father's House NY, a church I attended for about one year, nor my current church, Pittsford Community Church, have any special practices for lent.
I looked online to see the baptist view towards lent and found this extremely slandersome post:
http://jwest.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/why-baptists-dont-observe-lent/
I'd like to reply with the top 3 reasons to observe lent.
1) Lenten observers enter into a continued tradition of people who fast and pray. Until the protestant reformation, nearly every Christian practiced a life of repentence and sacrifice for the 40 days preceding Easter. Moses spent 40 days with God on Mount Sinai, and Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days before He began His ministry. By fasting and praying more strongly before Easter, we get to join into this communion of believers in faith and in practice.
2) Lent gives us time to really focus on repentence. I do agree with Jim West that repentence needs to be practiced 24/7/365, but we are human, and lent gives us a time to sharpen our focus. If we really try to do something 24/7/365, we can't and we lose focus. With God's help we can focus a whole lot more, and learn discipline that transfers to the other 325 days.
3) God knew exactly the amount of time we needed to change our habits and customs. By omiting small things that deter us from the life God would want for us, these changes are often times long-lasting. It takes a conscious decision to start a habit again after a successful lenten season.
That being said, Jim West needs to tone down. We are all Christians and the ways we express our honor and reverence to God are all important as long as they serve their purpose.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I have yet to see that 12 newborns actually get switched in the hospital daily
I read a spam-type email today with random facts, and one of the ones that shocked me said:
"On average, 12 newborns go home from the hospital with the wrong family daily." If this is a statistic for the United States, I have yet to find the information. But what I did find interesting was the following article designed to help you prevent baby-snatching.
Maybe I've been pampered living in a small mid-westernish town my whole life, but I've never seen so many people worried about things getting stolen. That would honestly be my only complaint about Santiago so far... a general distrust in one's fellow man. Everyone on the subway acts like everyone else is out to get them!
*Update on 8/1/11: the statistic is actually that 12 to 18 babies will get switched yearly. That is only 6-9 pairs of children.
"On average, 12 newborns go home from the hospital with the wrong family daily." If this is a statistic for the United States, I have yet to find the information. But what I did find interesting was the following article designed to help you prevent baby-snatching.
Maybe I've been pampered living in a small mid-westernish town my whole life, but I've never seen so many people worried about things getting stolen. That would honestly be my only complaint about Santiago so far... a general distrust in one's fellow man. Everyone on the subway acts like everyone else is out to get them!
*Update on 8/1/11: the statistic is actually that 12 to 18 babies will get switched yearly. That is only 6-9 pairs of children.
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