Deep Calls

I feel a bit like saying, "and when we last saw our intrepid travelers . . ." It is has been a while since I wrote, and in that interim I meandered off the path of thought ~ so let me recap and regroup. My last series of related blogs were about Barnabas and the effect of the paradigm held in the days of the infant church at the time of the conversion of Saul/Paul and the dispersion of the church because of persecution. so... 1) We know that the paradigm of that season was that God was the God of the Jews. Salvation meant not merely establishment and/or restoration of a personal relationship with God, it meant becoming part of the Jewish community which in the minds of the community was the intended Kingdom of the Kingdom of God. The Jews were God's people, and to be saved meant first to be Jewish...and then to have relationship with God. but 2) We know God wanted to change that paradigm. The first clue for me is the discussion the disciples have with Jesus just b...

I am sitting here getting ready to work on the Bible Survey stuff and my mind is kind of blank. I looked over at my bookshelf and got a craving to grab a book and just go read for a while...like hiding and playing hooky from the work. Skimming over the titles (my book shelves are kind of random ... my daughter tries to organize and catagorize, but I am a little hopeless there) I see the Gulag books and The Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn. You know your mind is in "I am desperate ... hide me" mode when Solzhenitsyn tempts you. Don't get me wrong, I do like Solzhenitsyn ... I do OWN the books ... feeling tempted to read them is like being temptyed to train for a marathon. OK, there is also The Man Who is Magic by Gallico, a variety of Lewis ~ fiction and apologetics...now THAT is like getting a whiff of fresh coffee as  you walk by the kitchen, "hmmmm I'd like some of THAT". Oh, there is always Clancy. OH! I could re-read The Hobbit , you know, in preparation fo...

So it is spring here. Spring like I remember it when I was little . . .  this morning  my daughter, looking out at the drizzly rain said, "I thought it was supposed to be 'April showers bring May flowers' not 'May showers brings June gloom' -- but that's what it is" I like it. I do love waking to the crisp air and the dull grey sky, the drips of drizzle sliding down the leaves of the bushes outside the window. I love the contrast of the grey sky and the sharp baby green of the spring leaves on the trees. I like the reprieve of cool days before the onslaught of heat that July will bring. I know...July seems forever from now. It isn't. It won't rain hard. It won't rain all day. Just enough. It feels familar to me ... like a glance over my shoulder at when I was 14. That was long ago...and so far away, even squinting I can only just barely read the street signs over my shoulder. Humm: 14, more like a fairy tale than a memory. Maybe that...

A new writing project has interrupted my blogging. It is a JOB! I am writing a Bible Survey curriculum for a Christian High School where I used to teach...putting on paper, well computer and then CD, what I taught a couple of years ago. It comes from a very different place in my writing space inside of me. Walking mentally from there to here is/has been difficult. I will likely, it seems, be neglectful of this blog space. I will try to do both but I suspect inconsistency here. This feels like an apology to empty space. It feels like I can hear the echo: SORRY                 sorry                                   sorry                      ...

 In order to set the context, I think I need to establish some understanding of what was going on in the minds and emotions of the community of Jewish believers -- because right at first the ONLY real accepted believers were Jewish believers. My theory is that at its base, the book of Acts ~  beyond it being a well written story account of the establishment and growth of the early church and the birth and growth of the ministry and missions of Paul and his teams   ~ is a view of God's work to bring about a paradigm shift in the hearts, minds and spirits, and thereby into the life and ministry, of His people. " Paradigm shift" -- what is that? Definitions are sometimes a helpful discussion beginner so : Paradigm and paradigm shift from American Heritage Dictionary (Yahoo version) : Paradigm: A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes             a way of viewing reality ...

So do you know --  just off the top of your head -- who I am going to write about? Really, there is only one verse where this man is referred to as " Joseph . . . from Cyprus ", so this is a bit of a trick question. His story ~ or a bit of it ~ is told in the NEW Testament. He is one of my favorite characters in the post-gospels New Testament story:   From Cyprus, a Levite who lived in Jerusalem --- Part of the early church --- Not one of the original 12 apostles --- World traveler . . . ? got it yet? Barnabas. " Barnabas" was a nickname. His given name was Joseph. He was a Levite, from Cyprus. The apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which we are told in Acts 4, mean "Son of Encouragement".  This translation ... Son of Encouragement is a translator's decision. The literal meaning is : Son of Prophecy .                      ...

OK -- disclaimer time: I am a nerd. Some of you, those who know me, already know that. Yeah, you are right ~ not exactly a news flash! One of my favorite books, Planet Narnia by M. Ward, is a doctoral thesis ~ OK, a BRILLIANTLY written, and quite easily readable doctoral thesis, but yeah...doctoral thesis none the less. I love etymology (that would be the study of a word's history of origin)  ...  like, I look up words for FUN! I like Shakespeare -- watching and reading it. I have read several of the plays in their entirety.You get the idea. I wanted to tell you that so you could be warned and be aware that, actually, you might not want to read this blog.  You can click out now. I will understand perfectly {yeah, not that I would even KNOW} I am going to talk about (as the title already warned you) chiasms and palistrophes. I have included several web addresses at the end that most of you, I know, will not want to go check out. But I wanted to show...