So, you’re going to write an exam today
Monday, 14 November, 2005
Yesterday, spent two hours writing what, if I may say so, is a brilliant CHN on Paul. No doubt it will look quite amateurish in the plain daylight of the working week. Have not done very much OT study and am getting a little panicky about it. OT1 is on Wednesday.
Thought maybe I should have replaced myself on band at church but it was a little late for that. Anyway, it is very good fun playing with Nancy who is one of the only good female guitar players I have ever met. Our church music collection needs a total overhall; too much Nicky Chiswell and not enough of songs which express profound theological truths in non-cringey ways (please note I am not saying that Nicky Chiswell is cringe-worthy and expresses theological fluff; some of her songs are quite good. Some of the other ones are fairly average, e.g. “Resurrection”, “The Spirit Has Come”. My point is simply to say there is only so much Nicky you can sing in one night).
Malcolm has just started a series on the Holy Spirit. After a very strange sermon last week, he took the time this week to address some of the issues that came up in the comments. Half the talk was done in response to my comments (*gratification bells are ringing*). I found his clarification very helpful and it certainly pushed me to think more about the Spirit. Malcolm was saying that the Spirit gives life to all creatures and therefore part of God's Spirit is in us (Gen 6:3). When we die, he takes his Spirit away. This, however, does not mean that we are all automatically Christians for God's Spirit can dwell in unclean sinful vessels. When we become Christians, though, a profound change occurs whereby the Spirit in us becomes united with the Spirit of Christ (1 Cor 6:17) who then transforms us so that we become like him (Phil 3:20-21). I'll have to go over my notes again sometime but I thought what he said was very interesting and worth thinking about.
After church we went home and I memorised that structure of Mark according to chapters and felt a bit better. The chapter divisions seem to be rather arbitrary but I guess Mark is a bit like that—all over the place (Romans is far more prosaic and logical). Over the weekend I sat down with Mark and a Bible atlas and tried to trace the movement of Jesus from place to place. It was pretty interesting—he must have done a lot of walking with his disciples!—and it certainly helped me picture what was going on amidst all the healings and teachings and passion predictions and whatnot. We went to bed around midnight but I couldn't sleep for hours and then woke up with a very bad back at around 7:30 this morning. Not good exam conditions ...
Today I'm going to go in for lunch and then relax before the exam starts. I thought I'd bring a mascot to have on my desk—maybe the puffer fish I got from Disneyland?
“What does that mascot say about you?” said Ben.
“I don't know. That I'm spikey?”
“That you're fat and poisonous is more likely!”
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
|
|
Disqus comments
Other comments
So true what you say about girls and guitars. I’ve seen a quite few good female bass players, but not on the six string.
Actually, I’ve only in my life seen one *really* good female guitarists, and she was a lesbian! So maybe its a testosterone thing…
Personally I think Nicky Chiswell is the best of the EMU stable - she knows how to write a hook. But man does not live by EMU alone - even when Philip Percival is at your church!
We’ve been exploring a wider range of musical options recently. We played “Thats Why We Praise Him” on Sunday Morning, which was just fabulous. Our music organisers (AB and Nathan) are looking to push the boundaries a little…
Haven’t you introduced your songs at your church yet? Psalm 8 and Psalm 139 are just joyous. I’m planning to get my congregation hooked on them.
Nicky Chiswell, by the way, is an awesome guitar player. Absolutely awesome. So is Ani Difranco but her politics suck.
Funnily enough, I haven’t! I have been planning to, but there is just always so much to do…
Have you seen our Mission brochure yet?
http://www.christiansinthemedia.org/downloads/05_mission_overall_program.pdf
You and Ben should pop over for a couple of the events - I think you’d really enjoy it. Mission week is going to be simply awesome…
It certainly looks exciting! Will see what I’m doing ...