“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”
Thursday, 10 November, 2005
In Term 1 Bill Salier asked for volunteers to do dramatic recitations of portions of Mark. The first portion was Mark 1:1 and I volunteered since I thought it might be fun and one verse is easier than ten. I bought some party poppers, gave them to 10 volunteers from the crowd who stood in a line across the front, spread my hands and announed to the class,
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
and then they let off the party poppers. It was fun.
Today I got an email back from the Registrar of Moore College explaining that, for government purposes, I am enrolled in the Bachelor of Divinity (as the Diploma of Bible and Missions is not accredited and therefore not recognised by the government and therefore not eligible for Austudy) but I am taking an early exit from the BD and the college is awarding me its own diploma in recognition of that year of study. He also asked me to let him know how I went with my Centrelink battles (not with regard to Newstart but with regard to them wanting to change my record to say “Diploma” because if they do that, then they can stop paying me Austudy at the end of November but at the moment, because it says “Bachelor of Divinity”, they've got me down as finishing in 2008, not 2005, and I suppose from their perspective that means they would have to keep paying me. This is nonsense really; they just need to do something to their computer system to get around the problem).
I got really angry at Centrelink and at myself for opening my mouth; if I had just let it be, they'd still give me Austudy for December and be none the wiser. But then that would have been deceptive. Why does honesty get you into such messes ... I don't need this kind of trouble in the middle of the exam period.
Today I started on New Testament 1 study proper and spent most of the morning reading Mark and articles in various dictionaries and commentaries. I've never appreciated Mark as a gospel before. It's the shortest of the gospels, it was probably written first (though there are those who claim that Matthew was written first) and it is probably Peter's version of events (Eusebius calls Mark Peter's “interpreter” in History of the Church). I've always passed over it (in favour of Matthew which is my favourite gospel; I reckon I think a lot like him). Lots of things happen one after the other in Mark and I tend to get lost in all the events. But this year has been good because in studying Mark I get the sense that he's not as unsophisticated as I've always thought. His narrative is sparse, he lets actions speak more than words, but when Jesus does open his mouth, his words have a big impact. Mark's gospel is very focused on Jesus: who he is and what it means for him to be the Christ. But things don't go the way that we expect; when I'm reading Mark, I'm always thinking, “Huh?”
In the afternoon Ben and I headed across the road to study group with some others who live in the area. We started looking at common questions from past papers for New Testament 1 on Mark. It was amazing how much I could regurgitate from two hours of reading. I was also surprised to discover the difference in the way I think and the way other people think. I don't know if it's the result of having done a degree in English but in answering questions it's not hard for me to come up with points. It's a little harder for me to organise them into a logical flow and tie them together with an argument but I always seem to be able to fit the content into my essay “mold” of three or four of the most relevant points (you only have 35 mins to write so you can't possibly cram everything you know into that time). Realising this made me very glad that God has given me the gifts that I have; it has made aspects of this year far easier for us and I suppose that has also meant that we have been better able to handle the other curve balls that life has thrown at us.
On the email, my year is going slightly crazy. They were doing this during the final week of lectures—you could almost hear the laughter reaching the point of hysteria. Today the topic of discussion was the Old Testament 1 exam, with one Chappo guy claiming that there would be a whole section on the Babylonian Talmud and another replying, “I've prepared a paper on the Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch, do you want it?”
Our study group took one look at the past papers for OT1 and then got very depressed. It was Josh's birthday so most of us stuck around for pizza and swapped notes on our favourite procrasination games (Josh: Yeti Sports; Ben: Blob Wars). Then we tried to hit the books again by tackling Romans questions but not many of us had actually studied those topics so instead Josh and Geoff took us through the argument of Romans (I hadn't actually realised that the gospel acts as an inclusio for the whole of Romans; compare 1:1-7 with 16:25-27). That was a good note to end on; by 9:30 our brains were pretty fried and Ben was hanging out to watch Law and Order: SVU (this is the guy who has spent the entire week designing a new content management system instead of studying).
We ended the evening by engaging in one of the most popular attractions at Josh and Jo's: The New Tetris. Use the pieces to make 4 x 4 boxes. If they're the same colour, they turn to gold; if they're different colours, they turn to silver. You get bonus points for clearing lines with them (gold is better than silver!) I never thought Tetris could get any more addictive!
And I just found out that the $7,000 excess was a mistake on my part; my spreadsheet was counting the giving twice so the excess is not as much as I thought it was (*phew!*). This is why I am not an accountant.
(Right, must write a summary paper on parables in Mark and go to bed ...)
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.
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Is that Geoff as in Geoff T from Qld - if so, say hi to him from me!
It is indeed and I will.