Some truly geeky (in the best sense of the word) wedding stuff

I mentioned Jewish wedding commitments/vows in class this last session (Feb 20th), and promised I'd give a link to a website which had some material related to this. This is not a site about Jewish weddings as such, but is rather a site for Michael (Jewish) and Marina (Vietnamese) and their marriage. The overall site is http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/couple.shtml. The brief synopsis of their customs, as brought to their wedding, is at http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/traditions.shtml, and a truly wild, fully nerd-tech account of how Michael made their wedding rings, is at http://www.mike-short.com/MnM/rings.shtml. Well worth checking out!

I also commented on a terrific resource on the topic of Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, which is the title of a book by David Instone-Brewer. I highly recommend this for anyone thinking through or dealing with issues related to this. Here's an Amazon link (print and Kindle) as well as a bookfinder.com link, giving the best prices (with shipping) for new and used copies.

Being, Doing, and Replacing the Old

We worked our way through Heb 8:8-13 today – some excellent material came out in the discussion.

A couple of things to note:

1.     The mention of wickedness and sins in v. 12 – interesting in that wickedness, or lack of righteousness, relates to character and “being”, while sins, or missing of the mark, relates to activity and “doing”. A major achievement of this new covenant, written on hearts and minds, is that both the motivation and the ability to live correctly have been provided for.

2.     The emphasis on the provision of a new covenant, replacing the old and obsolete one (v. 13), would surely have been a tough sell for an audience convinced of the durability of the law, of Torah and its attendant structures. How poignant, then, to realize that both writings, the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34) and its citation by the author of Hebrews (Heb 8:8-12), were followed by the destruction of the Temple existing at that time. The writers could not have known that was coming, but the overall Author surely knew how to make a point!

I love it when such insights are suggested in discussion, and made use of some technology to immediately add this to my notes so that I could research and explore these ideas further. For more info on what I use to keep things current, check out the newest entry in my tech blog at http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/.

Another blog worth following (and not just because I think the author is an incredible and lovely person, to whom I am also married!) is http://peacefulones.blogspot.com/. Often provocative, never boring.

Yet another resource worth knowing are the sermon mp3 files from the chapel at Northwest University, where I teach. We’re currently in a series on Colossians, and our President, Dr. Joseph Castleberry, has preached two excellent messages that I  commend – have a listen at http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110204.mp3 and http://eagle.northwestu.edu/chapel_mp3/20110216.mp3. For a chapel schedule and links to existing mp3 files, check out http://www.northwestu.edu/ministry/chapel/schedule.php. And of course, you’re welcome to come join us. The worship is almost always pretty exuberant!

Complete Salvation?

We discussed Heb 7:23-28 today, and a big part of the conversation was on v. 25 - "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." [NIV 2010 edn.] "Completely" has a sense of "forever" (translated thus in the NASB) but also of thoroughly or fully. So why then do we still sin? It is clear from 1 John that those in the community of faith still mess up (1:8, 10), just as it's adequately clear that we also have a remedy (1:9).

I hope there are people out there willing to enter the conversation - maybe you've got an insight here that can help us understand how to better mimic our Savior? Please share it!

On a completely different topic, I've been asked for the link to my tech blog. I'm embarrassed to acknowledge how long it's been since I've posted, but I do have some cool things to share and will update and add those as I have an opportunity. Feel free to check out  http://techroadshow.blogspot.com/, and if you've got some great tech ideas to share, please do so in your comments there!

blessings,
w