Random Notes

We're sorry posting has been light. Our lives are just extremely busy. I'll been working on narrative report cards (meaning, no number grades, just long diatribes about each student) all week. I have to finish them TOMORROW and I only was able to start on Tuesday. I've also been really tired and still having a great deal of trouble staying asleep. I wake up between 1 and 3 fully awake. Mike has been working really hard on school stuff. We've gotten to be really boring. We're not even doing anything for Hallo-Reformation Day. Well, I did throw a party for my students at school.

School Singing

School is going really well. My students are well disciplined, smart and kind. They sing as we walk outside, they sing in the morning, they sing all day. It's amazing how much singing hymns and psalms has gotten down deep into their bones in less than two months. They hum and sing them to themselves while they do seatwork. They clamor to choose their favorites, they even invent playground games centering on the hymns we know. I have already taught them "At the Name of Jesus", "Be Thou My Vision", "Doxology", "Gloria Patri", "How Great Thou Art", "Lift High the Cross", "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty", "Psalm 40" and "Psalm 128." They know all of the tunes and the first verse or two by heart, at least. This experience has confirmed to me that children are quite musical. Only one really struggles with rhythm and pitch. All of the children participate, no one acts "too cool." It's a real blessing to me to sing along with them all day long.

Reporting In

We had a very nice trip to Monroe. Our friend Lori rode with us and we had lots of good car conversation. She came over for dinner last Sunday and between all of that, I feel like I've gotten to know her pretty well and I really like her! In Monroe, we mostly enjoyed hanging out with people like Duane, Sarah, Jon, Emily, Christin, Thomas, Jessie and the Lusks. Norman Shepherd had lots of good things to say about justification, his delivery is just a little too quiet and monotone. I got a good deal of knitting done during the sessions, before I took off and left for lunch. Unfortunately, we were too late for a drive-thru daquari on Friday when we came in. We were lucky to have our trip weekend coincide with Matt and Elizabeth's engagement party, so we were able to see them and say hello and meet people Matt tells lots of stories about, like Brad. That was very fun. I'm looking forward to seeing them get married in December.

Apologies and Announcement

Our apologies for the lack of exciting content. Mike is preparing for a big Latin test tomorrow and the GRE, which he takes next Tuesday. I'm suffering from extreme end of quarter stress. We're heading to Louisiana this weekend for a little change of pace, you can catch us at Auburn Ave on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Call Duane and Sarah for our cell numbers if you are just dying to hang out with us.

On the Subject of Thank You Notes

A couple who is courting came to our wedding and gave us a joint gift. Etiquette says send the thank you card to the woman, but does Reformed-ness say send the card to the man?

Sabbath Dinner

We have people over to eat semi-regularly and we tend to eat nicer dinners on Sundays, but yesterday was the first time we had a good old-fashioned Sabbath dinner, inviting as many people as our table will fit (two, other than us.) One of our guests is a single friend from church, the other guest: the incomparable Wayne O. I took my Sabbath dinner guidelines from the worthy example of Mrs. Holly Rench. We had slow-roasted chicken, wild rice, corn, salad, homemade "challah" bread, and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla with Fresh Strawberrries that we sugared to make them nice and juicy.

I had a good time preparing the meal. I have never ever made bread before. I just flipped open my copy of the Joy of Cooking and had at it. I have never ever ever wanted a Kitchenaid stand mixer so much in all my life. I kneaded that bread for 10 minutes and I thought I might die. Everything was turning out okay, until I got to the braiding part. I have absolutely no idea how people braid sticky, uncooperative bread dough. I did the best I could. It wasn't very pretty, as far as challah bread goes, but it tasted alright. People got seconds. And they stayed well into the afternoon, chatting with us. It was a success.

Sabbath Reflection

Jesus lives, and so shall I. Death! thy sting is gone forever!
He who deigned for me to die, lives, the bands of death to sever.
He shall raise me from the dust: Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and reigns supreme, and, his kingdom still remaining,
I shall also be with him, ever living, ever reigning.
God has promised: be it must: Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and by his grace, vict'ry o'er my passions giving,
I will cleanse my heart and ways, ever to his glory living.
Me he raises from the dust. Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, I know full well nought from him my heart can sever,
Life nor death nor powers of hell, joy nor grief, hence forth forever.
None of all his saints is lost; Jesus is my Hope and Trust.

Jesus lives, and now is death but the gate of life immortal;
This shall calm my trembling breath when I pass its gloomy portal.
Faith shall cry, as fails each sense, Jesus is my confidence.

Small Study Break: regarding ekklesia

In his Against Christianity, and I'm sure other places and by other writers, Peter Leithart makes the case that ekklesia, which gets translated as "church" DOES NOT mean "people having been called out" as the bare etymology and many evangelicals seem to make of it lately; but instead, the term is a political term denoting a political body of God's peope.

In support of this, in my readings for my Heresy/Orthodoxy in the Early Church thesis, I discovered that when synods were bringing together their followers, they used the verb: ekklesiazein. Reading this, I put forth that this word still has political connations when the polis of God sets about her duties. Just as the Athenians did, who earlier used the term in describing their legislative bodies.

Okay, back to Arius.

Galations 2:16

For you Greek readers, I have a question regarding this verse. Namely, how should we understand Paul's uses of the genitive? We are reading it in my Pauline Epistles course, and Dr. White is requiring us to read the text literally and determine why modern translations translate as they do. Frankly, I don't know.

Here would be my hyper-literal translation:

Knowing that (hoti) a human is not justified (or, righteous-ified) from works of the law (eks ergOv nomou) except through the faith (faithfulness?) of Jesus Christ (IEsou Christou) and we believe in Christ Jesus (eis Christon IEsoun) so that we may be justified/righteous-ified (dikaiOthOmen) from the faith/faithfulness of Jesus (ek pisteOs Christou) and not from works of the law (eks ergOn nomou), because from works of the law all flesh (pasa sarks) will not be justified/righteous-ified (ou dikaiOthEsetai).

Does this throw anyone for a loop? I have given the most literal reading of the Greek as I have been taught in my four years of Greek at UTexas. Here are some other translations:

NASB: nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

NKJV: knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

NRSV: yet we know that a person is justified F9 not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. F10 And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, F11 and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.

ESV: yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

So, those of you who know Greek and are particular experts in Galations and Justification (you are Reformed, right?), please take a stab. I don't know how to render this, but it may end up being my paper topic for this course.

How Sick

From WorldNetDaily:

Terri Schindler-Schiavo's life-sustaining feeding tube was removed this afternoon in compliance with a judge's order as her husband Michael Schiavo, who demanded the removal, and her mother looked on.
...
Doctors say if there is no further intervention, she will die in 10-14 days.

We don't even give murderers that kind of death sentence. At least if the state is going to consent to her husband killing this woman, let her be murdered in a civil manner, not as a beast. As least when a murderer is executed, the ACLU petitions.

More Chronicles of a Boys' PE Teacher

An impromptu speech, at the end of a game of Dodgeball:

"Guys, you showed a diversity of spirit out on the field today. Some fought hard to win the game, while others hid and ran out of bounds, avoiding the game. It is not manly to run away from a ball. A man would risk being hit to try to catch the ball and get someone else out. Men are daring. Some of you play dodgeball like men. Others of you play dodgeball like girls."

N.B. a great guy was interviewed for the PE position today, so hopefully my tenure will end soon.

Why Blog?

Lately, many in my congregation have been asking Kristen and I this question. During the late summer and early fall, our church was talking to Dr. George Grant about becoming our pastor. Well, he has a blog and this site is linked from there. So, a lot of people from my church have gotten to our blog from Dr. Grant's and then ask, "So, why blog?"

My answer has always been rather truthful and, hopefully, sincere. I imagine that many blog because they like to read their own writing and think that many others would benefit from reading their writing. I don't think that. Well, except if you are a Sooner fan, then I'm deliberately trying to bring you back to the fold of God. Other than that, I post mainy to keep up with family and share ideas with friends. Rick and Rachel live halfway across the country, it's hard to talk to someone regularly when they're in another time zone. It also allows me to secretly implant JT with reformed ideas, without having to debate with him to his face -- he's got one of those "you are so wrong" faces that weakens one's faith in his own argumentation. I'm sure there are other reasons. Kristen likes all the women, and men, who comment leaving practical advice, etc...

However, sometimes I really want to close shop and go home. People who spend most of their bytes on why Arnold is evil because he's not an ueber-conservative, theonomist-how-I-like-to-define-it, Republican. Or, the comments made by Rev. Wilson's kin. I see what they do to others who enjoyed blogging, and it makes me sick.

Oh well, c'est la vie.

School Notes

A few weeks ago, the school suddenly found itself without a PE teacher. As one of the younger faculty members, I was called upon to pick up some slack. One of my new (hopefully, temporary) responsibilities is 1st through 4th grade boys physical education. I am teaching them to play touch football.

One student, Harold*, ran off the field crying. I wandered over to him to find out what was the matter. "Mrs. Stew-w-wart!" he sobbed, "Daniel said I didn't know how to play football so I couldn't be the quarterback!"

"Harry," I said, "You've got to be a man! Stop crying and go out there and show Daniel that you know how to play football!"

Harry ended up making the play of the week, which was really cool, but does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

* names changed to protect the guilty

Sabbath Reflection

"Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of his word;
in God my Savior shall my heart rejoice.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his Name!
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
his mercy sure, from age to age to same;
his holy Name--the Lord, the Mighty One.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children's children and for evermore!"

For Rev. Butler: Sooners go Boom! Boom! over Texas, 65-13

Congrats to the Oklahoma Sooners
and coach Bob Stoops. Once again, Coach Stoops proved to be a better coach than Coach Brown, and his troops played without the mistakes which plagued UT. From my seat on the coach, the only thing OU has to worry about this season is UT alums marching on Norman and dragging Stoops to Austin, via Texas Federal Credit Union. Go luck to the Sooners. May they win the conference, may they will the national championship, and may they create their own chants and hand signals without defacing anyone elses.

Speaking of which, I know another entity which cannot create, only steal and pervert, but we won't get into that here.

Yummy Recipe -- West 38th St. Pasta

Ingredients
1 lb. of Italian sausage, casings removed. (all mild or 1/2 hot and 1/2 mild)
1/2 c. butter
12 large mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large green pepper, diced
1/4 c. fresh parsley, minced
2 t. dried basil
1 lb. fettucine (spinach or regular)
2/3 c. fresh parmesean cheese, grated
1 c. sour cream

Directions
Begin the water for the pasta, and cook that when ready. Simultaneously, cook the sausages in a skillet over medium-high heat, remove sausage and set aside. Drain grease. Add butter to skillet and saute mushrooms, garlic, green pepper, parsley & basel until tender. Stir in sausage. Place pasta in a heated serving dish, add sausage/mushroom mixture, parm. cheese & sour cream. Toss and serve immediately. (Serves 4)

Modifications
I saute things in fat free chicken broth and not butter (unless it is the Sabbath.) It tastes the same, and has a lot less fat. I also use light sour cream.

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Wow. The Strongest Apologetic For Orthodoxy Yet ...

It appears that the Eastern Orthodox Church is very clear in its stance against sexual immorality.

A Russian chapel has been demolished by order of the Orthodox Church because a priest married two men there, the London Telegraph reported Thursday.

The Chapel of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God was torn down apparently after local churchmen decided it had been "defiled."

Whoa.

Why UT Must Not Lose ...

I've made a small wager with the good Rev. in which the loser of this weekends, "Red River Shootout" must place the logo of the other team (right-side up? who would ever be so childish as to turn a logo upside-down?) on his page with a grovel.

Ask Dr. Theophilus ...

is a column by Prof. Budziszewski posted on Boundless.org. Searching through his archives, I found a "reader Q/A" column that I found interesting. One questioner claimed that in his reading of scripture he found seven different "paths" to salvation: 1. faith and faith alone 2. faith and works 3. works 4. obeying the commandments 5. faith and baptism 6. calling on the name of the Lord and 7. nothing, you are predestined.

In his response, where he points out that many of the "seven" are redundant, he makes the following point regarding the notion of salvation:

The next step is to see that "salvation" is one of the Bible's umbrella words; it covers more than one meaning. You can be "saved" from disease, "saved" from enemies, "saved" from guilt, and so forth. So instead of asking just one question, "What must I do to be saved?" let's ask two questions: first, "What must I do to be forgiven of sin?" and second, "What must I do to be changed into the holy person God has always intended me to be?" This is important, because the two questions have different answers. It helps to remember that the Bible usually calls forgiveness of sin "justification" and growth in holiness "sanctification."

The clear biblical answer to the question "What must I do to be forgiven of sin?" is "faith alone." You have to put your whole trust in Jesus Christ, who took the guilt of your sin upon himself and suffered its penalty on the Cross. But the clear biblical answer to the question "What must I do to be changed into the holy person God has always intended me to be?" is "faith and works." You still need faith (because everything begins with forgiveness, and because the power to change comes from God alone), but you also need to work like crazy (because you need to cooperate as God changes you).

One more thing: Genuine faith results in works; if you say "I have faith" but do nothing, you're lying. That kind of "faith" is phony faith, and the Bible says clearly that it does nothing for you. Even so, works don't buy forgiveness; the sacrifice of Jesus did that. You can't earn your way into heaven. It has to be a gift. [emphasis in original]

This distinction in salvation I find interesting. I think I need some time to process and think if I agree completely, but I wonder how many times in the past 500 years people have killed each other or, more recently, declared others to be heretics because we haven't defined what we mean by "salvation". It also seems to deal nicely with the emphasis of both faith and works in NT writers.

More towards the practical: if Rome could affirm the above, would the Reformed churches return? would Rome be true to Trent? could we be united? Probably not ... but sometimes I wonder if my post-mil becomes cynical and turns to amil.

A Warm Fuzzy Feeling Down in the Roman Corner of My Heart

I always love it when I hear of Pope John Paul II saying something like this to the Archbishop of Cantebury:

As we give thanks for the progress that has already been made we must also recognize that new and serious difficulties have arisen on the path to unity. These difficulties are not all of a merely disciplinary nature; some extend to essential matters of faith and morals. In light of this, we must reaffirm our obligation to listen attentively and honestly to the voice of Christ as it comes to us through the Gospel and the Church's Apostolic Tradition. Faced with the increasing secularism of today's world, the Church must ensure that the deposit of faith is proclaimed in its integrity and preserved from erroneous and misguided interpretations.

Hmm, I wonder to what was he referring?

JT's move

My best friend, second to my wife, J.T. Longino, has moved onto this server.

Ugg ... blogger

I'm having trouble with blogger. Perhaps it is my server. I'm trying to switch JT over to "thisclassicallife", but I'm doing poorly. The ftp info is exactly the same ... except that they are going to different directories, of course, but it still won't work. Ugg...

WANTED: Homeopathic remedies or good, old-fashioned suggestions

I can't sleep. I can fall asleep, I just can't stay asleep. I've tried Tylenol PM, Benedryl, wine, warm milk, NyQuil, etc. Any other suggestions?

Archives Fixed

I fixed the archives so you can see / add comments and it also shows up in the same style feature. When I get a chance, I'll add the wonderful pic my wife created to the top, which will enable me to bring the old "natural" colour back to the page.

Introspection

This post is not a complaint about being married. I love being married. It is one of the many things that makes it clear to me that God is, indeed, good.

This post is not a complaint about teaching. I love teaching. God has given me gifts that equip me to be a good teacher. The children are teachable, and better still, kind and generous, abounding in love and encouragement.

This post is not a complaint about housekeeping. I love having an apartment. There is a real sense of accomplishment after deep-cleaning something or cooking a good meal. (Aside: like this sausage & mushroom fettuccine in a sour cream sauce I made tonight. I got the recipe from Mrs. Liechty who got it in Moscow from someone. Whoever's recipe that is, tell them we love it!)

Taking all that into consideration, adjusting to my completely new life hasn't really been easy. I always feel like there's something I ought to be doing. I can't relax. I'm just... tense. I've never worked so hard in all of my life. In some ways, that's really good. I know God has called us to be laborers and not just sit around goofing off. But... it's been hard. I don't just miss my friends and family and the fabulous autumn of North Carolina, I miss reading for pleasure. I miss knitting. I miss being a good Sabbatarian. This too, I know, shall pass. I will finally get used to this whole life. And then something else will be hard. There's always something hard. That's how we learn and grow.

Sabbath reflection

Let us love, and sing, and wonder, let us praise the Saviour's name!
He has hushed the law's loud thunder, he has quenched Mount Sinai's flame;
He has washed us with his blood, he has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord who bought us, pitied us when enemies,
Called us by his grace, and taught us, gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with his blood, he presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong salvation, holds in view the conqueror's crown,
He who washed us with his blood, soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder; grace and justice join, and point to mercy's store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is, justice smiles, and asks no more:
He who washed us with his blood, has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted him before us, now their praises fill the sky:
'Thou hast washed us with thy blood; thou art worthy, Lamb of God!'"

What? Auburn Favoured?

Don't get me wrong. I like Auburn. I have many close friends who attended Auburn or cheer them on. However, how is it that Auburn, a team that has only two wins ... against Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky is playing No. 7 Tennessee (4-0), and is FAVOURED!?! by a point or two.

I really don't get it. I hope that they are right, but I don't understand how that works out.

Old English Study

In an attempt to trick my mind into studying on a Friday night, I've determined that reading a little Old English grammar, courtesy of my good friend Michael Busch, will trick my mind into wanting to study. Then, I'll be able to get some greek and latin done later in the night.

Overheard at the Stewart Family Kitchen Table

"Thomas Kinkade paintings are like icons for the evangelical."

At My Wife's Request ...

... I changed the background color to a nice blue. We're trying to find a nice picture to use as a header, but haven't found one yet. Also, I made the necessary changes so that the archives have some color and style. Hope y'all like the changes.

An alternative to the Christian "sub"culture

[Hopefully an occasional series]

I was listening to the radio today. You know the station, there's one where you live, that station that plays the "buzzworthy" music the kids like these days. The music that the labels and the hotshots tell them is cool. So, I was listening and a song came on. The sort of catchy song, you know the ones I mean, where you find yourself singing along and then you step back and think, "Oh lord! What in the world is this trash I am singing about?!" I found myself wanting to cover the ears of a small child. And lacking a small child of my own, I thought about the little Stewarts that will be someday (Lord-willing) and how I never want them to listen to something like that, some song where the musical craftmanship and the lyrical content are such obvious trash.

So I turned the dial to the local Christian station, here in Austin, it only wants to be K-Love, but in other places, it's that national monster. I've always disliked Christian radio. It's so... smaltzy. But in the interest of the little Stewarts that will be someday and their still developing worldviews, I listened as I went about my housework. I listened and I listened and about 45 minutes into the experience, I turned off the radio in despair. "I'm already home sick with a cough and cold," I thought. "No need to add a Christian-radio induced stomach flu."

And so, I sat down on the couch and thought, "There HAS to be a third way." Not another radio station as we know it, a new kind of radio station. The sort of radio station that plays well-crafted music. The kind of radio station where the song lyrics aren't trashy and aren't "positive" but they are real, and reflect a truth about society. The sort of radio station whose "long set of commercial free music" could easily include Over the Rhine, Wilco, David Wilcox, Pedro the Lion, Mark Heard, U2 and Nickel Creek. The technology behind streaming music is coming along. It could really happen, with the backing of, say, a few companies like Paste and a dedicated core group of supporters and volunteers. What do you think, kind readers? Would you listen in?

Long, but good.

GQ's Literary Editor Pantses The Christian Subculture is a worthy read via everyone's favorite hip, Christian music magazine-label-store employee, Jason Killingsworth.

Yeah!

'Nuff said.

The Zen of Barry

According to Jim Caple:

SAN FRANCISCO -- These are the rules.

You don't pitch to Barry when the Giants have men in scoring position. You don't pitch to Barry when either the game or Mars is close.

You don't pitch to Barry after Labor Day. You don't pitch to Barry in months that have an R in them. You don't pitch to Barry for at least an hour after you eat or an hour before you go to communion.

You don't pitch to Barry during Lent, on Yom Kippur, or during Ramadan.

You don't pitch to Barry.

Very aptly put.