Sabbath Reflection

First Sunday in Advent

Studying Religion

More college students are taking classes in religious studies. This comes as no surprise to me, a religious studies major. Religion electives are highly popular at UNC by people of all faiths, and people of no faith at all. I cherish my 13 classes+ of Religious Studies. It's a wonderful, interdisciplenary field mixing history, sociology, literature, psychology, and more. I think that most evangelical Christians I knew in college who took religious studies classes treated them as a mission field. I always considered the source (it's a secular university, not a church) and dove right in, eager to understand scholars perspectives on various issues. I took so many Judaism classes without asking questions like "Why don't Jews believe in Jesus?" that there was a professor and several students who thought I was a secular Jew for a few years. Once people got to know me, I never hid my beliefs. I just didn't see the classroom as a good place to evangelize. I found that I earned the respect and friendship of students from a variety of backgrounds, instead of just hanging out in the holy huddle of evangelical RS majors. I think every Christian in a secular university ought to take a Religious Studies class or two. It's good for you.

Okay, I admit, one reason I linked the article is because it quotes one of my professors, Chris Smith, who is a kick-butt sociologist of religion.

On Technology

The nice guys at Time Warner ... they really know what they are talking about. I have called them about three times, everytime my wait was less than 1 minute.

Now, on the other hand, when I called the people at Netgear, I waited about 10 minutes to talk to someone. Then the person with whom I was talking couldn't understand me enough to take down my email address (why Netgear wanted my name, phone number, email, etc... I don't know), and had poor standard American English diction. It was impossible. She had me restarting (read: unplugging and plugging in) both my cable modem and wireless router OVER and OVER and OVER again. Finally, about 50 minutes later, she had me reset my router. This finally worked. The cable modem was working fine without the router, but when I plugged the router back in, it couldn't detect the internet nor my IP address. Resetting the router seemed to make it work.

However, that only worked for about 30 minutes. At that point, I cleared all my wireless settings on my laptop, re-did them, and now it works.

Shesh ... this is beginning to drive me crazy. That and after resetting my router, I have four new authentication codes to write down. Grr...

A Comment That Turned Into A Post

NOTE: To all those who are either in direct ecclesiastical leadership over me, or to those who feel spiritual enough to presume that they are, I am writing this late at night and just throwing out some random thoughts. Please take with a grain of salt. If that doesn't work, try a twist of lime and a shot of taquilla.

I was about to write this as a comment on Brian's blog, but I figured it was way too long. You should perhaps read his post on Newman first.

It seems that we are stumbling down the same path.

Have you considered what constitutes "The Church"? Rome claims it is behind a city and office, Constantinople claims the history and unity of Bishops, Cantebury claims ... well, Cantebury, and Protestants claim Doctrine.

Frankly, I see the points in all. I also see Newman's point. I do hold to a, sort of, prima scriptura where I take the reading of the Scriptures and the majority tradition of Church History.

However, this question of what defines "The Church" is a sticky one. Perhaps it is simply a philosophical question from the viewpoint of a linguist. What makes a true "American". One residing within these borders recognized by the US gov't, or someone who truly holds to the ideals and foundations of this nation. I think there are some in the former group who are not in the latter, vise versa, and some who are in both ... i.e., three camps.

I really haven't reconciled this. I don't think that I could walk from the fellowship of Redeemer (that is, the church or any of her plants should we move closer to one: I do hold to a parish view) in we were to stay in Austin, but when I come to the thought of moving, I'm frightened.

Do I seek to find a church which is "biblical" (what does that mean?) Where I and my family can hear the gospel preached and commune with God? Where I can serve and be served?

Technological Revolution

In two hours, we went from a desktop and dial-up internet service, to a desktop-laptop combo with a cable modem and a wireless router. Whoa!

A Couple of Thoughts

1. Central Market is great. I really pity folks who live outside of Texas. Right now, living here is great. A cold front just rolled through, which means its about 40-50 degrees. Cold enough to put on a pair of jeans, shirts, and a sweater, grab a cup of coffee, and your set. Also, we have RunTex, BlueBell, TexMex and more. If you're a pastoral-like fellow, looking for a call, drop me a line and I'll forward you onto the Pastoral Search Committee of Redeemer Presbyterian Church: the best PCA church that'll welcome you as a member. Oh wait, where was I?

Oh yeah, Central Market is great. Today, Kristen picked up some San Francisco Blend coffee. Make a cup in the french press, add a little milk, sugar, and caramel, and you're good to go!

2. Drinking said coffee too late at night, will keep you up all night ... and spawn weird, drawn out, and random posts.

The Benefits of Being a Teacher

I slept in late today to begin my Thanksgiving holiday week, and then got up and read the whole newspaper (minus the classifieds.) And what do you know? There, hidden in the back, George Grant was mentioned in Dear Abby. Cool, huh?

Will The Real Bush Please Stand Up?

Via Andrew Sullivan:

US President George Bush is "totally at odds" with his media image, Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said today.
Mr Campbell, an opponent of the war with Iraq, spoke out on the ePolitix website about his discussions with the President during the state visit.
He said that they discussed directly issues such as Iraq, the Middle East, Guantanamo Bay, Kyoto and trade sanctions.
"He is personally extremely engaging. He has a well-developed sense of humour, is self-deprecating and when he engages in a discussion with you he is warm and concentrates directly on you.
"He looks you straight in the eye and tells you exactly what he thinks."
Mr Campbell, stressing that the President was "totally at odds" with his media image, went on: "I was not persuaded by what he said, but I was most certainly surprised at the extent to which the caricature of him was inaccurate.'

Maybe, just perhaps, some Americans could rethink their opinion of our president? Maybe a particular Lutheran wife who feels called to the ministry of reconciliation? Just a thought.

Could America's Monolingualism Be Our Problem

You know the joke:

What do you call someone who knows three languages: trilingual
What do you call someone who knows two languages: bilingual
What do you call someone who knows one language: an American

Well, it the midst of reading an article about this Pro-9/11 toy being sold on the streets of Gaza and Ramallah, I noticed an interesting comment: [T]he attacks ... were seen as a victory for Palestinians. Oddly enough, Palestinian spokesmen deny this (in English). But Palestinian media (in Arabic) says otherwise. Perhaps if we took the time to learn foreign languages, particularly those used by our enemies, we'd be better off. However, this usually isn't a popular tactic. Go to any academic German department, read the history of their department. It will always talk about the department closing down during WWII because we didn't want German taught in American schools. What a stupid response.

Sabbath Reflection

THE SUNDAY OF FULFILLMENT
"Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Everlasting God, come down!"

I'm a "Southern Girl," as Rick would say

I admit it. I have a true affection for my alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There's so many things to love about UNC, it's the oldest public university in the nation and it has a rich and proud heritage. But the single greatest manifestation of my devotion to my alma mater is my obsession with Carolina basketball. Tonight is our season opener, the beginning of what we hope shall be a long and prosperous tenure of Roy Williams, alumnus of the university and the great hope of our team to come. I have been sitting listening to the familiar voices of Woody Durham and Mick Mixon on streaming audio and now the team is leaving the tunnel. Let's go, Carolina!

Font Boredom

My computer had a big problem, and when it got reformatted and fixed, it came back with only the very basic fonts, you know, the ones that make Garamond seem exciting. In college, I wrote all my papers in High Tower Text. Professors like High Tower Text, and it's easy to recognize when you are leafing through a stack of 20 papers to find yours. I miss High Tower Text. Does anyone know of legit ways to get good "normal" fonts, free or cheap?