I have always considered myself to be a fairly well read individual, but I came across this list of the best 100 novels put out by Random House. Boy was I wrong! According to the panel of experts, I've only read 9 of the best 100 novels. 9%! That's terrible! My only consolation is that I have read 14 of the best novels as selected by "the readers". Oh, and those same 14 books stand up for Radcliffe's rival list.
My goal is to get past the 20% mark by the end of the summer, we'll see how doable that is, considering that I have two and a half M.Ed. courses to try and finish during the same time span.
As well, I'm trying to listen to M.Div. lectures from various seminaries. I've finished 14 courses so far from Covenant Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian seminary in St. Louis. That's equivalent to a year and a half of full time studies (which I've completed in 18 months, of course without the assignments and exams, and therefore much easier!) They offer 20 courses for free, which you can download in .mp3 format. Gordon Conwell and Reformed Theological Seminaries also offer such courses. (GCTS courses you must stream online, but you can take 10 exams and receive a certificate of Lay Studies. RTS is available from iTunesU with TONS of content.)
Isn't learning fun? Now if only I could convince all of my students to be as passionate (or ludicrously insane) about their studies!
3/29/2008
3/22/2008
"Worship Wars"
I couldn't pass up the chance to comment on this article posted on CBC.ca earlier this week about "Worship Wars" in churches. Having now attended church (of the evangelical protestant variety) for over 25 years, I can say that I've been around a few controversies in the churches that I have attended. I will agree with this statement from the article: arguments over music and other styles of worship are often hotly (and very selfishly) contested.
A little history: Much of the problems with worship comes from a split in churches over what constitutes "acceptable" worship to God. This is actually a crucial point for Christians, as there are examples in the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament of the bible where people (Nadab & Abihu, Uzzah) are struck dead for worshiping God incorrectly.
There are two competing principals which Christians tend to adhere to: the normative and regulative principles of worship. The normative principle essentially says that if God doesn't prohibit a form of worship in the bible, and it benefits the people and unity of the church, then that form of worship is acceptable in church. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, some Baptist, Pentacostal/Charismatic churches tend to hold this position, meaning that they incorporate all sorts of drama, music, etc. into their worship services with no problem. Reformed, Presbyterian, and some Baptist congregations follow the more strict regulative principle which states that the basic elements of a worship service have to be instituted by God, as seen in the bible (specifically the New Testament).
Both beliefs can be taken to extremes, where in some cases a person walking in the door of a church following the normative principle would wonder if it believed in God at all, and in others, the regulative principle cuts out all songs, singing, instruments and leaves one wondering "how do I express my love for God, if I have no way to respond to this worship service?"
The point of a worship service should be to hold up how great and worthy God is, and allow us humans to respond to that greatness. It may inspire awe, love, thankfulness, respect, repentance, even fear. Then we must respond with our hearts and minds, voices and bodies.
A little history: Much of the problems with worship comes from a split in churches over what constitutes "acceptable" worship to God. This is actually a crucial point for Christians, as there are examples in the history of Israel recorded in the Old Testament of the bible where people (Nadab & Abihu, Uzzah) are struck dead for worshiping God incorrectly.
There are two competing principals which Christians tend to adhere to: the normative and regulative principles of worship. The normative principle essentially says that if God doesn't prohibit a form of worship in the bible, and it benefits the people and unity of the church, then that form of worship is acceptable in church. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, some Baptist, Pentacostal/Charismatic churches tend to hold this position, meaning that they incorporate all sorts of drama, music, etc. into their worship services with no problem. Reformed, Presbyterian, and some Baptist congregations follow the more strict regulative principle which states that the basic elements of a worship service have to be instituted by God, as seen in the bible (specifically the New Testament).
Both beliefs can be taken to extremes, where in some cases a person walking in the door of a church following the normative principle would wonder if it believed in God at all, and in others, the regulative principle cuts out all songs, singing, instruments and leaves one wondering "how do I express my love for God, if I have no way to respond to this worship service?"
The point of a worship service should be to hold up how great and worthy God is, and allow us humans to respond to that greatness. It may inspire awe, love, thankfulness, respect, repentance, even fear. Then we must respond with our hearts and minds, voices and bodies.
3/09/2008
Exercise
There's nothing like a good challenge... I've taken on a bet with a couple of good friends who are all the same weight. Lose the most weight by Mother's Day - you know, The Biggest Loser kind of stuff. I was in the lead a few weeks ago, but I haven't worked out since -- unless you count an hour and a half of pushing cars and shoveling snow as exercise.
On another note, I've spent so much time setting up my course blog and website for school, that I haven't had a chance to post here. Life is busy sometimes.
On another note, I've spent so much time setting up my course blog and website for school, that I haven't had a chance to post here. Life is busy sometimes.
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