Best Quote

 I was reading this week for my Worship Renewal in the Reformation class when I stumbled upon one of the best quotes I have ever read from a church reformer.

"In church, we do not wish to extinguish the spirit of the faithful with tedious things" Formula of Mass and Communion for the Church at Wittenberg (1523)

Amen.

Lent, Part 2

Today I got schooled on the Reformed tradition of the liturgical year. I'm in this awesome class called Worship Renewal in the Late Middle Ages and Reformation taught by Dr. Elsie McKee, and today we talked about the ideas of sacred space and time that changed over the course of the Reformation. I learned that the Reformed Protestant leaders stripped the liturgical calendar from the church because of the doctrine of sola scriptura (also made popular by Martin Luther). For example, the Bible does not have Advent or Lent; but the Bible does include events like Jesus' birth and Pentecost. So we kept Christmas and various other holy days (holidays!), but the Reformed leaders really wanted to focus on the Lord's Day. Calvin even moved Christmas in his community to the closest Sunday to December 25th to honor the Lord's Day. The Reformed leaders wanted to preach straight through the different books of the Bible, and that could not be accomplished within the liturgical year the Medieval Catholic Church had. The Reformed leaders brought in books of the Old Testament for preaching which seems from what we've studied highly unusual during the Late Middle Ages. I was shocked! I'm Reformed, and I love the liturgical year (see my previous post on Lent)! So I asked my professor after class how we had gotten from no liturgical calendar to today where the Presbyterian churches I know follow the temporale (history of salvation events such as Christ's birth but not the saints' days) liturgical calendar. Dr. McKee said that within the past couple of generations various dialogues have taken place that have changed how Christians of various persuasions view the church calendar. Because of a renewed focus on the shared history of Christians before various splits, some Reformed denominations have re-adopted the liturgical calendar. Also, in the past couple of centuries preaching in the Reformed churches has moved from going straight through books to more topical preaching; so the liturgical calendar wasn't going to trip up the preaching.
All this means that during my lifetime the Presbyterian church does have the liturgical calendar, but not all Reformed churches do across time and currently. I apologize if I made any sweeping remarks about the liturgical calendar in the Reformed tradition if it is not true in your tradition. My life has been greatly shaped by the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, and I feel very attached to it... or to the PCUSA version of it, I should say.
Isn't that cool, though?!?! The Reformed leaders felt so strongly about the need for preaching, teaching, and staying true to the Bible that they almost completely changed the rhythm of the year for everyday people.
This is why I'm at Princeton Seminary... because every day I'm challenged and grow in my faith and understanding of living the Christian life!

Veni Sancte Spiritus

 Once during my college years I walked into a Christian bookstore in early February and asked for Lenten Bible studies. The sales associate looked at me almost in shock and asked me to repeat my request. I said I was looking for a Lenten Bible study for the upcoming Lent. The sales associate said he would ask his manager and began to scribble something on a piece of paper, and then looked up at me and very seriously asked "How do you spell 'Lent'?"

I'm only in my first year of seminary, but I'm going to give this a shot because I think Lent is incredibly important.

Lent will be different in different Presbyterian churches. Different pastors and different communities will emphasize different things. Some will ask you to give something up (like meat or soda), some will ask you to add something on (such as a specialized Bible study), some will ask you to spend more time in reflection and silence, and some will leave it completely open to you about what you do. Some churches offer Taize services during Lent. Some offer special prayer groups. Some will offer services of lament and healing. Some will spend more time on the calls to confession, prayers of confession, and assurances of pardon.

Honestly, what you do or don't do during Lent isn't nearly as important as WHY we do Lent. Just as the Israelites spent 40 years in the desert and just as Jesus spent 40 days being tempted in the desert, we spend 40 days each year in Lent. This is a time to look at our discipleship. Really examine it. It's a time to think. It's a time to repent and be forgiven. It's a time to prepare ourselves for the Passion and the Resurrection. We are disciples of Jesus, and we live in a broken world where our sin keeps us from God.

Now, some of us don't like to admit we're sinful. I certainly don't... and then the minister of the Chapel here at PTS goes and challenges with with this: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8-9). Oftentimes people associate Lent with punishing ourselves because of our sin. I'm not of that camp. God loved us so much that he decided he would rather die than be separated from us. The Incarnation changed everything. "We are dead to sin. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). In Lent we choose to be more alive in Christ. We choose to somehow take one step closer to living a life like Christ did by changing something in our lives and taking the time to attend special services dedicated to the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We cannot have Easter (the resurrection) morning without first going through Good Friday (the death).

Furthermore, while Lent is a fixed time period on our liturgical period, we all go through Lents at other times in our lives... times of immense grief or suffering or exile or illness or loneliness. Because we walk together as a faith community during our yearly Lent, I believe we help each other through those times in our lives. We can better sit with people during their grief if we have been through grief before and have seen God on the other side. Today my New Testament professor asked us this question about Jesus' crucifixion: "What is faith? Is is when the lights are on and all's right with the world and God's smiling down on us? Or is is when you're beaten up and hanging on by a thread and praying to a God who you're not sure is there anymore?"

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
       Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?"

Psalm 22:1

Jesus turns to the Psalms while on the cross because they give us the words when we are so down and out that we don't even have the words to describe what we're feeling. There have been times in my life where I have wondered if God had forsaken me. I have had Lents, and I have walked through our liturgical Lent several times. I am here at Princeton Seminary today because of the Psalms and because of the community of faith that has surrounded me since the time I was small. They helped guide me to seeing God working in my life in ways I hadn't seen during my Lent. I am very, very blessed this Lent to be walking only through the liturgical Lent. I prayed Psalm 13 so often. Now I pray Psalm 107. Thanks be to God.

That's part of my Lenten story. I urge you this Ash Wednesday to start your own Lenten story. Go out and figure out what Lent means to you and in your community. You might be surprised what you find.

Who says first year seminary students can't preach?

Doylestown Presbyterian Church

Yesterday I went with the PTS touring choir to Doylestown Presbyterian Church located in beautiful Doylestown, PA. We had the privilege of singing at both their services and meeting with several members of the congregation and staff. All three pastors are PTS grads, and our alumni relations director was their guest preacher. I really like getting out to see more of the East Coast and all the wonderful Presbyterian churches around here. Doylestown Pres has several beautiful stained glass windows, and I'll be showing you the windows in the coming weeks.

Miren Qué Bueno!

SNOW DAY!

It has already been announced that tomorrow will be a SNOW DAY! YAY!

Today after choir I called my friend Alicia to come out for snow prayer. It was wonderful. If I could capture the essence of what our snow prayer was, it would make a really great prayer technique, but it was too spontaneous.

 

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.
²Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
   those he redeemed from trouble
³and gathered in from the lands,
   from the east and from the west,
   from the north and from the south.<sup>*

4</sup>Some wandered in desert wastes,
   finding no way to an inhabited town;
⁵hungry and thirsty,
   their soul fainted within them.
⁶Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
   and he delivered them from their distress;
⁷he led them by a straight way,
   until they reached an inhabited town.
⁸Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
   for his wonderful works to humankind.
⁹For he satisfies the thirsty,
   and the hungry he fills with good things.  

Psalm 107:1-9

Gladwyne Presbyterian Church

 

Yesterday morning I worshiped at Gladwyne Presbyterian Church just outside of Philadelphia. I'm currently scouting locations for my church internship next school year, and the worship life is a very important factor.

Content Exam

Bible Content Exam: PASSED!

Paul didn't go so well, but I ROCKED the Wisdom Literature part!

Spring Long Term 2010

Second day of the Spring Long Term 2010. Here's the lineup.

Systematic Theology--Surprisingly not as scary as once though
New Testament--Thus far just studying the cultural background against which the New Testament was written
Worship in the Reformation--Looks like someone will be using their historical training after all!!
Speech--We'll be working on poems during part of the semester! I love poetry!
Greek translation--translating verses about resurrection of the dead. Just approached 2 Maccabees 7. Wow. Serious martyrdom and resurrection text. Not for the weak of Greek skills. Luckily for me, we translated it in class together.

Today I discovered what One Note is. Now, I've had One Note on my computer for a couple of years; but I never bothered opening it. I just used Word for my notes. One Note is AWESOME. So much easier to arrange by class, topics, dates, etc.! And then I can search for a certain word, and it gets highlighted in all my notes! Apparently it can also record things and then playback later what you were hearing when you wrote something.

I will also be taking the Bible Content Exam this Friday morning. It is the first ordination exam Inquirers take. It is multiple choice, but that doesn't mean it's easy. To pass I only need 70%, but I've only gotten that on one of my practice exams... and I thought I knew the Bible pretty well! So I'm studying, and I'll keep studying. The good news is there is no penalty to try again (except I would have to pay the fee again). I'd really like to pass on the first try. Standardized tests cause a rise of anxiety in me that I'm trying really hard to curb. If I may ask, prayers, please. Especially for Paul's letters. I've been doing really well on the Gospels and Wisdom Literature portions, so I hope I can get an overall 70%.

Also, I miss Colorado and my family!