Past, Present, and Future

Yesterday I had a weird day. Past, present, and future all converged into one in only a few short hours. Awe, shock, and hope...


Past/Awe--Yesterday I held a Bible that belonged to Dietrich Bonhoeffer (pictured, right). The Bible is a facsimile of the Luther Bible that Bonhoeffer's students gave to him as a gift. If you don't know who Bonhoeffer is, he's one of the most incredible Christians of the past century. He was a theologian and pastor who stood up to the Nazis and was executed in a concentration camp. His writings are amazing. I read The Cost of Discipleship last summer. It's thought-provoking and a great read.
The picture with the small book is me with an original edition of Calvin's Institutes. It used to be really small and in Latin. The text I'm read for my Systematic Theology class is much bigger and in English.
We saw pictures from the Martyr's Mirror showing all the different ways Anabaptists could be killed for their beliefs. 

Present/Shock--I attended a lectured last night by Peter Dale Scott, a poet and professor emeritus at Berkley. His new book The Road to Afgahanistan is coming out this fall. There is an overwhelming connection to the international drug trade and the war in Afghanistan. Today is the 7th Anniversary of the Iraq War. I will be joining the Seminarians for Peace and Justice on the steps of the state capital at noon today to ask for peace. I can't sit in silence any longer. The further I get into my New Testament class and Systematic Theology and Reformation history class, the more I cannot reconcile the idea of war with Jesus' teachings, ministry, death, and resurrection.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matt 5:6-9).
"Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" (Matt 26:51-52)
 "'But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also'" (Luke 6:27-29a).
"'I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

If we do not stop the cycle of violence, we will only be faced with more violence. Someone must have the courage to stand up and refuse to continue the cycle. We must root out the institutionalized violence and refuse to fight back with anything but Jesus' triumph over violence. Jesus shows us a different way, a way to love one another as God loves us. I want to take the Gospel seriously. The Gospel is not safe. Jesus leads away from our homes, our families, and our communities into discipleship. Perhaps no one in the past century has devoted him or herself to the idea of discipleship more than Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Future/Hope--I was offered a field education position yesterday. I do not expect to be faced with the kinds of violence Dietrich Bonhoeffer was, but I will follow Christ as well as I can where I am. I have great hope for the future today, not because of where we are but because of where we can go.

Midterms

My midterms are basically done. I lead my history precept today, and I somehow got mixed up about what the precept paper entailed. So have to rewrite that. Also have to rewrite my New Testament exegesis paper. Due by Friday.

Things are coming along with my Calvin paper. I've decided to make it into an adult education course because I've written way too many history research papers. Haven't written curriculum before, so this might be interesting.

The storms seem to have stopped. Finally. It rained for four days straight. Today the sun came out. <3

Calvin's Theology

I am doing my final project in my Worship Renewal and the Reformation class on Calvin's theology of music specifically on the Psalms. If anyone knows of good resources, please let me know. I'll be crafting a post later in the semester about what I find!
Thanks!

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!

John and Martin

It's the Year of Calvin, and the Presbyterian Church has been posting quotes from Calvin every day. Here's today's:

Daily Meditations with Calvin August 12, 2009
"Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal." (3.7.1.)




For some reason when I read that quote, I thought of this one:

"I have no other ambitions in life but to achieve excellence in the Christian ministry. I don't plan to run for any political office. I don't plan to do anything but remain a preacher" Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Why Jesus Called a Man a Fool"

I guess the two quotes aren't entirely related, but when I read Calvin's thought "let us therefore live for him and die for him", I thought of Martin Luther King, Jr. who was loyal until death. Now I don't think there is any way John Calvin [1509-1564 CE] could have foreseen the establishment of any independent American nations much less the Christian pastors' involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. However, one of the wonderful things about having two thousand years of Christian leaders' wisdom is that through individual voices a might chorus of the Spirit builds. While we live in a linear world [we live from August 10, 2009 to August 11, 2009 to August 12, 2009], our faith doesn't exist linearly. Faith exists in communities and in the relationships between people both alive and dead. We speak of Christ being present to us through the Spirit, and through that same Spirit we are blessed with voices of wisdom like Calvin. No two people are going to agree whether they're arguing today or arguing across time... But I wonder how well John and Martin would get along if in some twist of the time stream they were to meet. Two brothers in Christ separated by hundreds of years who both believed in giving your life entirely over to God. We could spend all day naming other historical and contemporary figures who believe the same idea, but since it's Calvin's year and for my summer reading I had a book of MLK's sermons, I'm choosing these two.

I think they would have had more in common than in difference.