eye of the storm

In comparison to today's stormy, windy, and utterly terrible weather, yesterday's 50 degrees seems like paradise.  Yesterday was like the eye of the storm, a moment of peace that is both enjoyable in its own right, but also terrible in that it sets up the contrast of what's to come.

Remembering that all will be made right one day is an eye of the storm.  This world is broken. We can see its effects everywhere.  One day we will be in heaven and there will be no brokenness, and all of the effects of the fall will be reversed, including the cold weather.  Because the new earth is, of course, completely a temperate zone.

I will not gaze at glory?

I have been thinking about the words to one of my favorite RUF songs The Sands of Time are Sinking.  I love this song.  It has good words and a catchy folk/bluegrass ballad feel.  But the words of the next to last stanza always have struck me as funny.

The bride eyes not her garments

But her dear Bridegroom's face

I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace

Not at the crown he giveth, but on his pierced hand

The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land

The analogy of the stanza is clear.  In the same way that a bride's garments are secondary to her ability to actually look into the face of her loving husband on her wedding day, so we, when we are in heaven, will have eyes only for our Savior and not for any of the trappings.  I understand the sentiment, but I think that the use of "glory" should be questioned.   Is the glory of God meant as a bit of flare that has the potential to distract us from our "King of Grace."

Perhaps this phrase arose from using "glory" in the sense of the physical paradise of heaven, such as in the phrase "I am heading for glory" (most likely said with a southern accent!) This brings up images of golden streets and jewels and a mighty, unconquerable city.  These images are likely poetic.  But aside from that, the city of heaven is glorious not because of the city itself, but because God's glory shines through it.  Therefore, "glory" is a term that refers to God's presence in heaven, not the actual place. 

I would argue that the glory of God is a distinct and necessary part of God's character.  To look at God's glory is to look at who he is, not merely some extra pizzaz that seems to follow him around wherever he appears.  Moses asks God to "show me Your glory."  God didn't say back to him "don't look at my glory, look at my face!!!"  To look at God's glory is to look at him.

I guess I just don't understand the use of the phrase "I will not gaze at glory".  After all, the song also states "The lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's Land." 

35 years

Today marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark case where the Supreme Court violated states' rights and unconstitutionally made abortion legal in all states.  Overall, there have been approximately 49 million abortions in the United States.   

Let us mourn and pray.

funny hebrew connections

It looks like my Hebrew class is going to have only 3 people in it this semester.  That means more than 10 people dropped from last semester's intro class.  At this rate, I might be the only person taking Hebrew III and IV over the next year.

Thinking about this made me think about not wanting to be alone in my Hebrew class.  Then I thought of the Hebrew word for "being alone" which is BAD...pronounced with a long "a".  (Read this as "Being alone in Hebrew is BAD").  Of course, the hebrew and english have nothing to do with each other, but it is a funny coincidence for me.  

Then I thought of a couple of other funny ones.  Such as the hebrew word for "she" is pronounced HE in Hebrew. And the Hebrew word for prince or ruler is TSAR which sounds like the Roman or Russian "tsar" or "czar" both of which come from "Caesar."  This last one might have some connection, but I doubt it.

Catching up...again

Seems like whenever I get rolling on my blogging, some new life-changing event happens and I am compelled to take a respite.  I hope to post pretty regularly this semester.  The goal is 2-3 times a week.  Even this will be a challenge as I am planning a wedding, working twenty hours, and trying to be a (good) full time student.  I can't possibly put out all that I have been thinking in the last couple of months but here are some tidbits, music and books all thrown together:

I am engaged to be married on May 24, 2008 to the lovely Rebekah Banks.  Bekah is a constant reminder that God is gracious to undeserving sinners...even in giving them beautiful wives they don't deserve.

My music preferences have definitely shifted over to melody driven rock and indie music. Check out Aqualung, a british one-man-band that is really interesting.  He has an awesome voice and the music is just cool.  It is basically electronica with sparse piano bits and drum machines, but really rockin' guitars.  Also, for some reason, I have been drawn to Derek Webb's most recent album The Ringing Bell.  Although I wrote a pretty negative music review previously, the album has really grown on me. Check it out.

I am reading a couple of books.  Rachel Banks, my fiancee's sister, bought me Church History in Plain Language by Bruce Shelley for Christmas.  It is basically a 500 pg history of the Christian church, starting with the teaching's of Jesus.  Its good so far...just  50 pages into it.  I'm also reading the novel The Road by Cormac McCarthy.  It has a post apocalyptic setting and is pretty dark.  The author has been heralded as the "next Faulkner..."

I have also been flipping through a really sweet 1940 Episcopal Hymnal.  I bought it in an awesome used book store in St. Louis over Christmas break.  Its cool because it has all the words to the songs and a simple melody line written with each one.  All you have to do is plink out the simple melodies on the piano and you can sing some really obscure hymns.  

Additionally, I have been thinking tons about worship, both in theory and practically.  Hopefully more posts on that soon.