May 11, 2009
Dear friends,
The end is near! And as with all endings, it points toward many beginnings.
I have delivered my final term paper(about 12 minutes ago). I am very excited about having completed my academic obligations, although somewhat less excited about the school calendar that means my grades will not be posted until the end of June. So it goes.
The term paper was an examination of a passage in John, 12:20-36, which contains Jesus' declaration that a seed must fall to the ground to bear fruit and forecasts his death in several complexly layered statements. I had to begin in the Greek, and first discuss any textual variants.
Those are cases in which not all the ancient manuscripts have the same word or same translation. Some are insignificant, but I had to find the variants noted with footnotes and make a case for which word or translation I chose. *Whew!*
Then I was able to discuss the text verse by verse, with all the overlays in John of wordplay, time, light and dark, irony, riddles, and so on. At the end, I was asked to write a one-page homily, very short, based on the passage. I won't bore you with it, but those with any interest, if you'll e-mail me, I will be glad to send you that page.
Anyway -- that's done.
Next up? !!! Two days of the internship site supervisors being on campus for meetings, discussions, et cetera. I am very much looking forward to meeting and talking with Pastor Fink and am also looking forward to the meetings.
On Friday, my sainted husband will arrive to move me out.
After that, I plan to sleep for at least two weeks ... then begin sorting and packing for the move to the vicarage in Monroe.
I'll go on hiatus over the summer, but will resume blogging from Monroe in the fall.
The journey continues.
A parting passage: "Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. 27 ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ 30Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people* to myself.’ 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, ‘We have heard from the law that the Messiah* remains for ever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?’ 35Jesus said to them, ‘The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’ After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them." -- John 12:20-36
Grace and peace,
Beth
Monday, May 11, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Weekly post
May 4, 2009
Dear friends,
I apologize for not posting last week -- the week just got away from me. At the moment I am occupied with an oral final exam in Confessions and a term paper for Gospel of John, but that is all I have left. Other than managing to continue to keep alive my three house plants. It would be a shame to kill them off just at the end.
Next week holds a two-day session with the internship site supervisors. I'm very much looking forward to that! Otherwise, there truly isn't much to report as the semester is winding down. It's going to take some adjustment after four years of being a student.
I've already shifted much of my belongings from the dorm room back to Greensboro, but next week I will need to finish the rest -- then move out, bid goodbye to Southern, come back to Greensboro ... and start thinking about packing and sorting for Monroe. We'll probably put more stuff in storage, since the house is small.
Mark is job searching in the Charlotte area, and we're keeping our fingers crossed.
Today's verse: "Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Fools fold their hands and consume their own flesh. Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind." -- Ecclesiastes 4:4-6
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
I apologize for not posting last week -- the week just got away from me. At the moment I am occupied with an oral final exam in Confessions and a term paper for Gospel of John, but that is all I have left. Other than managing to continue to keep alive my three house plants. It would be a shame to kill them off just at the end.
Next week holds a two-day session with the internship site supervisors. I'm very much looking forward to that! Otherwise, there truly isn't much to report as the semester is winding down. It's going to take some adjustment after four years of being a student.
I've already shifted much of my belongings from the dorm room back to Greensboro, but next week I will need to finish the rest -- then move out, bid goodbye to Southern, come back to Greensboro ... and start thinking about packing and sorting for Monroe. We'll probably put more stuff in storage, since the house is small.
Mark is job searching in the Charlotte area, and we're keeping our fingers crossed.
Today's verse: "Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind. Fools fold their hands and consume their own flesh. Better is a handful with quiet than two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after wind." -- Ecclesiastes 4:4-6
Grace and peace,
Beth
Monday, April 20, 2009
Weekly post
April 20, 2009
Dear friends,
Last week was a difficult and complicated one. A classmate and friend, having become ill on Good Friday, quickly worsened. He died on Wednesday. He was 23. All of us who knew him are shocked and unsettled.
The deadlines remain, however, and so I am plugging away at term paper writing and exam studying. I usually end up knowing more than I think I know -- but that doesn't stop me from facing the hurdles with the usual anxiety! I spent quite a bit of the weekend in study. As always, though, I am recharged after a weekend at home with the family.
I am facing the prospect of getting serious about packing up as well, and hope to get some of that done this week. (When? Always the question.)
As much as I have been moaning and groaning about the term paper, however, I must admit that the structure required is turning up some really interesting ways of looking at the Gospel of John. I've been enjoying the class. I suspect my griping is also prompted by the knowledge that soon I will be in an internship! Not that you would know it (ha), but I am very excited at the prospect.
Today is very springlike, of a sort: very green and very wet. It's been, to say the least, a rainy spring, which I hope bodes well for a lessening of our persistent summer droughts.
Today's verse is prompted by the seminary pastor, who was visiting with students in the wake of Ryan's unexpected death and helping us grapple with the inexorability of deadlines and the general inability of the world to stop in its tracks while we mourn. It's longer than usual. It's a passage worth considering whole, however, and one of my very favorites.
"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." -- Jeremiah 29:4-7, 10-15
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
Last week was a difficult and complicated one. A classmate and friend, having become ill on Good Friday, quickly worsened. He died on Wednesday. He was 23. All of us who knew him are shocked and unsettled.
The deadlines remain, however, and so I am plugging away at term paper writing and exam studying. I usually end up knowing more than I think I know -- but that doesn't stop me from facing the hurdles with the usual anxiety! I spent quite a bit of the weekend in study. As always, though, I am recharged after a weekend at home with the family.
I am facing the prospect of getting serious about packing up as well, and hope to get some of that done this week. (When? Always the question.)
As much as I have been moaning and groaning about the term paper, however, I must admit that the structure required is turning up some really interesting ways of looking at the Gospel of John. I've been enjoying the class. I suspect my griping is also prompted by the knowledge that soon I will be in an internship! Not that you would know it (ha), but I am very excited at the prospect.
Today is very springlike, of a sort: very green and very wet. It's been, to say the least, a rainy spring, which I hope bodes well for a lessening of our persistent summer droughts.
Today's verse is prompted by the seminary pastor, who was visiting with students in the wake of Ryan's unexpected death and helping us grapple with the inexorability of deadlines and the general inability of the world to stop in its tracks while we mourn. It's longer than usual. It's a passage worth considering whole, however, and one of my very favorites.
"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the peace of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." -- Jeremiah 29:4-7, 10-15
Grace and peace,
Beth
Monday, April 13, 2009
Weekly post
April 13, 2009
Dear friends,
I will not be coming up for air much in the next couple of weeks. Large term paper beast still prowling and a final exam lurks as well. The pace, and the visibility of stress, have picked up for all of us around here.
In general, all is well despite slightly apocalyptic overtones of that first paragraph. I did not get a lot of catching up on reading done over the weekend, but I did get some catching up on sleeping done. So it goes.
This week needs to be a productive one. As my husband occasionally says, "Make it so."
Verse for the week: "Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back." --Deuteronomy 30:4
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
I will not be coming up for air much in the next couple of weeks. Large term paper beast still prowling and a final exam lurks as well. The pace, and the visibility of stress, have picked up for all of us around here.
In general, all is well despite slightly apocalyptic overtones of that first paragraph. I did not get a lot of catching up on reading done over the weekend, but I did get some catching up on sleeping done. So it goes.
This week needs to be a productive one. As my husband occasionally says, "Make it so."
Verse for the week: "Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back." --Deuteronomy 30:4
Grace and peace,
Beth
Monday, April 6, 2009
Weekly post
April 6, 2009
Dear friends,
On Saturday, we drove down to Monroe to look around. We found the church and the (extremely tiny) vicarage next door. The church is next door to the backside of the high school, which means George will be able to walk, and the elementary school Fiona will be attending is about 1 1/2 minutes' drive. We're also near the gym and the hospital.
There isn't much to Monroe -- a pretty downtown and a few blocks of century-old homes -- I think most folks who live in Monroe likely work in Matthews or Charlotte. I am very much looking forward to my year's internship starting!
The house is about the size you would get, for those of you who have seen our apartment, if you subtracted the sunroom and back bedroom/bath. The offspring seem surprisingly resilient about it. Let's hope that lasts!
I have two term papers hanging over my head, and I'm sure I'll feel better about things once I get them knocked out.
Meanwhile.... the Tar Heels play for the NCAA championship tonight (it is manifestly to their disadvantage, however, that they will be playing Michigan State in Detroit) and the Red Sox opening day is on ESNP2 this afternoon ... and I have no afternoon class today, as it happens.
This week's verse: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations." -- Isaiah 42:1
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
On Saturday, we drove down to Monroe to look around. We found the church and the (extremely tiny) vicarage next door. The church is next door to the backside of the high school, which means George will be able to walk, and the elementary school Fiona will be attending is about 1 1/2 minutes' drive. We're also near the gym and the hospital.
There isn't much to Monroe -- a pretty downtown and a few blocks of century-old homes -- I think most folks who live in Monroe likely work in Matthews or Charlotte. I am very much looking forward to my year's internship starting!
The house is about the size you would get, for those of you who have seen our apartment, if you subtracted the sunroom and back bedroom/bath. The offspring seem surprisingly resilient about it. Let's hope that lasts!
I have two term papers hanging over my head, and I'm sure I'll feel better about things once I get them knocked out.
Meanwhile.... the Tar Heels play for the NCAA championship tonight (it is manifestly to their disadvantage, however, that they will be playing Michigan State in Detroit) and the Red Sox opening day is on ESNP2 this afternoon ... and I have no afternoon class today, as it happens.
This week's verse: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations." -- Isaiah 42:1
Grace and peace,
Beth
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Update!
March 31, 2009
Dear friends,
I have been assigned to St. Luke's, Monroe, NC, beginning August 1. If you search for St. Luke's Lutheran Monroe NC, you should find the Web site easily. The church has 233 baptized members and average weekly worship attendance of 86.
Receiving a bequest a few years ago, the congregation elected to put its resources toward worship and outreach rather than building renovations, and is active in a wide range of social ministries. I am very excited!
At this moment, that's all I know. I will keep you posted.
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
I have been assigned to St. Luke's, Monroe, NC, beginning August 1. If you search for St. Luke's Lutheran Monroe NC, you should find the Web site easily. The church has 233 baptized members and average weekly worship attendance of 86.
Receiving a bequest a few years ago, the congregation elected to put its resources toward worship and outreach rather than building renovations, and is active in a wide range of social ministries. I am very excited!
At this moment, that's all I know. I will keep you posted.
Grace and peace,
Beth
Monday, March 30, 2009
Weekly post
March 30, 2009
Dear friends,
Today's post will be very short, in anticipation of a longer and more interesting post tomorrow.... As noted, I may not have time before my 3:00 class to post anything, so your best bet is to check by after 5:30 p.m. or so.
It is worth noting, however, that the Tar Heels are in the Final Four. Again. And they beat their opponents soundly. Again. Note to Oklahoma: This is what happens on the Big Stage when you put all your eggs in one Griffin. Or something. I continue to be amazed at the shots the Tar Heels make fall.
Check by tomorrow, please, for real news!
This week's verse: "One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behod the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple." Psalm 27:4.
Grace and peace,
Beth
Dear friends,
Today's post will be very short, in anticipation of a longer and more interesting post tomorrow.... As noted, I may not have time before my 3:00 class to post anything, so your best bet is to check by after 5:30 p.m. or so.
It is worth noting, however, that the Tar Heels are in the Final Four. Again. And they beat their opponents soundly. Again. Note to Oklahoma: This is what happens on the Big Stage when you put all your eggs in one Griffin. Or something. I continue to be amazed at the shots the Tar Heels make fall.
Check by tomorrow, please, for real news!
This week's verse: "One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behod the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple." Psalm 27:4.
Grace and peace,
Beth
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