It's been a wonderful week for thinking about Christmas. Isn't it amazing that our first question is "what did you get" instead of "what did you give" for Christmas? Christmas is about giving, indeed it is a celebration about giving. I've been fortunate to be reminded of that on several occasions this week.
Most of you aren't familiar with Wichita radio stations on Sunday morning, but I was asked to be a guest of Steve McIntosh for a Christmas morning broadcast. I can't count how many times he said, "that's amazing" as we talked about the first Christmas, what we know, what we don't know and other options about the birth of this one later named Jesus. You can catch the podcast at http://audio.knssradio.com/a/49962759/issues-2011-12-25-11.htm?
So what should I say about Christmas morning, our celebration and the Minor prophets? It may be a stretch, but we should focus more on giving to the poor and needy and focus less on getting more toys that we call 'necessary.' We should probably look to the widows and orphans, or in modern language those who don't have any one to care and protect them in times of crisis. We should also look to meeting the needs of the suffering, those who are ill, aged, unemployed, and even those who have been abused by the powers of the world we live in. I will be the first to admit that I don't frequently visit those corridors. I am thankful that many of my students are wanting to visit those corridors and make them home!
Christmas is a holiday when we can be around family, enjoy one another's company, and realize our blessings. Too often it becomes a time for old feelings to be trampled upon, for complaints to be voiced, once again, for what someone else has not done in the past, and a time to fulfill our own selfish gratifications.
I hope that you and yours have a very, merry Christmas. I hope that as you reflect on the year gone by that you will focus on the blessings received through your acts of kindness and generosity and not focus on the ways in which you may have been wronged. I also hope that you will take time to reflect on what you have been given, and what you give in turn to others.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Minor Prophet Musings
Having completed a semester of teaching the "minor" prophets, otherwise known Book of the Twelve, one aspect that was made clear in the past week is the consistency of some of the themes between the Minor Prophets (otherwise Old Testament) and the teachings of God through more recent prophets (otherwise New Testament).
The first theme, and the topic of this blog, is that of God's sovereignty. Defined by Webster's as "supreme power or authority", it is too common to think of this trait as simply 'power or authority' and forget the 'supreme' element. Webster's describes supreme as "superior to all others" in regard to authority. Thus the idea of God's sovereignty is that this deity, and none other, holds the authority over creation that is second to none, indeed it is not merely better than others, it is superior to all the others. Indeed, the concept of superior is quite difficult to consider in a democratic society where no one is supposedly 'superior'.
However, in both Testaments of the Christian canon, the sovereignty of God is proclaimed. The book of Hebrews espouses the superiority of Jesus to a list of other options, including prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, the priesthood and the temple. The preliminary question I rather superficially (don't act so surprised) impose on each prophet of the twelve to be asking is "who will follow YHWH?" The answer in terms of God's sovereignty is this: the one who recognizes and submits to that supreme power and authority. The New Testament writers ask the very same thing: submit to God and to His Son.
The first theme, and the topic of this blog, is that of God's sovereignty. Defined by Webster's as "supreme power or authority", it is too common to think of this trait as simply 'power or authority' and forget the 'supreme' element. Webster's describes supreme as "superior to all others" in regard to authority. Thus the idea of God's sovereignty is that this deity, and none other, holds the authority over creation that is second to none, indeed it is not merely better than others, it is superior to all the others. Indeed, the concept of superior is quite difficult to consider in a democratic society where no one is supposedly 'superior'.
However, in both Testaments of the Christian canon, the sovereignty of God is proclaimed. The book of Hebrews espouses the superiority of Jesus to a list of other options, including prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, the priesthood and the temple. The preliminary question I rather superficially (don't act so surprised) impose on each prophet of the twelve to be asking is "who will follow YHWH?" The answer in terms of God's sovereignty is this: the one who recognizes and submits to that supreme power and authority. The New Testament writers ask the very same thing: submit to God and to His Son.
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