N.T. on the Book of John

I have been on a N.T. Wright binge. Within the past month I have read the following N.T. Wright books: After You Believe, Evil and the Justice of God, Scripture and the Authority of God, and I have dabbled in his 700 page work The Resurrection of the Son of God.

I am not 'bragging,' only mentioning these as recommended reading!

I picked up his book Following Jesus: Biblical Reflection on Discipleship (also, so far, very much worth your time).

Two semesters ago I took a class on the book of John that explored the complexities and uniqueness of the book compared to the other synoptic gospels. I think a lot of times (at least in my case) we are attracted to the book of John on a personal level because of these differences. Yet, on a scholarly level you cant help but be left confused at the complexities and uniqueness of the Gospel of John. Hence, why I love how N.T. Wright phrases his relationship with John:

"I said then, and its still true, that I feel about John like I feel about my wife; I love her very much but I wouldn't claim to understand her." -N.T. Wright

I went to the woods...

Came across this on on a blog today and had to share it. It is the from the very beginning of the transcendentalist and poet Thoreau's Walden.

Not a Bucket List

I was browsing through an old journal and came across a bucket list I made this summer. Since then, I have grown to not really be a fan of buckets lists, as they might create a false measuring stick to measure your life's joy or 'success.' Cynicalness aside, it is still fun to dream about places you want to go, mountains you want to climb, women you want to kiss, etc.

That being said, here is my bucket list from this summer. I am not sure if if made a bucket list today that ALL of the same things would be on it or not. Nevertheless, in no particular order:

Climb Mt. Everest, K2, Mt. Mckinley,

Go to Yosemite, Sequoia, Mammoth, Muir Forest,

Hike All of the A.T., Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Coast Trail

Go To Vancouver

Hike the Pacific Coast Trail

Through hike the smokies

Write a book

Write a book on Christian Paradoxes

Get a Phd in Conflict Transformation (write the dissertation on Jesus, Peace, and Conflict)

Go Skydiving

Own a Jeep

Write Poetry for the rest of my life

Marry the most beautiful women in the world

Take my children hiking

Hike in Yellowstone

Live in Boise, Idaho

See a moose and a mountain lion in the wild

Go to Israel

Learn Hebrew

Be the first half Jewish president

Go to New Zealand

Read Lord of the Rings

Read my children Narnia Chronicles

Tell the women I marry she is the most beautiful women in the world every day of my life.

If I have a daughter, tell her to never settle, and be an example to her of how a man ought to love her.

Be in a bar confrontation and break the bottle over the edge of the bar and defend myself with the remaining jagged half.

Bring down the corrupt evil capitalistic system in America

Live in a town where I can ride a horse to the grocery store and bank

Wrestle a bear

Be a college professor

Colonel Mustard

Because I can, and because I think it will force me to write with more intention I am going to post some of my poems I write for class on my blog. I am in a creative writing poetry class this semester that writes about a poem a week. I am also in a upper level poetry class that is surveying the modern poets, i.e. Eliot, Yeats, Stevens, etc. Basically everyone that is way over my head.

I was intrigued by poetry and wanted to find out more about the process while reading great poets because of the unique way they interpret the world and express themselves. If a poem is going to be any good the poet would have had to thought deeply, uniquely, creatively and intentionally about what it is they are writing on. (If you will excuse the following over generalization.) People do not think deeply anymore. Hence, why I wanted to learn more about poetry as a medium for interpreting the world and expressing myself.

Here is the first poem I wrote worth posting. It was inspired by this summer and the nights my friends and I would sneak up the top of the surrounding mountain at camp. The poem is in the poetic form Ghazal.

Colonel Mustard

We stole the mustard colored truck, named the Colonel

and drove up to the clearing on top of the mountain tonight.

Orange and purple in the twilight sky

had just been swallowed up by the darkness tonight.

The dry dirt road was steep to the top,

and was lined with cracks, crevices, and holes tonight.

The colonel, so old, I struggled to find the gears,

while my friends bounced and jumbled to and fro in the bed of the truck tonight.

Our last quest to the top.

A summer full of nights like tonight.

We dangled our legs over the edge of the colonel

and as usuall the dry and warm air moved with a breeze and graced over us tonight.

From memory, I recited one of David’s hymns:

‘for you are always with me, you hold my right hand’ tonight.

‘A falling star,’ she yelled

I returned, ‘that’s the seventh tonight.’

Time stretched on and he sang:

‘oh its such a shame for us to part’ tonight.

Down the mountain we rolled, like an eighth falling star.

yes, such a shame for us to part tonight.

‘David’, said the Colonel, ‘Yes?’ I replied

‘Never forget the grace of that breeze you felt tonight.’

Kings and Queens and Poets

I came across these pictures on Tumblr and was really drawn to them:

N.T. Wright on Scripture

A quote from N.T. Wrights book Justification on reading scripture:

"If you read your own question into the text, and try to get an answer from it, when the text itself is talking about something else, you run the risk not only of hearing only the echo of your own voice rather than the word of God but also of missing the key point that the text was actually eager to tell you, and which you have brushed aside in your relentless quest for your own meaning."

Don't Turn Back

One day Saint Francis and Brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing that Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked: "Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?"

"Of course. It means to have no sins, faults or weaknesses to reproach myself for."

"Ah," said Francis, "now I understand why you're sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for."

"Right," said Leo. "That's why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart."

"Leo, listen carefully to me. Don't be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire him. Rejoice that he is what he is--your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, little brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you've turned to Jesus, don't turn back and look at yourself."

Source:

• Lion and Lamb: the Relentless Tenderness of Jesus, Brennan Manning