Post # 100--Anticlimactic, anyone?

I don't have anything in particular to say at the moment. I just wanted to get post# 100 of this blog published before the end of November.

I've been sick today. Not violently sick, but just the standard rot: flushed face, body aches, sore throat. I'm working on my second round of hot tea; perhaps that will help me. Moan. Even writing about it sounds overwhelming pathetic. But I am also dealing with the post-NaNoWriMo letdown. It's not exactly like postpartum depression, but not exactly unlike it, either. Focusing all of my creative energies--indeed, almost all of my energies--into such a truncated exercise inevitably results in deflation after it is over, even if, as in my case, one has succeeded in the challenge one set before oneself. Blech. I do not really feel like doing anything serious right now, which is perhaps a good indication that I shouldn't do anything serious right now.

The First Sunday of Advent: Happy new year, Church

I am embarking upon an experiment this year (and yes, the year starts now...more on that in a moment). My goal is to post about the Sundays of the Christian Year throughout this entire year from Today, the First Sunday of Advent, through the Feast Day of Christ the King, next November 22. Obviously, I have never tried such an ambitious project in a blog, seeing as how I've only had a blog for six months. But I have never even done this sort of thing with pen and paper, even though I have thought about doing so a number of times. The intention here is that I will not only increase my own devotion, but that I might also contribute some thoughts to other people that can take it up and read it...or click on it and read it, or whatever.

I'm not going to post the texts of the Scripture lessons for each Sunday, partly because of copyrights attached to the variations translations and partly because I do not want to set a precedent for myself of translating everything before I post it, because if I then fail at the assignment sometime during the year (as is bound to happen), then I will feel unnecessarily bad. So, here are the texts, taken this and every Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary:

Isaiah 64:1-9; Ps. 80:1-7, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37

Here in the Philippines, the malls and so forth have been playing Christmas music since sometime in September. I'm starting to get to the point where I don't even hear it, and I think that's rather more tragic than if it were starting to annoy me. Insert the standard critique from a Christian standpoint about the commercialization of Christmas here.

But, more significantly, perhaps, the commercialization of Christmas turns December 25 into an anticlimax. I've preached about this before on a few occasions. And I always get upset every year when the Christmas decorations come down, usually on December 26. The retailers get going on the teardown quickly, because after all they have to get the Valentine's Day foolishness up and running. I have described it also in terms of being a baseball fan. You may substitute your appropriate favorite sport. I do not wear the cap for my favorite (awful) team starting with spring training and then take it off on the first day of the season and refuse to wear it again until the pitchers and catchers report to Arizona the next year. But this is what we do when we decorate our homes, churches, workplaces, etc., for Christmas, and play Christmas music incessantly from September, only to shut it off immediately after the dust settles on December 26.

By its design, Advent is a time of preparation, an expectant waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. This is why I like the "older" text of the Charles Wesley hymn, "Hark! The herald angels sing!" Of course, this is a Christmas hymn, but allow me the indulgence for the moment. When I was growing up, we would always sing "Long desired, behold him come, / offspring of the Virgin's womb." But over the last few years I have noticed increasingly this same line as: "Late in time, behold him come, / offspring of the favored one!" I have also seen and sung "Long desired" with "favored one" and "Late it time" with "Virgin's womb." I am sure that the difference in the second line has to do with a tendency to shy away from Virgin Birth language, but they are both biblical expressions referring to the mother of Jesus. What I am more interested in is the first line, however. It seems that "long desired" and "late it time" are similar expressions (homoilogoi) but they are not the same expression (homologoi). "Long desired" captures the sense of expectant waiting far better, in my estimation, than "late in time." The latter seems to imply an attitude of "What took you so long?" which is, I fear, the wrong way to approach the Messiah. To say, "We've been waiting for you, like, forever," is hyperbole in the best sense, exaggeration for dramatic effect, but "It's about time you showed up!" seems petulant and silly. After all, it is not for us "to know the times or the dates that the Father has set by his own authority" (Acts 1:7, NIV). Amen.

Veni, veni Emmanuel,
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemit in exilio
Privatus Dei Filio.
Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

Veni, o Jesse Virgula;
Ex hostis tuos ungula,
De specu tuos tartari
Deduc et antro barathri.
Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

Veni, veni, o Oriens
Solare nos adveniens;
Noctis depele nebulas
Dirasque noctis tenebras.
Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

Veni clavis Davidica;
Regna reclude caelica;
Fac iter tutum superum,
Et claude vias inferum.
Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

Veni, veni Adonai,
Qui populo in Sinai
Legem dedisti vertice,
In majestate gloriae.
Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel
nascetur pro te, Israel.

The ego wall

I have finally gotten my diplomas framed and they look very nice, if i say so myself (which I just did). I will hang them up and take photos later. I am very happy that this is taken care of. Short post, but hey, that says all that needs saying.

Have you considered my servant Elihu?

Job 32:1-5

(1) Now these three men stopped trying to convince Job, for he was righteous in his own eyes. (2) But Elihu son of Barchiel the Buzite was not satisfied, becoming very angry with Job, who was arrogant enough to justify himself before God. (3) He also angry with the three friends, because they could not find a way to answer Job, yet they still condemned him. (4) Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he was, (5) but when Elihu saw that the three men could not refute Job he could not restrain himself any longer.

I was a sophomore in college when email first became widely available. Even in the early days of the Internet, everyone who was paying attention realized what a powerful tool this was going to be, and what potential it had for both great good and great evil. It also was not very long before people began to sell themselves and their knowledge on the Internet, and publicizing their talents via mass emails. Now, mass emails like this are very common, and steps have been taken and are being continually refined by the creators of email delivery programs to stop this unwanted “spam” email.

I remember one such occasion, an early “spam” that I received, this time during the first semester of my senior year in college, or two years after I had first gotten an email address of my own. The email came from a first-year student, advertising to everyone on campus that he was able to help them answer any questions they had about the Bible, and he was offering free subscriptions to an email newsletter he was putting together that would answer these important questions for anyone who was interested. As I think about it now, this was not only one of the first “spam” messages I received, but also it was the one of the first times I was invited to subscribe to regular delivery of something through email and the Internet. (Now, I have many such active subscriptions, but then I hardly understood the power of this new tool that had come into the world seemingly overnight.)

I responded to this young man in a very arrogant manner, as I recall the situation. I said, “I am a senior religion major, so I do not need your help with anything,” or something like that. He gave a cheerful response, “OK, thank you!” or “OK, God bless you!” or something like that, but the exchange had gotten me to think about what I said to people and how I treated them. I even wrote an article for the school newspaper about it, suggesting that any major on the campus might be better served if they did not treat offers like this in an arrogant manner, but were instead a little more open to what non-experts had to say, even if they turned out to be all wrong. I thought that religion majors like myself were particularly tempted in this area, since matters like the interpretation of Scripture and understanding theology were not the exclusive realm of those trained in the academic study of religion, like I was involved in, and in which I continued to be involved through nine more years of study after I graduated from college. Although I may or may not have agreed with the young man who offered his services in answering questions about the Bible, it was not right of me to have treated him so flippantly. That was a lesson I needed to learn, and I was thankful for the opportunity, even if I had to learn the lesson through making a mistake and having God correct me.

A similar kind of thing, it seems to me, is going on in the book of Job when it comes to be Elihu’s turn to speak. The general consensus among scholars is that this lengthy section running from chapter 32 to chapter 37, was inserted into the book of Job, because there is no answer given to the speech of Elihu. The entire structure of the book of Job is a lengthy, philosophical reflection on the problem of unjust suffering. Chapter 1 begins by describing how Job was the richest man in the valley, and how he was super pious to boot. Then a bet of sorts takes place between the satan and God, to see whether Job really is faithful to God or if he just trusts in him because of all the blessings he receives. So all of these terrible things happen first to his possessions, and then to his family members, and then to Job himself. And then the three friends come to comfort him, and then to engage him in a lengthy debate. They feel that Job has some unconfessed sin in his heart, for which God is correctly punishing him. You see, this is the theology under which the friends operated. And, for that matter, this is the theology under which Job operates. Job never disagrees with the fundamental theological opinion that obedience to God results in blessing from God, and disobedience to God results in punishment from God. He merely asserts throughout the dialogues that this theological system needs a bit of clarification, because it simply does not apply in his case. He is righteous, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. As a matter of fact, both the narrator and God make this judgment about Job, and even though he never quite says this about himself, he does believe himself to be justified before God. And there is where the problem lies.

But I have become convinced that Elihu’s speeches belong right where they are in the book of Job. There is a saying that the wisdom of experience is the best kind of wisdom, or something like that. The truth behind that saying is that you can learn a great deal indeed from people who have more experience than you do, and in particular from your elders. This is part of what Elihu’s speech is about, at least in the early going. He has deferred, so Job 32 tells us, to the wisdom of experience, to the three friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. But he has lost patience with them, because they were unable to refute Job, even though they thought him to be in the wrong. And for that matter, he has also lost patience with Job, for Job has been arrogant enough to attempt to justify himself in the sight of God. Elihu has decided it is time for him to speak, for none of his elders have gotten the matter right.

It is true that in the movement of the dialogue no one responds to Elihu, for beginning with chapter 38 God moves in and responds to Job, but this response is not a response, but rather a challenge. Were you there at the foundation of the earth? says God. So why do you dare question me? says God. Not even God responds to Elihu, and so this is why many people think that these six chapters were added to the dialogue later. But if you pay close enough attention to what is going on, you will notice that the nature of God’s response to Job is that he hasn’t gotten it right. And God ultimately says to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar that they are in the wrong, so they haven’t gotten it right either. What this says to me is that Elihu is the most right of all. True enough, God eventually declares Job to be correct over against the three friends, and Job goes and offers a sacrifice for the three friends, just like he used to do for his children before they were taken away from him, and God accepts the sacrifice and vindicates the three friends on the basis of the righteousness of Job, who is blameless and upright, fears God and turns away from evil. This is in fact what God told the satan about Job: “Have you considered my servant Job? He is blameless and upright, one who fears God and turns away from evil.”

But no one responds to Elihu. He is not even dismissed in the same way that I dismissed the young man who was offering sincere help in understanding the Bible all those years ago. I think there is something important about that. After all, if there is something to be said for the wisdom of age and experience, then there is also something to be said for the wisdom of youth and fresh thinking. For Elihu, neither Job nor the three friends were right. And the narrator, or God, gives implicit assent to what Elihu has to say, for no one, not even God, tries to refute him. In Hebrew, “Elihu” means “he is my God,” so even in the name of this character who only shows up at the end of a long dialogue and who is ignored by everyone else there is a theological point to be made. But perhaps we should not be so quick to ignore what Elihu has to say as Job, the three friends, and even God appear to be.

And perhaps we should not be so quick to ignore the contributions of others who do not fit our pattern of what a knowledgeable person looks like, or what a person who has something important to say looks like. And don’t we, here, face that same kind of temptation, day after day, as we continually interact with people who look differently than we do, who speak differently than we do, who come from cultures that are different from ours, who think about things and the world differently than we do? At least in my culture, someone like Elihu might have been dismissed in the same way that I dismissed that other guy who sent out the mass email. True enough, I may not have been satisfied with what he had to say, but it was over the line for me to dismiss him like that. And it just might be over the line for Job and his three friends to have dismissed Elihu like they did, without even so much as an acknowledgement of what he had to say.

Do not be so quick to judge the ability of someone to contribute something meaningful to your life. The reading from Ecclesiastes suggests that remembering God, your creator, in the days of your youth is the way to find life under the sun. The reading from Matthew suggests that unless we become like little children, we have no place in the kingdom of God. And what does it mean to become like a little child, what does it mean to remember your Creator in the days of your youth? It is, simply, this: to be open, to not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, to look to the needs of others and not to your own, to build new bridges, to set aside your notions of what authority looks like, or what truth looks like, or what effectiveness looks like, or what honor looks like, or shame, or beauty, or wisdom, or knowledge, or meaningfulness, or Godliness, or…

Have you considered my servant Elihu? Amen.

The first day II

Sitting here eating some stew with buttered bread and a cup of water, I thought it a good idea to take stock of this day. Today was the first day of class in the second semester. I now have a full schedule, meaning three subjects, this semester, and so it promises to be an even busier time than last semester, if such can be imagined. Thankfully I have reduced my number of open writing projects to two from four, with a third proposal still in evaluation by a program committee.

And, once again, I have very large class sizes. The Historical Books course was 9, then it was 8, now it is 10. Old Testament Theology was 11 after preregistration, and now it is 14. But Doctrine of Holiness, the keystone course for the seminary, the one that makes me the most nervous upon recognizing my own inadequacy, has 32 students. It was after preregistration set at 23, then leapt 8 more following registration week last week (amongst all the silver anniversary celebration), and now one more was added this afternoon. WOW. That course meets for the first time tomorrow, at the wonderful hour of 7:30. It seems strangely appropriate for a theology course to be that early in the morning. We will see how it goes. Pray for me, eh?

I also found out that my good friend and colleague has received the invitation letter from the Wesleyan Theological Society to use in his visa application. Now we just have to find the money for his visa interview at the US Embassy, plus funds to cover his trip. That's another prayer request, kids.

Anyway, back to it...I'm going to work on some writing tonight, mainly nearing the end of NaNoWriMo. As of now, I am just over 46,000 words, just 3828 to the end. And the end is Saturday, November 30. It's been fun, and though in retrospect I probably should not have taken the month to work on a straight creative project, I do not regret having done so.

Congratulations, Mr. President

The buzz about campus today was the inauguration ceremony for the fifth President of Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary, Dr. Floyd Timothy Cunningham. Dr. Cunningham has been teaching church history at APNTS since the school's inception in 1983, and has held many posts since then, chaplain and dean of students, academic dean, regional education coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene, missionary pastor and church planter, and so on. The continuity of leadership represented by Dr. Cunningham's unanimous election by the board of trustees earlier this year represents significant hope for the future of the seminary. This was also my first academic procession as a member of a faculty. I was honored to have a part in this drama, reading the Old Testament lesson, but also showing my support of the leadership through my presence and attendance at the event.

I also saw again the person whose initial recommendation that started the ball rolling--very quickly--to come here to APNTS. He reaffirmed his confidence and comfort with his choice, which made me feel really valued. I was able to tell many people today how short the turnaround was from first contact by Dr. Cunningham (before he was elected president) to arrival on the ground in Manila (4 months and 11 days). My head is still spinning around at how quickly everything happened...but then again, is that not how God usually works?

I will post pictures of the inauguration in due course, most likely to my Facebook account. Right now, I have syllabi to write for the second semester which starts Monday.

Hmmpf

I was really upset with myself yesterday.

I've spend most of the past week working (haha) from home, but I went into the office yesterday because I had some things to print and my printer is there and not here. I discovered on my arrival that one of my diplomas had a really nasty spot on it. I cannot tell definitively if it is a water mark, mildew, or if some critter has left me a...ahem...present. But anyway, I was really upset with myself, since although I have dodged a bullet for several months and not noticed any damage on my yet-to-be-framed diplomas, yesterday there was some. If I had gotten them framed like I should have, then this wouldn't have happened, so I complained bitterly to myself and, later, to my girlfriend. Now, a day later, it's something I can laugh about.

This is the story of my life, learning from errors of omission. Further lessons have come in some students being unhappy with their grades. It isn't as is I do not know what they are going to say when they come and talk to me. Many of the things I did wrong--and I did do some things wrong; I have no problem admitting that--have already been addressed, at least in my mind, and the changes will be implemented in the next semester. And, again, if the conversation is approached with the attitude of "How can I do better?" rather than "You sack of dirt, how could you give me a grade like that?" then I am more apt to listen and ofter advice, and even admit my own faults. Nobody's perfect. Especially not me.

What I learned my first semester in seminary

Well, ok, it's not my first semester IN seminary, but my first semester as a seminary prof. The distinction is a real one, but I can use the term anyway.

I've learned that people are passionate about what they do. Most people genuinely care for their studies and want to improve themselves. They are working on being involved in various kinds of ministries, and so they want to be prepared to engage in those sorts of things. I have often come up against the idea that the preparation for and the practice of ministry should be thought of in opposition to one another. How this tune usually gets played is some variation of the theme, "God told me, 'What are you spending all this time in school for? Get out there and DO ministry!'" That's really an unfortunate position to take. I keep coming back to the dictum of J. B. Chapman, one of the earliest Nazarene General Superintendents, who said that, given 10 years to do ministry, he would rather spend five in preparation, because he would feel that he would accomplish more in the remaining five years than if he had spent the entire ten years in the practice of ministry. Theory and practice do NOT oppose one another. Theory does NOT get in the way of practice. Education is important.

That being said, another thing I've learned is that sometimes even the people with the greatest potential will disappoint you. I need not give any details about this, but it makes me ache to put a low mark on someone's record. It really does. And at the end of the day, even if I have more justification than just the impression I got from the students' work and behavior how well s'ya was engaged in the subject, it still hurts me tremendously. I do not want to give out A grades to everyone (unless they earn it!) because then an A becomes a C (average), but I also do not want to give out F grades like candy and I do not want to appear vindictive.

The third thing I've learned is that I really do not know what I'm doing. It is all trial and error in this process, and I've seen some things that need to be continued and some others that need to be dropped for the next time I go through this (starting two weeks from today). It is unfortunate when students get caught between the gears of this learning process, but in some respects that is unavoidable.

The fourth thing is that it is really hard to grade things period. Especially in a discipline such as mine, when there is a lot that is open to discussion and mediation, it is very difficult to apply some objective standard which can later be explained and defended. I've already had one student come and ask me how to improve a grade, which I think is good, because that demonstrates that s'ya is willing to do better, and wants to do better. But it's hard work.

Anyhow, even though I haven't posted for quite a while, since I've been buried in grading and working on various writing projects, I'll bring this entry to a close now. I will improve as time marches on, and my students will as well, and I imagine we will all be better for it.