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Dear Neighbor

In early August, my wife Lauren drafted me to help set up her first grade classroom. As part of this, she had to build a class library out of nothing, since her charter school doesn’t have one. So the most realistic option became the Goodwill Outlet store within Indianapolis proper, where we loaded up on over 150 books for less than $50.

After coming home, my next job was to mark each book with a “Property of Mrs. Heaton” tag and flip through them to make sure everything was in order (i.e., readable and free of graffiti). Out of one of the books popped a personal letter, dated August 1973, from “Phyllis Glover” to an unspecified neighbor. The letter seems to have been taped inside a book, though it’s doubtful that it came from any of the first grade-level readers that we bought. The words are very legible, though the paper and especially the tape have yellowed. You can click the image to read a larger version of it, or I have reproduced the words below:

Dear Neighbor,
Today my hands are strong, So let me help you, Tomorrow they may be weak, or old, + sick and you will have to lighten my load, Today my hands are strong, so let me share your burdens, for why do we exist if we cannot care for one another, walk others paths, know their sorrows.
Neighbor, today my hands are strong, let me help you.
Phyllis Glover
Aug. – 1973.

Sad as it may be that this beautiful, touching letter ended up dumped at a Goodwill Outlet store, it fills me with hope for the state of society. Individual people are both the root of the problem and the ultimate solution for that which troubles our world.

Thank you, Phyllis Glover, for your 37-year-old reminder to show compassion to our neighbors. More than any commandment, may this become our duty and our privilege. May we all find the time to “care for one another, walk others paths, know their sorrows.”

“The Spirit of Truth”

For a topical post today, I present you with a glorious trio of YouTube videos of a “preacher” from Los Angeles public television in the late 90’s. Warning, he comes in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you’re interested, Know Your Meme has more on this guy, including this nugget of wisdom:

A segment called The Spirit of Truth featured self-proclaimed deity and foul mouthed evangelical preacher Don Vincent (credited as Vincent Stewart). The show was eventually canceled when Vincent dropped trou on air and requested that viewers “look for sin.”

Beware, the videos are very vulgar. They will make you laugh and cry at the same time. Hopefully, if and when I try to impart words of wisdom, they don’t come out quite like this. Enjoy!

So Far, So Good

My first week of theological school/seminary/whatever you want to call it is on the downslope! And, I’m still alive! So far, so good, indeed.

Cue the Monty Python and the Holy Grail “Intermission” Music…
NOTE: Just looking at my visitor stats, it seems like I get quite a readership bump when I link my posts on Facebook. So, I’m going to make a habit of that.
…and now, back to your irregularly scheduled blog post!

It’s a Wednesday afternoon, which means for the first time in my week I have time to breathe. My course load is heavily weighted toward the beginning of the week, with seven hours of class (beginning at 8:00 a.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m.) on Mondays, three on Tuesdays, and the final three spread out over the final three weekday mornings.

Classes this semester are Greek I (ἀπόστολος!!!), Theological Ethics, Old Testament Literature and History I, and History of the Christian Church. Each class will present its own unique challenges…

  • Greek: I took three years of Spanish in high school, which produced in my brain just a mix of Spanglish and silly phrases… ¡Tengo un gato en mis pantalones!
  • Theological Ethics: This class is on the 7000 level, and I am the only first-year in the class. I get the sense that I’m not supposed to be there, but I actually like it a lot so far.
  • Old Testament: So… many… maps…
  • History of the Christian Church: I thought this class would cover fairly broadly the development of the church from the many individual (and later, identified as heretical) sects of Jewish Jesus-followers to now, but judging by the syllabus and the required texts, we’re mostly covering 1800-present (Pentecostal movement, black churches, religious right, etc.). Not that that’s bad, but it’s unexpected. I hope I’m not getting shortchanged!
My mascot is the Raven. I get the Biblical connection, but we'd be much more cool and unique if we were the Talking Donkeys...

In addition to the classes, I now all of the sudden have access to a great resource – a fully-functional gym and wellness center. So I’m forcing myself to workout every weekday. As the blog post is titled, so far, so good (besides the soreness)… but I suppose we will see how long that lasts.

I do have a nifty little Twitter application on the right side of my blog, so you’ll be able to see what I’m tweeting about even if I don’t have the 25 minutes or so to crunch out a new blog post. This morning, my friend (and member of Rob Bell’s church!) Mike Lamson tweeted an opinion piece regarding the Glenn Beck pseudo-rally in Washington, D.C., that I found particularly edifying. I tweeted the concluding sentence from that post, but here it is in its entirety (note, I have not heard of the author before):

God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck by Russell D. Moore of Moore to the Point

Anyway, tomorrow I have a quiz over the Greek alphabet. Time to go connect the symbols to the letter names! Thanks for reading, friends.

The Basics

When I started blogging a few days ago, I didn’t have the necessary sections about me completed. But now, after some straining and effective time management (ha!), I have polished off both a Bio page and one containing some of my views on Theology. Please note, both are going to be considered under constant construction!

These pages can also be conveniently found underneath the text in my header photo. Thanks for visiting and reading, everyone!