_awakening

52-21.

[Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America]

In a season that has been less than stellar [and with precious little to cheer about], it is finally good to see the Chargers playing like we know they can. While it is always good to see the Chargers win, tonight was especially sweet. First, it is good to see justice served from Week #2 and the Hoculi blunder. Second, it is always especially sweet to get a win over Shanahan and Broncos [my regards to John Chandler] - and putting up a 52 spot on them... priceless.

So onto next week and the Colts. It should be a very, very good game.

The Coming.

This morning we sang these words as a community. It was a great reminder of the hope we have for this season:

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

First Sunday after Christmas Day.

A prayer from The Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Ancient Israel and the Afterlife.

Stephen L. Cook, professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Virginia Theological University, posted an essay on his blog, entitled Funerary Practices and Afterlife Expectations in Ancient Israel. It was an article that first appeared in the online journal Religion Compass last year.

As the title implies, it is an exploration of the funeral practices of the Ancient Israelites and what kind of light they shed on the concept and expectations they held about the afterlife. Here is the abstract from the essay:

Ancient Israel was thoroughly familiar with existence beyond death. Individual personalities survived the death of the body, most Israelites believed, albeit in a considerably weakened and vulnerable state. The ensnaring tentacles of Sheol constantly threatened the living-dead, but the fortunate among them were able to use the power of kinship bonds to keep Sheol’s threats at bay. The traditional ties of lineage and kin-bonding, according to biblical Yahwism, were an actual way for the living-dead to pull themselves back from death’s devouring suction. Ancient Israel’s funerary practices and afterlife expectations are greatly illumined by recent archaeological studies and by a new comparative model that draws on data gleaned from African ethnography.

This fascinating essay is a good introduction to the scholarly debate surrounding the ideology of the resurrection and the afterlife in Ancient Israel. Well worth the time to read and digest...

Anglican Bishops Speak Out.

My good friend Tom Wright is in the news today, along with other Anglican bishops speaking out on the issue of the poor and the struggling in Britain:

Bishops attack 'immoral' Labour
[BBC News]

Five leading Anglican bishops have attacked the government, calling into question the morality of Labour policy.

Bishops of Durham, Winchester, Hulme, Manchester and Carlisle made the comments to the Sunday Telegraph.

They warned the country was suffering from family breakdown, an unhealthy reliance on debt and a growing gap between rich and poor.

The government defended its record of helping people out of poverty, saying fairness was at the core of its agenda.

Meanwhile, in his New Year message next week,Gordon Brown is expected to say the recession will be a test of Britain's character.

'Inevitable come-uppance'

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, told the Sunday Telegraph ministers had not done enough to help the poor.

"Labour made a lot of promises, but a lot of them have vanished into thin air," he said.

"We have not seen a raising of aspirations in the last 13 years, but instead there is a sense of hopelessness. While the rich have got richer, the poor have got poorer.

"When a big bank or car company goes bankrupt, it gets bailed out, but no one seems to be bailing out the ordinary people who are losing their jobs and seeing their savings diminished."

To read the rest, go here.

Sola Scriptura?

Continuing the recent theme of the nature of the scriptures, Nic Paton recently posted quite the interesting entry, entitled So Long, Sola? It's well worth the read, as well as the time to wrestle through his thoughts. I've been thinking about them for the past few weeks...

Enjoy.

Speaking of the Canon...

Here's a useful interactive "Canon Comparison Chart" from Vincent Setterholm of Logos [click on image]. It's an easy way of seeing what is and is not in each of the major canonizations of the scriptures. Included are the canons of the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Hebrew Bible, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Syriac, Ethiopian, and Protestant. One major learning here is that even when you are talking about the scriptures, not everyone is following the same canon.

[HT: Biblical Studies and Technological Tools]

What are the Scriptures?

One of the best classes I took in grad school was a course entitled Scripture and Canon. It was a course surveying the issues surrounding the collection, development, and canonization of the scriptures. One of the discussions we had in class centered on various church statements of belief about the nature of the scriptures. It was fascinating to see the variety of ideas captured in such statements. We were struck with not only the diversity found in these statements, but also the views of what the scriptures are expressed in many of them.

A few weeks back a friend of mine pointed out this statement about the scriptures made by a church local to us:

We believe the Bible is the most important book anyone could ever read or study. No other book can successfully take a person into the heart of God. We affirm this based on our belief that the Bible, consisting of all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, authoritative and inerrant Word of God. It is, down to the finest detail, everything God intended to say as He inspired men to write it. As such, the Bible is the final word on relating to God, living with each other, and enjoying the life He intends. We preach and teach God's Word with complete confidence in its historic, scientific, and spiritual reliability (Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; John 8:30-31; Hebrews 4:12).

Now perhaps maybe I'm too much the inquisitive type, but this particular statement made me ask a few questions:

Is the Bible the only place where we find truth? Are the scriptures the only way to the heart of God?

How do we know that the scriptures are exactly the way God intended them to be written? Is this an interpretation of something stated in the text, is this something external to the text that we bring to it as a way of elevating them? [Dare I say much like the term "inerrancy"...]

What do we mean by "God's Word?" Is everything written in the scriptures "God's Word," even the words attributed to pagans?

What do we make out about the historic reliability of the text? What does it mean that we see the text as being reliable in all things historic? What happens when historical portrayals are conflicting? And what about scientific reliability? Are to take the scientific world view of the scriptures as an accurate portrayal of the cosmos, as an example?

These questions are not asked as a skeptic. They are asked out of a desire to see us be more clear about the writings we call the scriptures. We tend to say a lot of things that perhaps make sense to those inside a particular Christian culture, but forget that those statements can often be quite unclear, or even easily dismissed, by those without a frame of reference. Additionally, I wonder if we always understand the implications of what we say we believe.

Any thoughts? What strikes you about this particular statement or others you have read?

The Nativity of Our Lord.

A prayer from The Book of Common Prayer:

O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Only in SoCal.

Jamie and I went out for dinner last night in Laguna and saw this...