The motorcycle was tied down securely to the trailer.Interesting day.
I spent time this morning working on my sermon. We're beginning a 4-week series, "Jonah - a Whale of a Tale in Four Acts." (pretty clever, huh?)
Act One: You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.
I did a bunch of reading on the book in my books - my OT Introductions and commentaries on Jonah. Then I put together my outline.
Took a break at that point to go to the driving range
The longest distance in the world is the 50 yards between the driving range and the first tee. Why else can I smack it long and straight at the first and totally lose it when I walk to the other?
In true ADD fashion I worked the sermon while I worked my driver. My brain came up with what I think may be a helpful distinction. We have theology in our heads and theology in our feet. The first is what we profess, the second is what we live (walk). They're not always congruent.
This afternoon I replaced a dishwasher and kitchen faucet at Josh W's house. Remember that bit about how bad our water is here? The mineral levels destroy faucets and makes getting them out a real challenge. Because I knew it was going to be replaced, not repaired, I went ugly and intentionally broke it. Hey, it's out and the new is in.
I'm creating an updated directory for Pathway. We had a bulletin insert last week to collect the data and I'm putting into a very basic directory format. Maybe one day we'll get fancy and do pictures but not now.
What surprised me was to discover that we have 21 units who filled out the slip, which is to say they consider Pathway their home church. When we began Pathway in January of '08 we had five units, including Pam and me.
Some of those units, like the two of us, represent just adults. But the vast majority have kids. On any given Sunday we have over 20 kids under the age of 7, with one more arriving any day now.
I love it.
I stopped tracking attendance numbers about six months into this effort because I was allowing them to affect my attitude. If and when God sends growth it's his doing. My (our) responsibility is to be faithful in our efforts.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see 21 units, and to type as many kids' names as I did.
T'ank you, Fadder.
Or should it be T'ank You, Fadder?
Neither Hebrew nor Greek have a distinctive form for pronouns referring to God. The KJV, the NASB and some other versions capitalize pronouns when they refer to God (He, Him, His, etc.) but no such distinction appears in the Hebrew or Greek texts. Which is to say, in some places those versions are making an interpretive decision, because the pronoun in the original could refer to God or to someone else. Rare, but there are those passages.
The decision in those versions to capitalize the pronoun is made out of reverence for God, a tradition that was near universal for centuries, whether in Bible versions, commentaries, or any literature referring to God.
Good idea or bad? Appropriate or not?
I spent time this morning working on my sermon. We're beginning a 4-week series, "Jonah - a Whale of a Tale in Four Acts." (pretty clever, huh?)
Act One: You Can Run But You Cannot Hide.
I did a bunch of reading on the book in my books - my OT Introductions and commentaries on Jonah. Then I put together my outline.
Took a break at that point to go to the driving range
The longest distance in the world is the 50 yards between the driving range and the first tee. Why else can I smack it long and straight at the first and totally lose it when I walk to the other?
In true ADD fashion I worked the sermon while I worked my driver. My brain came up with what I think may be a helpful distinction. We have theology in our heads and theology in our feet. The first is what we profess, the second is what we live (walk). They're not always congruent.
This afternoon I replaced a dishwasher and kitchen faucet at Josh W's house. Remember that bit about how bad our water is here? The mineral levels destroy faucets and makes getting them out a real challenge. Because I knew it was going to be replaced, not repaired, I went ugly and intentionally broke it. Hey, it's out and the new is in.
I'm creating an updated directory for Pathway. We had a bulletin insert last week to collect the data and I'm putting into a very basic directory format. Maybe one day we'll get fancy and do pictures but not now.
What surprised me was to discover that we have 21 units who filled out the slip, which is to say they consider Pathway their home church. When we began Pathway in January of '08 we had five units, including Pam and me.
Some of those units, like the two of us, represent just adults. But the vast majority have kids. On any given Sunday we have over 20 kids under the age of 7, with one more arriving any day now.
I love it.
I stopped tracking attendance numbers about six months into this effort because I was allowing them to affect my attitude. If and when God sends growth it's his doing. My (our) responsibility is to be faithful in our efforts.
So I was pleasantly surprised to see 21 units, and to type as many kids' names as I did.
T'ank you, Fadder.
Or should it be T'ank You, Fadder?
Neither Hebrew nor Greek have a distinctive form for pronouns referring to God. The KJV, the NASB and some other versions capitalize pronouns when they refer to God (He, Him, His, etc.) but no such distinction appears in the Hebrew or Greek texts. Which is to say, in some places those versions are making an interpretive decision, because the pronoun in the original could refer to God or to someone else. Rare, but there are those passages.
The decision in those versions to capitalize the pronoun is made out of reverence for God, a tradition that was near universal for centuries, whether in Bible versions, commentaries, or any literature referring to God.
Good idea or bad? Appropriate or not?
The most marked departure from that tradition came with the publication of the NIV in the mid-70's. The translation committee decided to follow the Hebrew and Greek texts and leave the pronouns in lower case. Most versions and literature now follows suit, and Christian manuals of style recommend that course.
This morning on Facebook I asked the question, should it be heavenly Father or Heavenly Father?
Not the same question as the matter of pronouns, but clearly related.
Have you noticed my personal preference re. the issue as reflected by my blog posts?
4 comments:
I had to go back a page, but I think I know what your preference is. That's my preference, too, not because I want to be dishonorable, but because I find all the capitalization hard to read. It's distracting.
That's exciting--21 units! Praise the Lord!
I prefer to capitalize those pronouns, but that's precisely what it is--a preference.
I'm looking forward to Sunday. Your approach to the Jonah story has always been one of my favorite sermons - I'm glad its going to be a full series.
I'd like to suggest an alternate title, though. Based on the Animal Channel program... "Whale Wars - where are the Japanese when you need them?"
Do you have a copy of William Heath's book on Jonah & Nahum? It's titled "A City of Two Tales."
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