A Growing Reading List

Late this afternoon we received a memo from the vice president of the organization, the Human Resources director and the four new Center directors. Attached to the memo was a timeline for the actual mechanics of the transition to the new organization. We have been waiting a long time for this. Some of the items on it were supposed to have been in our hands a month and a half ago. And, as it turns out, during the week that we are supposed to be packing up our offices or cubicles for moving, a colleague and I will be in Vancouver attending Start Up! Start Over!

Our new Center Director suggested that it might be beneficial for both of us to attend the conference as part of our new roles in the organization. Not many days later she stopped by my desk and dropped off a copy of Anthony Pappas' Entering The World of The Small Church, and suggested that the two of us should read it before the conference.

A couple of weeks ago, several folks throughout the organization received from the vice president's office an invitation to participate in a FutureThink seminar based on the book by Edie Weiner and Arnold Brown. A member of my current department ordered copies for both of us.

Earlier this week the Center Director sent out a memo requesting feedback on suggested dates for a retreat for the new Center. Attached was a copy of Joseph F. Coates' article "Scenario Planning."

And somewhere in one of the boxes stored in my cubicle is my copy of Wikinomics, which the Director of my current department ordered for each of us some over a year ago after the new vice president had mentioned it during one of their meetings. I suppose I ought to dig it out and add it to the "read really soon" pile.

Looks like I won't be needing my book of Sudoku puzzles on the train for the next couple of weeks.

Peace,
Jeffri

Bible Study With The Bishops: Teaching the Future

Reading Plan Text for February 29: John 3:9-15

In today's reading the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus continues, and Nicodemus still doesn't get it. Jesus in his reply starts out addressing Nicodemus directly, but then his language shifts to the plural form of you along with "we" instead of "I." Burridge (the author of the Commentary) provides this bit of information. Once again those of us who must read the scriptures in translation miss a lot of the nuances--and also a lot of the not so subtle things--in the texts. Burridge continues:

It is as though the quiet night-time conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus has been replaced by Jesus speaking through the evangelist and the early Christians to the rest of the Jews, and indeed, to the whole human race, asking them to 'receive our testimony' (3:11).

What leaped out at me, even before reading the Commentary, is that Jesus is teaching about the future--his future. Just as he is the temple that will be raised back up in three days, first he must be lifted up--on the cross. Once again, John's Jesus is much more explicit from the beginning about who and what he is, not to mention about what he will experience.

It's been a long day, and I really don't have much else to say.

Peace,
Jeffri

One Sheet Of Paper

Today I received an email from a friend with some amazing art work. She wrote at the beginning, "These are truly extraordinary." Then came the introductory text:

Entries for an art contest at the Hirshorn Modern Art Gallery in DC The rule was that the artist could use only one sheet of paper.

My first clue should have been that Hirshhorn was misspelled. The second clue was that no contest of any kind was listed on the Hirshhorn's site. A little digging revealed that this email is yet another one of those Internet "viral emails."

However, the sculptures are real, and they are the creations of artist Peter Callesen. These are amazing pieces; definitely worth a look. Here you can see what he did with single sheets of A4 paper, and here are some larger ones. Of his A4 Papercuts Peter writes:

My paper works have lately been based around an exploration of the relationship between two and three dimensionality. I find this materialization of a flat piece of paper into a 3D form almost as a magic process - or maybe one could call it obvious magic, because the process is obvious and the figures still stick to their origin, without the possibility of escaping. In that sense there is also an aspect of something tragic in most of the cuts. Some of the small paper cuts relate to a universe of fairy tales and romanticism, as for instance "Impenetrable Castle" inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", in which a tin soldier falls in love with a paper ballerina, living in a paper castle. Other paper cuts are small dramas in which small figures are lost within and threatened by the huge powerful nature. Others again are turning the inside out, or letting the front and the back of the paper meet - dealing with impossibility, illusions, and reflections.

Half Way Through, 2006
Acid free A4 115 gsm paper, pencil, and glue

Go look and enjoy.

Peace,

Jeffri

Bible Study With The Bishops: A Night Visit

Reading Plan Text for February 28: John 3:1-8

It always surprises me whenever I re-read John just how different this Gospel is from the Synoptics, and just how many of our most remembered stories about Jesus' ministry are found in John alone. Nicodemus' visit to Jesus is one of those stories.

One of the things that stands out for me in this story is that we must beware of making sweeping generalizations about the various groups we encounter in the Gospels. Here is a Pharisee who recognizes who and what Jesus is and comes talk with, and perhaps learn more, from him. I always thought that Nicodemus came at night because he didn't want to be seen by the other Pharisees, or be seen AS a Pharisee, paying a visit to Jesus. Burridge, however, points out that rabbis often studied at night because it was a quiet time. I think both elements are present, but I also see that Nicodemus will be following a path many of us do when it comes to our faith and belief in Jesus--from quiet and/or pretty much hidden, to open and vocal support.

Nicodemus is also like many of us in his initial attempt to understand what Jesus is saying literally rather than spiritually.

Burridge spends some time in this chapter talking about "Water and the Spirit" here and throughout John. One particular thought that jumped out at me:

The paradox of this gospel is that although John's theology is extremely sacramental in the way ordinary things like water, bread and wine are used to convey great spiritual truths and meanings, he never actually describes the sacraments of baptism and communion, or indeed any others.

Peace,
Jeffri

The Commentary Has Arrived!

My hoped for transit time for the Commentary proved to be actuality. It arrived in this morning's mail delivery. The inside back cover contains a blurb informing us that these commentaries are published in the U.S. as the Daily Bible Commentary by Hendrickson Publishers. I did some checking around, and you can get it from Christianbook.com for $6.99 (almost half price!) here. Amazon.com and a couple of other places are out of stock--there must be a run on the Commentary on John for some reason. While I'm happy to have the "2008 Lambeth Conference Edition," quite frankly, I'd probably have been just as happy not to shell out $40 for the book and airmail delivery from Britain.

During the train ride home this evening I quickly read through the Preface, Introduction, and the chapters on the portion of John we've read so far. As I suspected, the Reading Plan follows the chapters of the Commentary. Each chapter is laid out so that it is on two facing pages, and each ends with a brief prayer. There is a great deal of food for thought in these pages--too much to go back and catch up on, if I want to keep up with the Reading Plan. At some point I may go back and delve more deeply into those sections.

The introduction puts John's Gospel in context in terms of history, culture, community, language, and in comparison with the other Gospels. At the end you will find a one page Glossary, a short annotated bibliography "For Further Reading," the Reading Plan, and a one page blurb on the bible studies being developed for the 2008 Lambeth Conference itself. There is also a preface by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at the beginning of this edition. I have a few things to say about it, but I'd rather you read it for yourself before I let loose.

In a sermon I preached several years ago I said that John's Gospel was my least favorite. Since then, as I've studied it more and also become more aware of the mystic elements of my own faith, I have been coming to appreciate John more and more. What I've read of Burridge's commentary so far makes me feel that this appreciation will grow over the next months.

Peace,
Jeffri

Walking At Lunchtime

It's a pretty nice day, so I took the opportunity to go for a walk at lunchtime. The sidewalks at home are still treacherous in many places. And sometimes at the end of the day I'm just too tired to want to bother walking at all. Besides, leaving the building for half an hour in the middle of the day makes a nice break. For 30 minutes I can forget about all things Episcopal, all things Anglican, and all things reorganizational. (By the way, we've been told that if someone asks, we can tell them where we've been placed in the new structure.) Not to mention that it's good for my blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

One of the things about Manhattan that surprises me over and over again, especially when I haven't been out walking in a while, is that it's not flat. For some reason, given that it's an island and its location, I have this mental picture of Manhattan as being relatively flat, especially from the Midtown area south. What makes this mental picture even more odd is that every morning I walk UPHILL from Grand Central Terminal to the office. Maybe it was all that time I spent in Chicago as a child. Chicago is relatively flat, at least the parts of it I frequented during visits to my mother's family. So my child's eye picture of "city is flat" seems to remain with me.

Today's surprise? I learned that the Murray Hill neighborhood is just south of where I work. For years I'd heard about Murray Hill. One of the Ricardo's phone numbers on I Love Lucy was MUrray Hill 5-9975. And for some reason it was a popular neighborhood for fictional settings in New York City. Today as my path went whichever way the walk lights led, I found myself in Murray Hill and realizing that it was Murray Hill. Six years I've been working here, occasionally walking through parts of the Murray Hill, and I never knew I was just two blocks away from my office.

The other thing I love about walking in the City is the architecture. For a time during my childhood I wanted to be an architect. Then I found out how much math was involved. However, buildings still interest me--especially older buildings. There are lots to see around here. Sometimes I wish I'd spent more time learning to draw, so I could capture some of them in sketches. Still, it is fun to look.

And now back to our regularly scheduled...

Peace,
Jeffri

Bible Study With The Bishops: John Explains

Reading Plan Text for February 27: John 2:21-25

Finally, we come to the point of the conversation after the Temple incident:

But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The Gospel is a record of a community's memories of Jesus and his words and deeds. It's not just the disciples that remembered that Jesus said this, it is the entire community. This passage also gives us one clue as to why John placed this story at the beginning of Jesus' ministry rather than toward the end, where it appears in the other Gospels. John is making it explicitly clear who and what Jesus is from the beginning.

The last three verses in today's reading expand this theme, but from a slightly different angle. People are believing in Jesus and who he is as he continues to work among them. Obviously, he is not keeping quiet about his work. However, he clearly is not about to trust those outside his immediate circle because he can see them for what they are--although what he sees is not explained.

I'm still having trouble with the way the Reading Plan is breaking up the stories. Perhaps I need to be approaching these snippets more in the spirit of midrash, since the incompleteness lends itself to that kind of reflection.

Peace,
Jeffri