Jun 07

Holy, holy, holy!


Seminary is still wonderful—exhausting, mind-blowing, and challenging. The trouble is that it is all-consuming when it comes to time. I sit at my computer at 5:30 each morning (sometimes earlier) and basically don’t get up from that chair until 5:30 each evening, stopping then because I have no working brain cells left. That’s my excuse for not posting here since January.

This summer semester I have only one class. With all that “extra time,” I wanted to share a tiny seminary lightbulb moment.

We have been studying the Trinity in my Systematic Theology courses—how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in unity at all times. We have also looked deeply into Scripture in my Old and New Testament courses. With that background, one day, out popped a new understanding I had seen, but not connected before.

When the angels in Heaven are praising God, what do they say? “Holy, holy, holy.” Not just, “holy.” But three times they praise God with three “holies.” My very astute observation—whether theologically regarded as such by smarter theologians or not—is that the angels say “Holy, holy, holy,” because they are praising our triune God. One holy for each person of the godhead.

Cool, right? There’s more.

Angels are specifically recorded as proclaiming the three “holies” in two places in Scripture.

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 4:8).

Did you see that? The triple holies spoken by angels are recorded in both the Old and New Testaments. One thing that becomes obvious throughout seminary is that the New Testament and the Old Testament truly are one book, recording God’s plan for humanity. And as God is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8 and Revelation 4:8), Scripture reflects that continuity in both testament sections of the Bible. As do what the angels say.

Told ‘ya it was cool.

So, I’m still struggling with predestination, millennialism, and all things eschatological (uh, sorry about the big words—those last two just have to do with end times). But when it comes down to it, sometimes the new understandings in seminary that excite me most are the little things uncovered in digging through Scripture—the putting together of things previously thought to be unrelated.

Then again, since it’s all the Word of God, there’s not really any “little thing” about Scripture, is there?

WHAT ABOUT YOU: What was the last big “little thing” you noticed in Scripture?

(Original image (altered) from The Funky Pixel courtesy of Pixabay.com)

Jan 11

Whatever!

Each January, I begin the year with a single word to keep in mind over the next 12 months—a word God gifts me to direct my faith. But ten days have passed since we turned the page of the calendar with no clear “word” from God. Should I just jot down six words and play eenie, meanie, miney, mo?

This morning as I reluctantly pondered leaving the warmth of my bed, I asked our Father to lead me this year through seminary and in my writing ministry. What projects might be included? I interjected into my prayer. Certainly, a project Jim,  Pastor Don, and I have been working on* would be on that list. Also, Your Beautiful Feet (based on Isaiah 52:7), no doubt would be included. Then, a book project that has sat patiently in a computer file for eight years popped up—From What If to Whatever—inspired by the Apostle Paul.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (NIV Phil 4:8)

My eyes flew open as I realized God had just answered my prayer. My focus word for 2023 is whatever, based on Philippians 4:8, which further reminds me to

  • Have the mind of Christ (1 Corin 2:16, Phil 2:5) .
  • Renew my mind (Rom 12:2).
  • Prepare my mind for action (1 Peter 1:13).
  • Be an imitator of God, with Jesus as a model (Eph 5:1).
  • Set my mind on things above, not on things on earth (Col 3:2).
  • Set my mind on the Spirit who is life and peace (Rom 8:6).
  • Seek to supplement my faith with goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness, charity  (2 Pet 1:5-8)
  • Keep my mind on God who keeps me in perfect peace through trust (Isaiah 26:3).
  • Remember that Jesus has given us understanding so we may know him who is true (1 John 5:20);
  • Be guided by the truth (John 16:13).
  • Hold fast what is good (1 Thess 5:21).
  • Take thoughts captive (2 Corin 10:4-5).

Ultimately, those verses remind me to love God will all my mind (Deut. 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).

And suddenly there were twelve lessons for me to contemplate. Plus eight Philippians virtues. Plus seven more from Peter. Plus the over-arching point about loving God with my mind.

So… whatever.

The word was worth the wait.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you have a focus word for 2023 to lead you in deeper faith? Here are a few posts about words God has used to guide me in past years.

Generosity 2022
Empower 2021
Power 2020
Shine 2019

Because of the enthusiastic response we have had to our first project together: Faith Simplified: Knowing What You Believe So You Can Believe It Better (Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2022), we are setting out on a new project, directed toward becoming more like Christ. Faith Simplified is available on Amazon.com and through Christian bookstores.

Dec 05

USING DOLLAR WORDS IN A DIME MACHINE

Photo by Gerd Altman from Pixabay.com

For over four decades I resisted going back to school after college. Growing up, every other member of my family had more education than I did, but I had enough. Besides, as a writer, I was writing for the Christian lay person.

Wait. What’s a lay person? It is someone who needs to lie down when he hears too many big words?

Well, no. A lay person is simply someone who is not an expert in or does not have a detailed knowledge of a particular subject. Not a scholar. Not an academician.

Then God led me to go to seminary (a semi big word that just means graduate school for theology.) Now, I regularly encounter words that melt my brain. And every research paper I write includes the instruction to:

“Be sure your paper reflects a graduate level vocabulary.”

Such as: Fundity, Exegesis, Historicity, Uniformitarianism, Inclusio, Perspicuity.

Here’s a delightful phrase from one of my textbooks in hermeneutics (study of the Bible). We are instructed to look at: “intentionality and convergence between biblical text and artifactual and epigraphical materials.”

Uh…

What happens in graduate school is that you are thrust into an environment where you are surrounded by those big words. Ultimately, you figure out what they mean. And…gulp…you start using them yourself.

That’s a problem for me. I doubt I will ever write for the academic community once I leave it behind. It is dandy to know those big words inside my head, but my challenge will be to keep the conversational, every-day tone in my writing. Use the head knowledge but keep the big words handcuffed and gagged inside my head.

So I ask for your help. If you ever hear me say a string of words that each have more than five syllables and make no sense, please let me know. I may presently be an academician (yes, that’s five syllables already!) but I don’t have to sound like one outside of class.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What is the most important sounding word you know? Can you use it in a sentence? Does anyone but you know what it means?