What I’ve been Immersed in Lately

I decided that since my blogging has gone down the past few months, I should let you guys in on what I’m immersing myself with instead of being online.

1. books - other than my books for class, I’ve been reading (when I can find the free time) several books. One of them is the book “Culture Making” by Andy Crouch. This book is subtitled “Recovering our Creative Calling” and has a great endorsement by Tim Keller. His basic argument is that, as Christians, it is not enough to condemn culture, critique culture, copy culture, or consume culture. All these things must be done at various times, but if we want to actually affect the culture we must create. In other words, it is not enough to just say there needs to be change- we should actually make change. Of course, the idea of “the culture” doesn’t really exist, as culture itself is comprised of smaller and smaller levels of culture. We must begin with the culture of our own household and work out from there.

I also just picked up a book entitled “Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community,” which I talked about here.

2. Music - I’ve been listening to the music of Jamie Barnes pretty consistently lately. Jamie is one of the worship leaders at Sojourn Community Church here in Louisville, KY, and has performed on several of their cds. Jamie also has an accomplished solo career however, and has released several cds of his own.

3. Greek - Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἔχομεν, οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ στενάζομεν τὸ οἰκητήριον ἡμῶν τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπενδύσασθαι ἐπιποθοῦντες, εἴ γε καὶ ἐκδυσάμενοι οὐ γυμνοὶ εὑρεθησόμεθα. καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄντες ἐν τῷ σκήνει στενάζομεν βαρούμενοι, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι ἀλλ᾿ ἐπενδύσασθαι, ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς. ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο θεός, ὁ δοὺς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος. Θαρροῦντες οὖν πάντοτε καὶ εἰδότες ὅτι ἐνδημοῦντες ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου· διὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους· θαρροῦμεν δὲ καὶ εὐδοκοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν κύριον. διὸ καὶ φιλοτιμούμεθα, εἴτε ἐνδημοῦντες εἴτε ἐκδημοῦντες, εὐάρεστοι αὐτῷ εἶναι. τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς φανερωθῆναι δεῖ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ βήματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν εἴτε φαῦλον.
2 Corinthians 5:1-10. I have a paper due in a few weeks. Enough said.

4. Matt Chandler - Matt is the pastor of The Village Church, located in Highland Village, Texas. I’ve been listening to a few of his podcasts lately, and have really enjoyed what I’ve heard thus far. Particularly, his sermon “Peace, Division, and Fire” taken from the Gospel of Luke. Longest intro to a sermon ever- but it’s great. Check it out on their site. I’m also about to begin Mark Driscoll’s sermon series on Song of Solomon entitled “The Peasant Princess.” This should prove to be interesting…