Tuesday, March 19, 2013

The Chronological Bible- Week 11

This is the final week of reading in the Pentateuch! (5 books of the Law) After this, the nature and flavor of Scripture really changes. So even though some of the reading is a bit cumbersome, try to appreciate the uniqueness of this section of Scripture. Realize that for hundreds of years, this alone WAS the Hebrew Bible. I always find the end of Moses' life to be particularly compelling- his relationship with God, his willingness to lead well to the end even though he wouldn't enter the promised land, and the passing on of his leadership to Joshua.

The "blessings and curses" section gives a particularly instructive view into Old Covenant theology: do this and good will happen, don't do this and bad will happen! But notice how their security- the ability of the people to dwell successfully in the land- was tied to their willingness to live within the Covenant. Though the terms of our Covenant with God through Jesus Christ are radically different, I believe the same can be said of us. Our ability to live a "successful" life in this world is directly related to our willingness to be "Covenant people" who have bound ourselves to life in and through Jesus Christ.

What are you learning?
What do you find interesting?

Interact, ask questions, and let the reading cause you to wrestle-

Nick

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Getting to Know...



Bio-Notes . . . Amy Guartuche (gwuare-two’chay): I grew up in Kelso, with my parents, Tom and Ann Hight, and my brother and sister, Ross and Laura. Mom homeschooled us until we entered the public school system at Kelso High. Our family came to East Hills Alliance in 1995, and I was a part of the church for the next eight years, growing up here involved in VBS, Bible quizzing, youth group and miming.


I continued my education at Lower Columbia College, exploring the idea of elementary education as my career. Then I decided to enter the military, and joined the Marine Corps. I received my training in North and South Carolina and became a mechanic, building helicopter engines. Part of my assignment was to walk alongside new Marines, helping them to adjust to their new routines, keeping their connections with home. I found I was more and more interested in helping them and gained a lot of personal satisfaction in doing that.



I had the "concrete" experience of constructing engines for eight hours, and perhaps ten minutes of mentoring time every day, helping junior Marines, and found myself feeling like that ten minutes quantified "what I had accomplished" that day.



The House:
What do you enjoy in your "free time"?



Amy:
(Laughing) I gave up my favorite free time activity for Lent this year! It’s reading, both fiction and nonfiction. When I have time, going to the gym is also refreshing for me. I enjoy family time and reacquainting myself with this area. My husband, Daniel, is from Corpus Christi, Texas, and I have been showing him around beautiful Southwest Washington.


The House:


What is your latest reading material, since Lent has taken away your reading for pleasure?


Amy:
I have been reading some church history texts for my classes, which have dismantled some of my assumptions about that subject. Also the Chronological Bible; it has been fun to join with so many others in the church and take on this project together!

The House:

What classes are you taking presently?




Amy:
Right now I am finishing up classes in church history and New Testament studies, which are part of the requirements for the Master of Divinity degree. I finished my BS in Religion through the online Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, which has a campus in Virginia. I also have my MA with Liberty, and should finish this last seminary degree next year.

I believe I am being called to the military chaplaincy, and that appears today to be His Plan. It may not go as I see it now; we’ll see. Dad (Tom Hight) always said that what is happening now is always preparing us for the future.


The House:
How do you feel God has prepared you for this assignment as intern at East Hills?

Amy:

Danny and I had a hard time finding a home church in North Carolina. The little church we eventually felt led to join had some great people in it but didn’t seem to have a lot of opportunity for us long-term. We are excited to be in a place where there are so many opportunities to "plug in"; to give and receive in so many areas of church life.



The House:
What is there about you I haven’t asked that you want to share as we get to know you?


Amy:

I am naturally an introvert, and tend to be very quiet. However, I am not shy or afraid, and I care about people, just quietly. I want to help, connect and serve, but will always be doing that quietly. I feel a deep love for God’s people.

I want people to know I am approachable, just quiet!




The House:
What is there about your assignment as intern that I haven’t asked that you want to share with us?






Amy:

It is probably going to be changing! I’ll be going forward as an intern six months at a time, then addressing with staff how I’m doing, changes to be made, addressing learning curves. Three current areas of focus are:




Discipleship: helping with connections, one-on- one or in groups; mentorship


Outreach: mobilizing our membership to reach out to neighbors, friends and co-workers, to augment what they are already doing in this area.

Volunteer Organization: supporting volunteers so that they have what they need, know they are the right person for the right job, and are loving it!

The House:
Last words?


Amy:

If you have questions, call me. Daniel and I feel like we have come home to EHA, that EHA is our family, and we really appreciate that feeling, which has come from you and getting to know you.

Preparation for Pounding


So what is THIS issue about?!?

Sounds uninviting, unless you’re a country girl from East Texas and know what a "pounding" is. I grew up the daughter of a Baptist preacher in East Texas, which I labeled "Archie Bunker’s Shangri-La" in my youth. Despite my rebellious ways, I have to acknowledge all the loving country people who lavished their bounty on our family when the church had to choose between paying the light bill, or paying the preacher.

Daddy was also a cabinet maker, always with a waiting list for his work, so he supplemented our income when the little church couldn’t, and Mother was Assistant Director of Nurses at the local state hospital for the criminally insane, where I earned my college money during the summer. (Another story, another time!)

Back to "pounding", and how it relates to the subject of this month’s The House, Preparation.

A pounding from our church family meant lots of gleaming glass jars filled with peaches, pears and berries; watermelon, dill, sweet, and bread and butter pickles; chow-chow relish; red and green tomatoes; black-eyed, green, wax, yellow, pinto, cream and crowder peas or beans; jams and jellies and butters; freshly caught or hunted fish, fowl and game.

All that lovely provision for our pantry equaled lots of preparation: clean guns, the right ammunition, sorted fishing gear, prepared gardens and fields, and many times handmade quilts, pillow cases, doilies and kitchen towels, embroidered and tucked in among the jars. These faithful country folks worked hard, gathering right materials, plowing fields, planting seeds, saving seeds for next year’s planting. Pounding meant all that preparation, and then, at the right time, producing fruit.

And all this nostalgia brings me to Lent, and what Preparation might mean for us. What is God preparing us for right now? What "fields" in your character and knowledge is He "plowing under"? What feels like fallow ground? What feels tilled up, sorted, or sifted?  

He has good plans for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) Are your mind, will and emotion in agreement with His plan for you? How might this Lenten season prepare you for being "sown" and for His Harvest in your life sometime in the near, or distant, future?

I reflect on the sweaty, sunburned face of the deacon who taught me to drive in his little black ‘40’s Ford pickup. His name was Crit Teer, and he learned to read because he delivered mail to the church, met my dad and met Jesus, and Dad taught him to read as they read the Bible together. Many times there were peck and bushel baskets of lovely things from his garden, left with my mother when he came by to pick me up for the weekly lesson.

I’m reminded of how often I need to be "broken and spilled out", like Crit was, in order to prepare for His Love to grow in my soul. How about you?

Mary Hagle
Editor, The House
We grow as we share.

Book Review

"Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking"
   by Susan Cain

Almost all my life, people have said, "You’re so quiet." My teachers commented that I didn’t speak up in class. My parents tried to push me to be more outgoing. My least favorite words in church are, "Turn around and greet someone near you." (On second thought, there is something worse: "Introduce yourself to someone you don’t know.") I am an introvert, and I grew up thinking that was a bad thing. I always wanted to be the outgoing girl that everybody noticed, but I just wasn’t made that way. And contrary to what my mother tried to convince me, I couldn’t fake it, either.

In her bestseller, Susan Cain says that at least one third of the people we know are introverts. We are often overlooked by our American culture that values extroverts. Teachers pay more attention to their extroverted students. Parents worry about their children who are quiet and introverted. Introverts are passed by for jobs and promotions. Even in the church, pastors are encouraged to adopt an extroverted, exuberant persona.

Cain points out that introverts aren’t necessary shy or socially challenged. She provides fascinating stories of introverts who have made important contributions to our world, from Rosa Parks to Steve Wozniak to Dr. Seuss. She highlights the benefits of listening and taking time to think things through.

She shows how the trend of working in teams rather than individually is not necessarily better for education and business. Some of the most interesting stories in the book are about top-notch Asian students who come to the U.S. to study, are overwhelmed by boisterous American college life, and then face difficulty getting jobs with companies that seek to hire candidates who score high on the extrovert scale on personality tests.
This book helped me to better understand myself. One of the true-false questions in an informal quiz is, "I often let calls go through to voice mail." I hadn’t realized how often I do that, especially on my business line. Now I understand that I’m hoping the caller will leave a message and tell me why they are calling, so I can be prepared for the conversation, rather than being forced to speak off the cuff – something introverts aren’t good at.

Cain offers suggestions on how introverts can be more extroverted when they have to be, and tells stories of individuals who have successful careers in fields such as entertainment and teaching. She talks about how extroverts and introverts can communicate with each other. I think one of the most important chapters addresses how parents can nurture introverted kids rather than trying to change them.

I highly recommend this book to those of you who are introverts, who live with introverts, and especially parents of introverts. It’s a well-researched and fascinating book that will help you appreciate your own strengths as well as those of other people who are "Quiet."


June Hoover


 

 

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Chronological Bible- Week 10

Well, you did it! You can pat yourself on the back if you have persevered through Leviticus and Numbers, for this week we forge ahead into the book of Deuteronomy. Way to go! If you are jumping in mid-way through the journey; no worries. Welcome! Enjoy Grace Monday and start fresh.

I have always found Deuteronomy to be much more accessible than her predecessors. Take courage!

Deuteronomy means "second law" or "repetition of the law." What makes this book exciting and interesting to me is the context. This second reading or giving of the law was most likely done by Moses on the doorstep of the Promised Land. He speaks out these words of God to a new generation. The adult population that saw the miracles of God through the plagues, the power of God at the Red Sea, and the glory of God at Mount Sinai have now passed away. A young generation, many of who were only kids or not even born at the time of the Exodus, have now come into maturity and represent the people of God. The giving of the law at Mount Sinai is only a story to them. Most of the miracles have come to them second hand. They have only experienced a small portion of the power of God compared to their ancestors.

This is what makes Deuteronomy so good. Moses is looking out across a vast crowd of young men and women that are about to enter the Promised Land. And Moses calls them to God. He calls them to remember the miracles, even ones they didn't see personally. He calls them to hold on to the covenant and the promises. He calls them to live out the words of God in a way their parents never did. He calls them to be the people God dreamed of creating and crafting for Himself when He called them out of Egypt.

I think I like this book so much because it confronts our "what have you done for me lately" mentality that is so common among us. If God hasn't parted the seas in the last few months, or days, we start to wonder what's wrong with Him, or us, and we are tempted to lose faith. We hear stories of what God did in missions' movements of the past, or revival meetings long ago, but we weren't there. We haven't always had the first-hand, front-row seat experience of our ancestors. But like Israel, we are called to remember. We are called to remember a God who gave His life for us. We are called to remember when He first found us and saved us. We are called to remember His goodness and faithfulness to us throughout the years. And then we are called to turn and face the challenges of entering a Promised Land. We are called to go and be His people.

May Deuteronomy speak to you this week of who YOU are called to be-

Nick

Thursday, March 07, 2013

The Chronological Bible- Week 9

As we continue to wind our way through the first five books of the Bible, one of the things we can't help but stop and ask is, "why are there so many laws in these books?" And, "why are they in the Bible?" For most of us, I think we feel like there is little that we can gain today from studying them, and we never hear them preached on, if not for more than a passing reference here and there. This blog is an attempt at helping all of us to understand the place these laws have in our faith today.

If you think about it, these first five books were the only Bible the Israelites had for quite some time. In fact, for several thousand years, when Jews would ask the question, "How do we live in a way that is pleasing to God?" these books- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy- were their answer. Their ONLY answer.

So imagine if you had been alive many, many years ago before the Bible came to be the Bible. You had no written record of what pleased God and what didn't. One day, God came along to you and said, "Person, if you sin, you should bring me a sacrifice!" With no other reference point, you are going to have many, many questions. Such as, "what is sinful and what isn't? What kind of sacrifice? Do all sins require the same sacrifice? When do I bring the sacrifice? Where do I bring it? Do I sacrifice it myself, or does someone else do that? What does it mean to sacrifice something to begin with? Burn it? Kill it? Eat it?" All of these questions and many like them would be logical, and expected responses to God's command.

In light of this, the length and specificity of all these books starts to make a lot more sense! I have been told that even in the 1st century at the time of Jesus, Jewish school boys were still required to memorize the entirety of these books in school. Crazy as that may sound, it actually makes a lot of sense when we remember that these rules were their primary link to pleasing God.

If reading all of these laws and commands does one thing for us, it ought to make us eternally grateful for the work of Jesus Christ. His sacrifice has ended the system of sacrifice (Hebrews 10) and made righteous forever all who trust in His name. So as you read about bulls and goats one more time, pause and thank Jesus for coming on your behalf.

So while Jesus made our approach to God much simpler, he actually made the requirements infinitely more challenging! When you think about it, Jesus summarized thousands of laws with two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Very simple, but very, very hard to do. It would actually be much easier for us to follow the sacrificial system than to live out the laws of love in every single thing we do.

This is the amazing conundrum of Jesus. He raised the bar of God's righteous standard even higher than the Old Testament law, but he lowered the bar of acceptance. In the past, the people had to obey all the commands in order to be acceptable. Jesus, however, made everyone acceptable through His blood. Why? Because God knew that when people understood they were loved and accepted by God already, they would be empowered to go and live out his law of love.

We can never hope to love God and others perfectly. But thanks to the amazing love and grace of Jesus Christ, we have the freedom to try, knowing that our acceptance before God isn't contingent on how well we obey His law. How cool is that?

So go for it. Go and love God and love others with all that you have. And when you realize you've come up short, which you always will, fall back into the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. And then go out and love some more.

May your journey through Scripture give you a deeper love for Jesus than ever before!

 Nick