Journal

Adapted from one of Peter Marshall's prayers for the Senate.

O Lord Our God, if ever we needed Thy wisdom and Thy guidance, it is now--as we stand upon the threshold of a new year, fraught with so many dangerous opportunities. We pray that Thou wilt bless this man chosen by the people of this nation, for Thou knowest him, his needs, his motives, his hopes, and his fears. Lord Jesus, put Thine arm around him and give him strength, and speak to him to give him wisdom greater than his won. May he hear Thy voice, and seek Thy guidance. May he remember that Thou are concerned about what is said and done here, and may he have clear conscience before Thee, that he need fear no man. Bless each of us according to our deepest need, and use us for Thy glory, we humbly ask in Jesus' name.

As I sit here listening to Obama's inaugural speech (a very good one), I am struck by a change in my reality. The hope that Obama describes is no longer my hope. I do sincerely pray that Obama can achieve and continue to espouse the ideals he proposed in this speech. But my ideals, while not entirely contradictory, cannot be won by the great efforts of a nation...or a President. Rather, they have already been achieved by one man, one God. My hope is not that we should work tirelessly to create and protect these great ideals, but that we should work tirelessly to proclaim the truth that these ideals have already been created and are available. Available in America...but more especially available in Afghanistan, and Iraq, and North Korea, and Columbia Colombia, and...and...and...

*NOTE: Curious about why "Columbia" came up as a legitimate spelling, I checked the definition: Columbia: America; the United States; -- a poetical appellation given in honor of Columbus, the discoverer. (from Webster) I consider this perhaps one of those wonderful unintended uses of language. :-)

It still continues to be one of my dreams to spend several years of my life living on a ship, sailing from one harbour to another, reading and writing and meeting friends along the way.

Problem is...you would kind of have to be rich to do that. Plus, from what I hear, life on the high seas hasn't gotten any safer.

There are a lot of things on my mind right now. Normally, that would mean for a very productive time on the blog. And yet, as I'm sure you've noticed...silence. Perhaps that means that there has just been too much on my mind.

Part of the difficulty has been that I've had to devote my writing time elsewhere. School, naturally, takes its share. But that's typical. Really, the bulk of my writing time has gone to church preparation. Writing sermons. Writing Bible studies. Writing children's lessons. It's just unfortunate that none of it is really "web-publishable." I think the next sermon I do (to be preached next week) should be publishable, so at least that will go up on bdwhite.com in the near future.

The major thought process going through my head right now, though, has to do with the Church. I've been reading a significant amount of Barth lately, and have been challenged by him, as well as by one of the classes I am currently taking at seminary, to really think through what the Church is and what my part is in it. Fundamentally, the questions I have seem to be presenting themselves in new and interesting/difficult pragmatic ways in my work at Praise. And I don't want to steer my "flock" wrong.

So what is required now? Much Bible reading. Much prayer. And the always welcome dialogue with friends and family (whether you're Christian or not).

Here is are some really basic (and therefore difficult to pin-down) questions. And I would love it if you all would feel comfortable leaving your answers in the comments so that all could benefit from your insights. If you're not comfortable with that, though, do email me. I really do want to try to think about these questions in the context of the community.

Right...basic questions:
1) What is the Church? How does it function in our society? How should it function in our society?

2) What is the Church's vocation? Who gives it this vocation? Who empowers the Church to fulfil its vocation?

3) Who makes up the Church? What are the membership requirements? What does it mean to be a member? What does it mean to be excluded from membership?

That's a start. My hope is to offer up my own answers to these questions in time--maybe a week or two. :-)

A simple title for a simple entry.

It's good to be home. I've spent the vast majority of the time so far with family. It has been especially good seeing my sister again. I don't see her nearly enough. Also, my grandmother made the trip down from Boise City, and I've really missed her since leaving the farm for NJ last Fall.

It's sad that the Christmas holiday will vanish so quickly. But, I'll do my best to cherish the time that I have.

Many Christmas blessings to all of you. May the joy of the choir of angels that sang to the shepherds that night long ago be with you!

Let's see. Just a couple of check-in things right now, I guess.

First of all, school is going well. To be honest, I've had a difficult time getting my writing back in the groove. I'm really hoping that I can end the semester in strength, though. I'm working on my two main papers very early, and the 10-page summary of my thesis shouldn't be too bad now that I actually know where I'm heading with it.

Church is going really well. I'm very much enjoying being back at Praise, even though it is busy as ever! I continue to be confronted with my own shortcomings as a youth and children's pastor, though. I still have a lot to learn, and I may just have to accept the fact that it won't matter how much I learn, I will always be lacking in this area of ministry. However, as I say that, I also have grown in the faith that God is in control. Specifically what I mean by this is that I know that God knows who I am--God is the one who has given me my personality with all its interesting quirks. God made me the introvert that I am. And, while God may sometimes expect me to stretch myself and move outside of where I am comfortable, at the end of the day, I trust that God has not called me to a place where my particular individual traits are not appropriate. In other words, I am comfortable with myself and my shortcomings (while nonetheless continuing to strive to be a better "me") because I know that God made me who I am, and that means that God can use me as I am.

Some fun facts:
1) I finally finished Resident Evil 4 on my Gamecube. This was a great game. I'm really glad that I finished it, though, because now I won't have to feel guilty playing my Gamecube for an hour when I know I should be reading.

2) The farmers are starting to harvest the corn out here. I was driving back from the store yesterday, well past dark, and a farmer was busy harvesting in the combine with his flood-lights blazing. It made me a little sad. I would have loved to be home to help out with our harvest. It made me wonder, though, if I stick around for the next year (as is my current plan), if maybe I could get a job helping some of these local farmers out during harvest or planting season. :-)

3) I had a wonderful time meeting up with my old small group from Seminary this past weekend. I am just amazed by the group of people who I can call friends. They are all just incredible--and the way God is using them and working in their lives makes me a little jealous, but mostly just glad.

Well, I think that's a pretty good update for now. I hope everyone who reads this is doing well, and is preparing for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Yeah. I'm really not dead. I've certainly been busier than I would like, what with school and especially church work. Unfortunately, I'm not looking for this to change much until mid-December. However, I think I am going to try to be better about giving small updates via the microblag (over there on the right). This way, at least you won't have to worry that I've been transported to some parallel universe, or fell into a giant pit, or was sucked up by a black hole created by the Large Hadron Collider. Because I know that's what you all were worrying about. :-)

I think thesis and dissertation titles would sound much more interesting and infinitely less snooty if, instead of saying what the paper is about, we titled it based upon what we hoped to learn during the process of writing it.

For example, my thesis topic: A Japanese Buddhist Missiological Response to Barth's 'True Religion'

What I want to learn: What is the essence of the gospel, and how do we pass it on without getting in the way?

See what I mean?

Well, I just turned in my thesis proposal. I'm really hoping it gets accepted as-is since I have to have it officially endorsed by the registrar and my adviser by Friday. Yeah...Friday. I would say that its my own fault for getting it in so late. But, really...its not. My adviser was out of town until the beginning of classes, and then he wasn't able to meet with me until last Friday. So, basically, I did all my preliminary research, and wrote up my proposal in the period of 5 days. Yeah. Not too shabby, I think.

Of course...now there's just that one sticking point of not knowing if it will be accepted or not.

Here's hoping!