October 31, 2005

Update for 31 October 2005: REFORMATION DAY!

So October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 theses for debate, and this is usually taken as the beginning date from the protestant reformation. Pretty sweet. Especially here at Calvin where there is a Reformation Day party in the Meeter Center at the library, which holds one of the most extensive collections of John Calvin's writings,as well as a large number of other rare books from the Reformers.
 
It has again been a couple of weeks since I last updated the website. Its funny, because I really want to be able to update it more often - in fact, I could see myself easily becoming obsessed with it - but, as testiment to not having as much time as I would like to do everything that I would like to do, I instead am still rarely updating. I think for ease of updating, my brother Eric will be installing blogging software for the site, so we will see how that works. He has been doing a fair amount of blogging and researching blogging; check out what Eric is thinking at uglyblog.com.
 
And now, what have I been thinking/doing?
 
Last night at LOFT (I wasn't playing, but...) Paul Ryan, who is the adult in charge of us kids who plan and lead LOFT services,and who also recently finished his M.Div and Calvin Theological Seminary and even more recently was passed by the Christian Reformed Church Grand Rapids classis as recommended for ordination; last night, was Paul's ordination service. Thats cool. He's been looking forward to this for number of years now. How much was he looking forward to it? Well, in the hopes that he doesn't get upset about me posting this, I will relate something to you all. Two years ago, when Paul first started working with LOFT, there was a night when he preached, and its a LOFT tradition to have the visiting pastors give the blessing at the end of the sermon. One thing they stress in seminary is that until ordination, you aren't allowed to raise your hands in blessing the church. So we on the LOFT team, Dean Kladder really, tried to convince him to do it anyways. Paul refused, likening such an act to having sex before marriage. So last night, in what he described as his marriage to the church, Paul gave the blessing, hands raised. Asked if it was a comparable act of consummation to that of the wedding night, Paul had to admit, "Well, maybe not quite as good..."
 
Oh man, and this is great because now I get to go back to something else I've been thinking about, and it related to Reformation Day. Martin Luther, in "Freedom of a Christian Man" emphasizes that we are the bride of Christ, and as such, that which is ours - sin, sickness, and shame - he takes upon himself, giving us instead that which is his - righteousness, health, and honor. Though we be a broken and shameful prostitute, Christ, in taking us as his bride, says that we are now his, under his name and reputation. In "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, he says something to the effect that the miracle is not that we are now completely sinless, but that Jesus no longer accounts our sin to us; though we are broken, Jesus no longer sees us as broken. I was reading this yesterday, and it reminded of John Stocker's (the pastor of Resurrection Fellowship in Fort Collins, Colorado) book, "You're as Healed as You are Saved". In it there is a moment when he realized that even though he was still very sick, it was ok for him to declare that he was healed. I guess I will keep this in mind on days when I don't feel very healed...
 
Other things I have been doing: Handcycling, I now have a handcycle, and have been using it for about two weeks. I am not in very good shape at all. But it feels so good for my lungs to be burning sucking in the fall air. I've also been getting into Calvin's weightroom a couple times a week for maybe three weeks now. I decided that its time for me to get back in shape a little bit, at least. This weekend I watched Calvin's mens and womens cross country teams clean up at the MIAA conference meet, and then my house hosted the annual cross country costume party - consistently one of the more fun occaisions of the year.
 
Bombing tests. On Friday I'm pretty sure I did very poorly on an exam that I didn't prepare for very well. I didn't realize that we had gotten a review sheet (I'm extremely unorganized) and I found it after the test, realizing that I would have done significantly better if I had looked it, and studied the things it suggested. Oh well. School goes on, I actually have to go to this same class in a few minutes...
 
I played at open mic night in the cafe at school here. It was fun, though I broke a string right off the bat and had to use someone else's guitar (inferior to my guitar...). Oh well again, it was fine.
 
Alright, thats all for now, I think.