Last week, I asked Deb how I might try to pray for a situation whose desired outcome is unclear. On one hand, I might pray for something to happen. On the other hand, of course, I might also have cause to pray for the same thing to not happen. And sometimes, it's just not clear which way to pray.
What follows is an excerpt from a course integration paper I wrote for my History & Theology of Christian Worship class this past quarter. It is valuable if only because it recounts in a very cursory way the larger themes of the course.
We began the quarter considering Rudolf Otto’s Das Heilege—the Idea of the Holy. [...]
A FOUR-YEAR PROJECT
SENIOR CAPSTONE REFLECTION
WHY NOT A MINISTER?
There is a small square of blue paper that sits above my desk. It’s a piece of paper that I have looked at every day for the last three years. Measuring three inches square, it has the scrawl of a seventh-grade boy. “why not a minister?” it [...]
SPU SCHOOL of THEOLOGY
COMMISSIONING SERVICE
NATE BERENDS
8 JUNE 2009
I am interested in recalling a Chapel service that took place in February in which our own Dean, Dr. Doug Strong and Pastor Mark Abbott from First Free spoke together on purity of heart. They [...]
Sometimes when I am writing, I lose track of that line between where I end and fiction begins. I presented one such bit of writing as part of a Chapel service today.
I long for intimacy. As a senior this year, I don’t know if I ever thought of it in these terms, but I had [...]
+Why People End Up In Alaska
Since the footings of our nation were laid, people’s pursuit of discovery has always led westward. It seems, then, only logical to regard Alaska as a culminating point in that journey.
In my first weeks, I noticed that the introduction processes around here have an extra feature. In addition to [...]
I have, lately, been trying to figure out the logistics of being angry at God.
I read an article in a Cleveland, Ohio newspaper about Patrick's death, and in the comments section, people kept talking about how his family's deep and abiding faith would carry them through. Frankly speaking, that sounds like some bullshit that somebody would only say if they hadn't ever lost a son, a brother, a close friend. Like my friend Carissa, I'm not okay with dismissing this as a matter of God's will.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and [...]
Where can we find the intersection of faith and science? (And what do those question marks on the diagram below reperesent?)
Draw your own conclusions on this one (The full essay is here.):
Excerpt:
In the 21st century? Science and technology has to face many difficulties. The planet is full. We will be 10 to 12 [...]
I show you inside, and we find our seats within The Shed—that’s what they call the main worship space, I say. Facing the middle, we’re sitting pretty near where the men’s socks used to be, maybe.