Martin Luther King Jr. on Vocation

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare composed poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pasuse and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

Martin Luther King Jr. - Quoted on p. 363 of Krumboltz, J. D. & Chan, A. (2005). Professional Issues in Vocational Psychology, from Walsh W. B. & Savickas, M. L. (2005) Handbook of Vocational Psychology, 3rd edition.

German Christmas Carol Service

We went to a German Christmas Carol service tonight. It felt like I was in a psychoanalytic lecture, Freud this and Freud that...

TNIV - Variant reading in Mark

I was going to give the TNIV a chance, so I began to read in Mark. I got as far as verse 41 of chapter 1 where I read, "Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" So, I consulted my Greek New Testament (published 1994). The authors categorized this textual variant as a {B} meaning that the variant included in the text ("Jesus was moved with compassion..." - which is how nearly every other translation renders the verse) is "almost certain." The texts that support "indignant" were few and didn't seem to be more ancient than those that support the dominant translation.

"Indignant" would seem to be the kind of word that a monk might change to protect Jesus' reputation, but the weight of the textual evidence would seem to lean toward the traditional reading. So, does anyone have a more recent edition of the Nestle-Aland that would clear up why the editors went with this reading? Apparently, since my copy of the Greek New Testament was published, new papyri manuscripts have been included in the text (numbers 98 through 116) [2001 printing].

This is exactly the kind of thing I shouldn't worry about while I'm working on my dissertation...

Dutch Santa Claus

Humorist David Sedaris talks about how the Dutch understand St. Nicholas. Click this link, scroll down one episode to the one titled "Them." Click the link then fast-forward to 25 minutes in (unless you want to listen to the whole episode of This American Life). The Sedaris piece is 7 minutes long and very worth the trouble.
{Note: not dirty but a reference to other Dutch practices at the end}

Stream of Consciousness Blues

My 3-year-old daughter and I recorded a blues song last night. I think with her natural phrasing and dynamics, I could get her signed to the Fat Possum label. We have to work on her lyrics. On second thought, general incomprehensibility has made millions for others...

Listen through to the end (only a minute, thirty-eight seconds of your life squandered). I wish other musicians knew when they have said enough.

God's Self-Deception

This morning, as I headed for Dunkin Donuts for the best coffee on earth, I happened to flip to EWTN radio. I was startled to hear Luther's famous snow-covered dung analogy being discussed. The host of the show commented that it sounded to her that if God looked at us and saw Christ's righteousness rather than our sinfulness, that He would be deceiving Himself. Wow. How utterly foreign this is to the gospel.

I love the snow-covered dung analogy, especially since the alternative is so unlovely.

Happy St. Nicholas Day

I've always had a connection to St. Nicholas of Myra, since his saint day coincides with my birthday. I like him even more after I found out that he smacked Arius at the Council of Nicaea. Check out this brief biography, this account of his transformation into Santa, and this liturgical commemoration which includes new hymn lyrics that tactfully mention the slapping incident ("The heretic he scorned" heh).

Documentary on "Church Growth"