I am desperately looking for the perfect word.
it has undertones (or overtones) of/implicitly and explicitly says all these things:
trespass, intrusion, encroachment, impinge, infringe, audacity, effrontery, insult.

does anyone know this word? please say yes. before tuesday. i need it for my sermon.

hmm..you might need a little context. 2 Samuel 6. Uzzah reaches out and touches the ark, and God strikes him dead.
so the sentences in the sermon look something like this (right now):
The cart is shaking, maybe trembling or even rattling...and the ark seems to be shifting around a bit. The parade arrives on some level ground, a threshing floor, and Uzzah takes the opportunity to remedy the problem, at least a little. He reaches out his non-ritually purified hand and takes hold of the ark to steady it, and God is furious about this ________. (or, God is infuriated by his _______.)

any ideas? please? i'm so sidetracked by this word that i can't quite get--it's on the edge of my brain somewhere, the tip of my tongue, the border of my consciousness, etc....and i just can't quite get it--that i can't even move on and work on the rest of the sermon. this is bad because i have a good four pages left to write. at least. there's a lot of ground to cover still, and i'm not there yet! help me!

tGif.

that's all for now.

two tasks for tomorrow down, three to go.
those three would be:
1. 2 Samuel 3.1-39...translated.
2. Memorize a bunch of stuff for preaching/worship class
3. watch Dawson's Creek.

the two things I have accomplished today?
1. Read "any 100 pages" of a book for exegesis class. no, not just any book, a specific book, about 1 Samuel.
2. An analysis (chart and word study) of 1 Samuel 25.23-42.

see, i've been working today! I even slept in because we didn't have class. ("slept in"=8:15, but that's an extra hour!)

right...Dawson's is in an hour I think. time to get to work on...one of the things i'm supposed to do. isn't it sad to be living so day-to-day? i have a gazillion things to do between now and the end of school, and they are so many that i simply have to do it one day at a time. planning ahead? WHATEVER.

maybe tomorrow.

it is tuesday.

just in case you were wondering.

it is finished...
and turned in...
and it's nap time...

so, it's a little late, but give me a break, i was at church early and i napped in the afternoon and now i'm writing a paper. in any case, here's a hymn for easter (or any morning, really) for you. it's from the Iona Community and the tune is a celtic one that i don't know the name of, but it's very lovely. i'll post that info tomorrow....anyway...

"I Owe My Lord a Morning Song"

I owe my Lord a morning song
For God has meant this day.
Through fears of night and hidden light,
God moves and wills my way.

I owe my Lord a morning song
For Jesus rose at dawn.
He made death die and would not lie,
That others might live on.

I owe my Lord a morning song
The Spirit gave me voice.
Nor did she force my sould to praise
But honored me with choice.

I owe my Lord a morning song
How can I help but sing
When God is all in all and I
Am one with every thing.

....

back to the paper now. happy easter!

results of lenten discipline poll:
4 of you read more, and 4 of you pray more.
2 of you give up sex, and 2 of you fast the whole forty days (you must be glad it's easter!).
1 of you gives up ice cream/cookies/other goodies. and 1 of you gives up your new year's resolutions. except i think that last one might have been me. LOL.
anyway...happy easter....new poll....enjoy some quality cadbury time and some quality risen Lord time. :-)

peace...

Happy Easter, all!

my recommended holy week hymn, instead of Love Unknown?
Ah, Holy Jesus. Presbyterian Hymnal 93.
Text: Johann Heermann, 1630 (Trans. Robert Bridges, 1899, altered version found in Psalter Hymnal 1987)
Tune: HERZLIEBSTER JESU, 11.11.11.5, Johann Cruger, 1640

Ah, holy jesus, how have you offended,
That mortal judgment has on you descended?
By foes derided, by your own rejected,
O most afflicted!

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon you?
It is my treason. Lord that has undone you.
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied you;
I crucified you.

For me, dear Jesus, was your incarnation,
Your mortal sorrow, and your life's oblation,
Your death of anguis and your bitter passion,
For my salvation.

Therefore, dear Jesus, since I cannot pay you,
I do adore you, and will ever praise you,
Think on your pity and your love unswerving,
Not my deserving.

---
now, i recognize that this is as individualist as they come. i suggest that this hymn be paired with O Love, How Deep, how Broad, How High. it is five verses and I am NOT going to type them all out. it is PH number 83...tune DEO GRACIAS (LM).

And, since Easter is tomorrow....I highly recommend "Christ Is Alive!", number 108, by Brian Wren, to the tune TRURO (also LM). or Jesus Christ is Risen Today, number 123, tune EASTER HYMN. :-) that one has a descant that is particularly fun to sing if you are standing near a brass ensemble in your church. heheh!

anyway, i am supposed to be doing stuff right now, and i might be going out (i still don't know...). it's time to figure out the evening, or to write a paper. i enjoyed this little foray into the wonderful world of hymnody...can you tell what my interest and passion is? hmm......

happy easter, all...

ok, here's the Love Unknown rewrite, as promised. on the last day before easter....anyway....

original text (Presbyterian version...number 76)
text by Samuel Crossman, 1664.
tune: LOVE UNKNOWN (6.6.6.6.4.4.4.4) by John Ireland, 1918, copyright John Ireland Trust.

My song is love unknown,
My Savior's love to me,
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
O who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?

Christ came from heaven's throne
Salvation to bestow,
But people scorned and none
The longed for Christ would know.
But O my Friend,
My Friend indeed,
Who at my need
His life did spend!

Sometimes they strew his way,
And His sweet praises sing,
Resounding all the way
Hosannas to their King.
Then "Crucify!"
Is all their breath,
And for His death
They thirst and cry.

They rise, and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay.
Yet steadfast He
To suffering goes,
That He His foes
From thence might free.

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine:
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend,
In whose sweet praise
I all my days
Could gladly spend.


major issue...MAJOR: The text implies that "they" did all the bad stuff while "I" have nothing to do with it and in fact "I" am so good that i "could" spend all my days in sweet praise. Too much "they" vs. "I"...THEY strew his way, THEY shout crucify, THEY thirst for death...THEY slay the prince of life...but here I will stay and sing the amazing story. because of Jesus' love for ME ME ME, not so much for the people who were shouting "Crucify". (I know y'all are going to look again and say "what about the end of verse four?" well, when was the last time you were singing this hymn and you notices that the end of verse four says that Jesus frees his foes from death? my guess is that most or all of us have glossed over that in our slightly self-righteous singing of this hymn, which overwhelmingly places us on the innocent side of this whole deal. too bad only Jesus was on the innocent side. anyway..)

so, here is my main suggestion: that "they" language be changed to "we" language. after all, hymns are primarily for use in the gathered community and, as such, are usually bad with too much "i" language anyway, let alone me vs. them language. I would propose two options for verse One...either change to we language and add it again as verse 6 in the original "I" form...or change it to "we" to begin with. I prefer option one as it maintains the idea that Jesus died for the entire community, of which I am a part and therefore also for me as an individual. Also, in verse five I propose a change to "should" instead of "could" to imply responsibility rather than ability. I also hear a few people potentially saying that this is noting a historical reality, that it really was "them" crucifying Jesus...well, I would simply say back that none of us are innocent of that, that every time we are the goats of Matthew 25--not feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, etc--and every time we are the Pharisee passing by the battered man on the roadside instead of the Samaritan helping out, we participate as the crowd in the crucifixion. don't try to claim that if it were all happening now you'd be innocent, because it's a lie. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." so, here goes...a rough rewrite...


Our song is love unknown,
Our Savior's love to all,
Love to the loveless shown
That we might lovely be.
O who are we
That for our sake
The Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?

Christ came from heaven's throne
Salvation to bestow,
But people scorned and none
The longed for Christ would know.
But O our Friend,
Our Friend indeed,
Who at our need
His life did spend!

Sometimes we strew his way,
And His sweet praises sing,
Resounding all the way
Hosannas to our King.
Then "Crucify!"
Is all our breath,
And for His death
We thirst and cry.

We rise, and needs will have
Our dear Lord made away;
A murderer we save,
The Prince of life we slay.
Yet steadfast He
To suffering goes,
That He His foes
From thence might free.

Here might we stay and sing,
No story so divine:
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine.
This is our Friend,
In whose sweet praise
We all our days
Should gladly spend.

My song is love unknown,
My Savior's love to me,
Love to the loveless shown
That they might lovely be.
O who am I
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?

I did in fact go to church. we put nails in the cross..it was very powerful.
tomorrow (easter) is a long church day--we leave here at 6am and won't be home until probably 1pm. good times!

slightly odd website of the day: this one.

that's all for now. i'm supposed to be working on my eucharist paper and deciding whether or not to go hear this band at a pub, for matt's birthday. decisions, decisions.

i might not be going to church today.
i don't know how to do Good Friday without church...and worse, how to do Easter without having done Good Friday.
I wish, for the first time, that I was back at home in Chicago. I miss my church, I miss the people, I miss the importance of this day, and right at this moment I miss the transportation system.
all because I don't have a car, the most important day in the church calendar may go by without me being in church.
this is WAY wrong.
oy.

done.
not good, but done.
i'll have to get up earlier than usual in order to read through and discern whether there are any last minute changes that i can make to improve it, or if they will only make it worse and i should just turn it in as is.
that means i get to sleep for roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes.
it's like a nap, really.
i can slouch all i want now, because i'm done.
goodnight.

i'm finding it very difficult to sit up straight right now.
I want to slouch and slouch until i'm horizontal, sleeping. even here on the floor of the computer lab.
although, really, you never know where people's feet (or shoes) have been, so maybe not.
maybe the sofa in the social room just down the hall.
or better yet, my own bed.
maybe i should stop procrastinating and just finish the dumb paper.
but i don't want to sit up straight anymore, i want to slouch. and i don't think as well slouching.
also it's bad for your back. supposedly.
it's almost 2am.
oh dear...6 hours 30 minutes until the paper is due.
why, i ask myself, didn't i start earlier?
i was sick...i was recovering from spring break...i was unmotivated...it was sunny outside...i didn't want to sit up straight...
notice i can type forever here and yet my paper is not getting any closer to done.

i'll do it. i'll sit up straight, i'll write the paper, and the outline, and the chart, and i'll let y'all know when it's really truly finished.

ta.

writing a paper.
it's nearly 2 am.
the paper is not good yet.
nor is it done.
it probably won't be good when it is done, and i will be very tired.
i'm already tired.
oy.

oh, and i'm starving. Very Hungry, I say. and i don't have any food in my room...and the 'tory isn't open until monday....oh dear. hungry.

I have a Very Bad sunburn.
I feel like the building/ground/room is swaying/rocking like a boat.
I had the best spring break of my life.
it was awesome.
especially when I heard that it has been raining up here ALL WEEK LONG. And I was basking in the sun (too much basking, too much sun, not enough sunscreen obviously, and not enough ice cream either..hmm.), relaxing, enjoying some time in Key West and in Cozumel Mexico, eating WAY too much, dancing, eating, eating, sitting in the sun, playing around, eating...
it was a fantastic week. except for the day the boat rocked so much that there were maybe 10 people on the entire boat who weren't feeling seasick. and even that day was good, because i just laid on the deck all afternoon, eating french fries or pizza occasionally, drinking coke, reading a fluff book, napping...etc.
it was a good week. :-)
happy weekend to all. i have to go unpack, and maybe do some laundry. definitely do some laundry.
ttfn!

must pack!
i'll be gone for a week. not that this is a big new thing for anyone, because i am a slacker about this blog just now. so much work to do, so little time, so no internet in my apartment anymore....
i am going on a cruise. when i return, it will be almost holy week. how exciting is that?
i will post here my revision of Love Unknown when i get back. i will also give y'all full updates on the state of the caribbean sea when i get back.
things i will NOT be knowledgeable about when i return:
1. world news, especially news of the war.
2. church history.
3. cloudiness/cold weather.

woohoo!
see y'all in a week. ttfn. don't forget to eat ice cream on wednesday.

guess what i am going to do for spring break?

that's right...i'm going on a cruise. a Western Caribbean cruise, five days, my friend katie....oh yes.

in other news, i have realized that the theology in the hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown" (Presbyterian Hymnal #76) is really awful. i'm planning to rewrite. it only takes a few words changed and it will be perfectly fine.

i leave sunday for this cruise experience. yay...my first cruise! woohoo!

:-)
I need to get my hair cut now. ttfn.