Tonight, I am staying (with some close friends) at the SOS homeless shelter in downtown Rochester with St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. But before I do that, some reflections on a great week. I hope to be able to relay some of the stories from this week’s work between the Rochester Church and folks at St. Philip’s. More on that to come.
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The Rochester College Sermon Seminar was a smashing success. Gail O’Day (from Emory University) stole the show with her lecture on friendship in the Gospel of John. She combined great scholarship with deep pastoral convictions.
Richard Hays was, well, Richard Hays—one of the real studs in New Testament studies. Greg Stevenson (RC professor and good friend) was the equivalent of a great Major League pitcher: He throws in the mid-90s, with a great change-up, and is able to stay with those two pitches for all nine innings. D’Esta Love was the first woman to preach at this event. Women scholars have presented for several years, but this was the first time a woman has delivered a focal homily. Tom Boomershine challenged me about the inherent nature of the text. David Fleer and Jerry Taylor also delivered powerful and imaginative sermon’s from John’s Gospel.
Overall, it was a stellar gathering; one of the best events that occurs in Churches of Christ. Where else do Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, Churches of Christ, Community Church, and Episcopal leaders gather under the umbrella of intense study of Scripture?
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Seven days until I and the most intelligent and beautiful woman on the planet take our first vacation in a long, long time. The stack of books I’ve ignored in my office are crying out to me.
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The Tigers continue to win in impressive fashion. This weekend’s series with the Indians will be fascinating to watch. One could make the argument that Guillen, Ordonez and Polanco are the most dangerous trio in any MLB lineup.
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I’m trying hard to stay interested in the Eastern Conference Finals. Though the Pistons are up 2-0, I find myself thinking one thing and one thing only as this series unfolds: The San Antonio Spurs may as well get their rings fitted for Duncan’s fourth NBA Championship—because it does not matter who comes out of the East the way these Spurs are playing.
I hope I’m wrong, I really do.
Please wait one moment . . .
About the Book (The Feast)
About Me
- Josh Graves
- Nashville, TN, United States
- I'm the best friend of Kara, father of Lucas, minister, author (The Feast), life-long Piston fan . . . I am the Preaching and Teaching Minister for the Otter Creek Church (Nashville) and I am working on a doctorate degree (second year) at Columbia Seminary studying the relationship of postmodernism and Christianity.
Some of Josh's Published Work (essays, books, articles, reviews)
Links
- Barbara Brown Taylor
- Brian D. McLaren
- Bronx Fellowship of Christ
- Chris Lindsey
- Columbia Seminary
- Donald Miller
- Doug Sanders
- Dry Bones--Denver
- Duke Chapel
- Focus: HOPE
- Greg Boyd
- Greg Stevenson
- Greg Taylor
- Jason Steckel
- Jesus Creed
- Jinja Mission Team
- John Mark Hicks
- John York
- Jonathan Storment
- Josh Ross
- Kara Graves (My wife and best friend)
- Kibo Group
- Larry James Urban Daily
- Lauren Winner
- Lee Camp
- Luke Norsworthy
- Mark and Lori Manry
- Mark Love (Missional Church)
- Mike Cope
- My Twitter Page
- New Wineskins Magazine
- Otter Creek Church
- Patrick Mead
- Randy Speck
- Rochester Church
- Rochester College
- Rubel Shelly
- Sean Palmer
- Stockman Family
- The One Campaign
- TOKENS (Lee Camp and the Arts)
- Wade Hodges
- Walter Surdacki
- Will Willimon
4 comments:
I seem to remember a couple years ago when they said Kobe and Shaq were getting 1 more.
Then the frog jumped down many peoples throats when the Pistons nearly swept em, and put an end to that team.
Go Pistons
Adam,
Good point. But there is another dark side too consider.
First, San Antonio is a team...the Lakers were two stars with a hodge podge cast.
Second, The Pistons were hungry in 2004, now they are fat cats.
Third, If anything, '07 Pistons resemble the Lakers of '04 not the Pistons of '04.
Fourth, They don't have a coach who can squeeze the best out of them. This is Chauncey's team, no doubt about it. The last team to win an NBA Championship that had its player as the head figure was the Bulls--and Chauncey ain't Michael.
If the Pistons beat the Cavs (and I hope they do), they will play a better team, with a better coach, with superstars who aren't full of themselves.
However, I really do love these Pistons. I've watched way too many games, read way too many stories, etc. I want them to win.. But I am not drinking the kool-aid Flip, Chauncey and Rip are handing out: that they can just turn everything on when needed.
Had fun getting locked out with you!
We'll have to play chess sometime soon. :)
Josh,
Enjoyed these thoughts. I would say, though, that I thought D'Esta stole the show. It was hard to describe the night. God was present, palpable even. Even Hays and O'Day, who are from traditions that have already dealt with some of our issues and concerns, were moved powerfully by the night.
People were caught up in the night and simply wanted to remain in that space. It was as if the theatre had become holy ground that people dare not leave.
Of course, O'Day brought some incredible stuff, as did Hays. I continue to think about the implications of O'Day's use of Jesus as the embodiment of the philosopher's ideal friend. So much came alive to me with that category. Even the text Hays highlighted, where the leaders were asking Jesus to speak "openly" to them connected to O'Day's thesis. The word for openly there is the same word translated "boldly" in other contexts, such as the discussion of the ideal friend.
Alright, I'm writing my own post on your comments section. Sorry about that.
Hope all is well.
Have a great vacation!
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