The past two days have been a time of specific revelation and joy in the Spirit.
Thursday night I had a blessed conversation with God and with Jesse about sin, shame, pride, hypocrisy, freedom, forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. This morning as I prayed on the seal of the College, the Lord spoke to me about love and forgiveness and the real power He has given me. At breakfast I spoke with my sister Jessica Noha, one of my new friends, a senior, about the things the Lord had shared with me last night. And I was able to articulate one of the things God has been working into me: being a minister of the gospel is not being for others the model of a perfect man, but instead it’s being for others the model of a redeemed man, one forgiven of his sins and saved by grace. Praise the Lord.
I finished my language paper for class yesterday. I was happy that I was able to round off some of my thoughts, but overall it’s a rough paper. If there are typographical and grammatical errors, I’m not too concerned.
Instead of discussing Euclid, my maths tutor Ms. Blits led an hour-long discussion about racial tension, culture, custom, law—things all relevant not only to our current studies at the College but also to our social lives. Recently there was an episode of conflict on the campus (some may call it “immaturity,” but others deem it “racism”) and the reaction of some of the students to such a breach of civility, which is a tenet this education was founded upon. Because we’re such a close community here, when one part of the polity acts, it’s a dramatic representation of us in our entirety. The students here have almost no codified rules to follow; but instead we’ve submitted ourselves to a culture and customs that call for (regardless of philosophical responsibility) at least civility, which enables the entirety of the Program to exist. Having a group of students threaten the customs has called for serious considerations taken by the polity as a whole, asking questions about what we can do to preserve our culture and prevent degeneration and dissipation from entering within and without. Anyway, that’s a conversation to be saved for another time.
After maths I walk around with Michael and talked about many things under the sun. And then I went to Jesse’s room and talked more about all those other things under the sun. Praise the Lord for the fellowship of the brethren and the Holy Spirit. We went to dinner, a Bible study, and then to lecture. The lecture was on the negro spiritual as a choral art form, ironically enough. The lecturer was Dr. James “Papa” Norris, a professor from Howard University. He was a charming elderly man. His lecture was decent, but unfortunately he threw around some interesting bits of information without really sufficient explication, as Alexandra made clear to me afterward. He spoke about the textual references of many of the spirituals’ lyrics and how they were relevant to many places, things, and people from the Old and New Testaments, and he listed many of them off but didn’t choose to explain the connections between the texts and the music; Alexandra said she was tantalized by those tidbits but her lack of knowledge about both the Bible and the “slave culture” of the old South made it difficult to connect the things he listed with the music he described. To supplement the lecture he had a chorus from Howard University. It was breathtaking and very beautiful music—full of passion and, certainly, a powerful art form. He also preached the gospel in the middle of his lecture. Of course Michael, Jesse, and I thought that was wonderful and we grinned through most of it. Praise the Lord.
Afterward, the three of us went to the gym. Jesse wanted to work out and I decided to do some dancing. I’d left a mix of Jesus-songs in the yoga room so I popped that in and danced for a while as Michael did some reading. It was the first time Jesse and Michael had seen me dance. We simply enjoyed the fellowship of the evening and then we eventually split up. Michael came to my room for a while and stayed late. I went to bed around two o’clock while having a discussion with Ethan about culture, the influences upon culture, and what can be done to change culture (if it’s possible to do so). We have some of the most interesting conversations as we’re falling asleep.
This morning is a blessed experience. God is good, and His love endures forever. Amen.
Thursday night I had a blessed conversation with God and with Jesse about sin, shame, pride, hypocrisy, freedom, forgiveness, love, and faithfulness. This morning as I prayed on the seal of the College, the Lord spoke to me about love and forgiveness and the real power He has given me. At breakfast I spoke with my sister Jessica Noha, one of my new friends, a senior, about the things the Lord had shared with me last night. And I was able to articulate one of the things God has been working into me: being a minister of the gospel is not being for others the model of a perfect man, but instead it’s being for others the model of a redeemed man, one forgiven of his sins and saved by grace. Praise the Lord.
I finished my language paper for class yesterday. I was happy that I was able to round off some of my thoughts, but overall it’s a rough paper. If there are typographical and grammatical errors, I’m not too concerned.
Instead of discussing Euclid, my maths tutor Ms. Blits led an hour-long discussion about racial tension, culture, custom, law—things all relevant not only to our current studies at the College but also to our social lives. Recently there was an episode of conflict on the campus (some may call it “immaturity,” but others deem it “racism”) and the reaction of some of the students to such a breach of civility, which is a tenet this education was founded upon. Because we’re such a close community here, when one part of the polity acts, it’s a dramatic representation of us in our entirety. The students here have almost no codified rules to follow; but instead we’ve submitted ourselves to a culture and customs that call for (regardless of philosophical responsibility) at least civility, which enables the entirety of the Program to exist. Having a group of students threaten the customs has called for serious considerations taken by the polity as a whole, asking questions about what we can do to preserve our culture and prevent degeneration and dissipation from entering within and without. Anyway, that’s a conversation to be saved for another time.
After maths I walk around with Michael and talked about many things under the sun. And then I went to Jesse’s room and talked more about all those other things under the sun. Praise the Lord for the fellowship of the brethren and the Holy Spirit. We went to dinner, a Bible study, and then to lecture. The lecture was on the negro spiritual as a choral art form, ironically enough. The lecturer was Dr. James “Papa” Norris, a professor from Howard University. He was a charming elderly man. His lecture was decent, but unfortunately he threw around some interesting bits of information without really sufficient explication, as Alexandra made clear to me afterward. He spoke about the textual references of many of the spirituals’ lyrics and how they were relevant to many places, things, and people from the Old and New Testaments, and he listed many of them off but didn’t choose to explain the connections between the texts and the music; Alexandra said she was tantalized by those tidbits but her lack of knowledge about both the Bible and the “slave culture” of the old South made it difficult to connect the things he listed with the music he described. To supplement the lecture he had a chorus from Howard University. It was breathtaking and very beautiful music—full of passion and, certainly, a powerful art form. He also preached the gospel in the middle of his lecture. Of course Michael, Jesse, and I thought that was wonderful and we grinned through most of it. Praise the Lord.
Afterward, the three of us went to the gym. Jesse wanted to work out and I decided to do some dancing. I’d left a mix of Jesus-songs in the yoga room so I popped that in and danced for a while as Michael did some reading. It was the first time Jesse and Michael had seen me dance. We simply enjoyed the fellowship of the evening and then we eventually split up. Michael came to my room for a while and stayed late. I went to bed around two o’clock while having a discussion with Ethan about culture, the influences upon culture, and what can be done to change culture (if it’s possible to do so). We have some of the most interesting conversations as we’re falling asleep.
This morning is a blessed experience. God is good, and His love endures forever. Amen.
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