If you’re reading this, then I implore you to stop and consider for a moment whether or not you would like to partner with me in ministry. Seminary has been great and I really need to blog about it as soon as this wk is over and hopefully I get some time to myself. I dont have time to write a nice newsletter update, so I’m resorting to this short notice.

I really need support. Not only for this Fall — still need $550 to finish off my payment — but also for the coming Spring. Spring registration begins next wk and I wont be able to register b/c I still owe funds. Help, pls! Next semester I have to start all over again raising $2850. It’s a financial stress, as well as energy-draining to go wk by wk not knowing if I can continue seminary from semester to semester. Regular monthly support would be fabulous. Every little bit helps. If 20 people support me $25/month, I would be set for the whole yr.

Unfortunately, I’m not only raising support for seminary, but also for URBANA. I say ‘unfortunately’ b/c it divides people’s givings to have two options to support. The URBANA issue I havent touched in my blogs yet. Just know that as of now my group of girls and I have no transport. I cant book flights for us b/c there’s not enough funding. Please consider supporting us as a group. We’re trying to raise the last $2000 we have left just for transportation and misc fees. We’re also selling stuff (mostly mine) in order to raise a few dollars here and there. If you’re interested, pls go to CLLEnglish.org and click on URBANA-Fundraising.

Thanks all!

Based on my last entry, an assessment of my pastor-friend, Hosive’s blog, and a suggestion from a DM friend, I decided to map out how I would like my blogging to go. Ideally, I would follow this schedule so I dont run into what happened last time, which is that I mixed a bunch of topics together and posted over-much. I’d also try to create a template for each topic so that I’m not left wondering where to begin for each post. That’s a bit more micro-managing than I can handle right now but eventually I’ll get there.  So, here’s the suggested flow.

• MONDAYS – Marriage/Family
• WEDNESDAYS – Work/Teaching
• FRIDAYS – Seminary/Pastoring
• SATURDAYS – Cooking/Bentos/Meal-Planning
• SUNDAYS – Books/Rest/Health

And I would immediately copy from WordPress to my LJ so I can keep my DMers in the loop, since they’re the ones who get shafted all the time! =X I’m hoping to stick with it, but you know – life happens! So, stay tuned. I’m gonna try to start after Columbus Day wknd when my mid-term paper is over!

I need to be like my friend, Maggie Smith (hey there, Texas! ) and post anything and everything all day long! Seriously, I’m envious of Maggie. She works hard all day, takes care of her 50 adopted cats at home, makes healthy food from scratch, attends kick-ass parties, and still has time to be an Ajah Head and make multiple entries on multiple blogs, tweet and update her FB status. WTH!?! She’s amazing.

There are several things I should be posting about anyway:

Marriage – First yr! So far things are great. I married the most amazing man in the world. <3 Already getting the baby questions, but back off! We’re waiting a few yrs. So now you know. It’s good for us to just enjoy time together and also I’m super-busy with the other things I should be posting about:

Everyday Chinese for Children

Work/Teaching – I’m working harder than ever before to make my lessons more efficient. Now that I know how to create a good Chinese lesson, it’s easier but more complicated, if that makes any sense. I took a course last Fall at Hunter College on Chinese Teaching Methodology. It was totally a God-thing. My professor turned out to be the author of my textbook!! =O (Didnt notice that til the 2nd day of class. ) It was also all in Mandarin, which was really good for me. I’m feeling Mandarin-deprived ever since marrying into a Cantonese-speaking family. =/ It’s terrible for my input (how much Mandarin I hear), which I need lots of in order to keep my fluency. Need to watch more soap operas… >_> [But honestly, now that I think about it - why do I put so much pressure on myself to be so fluent in Chinese anyway? o_O I know I love the language and I'm surrounded by the ppl, and I may as well be Chinese... but. Yea, there's a 'but' remaining. Sometimes I put too much of a burden on myself and it isnt fun anymore. ]

So back to the lessons thing. Yea. It’s great to have the basic structure, and to know how my textbook was set up so I can get the most out of it. But, it does complicate things because I need to think through every single aspect of the lesson and map out how to get from one point to the next. This is called Backward Design in education lingo. I love it; it’s just not a cake-walk. I am putting all my lessons on powerpoint so that I can have my materials already set when I walk in the classroom. I am also using flashcards to reinforce the lessons. Most of them I have from the curriculum, but some I have to make. The powerpoints are the hard part b/c they have to contain the content in an engaging way. I think powerpoints are already engaging, but sometimes kids need to see fun stuff, too. For one of my reviews at the end of a lesson, I have pictures of cartoon characters like Harry Potter and Bart Simpson, as well as celebrities like Michael Jackson, and superheroes like Superman for them to identify using the new verb structure. My husband thinks one day when I have them all done, I’ll be able to sell them. Interesting thought. I’ll connect with my prof on that and see what she thinks. Anyway, I have an avg of 32 kids per class now and 8 classes total trying to fit in a half-sized classroom… Yea. It’s tight… and smelly.

Seminary – Need a separate post on this one actually so I can really talk about how it’s been. (And it’s been GREAT!) Only attending part-time is still a lot of work, esp in light of what I said before about how I’m working extra hard on my lessons this yr. I’m keeping up with my work, though, and that’s all that matters. Weekends are my friend.

Pastoring – I’ve had a self-imposed break since May due to wedding planning, actually having my wedding and then going off on Honeymoon. So, now with the new school yr starting, I also re-start preaching. I’ve been wanting to do a series on Gender Justice, with special emphasis on developing a theology of gender, and particularly of womanhood. This yr, the church’s themes sort of lend themselves to my new series, so it works out well. I’ll be blogging about this on the church site I set up: CLLEnglish.wordpress.com. Sometimes, I may re-post here, or link over. Dont really feel like repeating. In case you’re interested, my messages are being podcasted. So if you go to the site, you can check the SERMONS page for the links.

Cooking – ah, yes! Finally, learning to cook. And not just cook, but cook healthily. The great thing is that my husband already knows how to cook a lot of stuff, so he’s been taking care of that for us! (Love you, hunny!!) I feel I’ve really been gypped in this dept. Aside from not learning to cook at home as a kid, growing up in America really lends itself to lazy eating. I’ve been amazed to discover more and more how much I’ve been duped by the system. (So, that explains my obesity! >_<) Today, I made my own meatballs (first time and slightly tasteless, but I MADE THEM!), and my own pasta sauce (yay, diced tomatoes!! This one I liked. ), and penne from a box. Ok, not so healthy there, but when I learn to bake my own bread (gonna go there soon!) then I’ll learn to make my own noodles. Seriously, the more I see stuff in the supermarket, the more I’m like, “dude, I can totally make this!! Why am I wasting my money?! o_O” That’s how I feel now. I’m gonna make it my business to learn the art that is cooking. In the process I’m hoping to get healthier and unload this extra baggage called WEIGHT that I’ve carried for so long. And how can I not mention BENTOS??! I’ve posted on my attempts before. They’ve been pretty lame of late – just leftovers and nothing fancy. But, soon and very soon. Dont worry. You’ll see. I’m actually thinking of teaching my 6th graders (Asian Studies SHOP class) about them. Maybe we can make them! Should be uber-fun!

The Gathering Storm

Books – Havent showcased anything I’m rdg in a while. I’ve actually been trying to capture time to read for leisure, but it’s tough with all I have going on. Still, I have snatches of time. I’ve been re-reading Harry Potter & the Order of the Pheonix when I have a few mins to wind down before bed. Actually, it’s really important I wind down before bed b/c usually my mind is racing with what needs getting done the next day and it’s hard to fall asleep. My doctor had to give me a ‘calming vitamin’ to take before bed so I wouldnt be so anxious. I think it’s a personality-slash-occupational hazard thing. =T Still, it’s always good to re-visit old friends and that’s how I feel when I pick up a book I love. I’m hoping to re-read HP5, HP6 and HP7. Then I’ll move on to some smaller books. I was in the middle of The Good Fairies of New York and then got sidetracked. I need to hurry and get thru the HP books so I’ll have the luxury of re-reading the whole Wheel of Time series before I tackle the last book (#12) in the series. They are actually releasing it in 3 parts, I believe, so I have time before they all come out. Still, it’s a lot of ground to cover!! I may need to re-read them while still staying on top of my seminary reading and readings for my sermons as well as just reading the other new books on my shelf. I swear, I need to sell all my books. They are seriously growing stale on my shelf! Ok, I’ll keep some – like my HP’s – I would never part with those!!! But, the others have to go! >_<

Did I say this was a bulk post?

That’s all I have time for right now. Longest post I’ve written in a while, I think. Shows how long I’ve deprived myself. Need to blog more. If anything, this blog entry proves it!!

I havent posted anything new here since I got back from my honeymoon about 6 wks ago! So, now time for an update.

I actually didnt do my usual routine this summer, like head up to Herald Gospel Camp the way I’ve done the last 6 yrs. There were too many things happening in terms of wedding planning, wrapping up the school yr with my junior high students, and then flying off to my honeymoon-slash-first-real-vacation-since-I-started-working-9-yrs-ago!! It was wonderful to attend Hillsong Conference in Sydney, Australia and enjoy their Winter season. Tom and I prefer colder weather to warmer, anyway. We hopped over to Hong Kong after that and enjoyed much lower prices, but did not enjoy the sweltering monsoon heat or the typhoon we got slightly caught in the day before flying back to the U.S.!!

So now we’re back and summer’s over. *insert wailing and gnashing of teeth here* I was actually really anxious about starting this new yr – for more reasons than one. Health-wise, I’m beginning to notice that my pent-up lack-of-mourning-over-my-father’s-death-18-months-ago has manifested into some chest pain and lack of good sleep. Also, teaching is a life-consuming occupation and it’s a long-haul marathon from Sept to June. Those who say teachers are lucky and should stop complaining b/c we get full summers off need to stuff it! You have no idea what you’re talking about. Because of the budget cuts this yr, esp, my school has had to cram 30+ kids into each class. My room is half the size of a normal room, and b/c of the crap stuff kids eat these days, 6th graders are the size of 18-yr-olds, so you try teaching 33 of them Chinese for each of your 24 periods a wk (that’s 8 different classes), and see how hot you look at the end of each day! >_<

That said,  I do love teaching. I do. My dear hubby thinks I’m partially cookoo. And he’s right. To be a teacher you have to be, dont you think? Esp here in NYC! This is the real deal – no Amish-like obedient children here!

I wrote an update as to what I’m doing this Fall on my newsletter which I’m embedding here, so you can click on it and read at your leisure. I’m following this up with another update about seminary alone, so read on!

Another brilliant post by Pastor Wade Burleson, even though he’s quoting from Walter Kaiser. You’ll love this if you’re a geek like me!

Monday, July 06, 2009

The article below is from the brilliant Biblical scholar Dr. Walter C. Kaiser. It was forwarded to me by Pastor Chuck Andrews and reproduced below in its entirety. The article is an exegesis of Genesis 2:18 and proves, definitively in my opinion, that God designed and created women with full equality to men. It should also answer several questions from the previous comment stream.

“Are women inferior to men, merely designed to be their helpers? Is it consistent with the biblical text to view men as the initiators and women as their assistants? Is this what makes women suitable matches for men?

The Creator regarded Adam’s situation as incomplete and deficient while he was living without community or a proper counterpart. The Creator judged Adam’s situation quite negatively: “It is not good.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 expresses this same opinion about aloneness. The wise writer Solomon advised: Two are better than one. … If one falls down, his friend can help him up. … Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

True, in Jeremiah 16:1–9 the prophet Jeremiah is commanded by God to remain alone, but this is meant to be a sign that God’s judgment on the people is so near that it will not be worthwhile to get married. Nevertheless, the full life is a life that finds its fulfillment in community with another person or group of persons.

In the Genesis story we find that God created a woman after he had created the man. This would end Adam’s loneliness and the state that God judged to be “not good.” She was to be his “helper”—at least that is how most of the translations have interpreted this word. A sample of the translations reads as follows: “I shall make a helper fit for him” (RSV); “I will make a fitting helper for him” (New Jewish Publication Society); “I will make an aid fit for him” (AB); “I will make him a helpmate” (JB); “I will make a suitable partner for him” (NAB); “I will make him a helper comparable to him” (NKJV).

However, the customary translation of the two words ˓ēzer keneḡdô as “helper fitting him” is almost certainly wrong. Recently R. David Freedman has pointed out that the Hebrew word ˓ēzer is a combination of two roots: ˓-z-r, meaning “to rescue, to save,” and ǵ-z-r, meaning “to be strong.” The difference between the two is the first letter in Hebrew. Today that letter is silent in Hebrew, but in ancient times it was a guttural sound formed in the back of the throat. The ǵ was a ghayyin, and it came to use the same Hebrew symbol as the other sound, ˓ayin. But the fact that they were pronounced differently is clear from such place names which preserve the g sound, such as Gaza or Gomorrah. Some Semitic languages distinguished between these two signs and others did not; for example, Ugaritic did make a distinction between the ˓ayin and the ghayyin; Hebrew did not (R. David Freedman, “Woman, a Power Equal to a Man,” Biblical Archaeology Review 9 [1983]: 56–58).

It would appear that sometime around 1500 B.C. these two signs began to be represented by one sign in Phoenician. Consequently the two phonemes merged into one grapheme and what had been two different roots merged into one, much as in English the one word fast can refer to a person’s speed, abstinence from food, his or her slyness in a “fast deal” or the adamant way in which someone holds “fast” to positions. The noun ˓ēzer occurs twenty-one times in the Old Testament. In many of the passages it is used in parallelism to words that clearly denote strength or power. Some examples are:

There is none like the God of Jeshurun, The Rider of the Heavens in your strength (˓-z-r), and on the clouds in his majesty. (Deut 33:26, my translation)

Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is the shield of your strength (˓-z-r) and the sword of your majesty. (Deut 33:29, my translation)

The case that begins to build is that we can be sure that ˓ezer means “strength” or “power” whenever it is used in parallelism with words for majesty or other words for power such as ˓oz or ˓uzzo. In fact, the presence of two names for one king, Azariah and Uzziah (both referring to God’s strength), makes it abundantly clear that the root ˓ēzer meaning “strength” was known in Hebrew.

Therefore I suggest that we translate Genesis 2:18 as “I will make a power [or strength] corresponding to man.” Freedman even suggests on the basis of later Hebrew that the second word in the Hebrew expression found in this verse should be rendered equal to him. If this is so, then God makes for the man a woman fully his equal and fully his match. In this way, the man’s loneliness will be assuaged.

The same line of reasoning occurs in the apostle Paul. He urged in 1 Corinthians 11:10, “For this reason, a woman must have power [or authority] on her head [that is to say, invested in her].”

This line of reasoning which stresses full equality is continued in Genesis 2:23, where Adam says of Eve, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” The idiomatic sense of this phrase “bone of my bones” is a “very close relative,” “one of us” or in effect “our equal.”

The woman was never meant to be an assistant or “helpmate” to the man. The word mate slipped into English since it was so close to Old English meet, which means “fit to” or “corresponding to” the man. That all comes from the phrase that I have suggested likely means “equal to.”

What God had intended then was to make a “power” or “strength” for the man who would in every way correspond to him or even be his equal.”

Kaiser, W. C. (1997, c1996). Hard sayings of the Bible (92). Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity.

Love this post by Pastor Wade Burleson - a Southern Baptist pastor in Enid, OK. I’m always impressed by him – coming from a highly patriarchal (or seemingly) denomination – yet always espousing impressive egalitarian views. You really have to read his latest, so I’ve re-printed it here. [Without permission, I'm sorry. Pastor Wade, I hope you dont mind if I take your words to NYC.]

Thursday, July 02, 2009

We live in a day when the basic family unit is disintegrating. Divorces are rampant. Live-in relationships are the norm, and homosexual unions are being recognized by governments. It is right and necessary for the Christian church to both teach and model the Biblical concept of “family” in this age when the Biblical concept of family is seldom understood. However, one of the problems we face as Christians is misinterpreting what God calls the ideal home. There is a growing patriarchal movement among conservative Christian churches, a movement where men are taught that they should have complete “authority” in the home, and that they should “rule” over their wives and children. Many of these conservative Bible-believing Christians who advocate patriarchy honestly believe they are teaching Biblical truth. It is my intention in this post to show that patriarchy is not God’s ideal, but rather, patriarchy is the result of God’s curse on Adam and Eve. When God’s grace appears in the home, patriarchy is expelled.

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God pronounced judgment on them in Genesis 3:16-19. God first began with Eve:

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Genesis 3:16).

Some conservative Bible scholars take the last phrase of v.16 to mean (1). The wife shall have a “sexual desire” for her husband (i.e. “your desire shall be for your husband”), and (2). The husband is to be the head, authority and ruler of the home (i.e. “and he shall rule over you”). These conservative scholars declare that God’s statement in v. 16 is how the husband and wife “should” relate to each other in the home, and how the home ought to be in terms of headship and governance. The man, they say, is to rule over his home; there should be no equality of authority since God established this patriarchal system from the very beginning.

However, other conservative Bible scholars rightly point out that the woman’s “desire” for her husband in Genesis 3:16 is not, at least linguistically and contextually, a sexual desire. One only needs to turn one chapter over to find the same word teshuqah, in Genesis 4:7, where it is also translated “desire.” In the context of Genesis 4:7, teshuqah is used to refer to sin’s “desire” to control Cain. Thus, letting the Bible interpret itself, the word “desire” in both both Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7 means “a desire to control.”

Likewise, the same Hebrew verb mashal, which means “to rule,” is also used in Genesis 4:7, just as it was in Genesis 3:16. Mashal is used in Genesis 4:7 to describe Cain’s efforts to rule over or dominate the sin that is “crouching at his door.” Again, when you let the Bible interpret itself, mashal is used in both Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7 to describe someone who is having to fend off an attack; it carries the idea of warring for control or domination; a battle to see who will be ultimate “ruler.”

Using basic principles of interpretation, one comes up with a very simple explanation of the consequence of God’s curse on Adam and Eve – a consequence that has infiltrated every home since the beginning of time. Simply put, the woman will desire to dominate or control the man, but the man, perhaps even with superior strength, will fight hard to rule over and dominate the woman. Where the curse is present there is a constant battle for control. This is how things are because of sin, not how things in the home ought to be. The patriarchal societies of the world express the reality of male domination, and in certain western Christian cultures, patriarchy is often said to be ordered by God – as if God designed the home to be this way.

Likewise, in some cultures, such as the Kanu of South America, the women “rule” the home, and the men are the “servants.” These women explain their domination of men in the home with the simple phrase – “the gods have made it this way.” What both matriarchal and patriachal proponents need to understand, regardless of the culture from which they come, is that any system designed for “domination” or “control” of the other spouse is the result of sin and the curse on sin.

When the God of all grace gets a hold of a man and a woman in a marriage relationship, no longer will there be a fight to see who dominates and controls the other. Rather, there will be mutual submission between husband and wife (i.e. Ephesians 5:21 – “submitting to one another in reverence to Christ”). Mutual submission, with no thought of “control,” is God’s design for the home. It should be the effort of every Bible-believing church, pastor and teacher to instruct husbands and wives on the sinful nature of any husband or wife seeking to dominate the other spouse.

In fact, I like what Dr. Richard Hess, Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Denver Theological Seminary says in his comments on Genesis 3:16. Dr. Hess said all Christians should attempt to pull down any patriarchal (or matriarchal) system of domination and control in the Christian home, and then responds to those who object to any attempt to end patriarchy:

It is no more a sin to end this consequence of the fall than it is to use weed killer to end the promised weeds and thorns in the following verses. No, the emphasis (in Genesis 3:16) is on the terrible effects of sin, and the destruction of a harmonious relationship that once existed. In its place comes a harmful struggle of wills.

I trust that conservative, evangelical churches will continue to proclaim and model God’s design for the home. I just pray that we do a good job of understanding the subject ourselves first. Patriarchy is the result of man’s sinful desire to control and dominate and should be, by God’s grace, avoided at all costs.

In His Grace,

Wade

http://kerussocharis.blogspot.com/2009/07/god-calls-patriarchal-headship-sinful.html

30 days left to go before we’re walking down the aisle!!!

Tom & Jas

Happy 14th month ‘anniversary’ to my love, Tom! 

Seeing as how I’ve been so busy with

• wedding planning 
• winding down the last 7 wks of school
• applying for seminary at ATS
• ministry at CLL (taking a break from preaching, tho)
• gearing up for TECBC (thanks Manni for co-leading the workshop with me!)
• helping train new staff for Herald Gospel Camp this summer
• day-to-day activities

I’ve been neglecting my blog writing. Prob not a good thing, since I really need to both TALK and WRITE about what I’m feeling in order to fully process. In any case, my heart still burns for certain issues, and if you look at my last few posts, you’ll see I’m still singing the same old songs – gender equality and openness toall spiritual gifts in the church. I’ll prob keep singing these songs for a long time – til I see change come about. But, since I’ve no time to actually write about what I’m thinking, I decided to re-post a message that came in the most recent email from Christians for Biblical Equality. 

This issue’s column is written by Martine Extermann, CBE board member and associate professor of oncology at the University of South Florida.

A kingdom in crisisThe king was desperate. He was a God-fearing man and from his youngest age he had sought God. Now, trying to rid God’s people of idols, he had undertaken major repairs in the Lord’s temple but he had just realized that his efforts were insufficient. His secretary had just brought back a book from the temple—a lost book found by the high priest during repairs. After reading the book, the king realized that despite all his religious training, all his faith, all his attempts at doing what he thought was right, he had been wrong. His priests had been wrong. His people had been wrong. This was the book of the law of God which said “You shall have no other God before me” and warned of the curses against Israel if they did not obey the law. The king was now aware of the remaining idols in the temple and all the false gods around the country to whom Judah was making offerings. The Lord’s feasts such as Passover were barely celebrated, and the covenant was forgotten. The king was appalled. This could mean terrible disaster for his nation because, having forgotten God’s law, they were under his wrath. The king convened his highest ranking officials: his secretary, his attendant, the high priest, and a couple of others. He ordered them to inquire of God for himself and the people of Judah to find out what, if anything, could be done.

Now these powerful men are confronted with a crucial question. How should they proceed to ask God? The high priest could go into the temple, make sacrifices of repentance, and hear God’s voice at the altar. Or they could ask a prophet—but which prophet? Should they go to Zephaniah, to Nahum, to Habakkuk maybe, to Jeremiah, or to Huldah? They decide to consult with Huldah and she boldly offeredthem a word from the Lord. Her message was a difficult one, but one that would generate the most complete revival in the Old Testament: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart, and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses” (2 Kings 23:25, TNIV). Her words led to a whole recommitment to God’s covenant, and to a cleaning of the souls, temple and houses of Israel (2 Kings 23:3).

What an affirmation this passage is for the role of women prophets. God entrusted Huldah with his message at a crucial time in the kingdom of Judah. There were other well-known prophets in Judah, but this is the person who spoke for God at such a crucial point in Israel’s history. Nothing in the text indicates that the high officials had any qualms in consulting Huldah. This was no curbside consultation on a secondary matter. They did not send an underling to consult her just in case, nor did they consult her only because she was living close and was the wife of a temple employee. Huldah was a recognized prophet whom they could consult when something as essential as the book of the law of God had been rediscovered. What can be more central than the law in the Old Testament? God did use women as well as men to carry his message to the people, to speak in his name—in both the Old and New Testaments. And it moved God’s people.

Martine Extermann