All Iced in and no where to go
Well, we're supposed to be all iced in right now, and there certainly is ice on the ground, but not yet the 'crippling ice storm' that all the news channels are telling us we are in the midst of. We even canceled church tomorrow morning - that's crazy talk! I betcha God shows up for worship tomorrow wondering where the heck we all are. It was supposed to have been sleeting and freezing raining all day long, but none just yet. We had some on Friday, but nothing since then. Oh well, no complaints here. It just means that I get 4 solid days to work on my thesis. (Friday is my day off, so I studied then; Today, everything was canceled, so I'm studying today; same with tomorrow; Monday is a holiday, so that makes 4 empty days with nothing to do but study... well, and memorize a bunch of music for a family show next weekend. and a whole bunch of other stuff I can actually do from home, and really should. ugh... I thought I had all this time. not so much, apparently.)
So, here's what I've been doing (seeing as how this blog is where I'm supposed to be logging my thesis activities): I've searched the local libraries, both public and at universities, for books that I might need. OCU doesn't have squat, OBU has some things, and the Oklahoma City public library only has the non-religious books. So, it looks like I'm gonna have to spend some moola. Today, I read about 90% of this one book called "Designing Worship Together." One big issue cropped up for me today. As I've been thinking about this project and beginning the work towards it, I've had in my mind just the 6 or so weeks we would be studying together and then the 4 weeks we would spend preparing the 4 Sundays in question. Well, this book has made me realize that I've not put any thought to those 4 Sundays in relation to the rest of the year. Does my plan totally ignore the year as a whole? Is it too focused on those 4 Sundays? How can I address this? Do I need to be thinking about what this group will do after the project, or just worry about this project and wait till after it's done to think about its purpose at that point? Should we, in addition to the 4 Sundays formulate a plan for the next year, broad goals over all, but also begin planning Advent while at the same time focusing on the project? Also, instead of planning November in October, should we start the training earlier and have two months to plan for November, giving people perhaps more than a week between planning meetings?
These are some questions that I need to keep in mind as this project takes shape. I'm sure there will be more, but I don't want to forget about the big picture. It would be my hope that out of this project would be a functioning planning team that would look at the year as a whole and plan worship far in advance - much like these books I'm reading are suggesting - not just one month in advance. So, perhaps we need to start together much earlier. Hmmm... it's a head scratcher, all right.
In addition to all this reading I'm doing for the thesis, my church is doing the Bible in 90 Days program, and my husband and I are both participating. Basically, you read approximately 12 pages a day, and in 90 days (well, 88, really) you've read the whole bible. I know what you're thinking - "you're crazy, you already have to read a bijillion pages a day for your thesis, what are you thinking?!?!?!" Well, I see it like this: I'm hoping that reading the bible every day will actually be incredibly helpful and powerful for me. It's kind of like when you tithe. You struggle to pay your bills each month, have to be careful about every penny you spend, so how can you possibly think of giving money to church. Well, God provides and I have found that seemingly miraculously some months there is enough left over to live on after I've returned a portion back to God. So, I figure, if I give some of my reading time to God by reading His Word, then I'll have plenty of energy, eyesight and time left to read the other stuff I'm supposed to be reading.
Ok, i've got 12 pages to read now... Good night.
So, here's what I've been doing (seeing as how this blog is where I'm supposed to be logging my thesis activities): I've searched the local libraries, both public and at universities, for books that I might need. OCU doesn't have squat, OBU has some things, and the Oklahoma City public library only has the non-religious books. So, it looks like I'm gonna have to spend some moola. Today, I read about 90% of this one book called "Designing Worship Together." One big issue cropped up for me today. As I've been thinking about this project and beginning the work towards it, I've had in my mind just the 6 or so weeks we would be studying together and then the 4 weeks we would spend preparing the 4 Sundays in question. Well, this book has made me realize that I've not put any thought to those 4 Sundays in relation to the rest of the year. Does my plan totally ignore the year as a whole? Is it too focused on those 4 Sundays? How can I address this? Do I need to be thinking about what this group will do after the project, or just worry about this project and wait till after it's done to think about its purpose at that point? Should we, in addition to the 4 Sundays formulate a plan for the next year, broad goals over all, but also begin planning Advent while at the same time focusing on the project? Also, instead of planning November in October, should we start the training earlier and have two months to plan for November, giving people perhaps more than a week between planning meetings?
These are some questions that I need to keep in mind as this project takes shape. I'm sure there will be more, but I don't want to forget about the big picture. It would be my hope that out of this project would be a functioning planning team that would look at the year as a whole and plan worship far in advance - much like these books I'm reading are suggesting - not just one month in advance. So, perhaps we need to start together much earlier. Hmmm... it's a head scratcher, all right.
In addition to all this reading I'm doing for the thesis, my church is doing the Bible in 90 Days program, and my husband and I are both participating. Basically, you read approximately 12 pages a day, and in 90 days (well, 88, really) you've read the whole bible. I know what you're thinking - "you're crazy, you already have to read a bijillion pages a day for your thesis, what are you thinking?!?!?!" Well, I see it like this: I'm hoping that reading the bible every day will actually be incredibly helpful and powerful for me. It's kind of like when you tithe. You struggle to pay your bills each month, have to be careful about every penny you spend, so how can you possibly think of giving money to church. Well, God provides and I have found that seemingly miraculously some months there is enough left over to live on after I've returned a portion back to God. So, I figure, if I give some of my reading time to God by reading His Word, then I'll have plenty of energy, eyesight and time left to read the other stuff I'm supposed to be reading.
Ok, i've got 12 pages to read now... Good night.
posted by Amy Stewart at 11:02 PM
2 Comments:
Amy - An official welcome to blogging! I think you'll enjoy it. I was hesitant at first, but now it's become much more comfortable for me. Thanks for leaving a comment for me and letting me know about your new site. I wish you all the best as you work on your thesis! Also, thanks for your words of encouragement and inspiration as you work on the Bible in 90 days. Your comparison to tithing (sp?) was helpful for sure! Lots of love to you! Lisa
Hi Lisa! Good to hear from you. These blog things are really cool. I feel as if I'm in touch with so many people I normally would never get to see. Now, campmeeting doesn't seem quite so far away. I've already gotten a little behind in the bible in 90 days, but plan to catch up very soon. I'll let you know how it goes. Right now we're drudging through all the laws and sacrafices.. ugh.
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