I’m enjoying teaching classes on The Feast this week at ACU. I’m getting ready to do tomorrow morning’s keynote. If you get a chance, get your hands/ears on Mike Cope’s message from Exodus 15.

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I just finished reading Brad Young’s Jesus The Jewish Theologian. It’s fantastic. Young laments the “dejudaization of Christianity, affecting the church’s way of thinking of its inner life as well as its relationship to the past and present reality of Israel–the father and mother of the very being of Christianity. The children did not arise and call the mother blessed; instead, they called the mother blind. Some theologians continue to act as if they did not know the meaning of ‘honor your father and your mother’; others, anxious to prove the superiority of the church, speak as if they suffer from a spiritual Oedipus complex,” (260).

“So the theology of many Jewish scholars is not to have a theology. At least one should not be overly aware of one’s theology. Perhaps blind obedience to the Torah will better reveal the divine presence in everyday experience than the intellectual exchange of conceptual ideas. God is too vast. Mystery and wonder must pervade human perception of God’s goodness . . . The Eastern mind moves riddles and is fond of mystery. The Western theologian explains much and understands little. The Eastern mindset of Jewish theology reveres God and wonders at his mysteries. All attempts to systematize God will fall short. Stand in amazement. Wonder in awe,” (273).

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I was blessed to have dinner with three “heroes in the faith” minister friends last night. I don’t know a whole lot about longevity in minstry (I’m 30). However, I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the secrets to staying in ordained ministry for the long haul is the community one surrounds themselves in. If last night’s dialog was any indication of the community I find myself in, I think I have a shot to experience a long run serving the church through the gifts of preaching, teaching, and leadership. I suspect the same is true for architects, academics, doctors, teachers and most other professions (save a lighthouse keeper).