Final quarter of Greek begins tomorrow

Tomorrow is the first class for the 3rd and final quarter of Greek. We will learn a little more grammar and vocabulary, but will spend most of the quarter translating 1 John. That should be challenging, but fun. These last two weeks have been really nice with no homework. But I'm looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow night and catching up...

More for the hotel room list...

• A small refrigerator with one free bottle of water per day. Again, this is cheap - why charge somebody $3 or $4 a bottle, especially if the tap water tastes gross?
• A nightlight in the bathroom - my current room has one, but that is very rare...

I think those are the major items. I can't think of anything else right now, but who knows what tomorrow may bring...

Back on the road

I'm back in Southern California this week, but what a beautiful week to be here. It's another postcard week: clear and sunny and cool, with wildflowers blooming everywhere! I'll try to snap a couple of pictures with my new phone, but I don't have a cable to download them yet, so...yeah.

You know, with all the travel I've been doing lately, I think I need to start a list of what makes a great hotel room. So I'll start, in no particular order, and you can chime in when you like:

1. An incredibly comfortable bed - like the Westin Heavenly Bed - because after all, that's the main function of the room: sleeping!
2. Soundproofing: the room needs to be quiet - period - regardless of where it is on the property. Like the Sheraton Gateway at LAX. It's next to one of the busiest airports in the country and I hear nothing outside of my room!
   
3. Lots of electrical outlets: I typically bring 4 chargers with me on every trip - cell phone, laptop, MP3 player, and JBL portable speaker. I need a lot of outlets that are not hidden behind the bed!
4. Wired and wireless high-speed free internet service. Come on, we pay enough for the room already. Skip putting a phone in the bathroom and give me free, fast internet.
5. A nice clock radio with auxiliary input for my MP3 player so I wouldn't have to take my JBL portable speaker with me all the time - like a Bose Wave System...ahhh...

What else?

Easter

From Henri Nouwen:

Easter season is a time of hope. There still is fear, there still is a painful awareness of sinfulness, but there also is light breaking through. Something new is happening, something that goes beyond the changing moods of our life. We can be joyful or sad, optimistic or pessimistic, tranquil or angry, but the solid stream of God's presence moves deeper than the small waves of our minds and hearts.

Easter brings the awareness that God is present even when his presence is not directly noticed.

Easter brings the good news that, although things seem to get worse in the world, the Evil One has already been overcome.

Easter allows us to affirm that although God seems very distant and although we remain preoccupied with many little things, our Lord walks with us on the road and keeps explaining the Scriptures to us. Thus there are many rays of hope casting their light on our way through life.

Thank you Henri for guiding me through this season and bringing me home.

Day 40 - Holy Saturday

Today is the day in-between,
the day after death,
the day before life.
A day of silence.
A day of solitude.

On the seventh day of the week of our redemption, when Jesus had fulfilled all he was sent by his Father to do, he rested in the tomb, and the women whose hearts were broken with grief rested with him. Of all the days in history, Holy Saturday is the day of God's solitude. It is the day on which the whole creation waits in deep inner rest. It is the day on which no words are spoken, no proclamations made. The Word of God through whom all had been made lay buried in the darkness of the earth.

This Holy Saturday is the most quiet of all days.
Its quiet connects the first covenant with the second,
the people of Israel with the not-yet-knowing world,
the Temple with the new worship in the Spirit,
the sacrifices of blood with the sacrifice of bread and wine,
the Law with the Gospel.

This divine silence is the most fruitful silence that the world has ever known. From this silence, the Word will be spoken again and make all things new.

- Henri Nouwen, Walk with Jesus

Day 39 - Good Friday

I didn't have as much luck tonight trying to find out why this day is referred to as "Good" Friday. Certainly, some 2,000 years ago, this was not considered a "good" day by those who had given up everything to follow Jesus. It must have been one of the worst day of their lives. There was nothing "good" about it. All they knew was that he was dead.

They must have thought it was over, that whatever they had seen with their own eyes had come to an end. Jesus was dead on a cross.

He was dead. Gone.

What now?

What about tomorrow? Do they return to their families? Do they pick up the pieces and go back to their old lives? Was it all a sham? How could this happen? What about everything he had done? What about everything he had said? He can't be gone...

What now?

Can you imagine how dark and hopeless that day must have seemed?

Empty.
Cold.
Sick.
Defeated.
Lost.

What would you do? What would I do?

He's gone...

Day 38 - Maundy Thursday

I've seen on calendars and heard this day called "Maundy Thursday" but never really knew what "Maundy" was. So, tonight, I looked it up on Wikipedia:

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

Not only does this day mark the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus, it also marks the Last Supper. Jesus shared one final meal with his closest followers and thus began one of the most sacred of all practices - the Eucharist. This sacrament is central to many faith traditions and has been celebrated by millions of Christ followers through the generations. "Do this in remembrance of me," Jesus said.

And so tonight, I remember that last night spent in community with his friends. I remember his demonstration of servanthood. I remember his command to love each other. I remember his betrayal. I remember his painful cries to his Father from the garden. I remember his arrest. I remember Peter denying him. And I begin to think about the unthinkable - the agonizing pain awaiting him the next day and the unbelievable love awaiting us forever.

Nouwen writes this in today's reading from Show Me the Way:

Jesus calls us to continue his mission of revealing the perfect love of God in this world. He calls us to total self-giving. He does not want us to keep anything for ourselves. Rather, he wants our love to be as full, as radical, and as complete as his own. He wants us to bend ourselves to the ground and touch the places in each other that most need washing. He also wants us to say to each other, "Eat of me and drink of me." By this complete mutual nurturing, he wants us to become one body and one spirit, united by the love of God.

United in one body and one spirit by the love of God...