Fine, thankyou!

Halfway…
2005 is just a little more that half way through, so is my summer vacation.
Art brought me a new prayer journal. Jeremiah will be getting married in a week. I’m reading the book of John. Magnificent Truth.
I’ve made it to chapter 5. The Word, the Light, the Living Water. And the reoccurring theme that individuals brought other individuals to see Jesus.
Andrew brought Peter. Philip brought Nathaniel, the Samaritan woman brought her whole town. Who have I brought lately? Or am I just waiting for the Holy Spirit to bring them? As usual, when reading through this book, I got a little hung up on the whole, Spirit and Truth thing. Just what is worship? It seems to be quite an area of dissention here in blog land. Art brought home a book about God-centered worship, “A Better Way” by Michael Horton. So I read a little of that yesterday. One quote:
“…the so called ‘worship wars’ with both sides amassing their proof-texts that supposedly settle the debate once and for all, resulting in a tragic division of Christ’s body into traditionalist and progressive camps, each with its own Sunday morning service.” He sees Sunday morning worship services as covenant renewals, and the main elements, according to him, should be the word and the sacraments (the water and the bread). Actually the book is a bit much for my old brain. Back to John’s gospel.
Chapter 5. Verses 19-47. This is the first long teaching, to the Jewish leaders in the temple, recorded by John. I’ve read it in the NKJV and the NAS, and now I’m reading it in the Message (oh dear theologians, forgive me) and the good OLD Living Bible. Jesus begins to explain how He and God the Father work together. He talks about salvation and judgment. The part about this teaching I always liked was that He confirms that Moses indeed wrote the Torah, the first five books. Many scholars say that this part of the Word was just oral tradition until the days of Nehemiah, that Moses did not actually write it. If Jesus said Moses wrote it, than Moses wrote it. And many say that the Old Testament is not relevant to Christianity. Yet Jesus says in John 5:47 If you don’t believe in the writings of Moses, how can you believe in His words. I was part of a Wednesday evening Bible study for a while. We were just beginning the book of Romans, and in the introduction the teacher, who I respect, got into this whole theological explanation of how the Bible was written and made the statement that Moses had not actually written the Torah. I didn’t want to argue with him, or correct him. At least not in the presence of the rest of the class. He is a leader in our church and I have submitted to his authority. I discussed it with my husband on the way home. Although my husband is a licensed pastor, for this season, in this fellowship, he is not in leadership. He did bring this up to the teacher, who is a brother and a friend. But the teacher was offended. We just stopped going to the study, but I am wondering if we should have been bolder. We like the church we are going to. The senior pastor has an apostolic vision for the Navajo Nation which is solid, his teaching is grounded in the Word of God, and the worship is dynamic, prophetic. We have family in this church. Although we are not Navajo we feel welcome and loved. Although Art is a pastor in another denomination, we do not feel that we are supposed to be planting a new church. This area does not need another church. But we are feeling that we need to be doing something more for the Kingdom. And we feel that we need to be careful not to offend…which may be holding us back. God, give us wisdom!