Daily Archives: July 8, 2009

July 8, 2009 · 9:59 pm

I am a new creation…

This book by NT Wright that is causing me to think is exciting.  I suppose it is exciting to become aware of old ideas presented in new ways that in turn open up new horizons of thought.  God is always so much greater than – well greater than I thought him to be just yesterday.  And so each day of life brings new possibilities; new chances to think in new ways.

Surprised by Hope is about the resurrection.  It’s about the promise of new life and new creation that we have in Christ.  So here are a few quotes that seem significant to me so far:

The challenge is in fact the challenge of new creation.  To put it at its most basic: the resurrection of Jesus offers itself, to the student of history or science no less than the Christian or the theologian, not as an odd event within the world as it is but as the utterly characteristic, prototypical, and foundational event within the world as it has begun to be.  It is not an absurd event within the old world but the symbol and starting point of the new world.  The claim advanced in Christianity is of that magnitude:  Jesus of Nazareth ushers in not simply a new religious possibility, not simply a new ethic or a new way of salvation, but a new creation.  p67

and then a page later:

…the question of Jesus’ resurrection, though it may in some senses burst the boundaries of history, also remains within them; that is precisely why it is so important, so disturbing, so life and death.  We could cope – the world could cope – with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples’ minds and hearts.  The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God’s new creation right in the middle of the old one.  p68

Good stuff. 

Reminds me of that chorus – “I am a new creation… here by the grace of God I stand.”

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July 8, 2009 · 12:52 pm

Riding and thinking along the way

Yesterday by the time supper was over and I had sat down for a bit, the sun came out and I decided that I had better go for a ride. If I slack off on the bike riding, it takes more motivation to do it the next day. Funny how it is that way with good things – or at least with things that are potentially good for me; it takes absolutely no effort to sit in front of the computer and play mindless games.

I really do enjoy the rides. And the sky is usually gorgeous with an orange sum settling below the tree line on the horizon as I make my way home again. Also, there is now a path that takes me down the hill behind the houses in Riverview back to the river path. I ride up the road to the church then go left on the path – The Rotary Trail as it is officially known – the path takes me now past a new housing development and then down the hill. The hill is very steep. It is exciting to let go and take off at great speed. Probably crazy for a 60 yr old woman. But fun. I like it.

Last night when I was riding, I took a slightly different path. I was just a bit too tired to pedal up the hill by the church so I cut in behind Berezowsky School and took a back path that took me about halfway up the hill. A bit less of a thrill but still enough of a descent to let me go fast.

On my way back home last night, I got to thinking. I am reading NT Wright’s book Surprised By Hope. This is some of the fun reading that I can do now that my classes are done for the summer. I really like the way books like this stimulate me to think. As I was riding, I could not help but wonder at all the things that I do not understand. Maybe that is partly why I am in seminary. There is so much to delve into, so much more than I will ever understand but so much that I will enjoy trying to learn. I have some sort of need to spend my time asking questions and then when I do, up pop some more. It seems as if I have an endless ability to ask and such a limited ability to know.

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Filed under Day to Day, Reflections, Studying