Fuller Theological Seminary Digital Commons @ Fuller The SEMI (2001-2010) Fuller Seminary Publications 4-14-2003 The Semi (04-14-2003) Fuller Theological Seminary Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/fts-semi-6 Recommended Citation Fuller Theological Seminary, "The Semi (04-14-2003)" (2003). The SEMI (2001-2010). 80. https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/fts-semi-6/80 This Periodical is brought to you for free and open access by the Fuller Seminary Publications at Digital Commons @ Fuller. It has been accepted for inclusion in The SEMI (2001-2010) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Fuller. For more information, please contact [email protected]. In This Issue: When I Glaze I Cannot Sleep, poem by Dr. A1 Dueck - page 3 War is Never Entertaining, by Sunday B. Agnang - page 3 Not So Lonely Planet: Japan - pages 4 and 5 Easter Photography, by Dr. Jeff Bjorck - page 3 the SEMI - Week Three - April 14-18 - Spring 2003 - Fuller Theological Seminary - www.fuller.edu/student_life/SEMI/semi.html Worship and Exile by Dr. John Goldingay This past fall, in the most important lecture I have heard since coming to Fuller, Alan Roxburgh described our context as one where the church lives in exile. The church’s importance has waned in national, cultural and intellectual life. Christian faith doesn’t mean anything to vast numbers of people. In this situation, instead of creating an alternative community, we simply and unwittingly mirror the majority community. Like Judah in Jeremiah’s day, we are on the way to exile. We are a well-fed prison camp. We have everything we need materially . .. but inside we are isolated and empty Jeremiah says there’s a reason for Judah’s decline. God sees her as having given up on the gospel. I remember the devotion o f your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness. But when the people got into the promised land, they turned away from Yahweh. They did not say, “Where is Yahweh, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness . into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things[?]” They forgot the story of what God had done for them. The Sacrifice They had also given up on God’s written word. The priests did not say, “Where is Yahweh?” The people who handle the Father and son walked side by side Teaching, the Torah, did not acknowledge me. The Torah no longer on their journey to the mound. shaped the people’s lives and their relationship with God. They With knife and fire and wood in hand, thought the local culture had the answer, so they assimilated to it. they walked in silence to the top; Everyday personal needs made them turn from Yahweh to the while the son wondered in his heart, culture’s traditional gods. Yahweh had brought them out of Egypt, Where is the lamb to offer up?; but that was a long time ago. Could Yahweh make the ground There, each piece of wood was laid in place, fertile? Baal specialized in that. a dreary pyre of death’s embrace. Parallel factors are destroying the church in our context. We Hand and foot the father bound his son have pressing needs and we don’t know how they will be met. and laid him gently on the bed of wood. Where will I get my significance? What can I do to make myself With tears streaming down his face feel that I count? Who cares about me and understands me? Where the father searched around the place. can I find intimacy? We are a well-fed prison camp. We have But alas, there was no ram in thicket bound. everything we need materially—housing, food, computers, cars, Then the father took the knife entertainment, travel—but inside we are isolated and empty. and raised it up to kill his son, Worship then becomes the way we try to deal with our as they held each other’s gaze, emptiness and our isolation. The point about our worship is to make exchanging thoughts of love and trust. us feel better; the point about God is to make us feel good. So we And through his side the knife he thrust. abandon scripture reading, because that’s boring. We abandon the O Abraham, for you a lamb was found gospel story, because that happened a long time ago and doesn’t to spare your son! look very relevant. We can go through a whole worship service But as for me? without hearing any reference to the fact that God created the world, My son became the lamb! delivered Israel, sent Jesus to live and die for us and raised him from the dead. The Israelites forgot the gospel and gave up on Sol M. Nunez (SOT, M.Div.) continued on page 7 page 2 - the Semi - Week Three - Spring 2003 - Fuller Theological Seminary - www.fuller.edu/student_life/SEMI/semi.html Payton Lectures 2003 • Staff with guest lecturer • M ission Professor Richard Bauckham • D isclaimer Lecture Series Theme: Dean of Students Ruth Vuong “The Historical Jesus and the M anaging E ditor Carmen Valdés E ditor Leslie Hawthorne Klingler Apostolic Testimony: Where History [email protected] and Theology Meet” P roduction E ditor Deepa R. Joseph [email protected] Tuesday, April 22,10 a.m. -12 p.m. The SEMI is published weekly as a service to Lecture: “Eyewitness” the Fuller community by Student Life and Ser­ Faculty Respondents: Donald Hagner and Richard Beaton vices, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA91182. Articles and commentaries do not Ttiesday, April 22,1 p.m. - 2 p.m. necessarily reflect the views of the Fuller Special Lecture: “Women and the Gospels” administration or the SEMI. Final'editorial In Payton 101 responsibility rests with the dean of Stu­ Wednesday, April 23,10 a.m. —12 p.m. dents. Lecture: “Gospels” Faculty Respondents: Marianne Meye Thompson and Seyoon Kim Letters to the Editor: The SEMI welcomes brief responses to articles and commentaries Thursday, April 24,10 a.m. -1 2 p.m. on issues relevant to the Fuller community. All submissions must include the author’s Lecture: “Testimony” name and contact information and are subject Faculty Respondents: Colin Brown and David Scholer to editing. All sessions are free and open to the public. Advertisements: Notices for events not Unless otherwise specified, events will be held in Travis Auditorium. directly sponsored by a Fuller department, Sponsored by the School of Theology office, or organization will be printed in the 626-584-5300 “Ads” section and charged per word. All [email protected] requests should be made through the Production Editor at semi- ads @ dept.fuller.edu Upcoming Chapels Submission Deadlines: Week5: April 16 Week 6: April 23 Week7: April 30 Holy Week at Fuller Wednesday, April 16 Dr. Clayton Schmit will serve as celebrant for a dramatic reading of NEW BEGINNINGS CHRISTIAN the Passion narrative according to Mark. The reading will be interwoven FELLOWSHIP with congregational singing and choral music. The service will feature the Fuller Vocal Ensemble and student instrumentalists. It will be held "A new church start up” in Pilgrim Chapel, First Congregational Church. NEEDED • WANTED 3 to 6 months Or for the life of your ministry Thursday, April 17 NORTH HOLLYWOOD The Thursday worship band will lead this Maundy Thursday • Service in commemoration of Christ’s last supper. The service YOUTH MINISTRY will include footwashing. Leaders & Helpers TEEN MINISTRY Leaders & Helpers TUTORS Math & Reading MUSIC MINISTRY SOT Payton Lectures Director & Musicians Wednesday, April 23 - Thursday, April 24 Evangelism Richard Bauckham, professor of New Testament Studies at the University of St. Andrews • 818-723-2282 in Scotland, will lecture on ‘The Historical Jesus and the Apostolic Testimony: Where www.leapofTaith.us History and Theology Meet” at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Travis Will also consider Field Education students Auditorium. See above for more information on the Payton Lectures. the Semi - Week Three - Spring 2003 - Fuller Theological Seminary - www.fuller.edu/student_life/SEMI/semi.html - page 3 Photography byJeffBjorckDr. War is Never Entertaining by Sunday B. Agang By and large, the entertainment industry has discovered that this generation has an unusual craving for things that will take our attention away from “bad news” and give us “good news” When I Glaze I Cannot Sleep (entertainment). We want to escape the inescapable by refusing to deal with the realities of a broken world, a world that says, “You by Dr. Al Dueck are just a step away from death.” When I listen to the way the war in Iraq is covered, I realize For weeks the pots have slept that the media makes little distinction between the war and a Super on their shelf waiting. Bowl game. As a matter of fact, many people watch news of the war as if they were watching a sporting event. The media has created Russet, cream, and pink may awaken us as an imaginary world where reality has been traded for entertainment. Cappucchino, Castille blue and Chun red. Of course, not all of us lose sight of reality. Coming from northern Nigeria, I know first hand what it means to be in the Iraqis’ Still dazed I sit at my bed’s edge; situation. I know what it feels like to be a step away from death. I the pots bisqued and ready for weeks. remember when my cousin, a pastor, was slaughtered during the religious violence between Muslims and Christians in Kaduna in Then finally while that first full kiln February 2000.