- My husband is lovely
- Coffee is momentarily not as appealing as it often is, tea is winning – although it feels wrong to order tea when out.
- I am sleep deprived
- I have subscribed to too many blogs and don’t have the energy to cull them down
- I would like it if someone were to invent a method of transport that is instantaneous
- I should write something more creative in some way shape or form
- I would quite like a sewing machine and after suggesting I probably would never sew my own clothes I would like to give some things a good crack
- I am nearing the end of 23 and about to progress to 24
- Our current bookclub book is dreary (Madame Bovary)
- I would like a holiday – although it feels rather unreasonable to feel such
- G & I watched a whole disk of How I Met Your Mother tonight
- I am still job hunting despite having a job – mostly because this current job is not why I studied design
- Beetroot tastes earthy and it’s pretty much the most legitimate way to eat something flavoured like dirt (it’s good stuff!)
- I followed a cocktail party with an early morning meeting (fool)
With Missio we have been going through Isaiah. In conclusion we were each given a chapter to look at in more detail and then present back to the group.
I had chapter 42. Somewhat well known.
It was an interesting exercise for a number of reasons. Besides leaving it quite late, it forced me to go check out some commentaries. This is not something I do often. And to be honest they are ridiculously inaccessible. Where is this magic place people learn to use them? I am not uneducated, stupid or slow (although slightly lazy at times) but everything I found was unappealing lists of words/exegeses with no flow or integration into the passage itself, no clearly established background information etc. I have just done another search and have to eat my words as my first result found something quite straightforward. What I am saying however is that studying the Bible in a technical way is not the easiest thing in the world – although rewarding as you do tend to discover things you otherwise wouldn’t have.
Anyway. I have come to the conclusion that Isaiah 42 is about a new thing, a new way, an alternative. Isaiah itself is the story of Jesus before the story of Jesus. And as much as full of war and conflict and despair as it is… like the image of a woman in childbirth the violence (so different from the assumed natural violence/response of humanity to anything that interferes with our own way) brings forth something new. And that something new is quite remarkable.
In Jesus we are presented with the opportunity to join in with this new thing. The Messiah that didn’t make sense to Israel the counter-cultural one, the carpenter the absent warrior.
And when I was thinking about this, it made me wonder what would happen if I were to present myself more consciously with the option of considering an alternative when I am presented with situations that life throws at me.
And somehow things seemed a little more concrete. If only momentarily.