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Thu, 28 May 2009 19:01:06 GMT

http://amyjnicholson.blogspot.com/

Richmond, Pink berries and the Bronx

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:18:25 GMT

So much has happened in the past week! I went to the interview conference and was completely blown away with all that goes on. Southern Baptists really know how do this kind of thing and the International Learning Center is so very well put together. I'm not dreading living there for there months. The land around it is beautiful and even on our short week they gave good options for food.

Anyway, but the important thing is that we all pretty much figured out what job we want to apply for. Some people decided to not go with the programs offered - and were complete supported for it - and other of us are getting ready for lives overseas. I kept expecting for "the other shoe to drop" but things went beautifully. The employees were so helpful, I was already completely cleared on my medical so I never had to worry about all the mess of the past year (PRAISE GOD), and the ILC was a peaceful place to go through so much stress. Have I mentioned the amazing people who were interviewing along side of me. They were so wonderful. Now I will have friends all over the world, literally. Thank God for Facebook!

After researching and lots of groups discussions and meetings and interviews, I became more and more certain that I wanted to apply for the student mobilization job in Austria. Which means that I will get to know Vienna and 1) get to know students studying in Vienna and try to figure out what God is doing in and through them - to hopefully start a college ministry/churches; 2) Get groups from the States to come into Vienna to do dynamic mission trips that will change the groups lives and the neighborhoods of Vienna for the better. Needless to say, it's a pretty amazing job. At this point I have confidence that this is the way that I should be going - but things are NOT final yet. Stay tuned . . .

And! Did I mention that I am currently sitting in my friend Janine's apartment in the Bronx? I'm getting to meet all her great New Yorker friends and I'm just loving the mix of real New York moments - and my times of tourist-y-ness. This is such an amazing city. I mean, they (New York) have this great frozen yogurt topping called moshi - it's not on the menu, you have to be in the know - that are like little square pieces of heaven.

Yesterday I got to go to The Gallery Church and meet the family from Tennessee who planted the church five years ago. We all went out to lunch after at this GREAT pizza place called Deanie's. We also got to go to the Modern Museum of Art along with about 20,000 other people. The Dali film exhibit was so cool - a little too crowded but it was a weekend. Then, we ended the day with a very fun and messy sushi making dinner party. I wish that my computer would work so you could see all the pictures - hopefully soon.

Today was very laid back but still about four times the walking I'm used to. I loved getting to have dinner with Janine's friend Maureen at this great little Italian bistro. We were going to try to catch a show but apparently that's hard to do at the last moment in peak season on a Monday. Everything was sold out or standing room only - or way past our budget. Still very fun just hanging out in the theatre district. I'm back home at the Bronx. I love this neighborhood. Janine lives really close to a reservoir so it's actually quiet on her street. It's also quite the climb up to her house. Out her window I look down on apartment buildings and the trains. She's very high on a hill. So beautiful, but no wonder she's in such great shape! Guess I'm going to have to get used to hills again with the whole Vienna thing . . . :)

Anyway, tomorrow I think we're just going to enjoy another beautiful day and try to see a musical.

Vacations are wonderful.

Looking Back, Skating Forward

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:19:24 GMT

I am working on academic papers right now to finish up my degree - it's a great excuse not to do other things, but it's hard to actually do itself. While looking for an interaction I had on one of my blogs, I got sidetracked looking at my old entries. I used to write so much! I have forgotten. I think I'll try again.

Last night I took a brake from these papers and planning my August "touring around eastern United States" trip to go ice skating with Paul and then we met up with Christy and went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. I enjoyed it all! It was so great to make myself try to ice skate again. I think it's been almost ten years. It came back slowly. I was never very good so I'm just proud that I only fell once.

The movie was a perfect summer-no-thinking-thrilling movie for me. Sure they could have done more to stick closer to the book or the original movie - but I was OK with what they did. Of course, I'm just happy looking at Brandon Fraizer doing anything. It was a very Indiana Jones type plot. Good stuff.

OK, back to the real work.

Falesti Pictures

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:08:39 GMT

Hello! In case you haven't seen, my pictures are posted on my flickr site! They are somewhat out of order, but hopefully you can see some progression of the events. And I'm sure I've misspelled some notes and comments - I was trying to rush through and get the posted rather than wait for everything to be perfect.

Enjoy

First Reflections of Falesti, Moldova

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:48:47 GMT

(pictures coming soon.)

Perhaps I would do better to write earlier in the day before jet-lag gets the better of me - I've put off writing love enough. This trip to Moldova was life-changing. I got back in Nashville Friday night and I'm am still just trying to understand all that I saw and heard. Moldova is a beautiful, beautiful country! Riding along, looking at it's rolling hills of trees, sunflower fields, villages and cities it was hard to believe that so much pain eats at the heart of her people.

My team focused our attention on a five day camp for children from the Falesti Internat at their state-run summer camp location. The location is adorable but sparse. The children live in cabins with three to four to a room with no running water or electricity. The workers are pretty much volunteer workers with little to offer and the children are very thin and small for their ages. The the games, clothes, and sport equipment that we brought in seemed so small, but these children were so appreciative and loving it was like we had given them more than they could ask for. In fact, I had a hard time keeping my girls from returning most of the craft pieces in the form of gifts like necklaces and bracelets. They were all unfailingly generous.

Although I loved all the children, I became very close to Ana, who was in my small group Bible study, and her friend Ina. They are both 13, but Ana has just turned 13 so Ina is a grade ahead. They have both been abandoned by their families. Ana has the double pain that her little brother was adopted this year, leaving her that much more lonely for family. Over the five days Ina did a particularly good job of breaking through the language barrier, memorizing English phrases, patiently helping me with my Romanian, and knowing when it was time to give up and get a translator. She is so intelligent it made me all the more determined to make sure she would have a chance and a future. They are both beautiful, abandoned girls and therefore very high risk for being trafficked into slavery. Fortunately, because of the transitional housing that JMI (a NGO my church is in the process of establishing) has recently opened, I know that these girls have a hope to look forward to.

By the end of the week I was surprised to discover that another child had almost silently entered my heart as well as the girls. Nicolae is one of the many boys that I taught during life skills. These boys all surprised me with the compliant respect that they gave me even though I was teaching them things like the importance of flossing and making healthy relationships right after they got off the futball field. Nico was quiet like most of the middle school aged boys, but kept coming back to ask to use my camera. He is a photo-journalist, bringing back expos on the beautifully clean, bare kitchens and gripping portraits of his friends. I never got to sit down with him and a translator until the last day when I found out that he was the last of a large poor family so his parents decided to give him up. Too many mouths to feed. I gave him my University of Tennessee hat, but I wanted to give him the world.

As we all said goodbye, after many hugs, songs and prayers, the girls tearfully ran off to Ina's cabin. Nico just stood there staring at me through the window; his hand matching my hand against the glass. Then as the van began to move he ran to the open window at the front of the bus and yelled, "Amy, Amy!" and passed his name tag through to pass to me. I was so full of love and yet felt so helpless. As we drove off I turned to the small young woman who sat next to me and I hoped these kids would have a similar future. We were taking her from Falesti to the transitional housing in Chisinau so she, at 15, now has a hope of college and a life not controlled by fear. For $140 a month, people interested in standing in the gap for children like my kids can give to JMI to help establish the web of protection they so desperately need. I'll give you more information if you are interested.

There are more stories, but there's too much to say here.

http://rhccfalesti.wordpress.com/

Next stop is the Candidacy Conference starting July 28.

Nu înţeleg foarte bine româneşte.

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:07:10 GMT

I'm listening to my introduction to Romanian (Moldovans speak Moldovan which is so similar to Romanian everyone says you can just listen to Romanian language stuff) and I'm getting really confused. First, the man and the woman who are speaking as Romanian native speakers have slightly different accents. That's typical for these kind of tapes. Maybe they do it on purpose so you see acceptable variants or something. Then, there's the fact that it's so similar to Italian it just sounds like what would happen if a bunch of Romans lived next door to Slavs for a few dozen generations. Funny how that works out. I took Italian for two semesters my freshman year of college so things sound vaguely familiar but wrong to my ears. I'm not sure I should be trying to memorize how to be polite in a language I'll be around for ten days when I'll have a translator next to me 95% of the time. At the same time, I have this desperate desire to become fluent in every language I'm exposed to.

This just makes me want to start learning whatever I'm going to learn for my job. Hmmm. Got to get a job. Conference isn't until the end of the month . . . Moldova Trip is just as important . . . Must go look at lesson plans.

blogging as procrastination

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:50:20 GMT

Because my last entry was in April - and not much one at that - I'm going to try to just say something to make myself start writing again. I still blame burnout from post-Katrina over-blogging. But, now that almost three years have gone by I'm loosing the right to use it. Now I'm just being lazy. I've also decided to let myself off the hook and start using this like a real (more or less) journal type blog until I actually have some subject to talk about. Like a project.

I am working on a project - but it's way to close to my heart to expose to this glaring light.

I can tell you that I have so much to do in the next few days before going to Moldova on Wednesday, I'm completely overwhelmed. So I'm do what I usually do in that case. I watch movies, read two or three books at time, organize my room, and journal. Anything to avoid getting to the point. OK, I admit that the only reason I'm blogging right now is because I have open on my desk top: a paper with two paragraphs of about 15 pages worth of work, the itinerary of my next week, curriculum for the first day of Bible study I'm doing with my girls on the trip, notes for another different paper, and of course an audio book musing in my ear plug.

I think I need to step back and focus a bit. Or, I could just go to bed and pretend to sleep for a while.

And just as a side note: If you are the kind of person who gets a little freaked out by the thought of pregnancy and all that can go wrong with it, like me, do not read The Time Traveler's Wife. It's traumatic.

And now for something completely different: You. Can. Only. Type. One. Word. Answers.

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:29:33 GMT

1.Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2.Your significant other? who?
3.Your hair? shorter
4.Your mother? inspiring
5.Your father? wise
6.Your favorite thing? freedom
7.Your dream last night? nonexistent
8.Your favorite drink? tea
9.Your dream/goal? perfection
10.The room you're in? living
11.Your ex? who?
12.Your fear? failure
13.Where do you want to be in 6 years? Europe
14.Where were you last night? home
15.What you're not? predictable
16.Muffins? yes
17.One of your wish list items? bicycle
18.Where you grew up? T-states
19.The last thing you did? ate
20.What are you wearing? jeans
21.Your TV? on
22.Your pets? none
23.Your computer? Dell
24.Your mood? whimsical
25.Missing someone? yes
26.Your car? big
27.Something you're not wearing? earrings
28.Favorite Store? shopghia.com
29.Your summer? busy
30.Like someone? yup
31.Your favorite color? green
32.When is the last time you laughed? minutes
33.Last time you cried? weeks
34.Who will/would re-post this? Christy

Thoughts on Biblical Equality

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:12:36 GMT

In 1977 George W. Knight III responded to the growing evangelical understanding of equality of women in his book, The New Testament Teaching on the Role Relationship of Men and Women. In this, Knight argued that women are not subordinate to men in essence, but rather in role, function, and especially authority. Rejecting the hierarchical systems found throughout Church history, Knight affirmed the biblical teaching that women and men are both created in the image of God and therefore stand as equals. This seems to be a great move forward in evangelical theology, acknowledging eternal truth regardless of cultural whims.

However, Knight took a very dangerous step in his book by using the modern conception of “roles" to justify the continued subordination of women within the church, especially with regards to ministry oportinities. To strengthen his argument that the Scriptures teach a subordination of women’s in the roles of the church, he suggests the same thing in the Trinity: the Son of God is equal to the Father in nature but eternally subordinate in role. Kevin Giles, in Jesus and the Father: Modern Evangelicals Reinvent the Doctrine of the Trinity (Zondervan, 2006), points to Knight’s work as one of the most influential writing that has led to what he calls a new manifestation of an ancient heresy.

Within a decade evangelical theologians began, “talking as if every good Christian since the apostles had believed in role subordination in the Trinity.” Phillip Cary, in his article, “The New Evangelical Subordinationism: Reading Inequality Into the Trinity,” remarks that perhaps the most influential proponent of this idea is Wayne Grudem, who made this concept of the Trinity the focus of his Systematic Theology (Zondervan, 1994). Grudem’s tome is now a widely used systematic theology text in evangelical seminaries throughout the English-speaking world. Both Knight and Grudem claim this error for one reason: “for them, affirming subordination in the Trinity is essential to holding the line against egalitarianism in the church, the home, and the world.”

In their attempt to justify blatant sexism against the teachings of the Scriptures, many American evangelicals today have also inadvertently turned from orthodox Christian beliefs that have been taught in the scriptures and clarified by the Nicene Creed. This heresy is nothing new within Church history. But, that is no excuse to fall into error when the truth has been revealed.

Many of the proponents of this new subordinationism point to a verse in I Corinthians 11. Chapter Eleven of 1 Corinthians reads:

2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you. 3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head. In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God. (NIV)

Focusing on the third verse, “Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” Paul states that he wants the Corinthians, and other readers, to know an important truth about relationships.

First, the second two pairs, “the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God,” are often set together and pointed out to show how man-woman relationships are analogous to Christ’s relation to God, possibly because of similar looking passages in Scripture. If these two sets are an analogous, one of two positions is possible: 1) Either woman is equal to man and somehow connected to him; or 2) Christ has less authority than God. The passage in I Corinthians 11 is not referring to the Servant Jesus incarnate, but the second person of the Trinity. If Christ is lower or somehow has less authority than “God,” what is Christ? There is obviously more information needed to make sense of these statements.

Looking at the first pair of 1 Corinthians 11:3, “the head of every man is Christ,” what does “head” mean in this case? It is understandable that modern readers would translate “head” as authority because of our own cultural understanding of the word. However, “head,” in the Ancient Near East (ANE) did not mean the thinking organ of the body or, necessarily, authority. As many scriptures and other ANE writings depict, it was the heart that was thought as the directing, authoritative organ. Proverbs 19:21 gives us a well known example of this use, “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.” The head, on the other hand, was regarded as the life-source of the body, just as head-waters are the source of a river. For example, in Colossians 2:19, “He has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.”

Compared to its uses in scripture, heart and head are almost the reverse of how modern readers would understand the two organs. Therefore, it is more accurate to read “head” as “life source” or “source of growth” when reading about a figurative “head” in the scriptures. The original readers would not have the connotation of authority with “head.” This passage is not about authority. Other places in Scripture teach about Christ’s lordship; however the message of relationship in this passage is that Christ is the life source of man.

That being said, to understand the author’s intent for the verse, the passage as a whole now needs to be examined. What does, “Now I want you to realize that the life-source of every man is Christ, and the life-source of the woman is man, and the life-source of Christ is God,” have to do with whether a person should preach with one’s head covered or not? The rest of the contents seem to point to the decorum and outward coverings of people’s heads are directly connected to how the people prophesying would be perceived by the others as “natural” or not.

Because “nature” includes a man’s short hair, it can be inferred that “nature” actually means the custom. An examination of ANE culture reveals that women speaking without a head cover would have been thought a prostitute by outsiders. Paul’s gentle correction in this cultural-sensitivity matter seems to point that women were reveling in their new found freedoms of equality in the church to the detriment of the reputation of the church and the families of the women. There are many cases in the pastoral writings of the scripture where people are encouraged to lay down their freedom for the sake of unity and for the reputation of the community. This seems to be another case.

Therefore, it seems most likely, that I Corinthians 11 should be read with the understanding that all are inter-connected. Mankind is lifeless without Christ, Christ is lifeless without the other members of the Trinity, and a woman is lifeless without man. Paul's seems to think that the women who were speaking in the church needed to remember their husbands and fathers were part of themselves; a life-giving part. Keep in mind that Paul also cautioned men about their behavior. He wasn’t picking on women. Paul seems to be reminding his audience that they need to be culturally and loving so that outsiders would not be distracted by their outward appearances. The goal is for outsiders to see the truth of the Gospel – the source of the Church’s hope, freedom, and unity.

The attempts of those like Knight and Grudem, who work subordination of women into the workings of the Church, incorrectly depict the unity of the Trinity and the unity that men and women can have within their relationship with God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in three unique persons. Christians must delve into the scriptures to understand how we are to become one as the Body of Christ with many different kinds of individuals. Proper exegesis continues to reveal that all persons are inter-connected and should be mindful of each other while exercising the abundant lives Jesus came to give. While worldly differences like race and class are null and void, all persons are unique with giftings that should be used, not to gain positions or roles in the Church, but to edify the Body for the Glory of God.

Biblical Equality? That's what I'm sayin'

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:22:28 GMT

Some people have asked me for a copy of my arguments from this mornings debate. I only had ten minutes for this kinds of presentation, so there's a lot I left out. I'm also working on another article that is related to this same subject and hopefully I'll finish between projects I need to do for class.

In the Beginning
“Let us make humankind in our image . . .”
-- God created another person to be an ezer "helper"
-- Ezer, a powerful ally of equal or greater strength
-- Woman was created differently to fulfill their mission to multiply and rule the earth

Falling from Unity
-When both disobeyed their relationship was also broken.
-God’s prophecy was correct:
-- Man’s focus turned to the work to survive
-- Woman’s focus was tied to her husband because of her vulnerability in times of pregnancy and early child rearing
-- A patriarchal society developed
-- God uses patriarchs for his glory, but not his original will for humanity

Old Testament
- God still called women to his service
-- Miriam – leader with her brothers
-- Deborah – ruler, warrior, and prophet
-- Huldah – prophet to the king
-- Anna – prophet, one of the first to declare Jesus as the Redemption of Jerusalem, the Christ

Jesus
- Jesus treated all people with respect and able carriers of truth
- Jesus was counter culture, but not so radical to be distracting from the main point – that he was the Christ
-- Woman at the well – evangelized her town
-- Mary - Mary sat at Jesus’ feet
-- Women disciples walked with and patronized Jesus’ ministry

Jesus' Teaching
- Jesus denounced seeing women as sexual objects (sermon on the mount)
- Saw adulteress as a redeemable person
- Spoke in parables that women could relate to better than men (missing coin, etc.)
- Revealed himself first to women at his resurrection, revealing that their testimony is as viable as men's

Already, Not Yet
- Acts reveals the beginning of the reversal of the Fall, but not complete
--Remarkable unity among the believers
-- Women in leadership in Acts
-- Lydia – wealthy patron, leader of community. Converted and led others to do likewise
-- Prisca - taught Apollos with her husband

What about Paul?
- Romans 16 is the most lengthy greeting of Paul’s writing
- Case studies of Paul’s relationships with women
- Paul uses normal formulae of the time in his greeting
-- greetings were to leaders of a community show them particular honor
-- This was an important part of the honor/shame and patron/client culture

Paul’s Greeting to the Romans
- Paul had close relations with some people and knew a few by reputation
-- Nine of the 26 people he lists are women
-- Four women as having “worked hard” for the faith
-- All listed are active leadership of the community
-- The church had a “tenement leadership”
- Tone and length of greeting denotes desire to be on good terms

Phoebe (vs.1-3)
- Letters carriers were authorities on authorial intent
- She is named a deacon of the church of Kenchreia
-- Not just “servant”
-- Served the local church; not a missionary
-- A patron willing to promote Paul’s mission
- Paul expects the Roman church to do what she tells them to do to help her finish her task

Prisca and Aquilla
- Paul refers to Prisca by her formal name to show honor
- “fellow workers” – Paul was a preacher and teacher
- Prisca was most likely the patron and host of the church
- They paid dearly to aid Paul’s escape

Miriam
-- Jewish, freed slave name
-- “labor for you” jargon for evangelist
-- “much” - Greek term for length of work - Likely one of the earliest converts and establisher of the Roman church

Junia –
- with husband/brother? Andronikus
- Latin name of freedwomen
- “outstanding among the apostles”

“Outstanding among the Apostles”

(Latest language knowledge points to)
- Adjective episemos: “lifts up a person of thing as distinguished or marked in comparison with other representatives of the same class.” - Jewwett
- Seems that they were evangelistic witnesses of the resurrection
- Not connected with a church name so perhaps missionaries

Others cont.
Tryphena & Tryphosa – may have been twin sisters - “workers in the Lord”
Presis – Persian slave – “worked hard in the Lord”
Rufus’ mother & mine – intimate relationship
Julia and Nereus’ sister – Paul does not know them, but only through reputation as leaders

Conclusions
In Romans 16, Paul does not seem to have difficulty with women in leadership
- He never criticizes these women
- Refers to them as fellow workers and even in one case, mother
- Commends their hard work for the gospel, not their work at home or for the beauty

Conclusions, cont.
- The idea of functional roles as the pre-fall will of God is anachronistic and heretical
-- God is One: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
-- “functional submission”- doesn’t jive. Mutual submission is more biblical
- God’s actions are characteristic of the unique persons of the Trinity
- To draw a parallel between the differences in human genders to the persons of the Trinity as an argument for male/female roles is absurd

Application:
- As Jesus prayed: we will be one as the Trinity is one. Be patient with one another and work toward unity
- Church leaders should be
-- servants to their community, not seekers of power
-- Not concerned with race, class, or gender
- We should focus on the gifts that a person displays
- Women should be particularly sensitive and gentle with our weaker brothers and sisters within patriarchal systems