I heard an interesting story on Radio4 today that made me smile. It was actually the funniest thing I have heard in the last 24 hours. Here in the UK we have had a lot of news about two entertainers whose conduct on air has been far from funny. So something to make me smile was a pleasant change!
Apparantly a well known American ventriloquist called Paul Winchell (born in 1922) was offered an opportunity on prime time TV in the USA in the 1950s. However when they tried things out for a test the sound engineer reported a problem. Apparantly the sound on Paul's normal voice was coming through perfectly but there were problems when he made the dummy speak. Was it some kind of problem with microphone technology back in the 50s?
What it turned out to be was that each time it was supposed to be the ventriloquists dummy that was talking the sound engineer moved the directional microphone boom so that it pointed to the dummy's mouth because it was the dummy's lips that were moving! Unbelievable!
It made me think about a time when God called young Samuel in the night. Three times Samuel got up and went to Eli, convinced that it had to be Eli's voice he was hearing. After all that was what he would naturally expect. The fourth time he heard his name called he followed Eli's advice and engaged in coversation with God. Of course Samuel's mistake was understandable as he had no experience of hearing God speak to him before. It was an easier mistake than the sound engineer's!
But it makes me wonder how well might we realise it when God is speaking to us. The sound may appear to be coming from somewhere or someone else, but could it be that God is speaking to me and I fail to recognise it. Or maybe, like the sound engineer, we are failing to get the message simply because we are looking in the wrong place?
Thursday 30 October 2008
Wednesday 29 October 2008
The Bible as a Jigsaw
As you may know there are 66 books that make up the Bible. These were probably written by around 40 different people at different times over a period of 1500 years. But together they make up one big picture or meta narrative. Each of these books plays a part in making up the big picture in much the same way that individual pieces of a jigsaw puzzle enables the big picture to be seen.
Over the years in which I have been teaching from the scriptures I have delighted in looking at complete books and drawing out their main theme or themes so that we can see just why each book is in the Bible. This is much the same as identifying the corner pieces, borders, or key sections of a jigsaw puzzle. But I have never done this systematically working through from Genesis to Revelation.
That's why I am enjoying a series that I am running at Yelvertoft Congregational Church just now. We started a few weeks ago with Genesis and tommorrow I am dealing with Judges. What has been great is to see the way in which those attending (even mature Christians) are gaining a fresh appreciation of this most marvelous and important of books. It is also good to see Christians appreciating the Hebrew scriptures - so often neglected in favour of the New Testament.
Yet Jesus said these books testify of him, and on the road to Emmaus he went right back into the books of Moses as well as the prophets to help two disciples understand "the big picture". As Christians we have a special place of honour for Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. But it is the Hebrew scriptures that enable us to understand exactly who he is. That's why every one of the 66 books in the library is important.
If anyone is interested in the notes I could post them here. They are only simple outline explanations.
Over the years in which I have been teaching from the scriptures I have delighted in looking at complete books and drawing out their main theme or themes so that we can see just why each book is in the Bible. This is much the same as identifying the corner pieces, borders, or key sections of a jigsaw puzzle. But I have never done this systematically working through from Genesis to Revelation.
That's why I am enjoying a series that I am running at Yelvertoft Congregational Church just now. We started a few weeks ago with Genesis and tommorrow I am dealing with Judges. What has been great is to see the way in which those attending (even mature Christians) are gaining a fresh appreciation of this most marvelous and important of books. It is also good to see Christians appreciating the Hebrew scriptures - so often neglected in favour of the New Testament.
Yet Jesus said these books testify of him, and on the road to Emmaus he went right back into the books of Moses as well as the prophets to help two disciples understand "the big picture". As Christians we have a special place of honour for Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. But it is the Hebrew scriptures that enable us to understand exactly who he is. That's why every one of the 66 books in the library is important.
If anyone is interested in the notes I could post them here. They are only simple outline explanations.
Blogging in a busy life!
Despite being an IT enthusiast almost from the time that computers became personal there are some IT aspects that I have been slow to engage with. I have promoted the use of IT with all the various Christian organisations and churches with which i have worked, and make use of it in almost every working day.
However over the last two weeks I boldly stepped into the world of Facebook and have a growing network of friends - some Christians and some not. And this is my first ever blog!
To be honest my life is very full and I have feared that I might not keep the blog going. But each day there are usually either interesting things that happen or the occasional original thought!
So here goes - please watch this space!
However over the last two weeks I boldly stepped into the world of Facebook and have a growing network of friends - some Christians and some not. And this is my first ever blog!
To be honest my life is very full and I have feared that I might not keep the blog going. But each day there are usually either interesting things that happen or the occasional original thought!
So here goes - please watch this space!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
