Olympics!

Huge Congratulations to all our Olympic medal winners -- my mom is proud of you. (and I'm not even kidding!) I'm pretty sure that the TV hasn't switched off CBC for 13 straight days. What am I going to watch when I'm back to 3 channels that play NOTHING?!?

Today I went to a Jewish synogogue (it's part of one of the courses I'm taking), and observed a service. It was very interesting. It was so right, and yet, so wrong. It made me feel so incredibly sad for them -- here they are waiting for God's Messiah, but he's already come. And at the same time, the Jews' refusal of Jesus has allowed ME to hear the gospel. It was so very, very interesting to see a full service: complete with the marching of the Torah, readings and recitations. I wonder how many of them wonder if they're missing something. The Rabbi today, gave a brief little "sermon" in English about the Jewish propensity to argue things out. He said that's traditional; it is the Jewish relationship with the text. They argue with it to figure out what it means. He opposed their method to the "Christian Fundamentalist" (that's what he called it) method of reading God's word, and accepting exactly what it said. He argued for interpretation. For instance: the change between the acceptance of slavery in Biblical times verses the current laws that absolutely forbid slavery within the Jewish community. Another thing that stuck out to me was the absolute "stuck-ness" on tradition -> this is the way it's been done, this is the way we'll do it now. I've been reading through the Old Testament lately -- just after God brings the Israelites into the wilderness, and I've decided that I don't really understand their "focus-ed-ness" on the laws, and their ignoring the books of prophecy where God declares, "I am sick of your sacrifices... I want you to know God; that's more important..." (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea -- see the link for the verses). I want to be like that. I don't want to be caught up in practices and formalities so much that I forget to actually know God.

"Give me singleness of heart, that I might fear your name!!" Psalm86:11

I pray the same for you.