Wednesday What’s Up V
Categories : Current, Personal, Video, books, music |
Time for my weekly round up of what’s happening in my world :
LISTENING : my artist of the week this week would have to be Alison Krauss, who was suggested to me by a commenter on this blog. She’s an American singer and fiddler who, with her band Union Station, plays a combination of slow country and more up tempo bluegrass music. The bluegrass stuff is fine, but it’s her slower songs and haunting country ballads that have really got me hooked. She has a wonderful soprano voice which is far more pleasant and nuanced than most other country and pop artists. Perfect music to chill out to for a while.
WATCHING : still enjoying working our way through the TV series Heroes, although we’ve only got two more episodes left to watch before we’re caught up to the US, after which time we’ll have to suffer only watching one episode a week. I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle the suspense.
READING : on the weekend I started reading Sarah Sumner’s Men and Women in the Church. This is a book which tackles the sometimes contentious issue of women in ministry. While she gives a fair hearing to both the conservative and Christian feminist sides of this debate, ultimately Sarah comes to the conclusion that women should not be restricted from using their God-given gifts in whichever manner they are called, including preaching and church leadership. I found her reasoning quite convincing as she methodically works her way through the relevant Biblical texts (such as 1 Tim 2
) whilst maintaining a clear hold on the bigger picture of the Bible as a whole. She helps expose how thousands of years of cultural bias against women and indeed the teachings of some of the church Fathers like Augustine and Tertullian, have influenced the way in which these texts are read. Now I would never claim to be a feminist, but I found Sarah’s case compelling and balanced, and a comfortable fit with our overall beliefs about God’s love and the equality of all humans in his sight (Gal 3:28). This book is an important one to read. It’s also very easy to read. Although academically rigorous, it’s written in short chapters and contains plenty of illustrations and personal anecdotes, making it fairly easy going. Also see some of Scot McKnight’s discussion on the book in 2006.
TREATING : work has been fairly calm this week, which is a good thing since I don’t have much inclination or motivation to be here this week. No babies born thus far this week and no serious health crises – just lots of straightforward consultations (which is why I can write this blog entry by 10am and still not be behind with my patients. Yesterday throughout the work day I managed to get done our home group study on Colossians, and still finished on time at 4 o’clock.)
Finally, let me leave you with a clip from Alison Krauss & Union Station so you can get an idea of why I like this music so much …
And if you enjoyed that take a look at this clip – Alison Krauss : When you say nothing at all (live)
