Thursday, May 15, 2008
VANCOUVER
It is a beautiful cool spring day at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Trees are blooming and clouds hug the snow-capped mountains.
I am taking a course at Regent College across the street from UBC while staying in a UBC dorm. The course is absolutely great. Regent College is or has been home to J.I. Packer, Gordon Fee and Eugene Peterson among others.
Darrell Johnson is teaching my class. He is a pastor/professor who brings the heart of preaching to a scholarly understanding of the text. I have already changed my mind about a sermon series for fall or spring. Of course, this is only the first week of sabbatical, so we'll see what still happens. It is truly amazing to see topics, themes or passages in a whole new light. That, of course, is one of the things that makes real Bible study so interesting as well as life-impacting. I only hope I can do justice to passing some of this along to the whole congregation.
The eclectic make-up of the class is most interesting - a little bit of everyone from all over the world. Three professors also hosted a round table discussion of the American presidential primaries and issues. Quite interesting.
It was an 18 hour drive to get here, but I haven't been in the car since Sunday night. We'll see if the trip home seems longer. Crossing the border since 9/11 is a real pain. Sunday evening was a one hour wait. But the scenery from Northern California to Vancouver is glorious.
I am taking a course at Regent College across the street from UBC while staying in a UBC dorm. The course is absolutely great. Regent College is or has been home to J.I. Packer, Gordon Fee and Eugene Peterson among others.
Darrell Johnson is teaching my class. He is a pastor/professor who brings the heart of preaching to a scholarly understanding of the text. I have already changed my mind about a sermon series for fall or spring. Of course, this is only the first week of sabbatical, so we'll see what still happens. It is truly amazing to see topics, themes or passages in a whole new light. That, of course, is one of the things that makes real Bible study so interesting as well as life-impacting. I only hope I can do justice to passing some of this along to the whole congregation.
The eclectic make-up of the class is most interesting - a little bit of everyone from all over the world. Three professors also hosted a round table discussion of the American presidential primaries and issues. Quite interesting.
It was an 18 hour drive to get here, but I haven't been in the car since Sunday night. We'll see if the trip home seems longer. Crossing the border since 9/11 is a real pain. Sunday evening was a one hour wait. But the scenery from Northern California to Vancouver is glorious.
