orthodoxy and orthopraxy

from About.com:

The term orthopraxy comes from the Greek for "correct action / activity" and is used to emphasize the correct conduct, particularly with regards to religious activity. This is contrasted with the idea of orthodoxy, which is about having the correct sort of belief.

On Sunday, my pastor Jeff told one of Jesus' parables in the course of his sermon. It was about two brothers whose father owned a vineyard. One day the father asked both brothers to go work in the vineyard that day. The first one said, "sure, of course, I'll go!" but then other stuff came up and he decided not to. The second one said he wouldn't work in the vineyard, but then he changed his mind and went anyway. So Jesus asks his followers the question: "Which brother did what his father asked?"

In the course of thinking about this today, I'm reminded again of the importance of orthopraxy. There are a lot of people out there who make really grand claims about the correctness of what they believe. They make a point of dotting all their theological i's and crossing their t's and will argue till they're blue in the face why they're right and you're wrong. Then there are others whose lives demonstrate the belief that's in their hearts. I think at the end of the day God is going to care more about what our actions and hearts say about our faith than the correctness of what we say with our mouths. And if someone is on a faith journey toward God, I would much rather encourage them to seek him wholeheartedly and trust him than argue theological orthodoxy.

But that's just me.

:)

scribe for hire

Well, I married a man much like myself it seems. The paper he had all quarter to work on finally got started . . . yesterday. And it's due . . . now. I think literally now. He's reading it out loud 'colloquium-style' for his class, and I think he said that was at 1 today. Anyhow, being the good little wife that I am, I searched my brain for ways in which I could be of aid and support, and since my pep talks seemed to be appreciated, but not really helping that much, I thought I'd take it a step further. And that leads us to how I can now add 'scribe' as a position on my resume. (or not.) I noticed that Corey seems to be much better at talking about what he's doing than actually writing it down. So after listening to the twisting, turning, not-so-organized explanation of what the paper is going to be about, I set out to help him figure out how to outline it, and then offered to write and let him dictate. While it did feel a bit awkward for the both of us, I think it took a lot of the pressure off of him, since he seemed to choke every time he tried to sit in front of the computer and write. And it was actually kind of fun. Since I don't have to write any of my own papers anymore, it's kind of fun getting to be a part of the process and do the typing (as well as some incognito editing). That's the fun part of being a scribe. You don't actually have to type what they say {tapping fingers Mr. Burns style, that is, backwards}, and by the time they come back and read it later to edit, they just trust that those were their own words {evil laughter}. Just kidding, I didn't really do that much editing, just a word here or there... ;0) We got through maybe half of the paper that way before I had to go to work, but it definitely set the ground work so that when he sat down at the computer the intimidation factor was gone and he had a good running start.

Even with his procrastination shortfalls, I do have a pretty amazing husband. He's the most creative thinker I know, and his brain moves at speeds I cannot even fathom. I'm so proud of him every time he talks about the discussions in class when he brought up points which had never even occurred to the profs before or when I hear about his paper topics which are always interesting and innovative. I have definitely found the smartest man I know. And that makes me happy. And perhaps nerdy. Which is OK.

On a completely unrelated note, these roses came out of MY yard. they look prettier in person, but I'll show you the webcam picture I took anyway, just so you don't feel entirely left out.