Six Beatitudes for Exegetes: Cribbed from Beverly Gaventa's lecture this morning....

Blessed are the visionary (those who look at the text)
Blessed are the eavesdroppers (those who pay attention to what people say, and how they say it)
Blessed are the readers for they will have words for the Word
Blessed are the day dreamers (they take the time to wonder imaginatively about the text)
Blessed are the lovers of God, His people and His Scripture, for their risk will be repaid.
Blessed are those who trust that scripture speaks, for they shall hear.

As elated as I was to see Led Zeppelin on stage together again, I must say, it's not Zeppelin without Bonzo. His son is good, but has nowhere near the feel of his father. Bonzo had funk and soul, and you can't mimic that with technical ability alone. So let's all take a moment to appreciate his greatness in memoriam.

E.B. White on Thoreau's Walden,

"I was glad to learn from one of the notes that Thoreau was thirty-six years old before he discovered that he was tying his shoes with a granny knot. A man must take courage from something these days, while tying his shoes, and that is as buoyant a thought as any."

-----E.B. White, from "Writings from the New Yorker: 1927-1976"

Radiohead recently posted a number of live tracks via webcast. They can all be found on youtube now. This is "Headmaster's Ritual" by the Smiths. They also cover Bjork and New Order/Joy Division, as well as playing a couple of their own tunes.

""Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands at a
distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no one,
and was appalled that there was no
one to intervene."

-----Isaiah 58:14-16 NRSV