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Filed under: Posts | Tags: Bible, God, memorization
As I've said before, encouraging Scripture memorization is one of my passions. For too long that discipline was inactive in my life, but recently God has been cultivating a love for His Word in my heart.
The funny thing is, when I write about Scripture memorization here, the traffic remains the same, and the post rarely gets viewed. But when I write about LOST or how I met Christian, traffic jumps to three times its normal rate.
Now, I don't really care how many people visit my blog. I don't have any advertising, so it's not like I'm trying to earn money. And enough people read it and mention things I've written to me that I don't feel like my writing is futile.
What I'm trying to say is, I'm going to keep writing about memorizing Scripture, even if no one reads these posts. It's helpful to me to think about the process of memorizing and meditating, because it makes it even more real to me.
When I started memorizing 1 John, I thought that what I would take away from it was the ability to recite the whole book. I still hope that's true, but there is so much more than that. The Word truly is living and active.
God answers prayers to love His Word with a love for His Word.
Maybe this shouldn't be a surprise, but I'm a firm believer that God always answers this prayer. When I started memorizing 1 John in November, it was slow going. I tried to memorize six verses a week, but it took me several weeks to memorize the first chapter (10 verses). But then I started praying that God would give me a love for His Word that expressed itself in a diligence in memorizing it. If you're struggling with wondering if God really does answer prayer, then try praying about this and just see if He doesn't answer. He will.
It gets easier as you go.
This was a surprise to me, because I thought that when I got into the middle of the book, it would get harder, because there was so much more to review. Actually, the farther I get in, the more encouraged I get, so the more I want to memorize. Whereas in the first couple weeks it was a struggle to memorize even one verse a day, now I'm trying to memorize two verses a day, and sometimes three if they're somewhat familiar and not too long. Of course, you should never press on too quickly at the expense of remembering previous verses, but if you're struggling in the beginning, take heart. It will get easier as your mind becomes more adept at memorizing.
Sin is no longer as tempting.
Well, some sin, anyway. Unfortunately, our hearts really are deceitful above all things, and just because you've got solid words of truth in your heart doesn't mean that you're never going to sin. But God tells us in Ephesians 6 that the Word is a sword, and that means He means for us to use it to fight against the devil, and, sometimes, against our own hearts. 1 John 3:10 says, "By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love His brother." I won't get into the theology of losing our salvation, because I don't believe that we can, but I do believe that God is serious about sin. Several times since I've memorized that verse and been tempted toward sins that I daily struggle with, I've been able to recall that verses – "Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God." Add to that a sincere prayer that God will rescue you from the temptation, and Satan has no chance.
Books with Scripture references are way more fun to read.
This is probably bad, but most of the time when I'm reading a book with Scripture references in it, I don't often look them up. Sometimes, of course, the author actually quotes the verses, but sometimes it's just the reference. This hasn't happened much, yet, but in one book I'm reading, the author quoted at different points several verses from the beginning of 1 John. I saw the reference, and the verse popped into my head. I probably wouldn't have looked them up, so having the verse in my head actually increased how much I was edified by the book.
Scripture memorization precedes Scripture memorization.
It's true that I've gotten more encouraged to finish up 1 John since I started, but I've also found an increasing desire to keep memorizing after I've finished. My goal before was simply to finish 1 John before the wedding, but because I've been able to pick up the pace a little bit, now I'm going to try to finish 1 John by the beginning of March, and then try to memorize as much of the book of James as I can before the wedding – especially chapter 3, which focuses a lot on the tongue. Which needs a lot of work, in my case. And I've made a list of other things I want to memorize – several Psalms, Romans 8, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes. These are long-term goals, but the more Scripture I get into my heart, the more I want to be in there.
I truly hope none of what I've written sounds like I'm bragging. I've been a Christian for about 17 years, and until I started this endeavor last fall, I had very little Scripture captured in my heart apart from verses I learned when I was under the age of 10. I've wasted many, many years in which my mind was fresh and hungry for knowledge. My hope is that in reading about how rich the experience of memorizing Scripture has been for me, you will discover the joy of having God's Word in your heart, no matter how old you are.
I don't know what the coming years will bring, but if the past couple of years are any indication, persecution is becoming more and more common. And I don't know if it will ever get to the point that our Bibles are taken away from us, but what if they are? I want us to be ready.
If you read a lot of blogs like I do, you probably tend to skim more than read. This is probably one of those posts you're not going to want to read, which is OK, because I don't really care if you read it. I just care that at the end of the day, you've listened to three of the best messages I've ever heard.
A friend of Christian's who goes to Southern directed him to the Great Commission Lectures by Dr. David Platt. Platt is only in his 20s, but he is passionate about the Lord, and he has lengthy passages of Scripture memorized (there are other awesome things about him that I can't remember).
I was listening to "The Command of Christ in the Great Commission" when I heard Platt ask a question that stopped me in my tracks:
Are your plans self-directed or Christ-directed?
Here's the thing: When I'm overwhelmed or feel like I won't get things done, I want to trust the Lord, and I often pray about those struggles. But when I pray, I'm very tempted to pray in such a way that I'm basically just asking God to give me what I want in the way that I've decided is best.
And when it comes to actually making plans, while I suppose on the surface I want people to think that those plans are Christ-directed, when I really think about it, I'm making them in a way that suits me best.
Take my current job situation. Most likely, in a couple of weeks, I won't have this job anymore (and I refuse to talk about the terrible economy, the recession, the downturn). As I've thought about other opportunities, most of them revolve around the following thoughts:
- What will make me happy?
- Where can I earn "enough" money?
- What will be best for me and Christian as a married couple?
Those aren't necessarily bad things to take into consideration, but if you look closely, you'll notice that they're very self-directed. Not a single mention of the Lord! A better way:
- What will make God happy and me holy?
- How can this situation teach me to trust God more for finances?
- What job will most allow Christian and me to glorify God with our marriage?
Dr. Platt says later in the message, "God does not bless based solely on our motives. The reality is that God always blesses His plans."
Well said.
Most people, given a few minutes during the day, can memorize something. Even if you have a cell phone, you probably have numerous phone numbers memorized. You know addresses of family members. You might know your license plate number. You know your social security number.
So it's really not that difficult to sit down and memorize a verse of Scripture, even a longer verse. If it's already familiar, even better. Take a verse I memorized last week, 1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
If you spend 10 minutes right now reading that verse out loud several times, then repeating it without looking several times, you could probably memorize it.
That's all well and good, but will you be able to remember it tomorrow?
As I'm working on memorizing the book of 1 John, making sure I'm retaining the verses I've already memorized is more and more important. When I was working on 1 John 1:6, it wasn't so hard to quickly repeat the first five verses. Even when I was into chapter 2, it wasn't so bad, because there were only 10 verses in the first chapter. But last week I finished chapter 2, which, added to chapter 1, means I've memorize 39 verses. It actually takes a fair amount of time to repeat those back – and I also want to memorize a new verse every day.
For several weeks, I did repeat all the verses I had learned almost every day. But as time went on, I realized that I knew some of the earlier verses so well, I didn't really need to keep repeating them. At the same time, before I continued on to chapter 3, I wanted to make sure I knew 1 John 2 backwards and forwards, especially since there were some verses I had stumbled over. I developed a simple system of checking myself. This takes about 30 minutes, depending on how much your reviewing, but it's worth the time if you retain the verses.
Many of these principles I gleaned from the helpful article An Approach to the Extended Memorization of Scripture. The author discusses "weeding the garden" (reading through passages you've already memorized to catch stray words) as well as picking a time each week to review certain passages.
1. Review a chapter at a time.
I started by opening up a blank document in Microsoft Word and typing out 1 John 1, which each verse on a different line beginning with the verse number. When I finished that, I checked it with my Bible.
2. If you don't have any trouble with that chapter, plan a time to review it.
I didn't miss any words, so I decided that I would relegate that chapter to a specific time each week. I chose Sunday afternoons, so I wrote that in my planner.
3. For longer chapters, review the verses out of order.
Now for 1 John 2. This chapter was interesting to memorize, because some parts of it were very familiar – like verses 2 and 15 through 17 – but others were completely unfamiliar.
It's also taken me more than a month to memorize this chapter, so I wanted to make sure I really, really knew it. I also wanted to make sure that I knew each verse individually with its verse number. It's helpful to know it no matter what, but if someone asked me what 1 John 2:20 said, I didn't want to have to quietly say the first 19 verses.
To test myself, I opened another Word document and began typing in random numbers on each line (8, 17, 26, etc.) until I had all the numbers 1 through 29.
From there, I just typed whatever verse went with each number. They were out of order, so I couldn't cheat by knowing what verse came around it.
After I finished, I checked what I had typed with my Bible. Out of the 29 verses, there were 11 that weren't quite right.
4. Review problem verses until you're sure of them.
In most of them, I had forgotten a word like "but" or "that," but I wanted to be exact. I deleted all the verses I had gotten right, jotted down the 11 verse numbers I needed to work on, and then re-did the Word document randomly typing those 11 numbers on each line.
I then repeated what I had done earlier by typing in the verses again. Because checking them in my Bible had refreshed my memory, I was able to correctly enter in 10 of the 11 verses on the second try. For that last verse, I just typed it in correctly several times to remind myself.
5. Continue choosing specific times each week to review passages you've mastered.
Even though I had pretty much convinced myself I knew those verses, I was concerned that I was a little shaky on the second half of the chapter, mostly because I often memorized those verses in packs of 2 or 3, instead of one at a time (because I slacked off and got behind).
Just to make sure, I decided that I would relegate 1 John 2:1-17 to Sunday afternoons along with 1 John 1, because I haven't had any problems with those verses. For 1 John 2:18-29, though, I'll keep repeating those every day for the next couple of weeks (maybe until I'm done with 1 John 3).
For those of you who aren't as technical or who feel like this is a chore, then adjust it to your life. Maybe you'd rather write out verses, or maybe you don't have any problems reviewing 40 or 50 verses a day, and you don't need my system at all. But for those of you who are placing an emphasis on memorizing Scripture and are worried about retaining those verses over time, I hope that my method helps.
Filed under: Posts | Tags: Bible, christian, exercise, goals, God, Jesus, kids, money
So I'm not a huge fan of pointless New Year's resolutions, but I think that it's always good to take stock of where you are and see areas in which God still needs to grow you. After all, even the Psalmist prays, "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me, and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" (Psalm 139:23-24)
In order to keep myself accountable like I mentioned in my post yesterday, I'm gonna stick these resolutions over in a page on the right sidebar. I'll check back in once a month and see where I'm at.
I haven't included anything like "Read the Bible more" because 1) that's something hard to measure and 2) I don't want to treat my relationship with God like I treat my workout plan at the gym. He's eternal and holy and precious, and if anything else, I want to pray more that I would be like Jesus. But that's not going on this list, because I want that to be the cry of my heart.
- Finish memorizing 1 John before our wedding
- Start memorizing a longer book of the Bible (maybe one of Paul's epistles; Philippians?) and finish it before the end of the year
- Write Lisbet, the little girl I sponsor through Compassion, at least one letter a month
- Work with the children in my Sunday School class to memorize the rest of the first 10 questions of the First Catechism (we can do it, Lee!)
- Compete in a 5-10K race
- Lose 10-15 pounds before our wedding
- Lose 25 pounds by the end of the year
- Avoid soft drinks and other sugary beverages / no soft drinks until after the wedding
- Have less than $7,000 to pay off of Christian's loan by the end of the year
- Plan a budget for each month and stick to it
- Save up enough money throughout the year for next year's Christmas presents
- Stay within our wedding budget
- "Compete" with Christian to see who can read the most books (more about this another day)
- Pursue more freelance editing opportunities and other forms of alternative incomes
I feel like all of these things are do-able, mostly because some of them I'm already in the process of doing; I just want to continue them in the new year. For example, Christian and I have both been sticking to a budget for the last three months. We've both stayed within a few dollars of our budget each month, which has been an awesome discipline. As far as Bible memorization, I'm about 1/3 of the way through 1 John, and it is a joy.
I think the hardest part will be the physical things. I purposefully didn't say anything like "work out four times a week," because that's destined to fail in the face of busy schedules and unexpected engagements. Losing weight isn't all about working out; it's also about eating healthfully, so I think that it's definitely attainable – it will just require a lot of sacrifice.
What are your New Year's resolutions? I promise not to make fun. 😉
I promised I'd tell you what I think about New Year's resolutions. Here ya go…
1. New Year's resolutions are more for December than January.
Christmas is coming up, you've been spending more money than you wanted to, you've been eating more food than you wanted to, and gosh, there just isn't time to go to the gym. Instead of cutting spending, counting calories and highailing it to the local YMCA, it's much easier to sit down and make a list of all the things you're going to do after January 1. Thus in addition to the general abundance of The Christmas Spirit that everyone is always talking about, you're also experiencing a happy dose of denial about how much is exactly going to change in the new year. And when January comes and you don't meet any of your goals, no big deal, because who keeps their resolutions, anyway?
2. There's no accountability with New Year's resolutions.
I'm speaking broadly here; maybe some of you do share your resolutions with other people. But I'd venture that most people (bloggers excluded) jot down a few things privately, trying to will themselves to change. It just doesn't work. We're quite skilled at lying to ourselves and justifying things into legitimacy. Without accountability, there isn't anyone to tell you that you're actually not doing all that well at keeping your resolutions.
3. Most people make resolutions that are virtually impossible to attain.
One year, I made a resolution that I wasn't going to eat chocolate. Those of you who know me are probably wondering why in the world I would do this. I don't know. Guess how long I lasted? Less than a day. Another year I gave up soft drinks, and it was hard, yes, but I managed it until my birthday in March, at which time all I wanted was a Coke. So I drank it. And never got back off (or is it on?) the wagon.
4. Most resolutions are made for the sheer purpose of making resolutions or to assuage guilt.
You really can't expect to succeed if you're completely void of internal and external motivators. The year I gave up chocolate, I just gave it up because I wanted to see if I could do it. That wasn't enough. If I had discovered in December of the previous year that I had diabetes and needed to give up sweets, I bet it would have been a lot easier. So if you're thinking about making some resolutions, make sure they're things that matter to you. If you want to exercise more, then do it because you desire to be healthy. If you want to read the Bible more, do it because you want to know God – not so you can say you read the Bible in a year.
5. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
If you don't read anything else I've written, read this. If you don't put God at the center of your goals, your resolutions, your plans, then it's all a waste of time. Willing yourself to read your Bible every day won't work. You have to get on your knees before the Lord, ask Him to give you a desire for His Word, and then you have to open your Bible every day. But the thing is, God's not up there keeping a tally mark system like you are. If you miss a day, you may feel like a failure, but God doesn't. He's more concerned with you continuing to press on to know Him than He is with you reading four chapters of the Bible each night. The same is true of any other resolution. If your goals are more financial, ask God to make you a wise steward of what He gives you. If they are heath-related resolutions, then pray for God to let you glorify Him with your body. And then wake up tomorrow morning awash in the grace He so freely offers, grace that is greater than all our sin and failed resolutions.
Last night, as I crawled into bed, I grabbed my pocket ESV and opened to 1 John.
I reviewed the verse I memorized yesterday.
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
Got it. Good. Now on to the new verse.
At the same time, it is a new commandment I am writing to you…
I tried to say it with inflection so I'd remember it.
…which is true in him and in you…
Not too hard.
…because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
Somehow I already knew that part, probably from the early days of being homeschooled, when my mom would make us memorize a passage of Scripture every month.
I said those two verses (1 John 2:7-8) together a few times to make sure I had them. I put my Bible on my bookshelf, pulled the covers up and turned off the lights.
I closed my eyes and started at 1 John 1:1, intending to say everything up to what I practiced before I went to bed.
Sometime around 1 John 1:6, I guess I fell asleep, because when I woke up this morning, the first thing on my mind were those verses.
I can't think of a better way to fall asleep.
Note: I hesitated before I wrote this post. In fact, I wrote it yesterday (Wednesday) evening, but didn't publish it because I wanted to think some more and also run it by someone else. I talked about it with someone I trust, and that person said that it sounded gracious. I hope it does. Even now, after it's been up for several hours and a lot of people have found their way here through Pastor Lukaszewski's blog, I've gone back in and tweaked some things that I felt could be misconstrued. I apologize if anything that was in the post previously was unedifying or disrespectful.
I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis. I try to read a wide variety: Some are personal finance, some are news, some are from moms, some are from people I know, and some are from pastors.
One blog I read is by Michael Lukaszewski, pastor of Oak Leaf Church. I had planned to leave my thoughts on this as a comment on his blog, but he turned off all comments a couple weeks ago, so I wasn't able to.
Yesterday he wrote a post about offending other people. Let me first say that although I generally tend to feel uncomfortable at a lot of stuff I read on his blog, when I think about it, sometimes it's really just things that are a matter of opinion or of personal liberty in the Lord. So even when I do disagree, it's still not something that I feel the need to comment on.
I say that because when I read this post, I really felt like I needed to say something, because it got me thinking.
His basic point is that it's Christians who get offended at things that go on at his church. He's right in that Christians can be really sensitive about a lot of things – sometimes to an extreme. He goes on to say that the things his church has done that have bothered Christians haven't bothered unbelievers.
And it seems like his conclusion is that this "silent approval" by unbelievers is what the church wants, because they don't want unbelievers leaving the church.
If I were to get pregnant and decide to have an abortion, I think that a lot of Christians I know would be offended. But most of the non-Christians I know wouldn't be. That doesn't mean it's OK. (I know this is an extreme example.)
I'm not saying that the stuff that goes on at Oak Leaf Church is on the same level as abortion; it's not. In fact, I think Pastor Lukaszewski would argue that the things Christians got upset about were methods of reaching unbelievers for Christ; in fact, he calls them "over the top" methods in this post.
Where I think his reasoning really falls apart is when he says:
If a Christian gets offended at something we do, he will get mad and go to another church. If a non-Christian gets offended, he may go to hell.
I don't disagree. If a non-Christian gets offended by something at a church and decides to leave, that person might go to hell. But what does it mean to "offend" a non-Christian?
Derek Webb said something once about how the cross is both beautiful and offensive. It is beautiful to us as Christians, because on it we see the body of our dying Lord, who died to save us from our sins. But for non-Christians, it is offensive, because it tells them they are sinners who deserve what Jesus got.
If a non-Christian gets offended at the cross, they might leave the church and never know more about Christ's saving work. But if a non-Christian attends a church where the cross is never preached, they can stay at the church and rack up the attendance count for years and still go to hell.
But the important thing isn't so much about which group is being offended. The real issue is whether God is offended that a place that calls itself His church isn't really preaching the gospel.
I'm not saying Pastor Lukaszewski doesn't preach the gospel at his church. I don't know; I've never been there. His church is doing a study on the book of Joshua right now, which is awesome. But I do know that what saves people is not entertainment, or smoke and mirrors, or catchy sermon titles, or cool videos, or all the things that so many churches are using today. God saves people. And God's been saving people for thousands of years without all those things. What He asks of us is a commitment to prayer and evangelism – but, more importantly, a commitment to preach the gospel as God sets it forth in Scripture.


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By Digital Look
Date: Tuesday 16 Apr 2019
(Sharecast News) - Experimental early warning systems for the economy, devised by the Office for National Statistics and using VAT and road traffic data, have suggested that turnover at British companies may have weakened during the first quarter. The ONS said that its new index based on VAT returns had shown a "mixed picture", with "very slightly more firms reporting a decline in turnover" between the first quarter of 2019 and the final quarter of 2018 than those posting an increase. - The Times
A recent collapse in global trade is the worst since the financial crisis and as steep as during the recession of the early 2000s, according to new figures from the Dutch government. World trade volumes slumped 1.8pc in the three months to January compared to the preceding three months as factories grapple with a deepening global industrial downturn, the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis revealed. - Telegraph
No 10 is feeling the pressure to pull the plug on Brexit talks with Labour and move to an alternative plan, amid warnings that the opposition is in no hurry for a deal before the European elections. With talks deadlocked and no sign that the government moving on its red lines, neither the Conservatives or Labour want to appear responsible for the breakdown in discussions. - Guardian
More than 3,000 people have applied to stand as Change UK candidates at the European parliament elections, overwhelming the fledgling centrist party. MPs from the Independent Group, the force behind the new organisation, are working through applications and will select from a shortlist of 100 this weekend. - The Times
The operator of the Channel tunnel has shrugged off pre-Brexit jitters and a work-to-rule by French customs officers to record its best month for lorries travelling on Le Shuttle. However, the number of cars in March taking the 20-minute journey between Folkestone in Kent and Coquelles in the Pas-de-Calais was down 4 per cent, although the comparison comes with the caveat that the Easter holidays were much earlier last year. - The Times
The activist investor trying to join the boardroom at Barclays has made a fresh plea to shareholders to back his campaign. Edward Bramson, whose Sherborne Investors vehicle owns 5.5 per cent of Barclays, wants other shareholders to elect him as a non-executive director at the bank's annual meeting on May 2. - The Times
Britain's biggest fund management firm opposed proposals tabled by almost 400 UK companies last year, a sharp increase on the previous 12 months, as it pushed to improve corporate governance. Sacha Sadan, its director of corporate governance, is an influential figure in the City. Mr Sadan 48, said that there had been a shift last year as asset managers began to take environmental, social and governance issues, such as combating climate change, more seriously. - The Times
Sports Direct, owned by billionaire leisurewear tycoon Mike Ashley, is to close a warehouse in Wigan, Greater Manchester, with the loss of 300 jobs. In a move described as a "body blow" to the region by the GMB trade union, Sports Direct stunned workers by announcing it would shut the factory on 13 June. Employees, who mostly work packing goods for nationwide distribution, were told of the decision on Monday. - Guardian
Amazon's customer review system is being undermined by a flood of "fake" five-star reviews for products from unfamiliar brands, a new investigation claims. The consumer group Which? analysed the listings of hundreds of popular tech products in 14 online categories including headphones, dashcams, fitness trackers and smartwatches, checking for telltale signs of suspicious reviews. - Guardian
A video games company has admitted that it broke the law after handing millions of pounds in dividends to investors. Keywords Studios, which provides services to computer games developers, said that it had breached the Companies Act with a series of payouts between 2014 and 2016, before its current finance director joined the business. - The Times
In the backlash against the "996" working schedule, China's tech workers say their bosses have lost valuable productivity gains that could have been generated with a shorter working week and fewer hours. Economists would tend to agree with their complaints, made on social media, that working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week is unwise. Longer working hours do not automatically mean higher company profits and economic growth, and could even pave the way for serious problems ahead. - Guardian
The family behind Hill, one of the UK's largest privately owned housebuilders, picked up dividends of more than £3m last year as growth soared. Andy Hill, who started the company after being made redundant 20 years ago, said partnerships with local councils and the Government's Help to Buy scheme helped boost revenues by about a fifth to £502m in 2018. - Telegraph
Digital bank N26 plans to hire a team of dedicated employees for the UK market as the German start-up seeks to compete with rivals Monzo and Revolut. The Berlin-headquartered business said it is now signing up 1,000 customers every day in the UK following its launch here in October. More than 200,000 British customers have signed up so far, a spokesman said. - Telegraph
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos has launched a stinging attack over the way fracking is being regulated, claiming the industry "is being stopped from moving forward". The petrochemicals and energy giant, owned by Britain's wealthiest man and one of two companies with the right to undertake fracking in England, has threatened to walk away from operations unless regulations are loosened. - Telegraph
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text:
eNews Term 1 Issue 5
Dear Parents and Students,
I hope you are enjoying the sunny outlook that has accompanied the change of weather this week. The cooler night time temperatures, in particular, are a welcome relief.
Year 4 – 6 Athletics Day – 9.30 to 13.30, Monday 8 October
Teachers are hoping the sunshine stays with us for the Upper School Athletics Day which will be held at Sha Tin Sports Ground on Monday. Children should come to school as normal. Transport to the stadium (18 Yuen Wo Road, Sha Tin) has been arranged and we will be looking to start proceedings as close to 9.30am as possible.
Please ensure your child comes to school equipped with water, a sun hat and sunscreen. They may wear their SJS PE uniform or sports kit in the colour of their house.
All parents are cordially invited to come along and join the fun.
You have already received an eNotice to give your permission for your child to participate and compete. Please ensure that this is completed – if you have yet to do so. Please also indicate if you wish to take your child home at the conclusion of the event.
Dress Casual Day – Thursday 11 October
Next Thursday we will be supporting HK Community Chest in the Dress Casual Day. Children are invited to come into school in their favourite 'casual' clothes and to donate HK$20 to the charities supported by the Community Chest.
School Photographs – 23 to 26 October
The school photographer will be with us during the week after half term; from 23 to 26 October.
A class schedule for photographs is being prepared and teachers will inform parents of the photo slots for each class.
Parents with two or more children in SJS have been contacted regarding a separate booking process for sibling photographs.
If you have only one child in SJS and sibling(s) at Sha Tin College, please encourage your children to make use of the lunchtime and after school booking times. No appointments are necessary for these time slots. Please remember, if your child is staying on with big brother or sister for an after school photograph, to inform your bus escort that they will not be using the bus that day.
The Whole School photograph is scheduled for 8.40am on Friday 26 October.
Green Week and ECO Friday – 19 to 23 November
We are liaising with students and teachers from Sha Tin College in the planning of a campus Green Week from 19-23 November. Students are suggesting a number of activities and events across the week which will help raise our appreciation of 'green issues' – where we can make a difference. The week will culminate with ECO Friday on 23 November, with the key event being a walk to school from Fo Tan Station. Again, at this stage, please mark the date in your diaries and further details will be communicated after the half term break.
PTA Working Bee – Saturday 17 November
We are beginning to put plans together for a parent working bee at school on Saturday morning 17 November. We are compiling a list of small jobs that need to be carried out around school in the hope that parents, students and teachers can come together to complete some of the tasks. We are looking to provide a light BBQ lunch, as a 'thank you' following the event. Please mark the date in your diary and further details will follow after half term.
Best wishes,
Perry Tunesi


text:
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Leaving Home to Find Another One
"The world needs farmers," says a father to his son in Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's far-reaching space epic. We're a good distance into the future but the message suggests we haven't come too far. Farming is just about all that's left to do. The world has found itself near the finish line of an environmental catastrophe. A shrunken population tills land in rural North America, which has turned into a fluctuating 1930s dustbowl. Blight eats away their acres of corn, their fuel, their food, their candy, their only source of life. Some of it must be burned. Talking heads of elders discuss their unsustainable reality as though Ken Burns is doing a Great Depression retrospective. Eventually the town packs their bags before another dust storm and sends their weathered SUV's into exodus. You get a look at children's dirty faces in the backseat like John Steinbeck were re-envisioning The Grapes of Wrath.
That's just the initial atmosphere. Nolan wants to provide the groundwork before looking down at it from high above. There is no explanation why the earth has become nearly inhospitable but it's not particularly important. This first section is the film's richest—there are real stakes– but also the most necessary. Space exploration only thrives with context. The slice of "Kansas" we get isn't exactly profound but it offers Norman Rockwell-ian comforts, a place we're familiar looking at and knowing about. This isn't a near future dystopia like Looper envisioned. People still play baseball, America's pastime, in between the cornfields. Nolan shot in IMAX and also on 70-millimeter film so you get grandiosity with the grainy look to further texture the nostalgia.
Matthew McConaughey plays Joseph Cooper, a former pilot now single dad who has tabled his engineering and astronautic expertise in order to farm. He lives with his father-in-law (John Lithgow) and imparts his wisdom to his teenage son (Timotheé Chalamet) and ten year-old daughter Murph (Mackenzie Foy). The government has given up on its space program and the school system pushes textbooks that deny its history's achievements. But Murph inherits her father's scientific mind. She witnesses some ghost-like anomalies in her bedroom—books fall from her shelf, dust settles into straight lines– and some sleuthing with dad leads them to an underground NASA compound, the secretive last remnants aiming for mass survival.
A professor named Brand (Michael Caine) heads the operation, which plans to find another planet capable of sustaining humans. He's quick to ask Cooper to pilot a team of astronauts that includes his daughter Amelia (Anne Hathaway) along with an astrophysicist (David Gyasi) and geographer (Wes Bentley). The obligatory wet feet ensue, but soon hugs are given and tears dribble down noses. McConaughey takes his truck and drives off to leave his family and stares through the windshield like his Lincoln commercial. Soon he's staring through his spaceship's window at a small blue sphere. The problem is relativity. A few hours on a distant planet means years of life on earth. Cooper knows the longer he spends exploring these places, the quicker his kids will look at him with the same amount of wrinkles and disappointed expression.
The second half of the film is largely about these space expeditions, bulleting through wormholes and suctioning into black holes. The imagery is stunning as expected, shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema. The camera swerves through gravitational pulls and ejects you into free-float, a first person experience that rivals a role player game. With each new target, a new level, a new challenge to overcome, a new setback. Over this time, Murph grows into Jessica Chastain (even older into Ellen Burstyn) and her brother becomes Casey Affleck, holding down their farmhouse. They're able to send out video messages that transmit to the ship but the years they go unanswered discourage any hope for the crew's return. This is where Interstellar lags, caught in between narratives while laboriously setting up the full circle conclusion.
Nolan is channeling 2001: A Space Odyssey in clever ways, even in these video chats. Robots on the ship appear to be walking monoliths with their own discretional settings for truth and humor. Hans Zimmer's score inflates and swells with every dramatic pulse, switching to a stringy ode to "The Blue Danube Waltz" as the ship first escapes orbit. The terror remains in the unknown, the black void. Kubrick was interested in our reliance on technology and the limits of its influence. In Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron borrowed that existential fear while his astronauts existed in the quiet of their environment. There might be two short scenes of pure silence in Interstellar, but this film isn't about cosmos contemplating so much as accomplishing. You rarely fear this mission is in jeopardy because McConaughey only sweats from exertion, not weakness. Even his moments of resignation seem coordinated in advance. You have confidence something big is going to happen; it's just a matter of when.
That's Nolan, who wrote the script along with his brother Jonathon, never ending with a sour climax. The dialogue, not the duo's strongest suit, is still infused with laconic values and inevitabilities. Every character speaks like they're looking into the distance on the precipice of something grand. They also use endemic vocabulary, jargon about dreams and consciousness in Inception, layering on more worlds, more characters, more possibilities. Interstellar uses the same formula only with physics and mathematical banter. It also layers its themes. Cooper and Murph's relationship is mirrored with Professor Brand and Amelia's, fathers and daughters each separated with grief and regret, each trying to find a way back to each other. Nolan likes navigating those moods on grand scales in his films, maybe most effectively in The Dark Knight, creating parables of choice in his own urban landscape.
Science fiction offers a spiritual realm for Nolan to negotiate the boundaries of his conventionalities. Once we get to the "aha!" moment you wonder what took so long but you also smile, exhausted and still inspired. Then the film continues, suffering from the indecision of when to finish a story that could still continue for many years. Nolan likes creating detailed and vast puzzles but tries to put them together in ways you won't expect. There's usually a wrinkle. A special cameo here is one example and shakes the plot into overdrive. Because McConaughey never feels broken, Hathaway becomes the surrogate to share wonder and then pessimism, slightly more competent than Sandra Bullock's pilot, just as equally damaged. Their similar bobbed hairstyles provide an androgynous appeal.
Space can be so beautifully frightening in its enormity. Earth sits as a speck in the galaxy, just another dot of light. But it still remains our home. Every science fiction film capitalizes on this emotional tether, be it human or E.T. "Phone home" is canon because of its ripe truth. "I'll be right here," E.T. says pointing to Elliott's heart and Nolan chauffeurs that emotional transcendence some thirty years later. Home is what drives Bullock to stay alive and rocket back to earth. It's what motivates Cooper to listen to crickets and thunderstorms through his iPod. "This is our boat," he says and the metaphor invokes Greek mythology and some Joseph Campbell. It suggests however far we go, in some ways we never leave. You might question what's next for Nolan now that space is checked off his list. How bigger can he go? Interstellar answers the question by inviting the notion that we never really leave the ground.


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"Money remains at the heart of the transmission mechanism"
That great quote is from a footnote in Mervyn King's 2005 Mais Lecture, via FT Money Supply; in full:
For many years there was a debate about whether policy was better seen as setting short-term interest rates or determining the monetary base. That is no longer an issue. For some time, the demand for money has been purely demand-determined. As a result, central banks can set the short-term interest rate either to influence real interest rates or to determine the path of the monetary base or a broader monetary aggregate. Money remains at the heart of the transmission mechanism but since its velocity is unstable most central banks use interest rates as their instrument rather than a monetary aggregate
King explains in this speech his "Maradona Theory" of interest rates; apologies for the long quote but the whole passage is worth reading:
The great Argentine footballer, Diego Maradona, is not usually associated with the theory of monetary policy. But his performance against England in the World Cup in Mexico City in June 1986 when he scored twice is a perfect illustration of my point. Maradona's first "hand of God" goal was an exercise of the old "mystery and mystique" approach to central banking. His action was unexpected, time-inconsistent and against the rules. He was lucky to get away with it. His second goal, however, was an example of the power of expectations in the modern theory of interest rates. Maradona ran 60 yards from inside his own half beating five players before placing the ball in the English goal. The truly remarkable thing, however, is that, Maradona ran virtually in a straight line. How can you beat five players by running in a straight line? The answer is that the English defenders reacted to what they expected Maradona to do. Because they expected Maradona to move either left or right, he was able to go straight on.
Monetary policy works in a similar way. Market interest rates react to what the central bank is expected to do. In recent years the Bank of England and other central banks have experienced periods in which they have been able to influence the path of the economy without making large moves in official interest rates. They headed in a straight line for their goals. How was that possible? Because financial markets did not expect interest rates to remain constant. They expected that rates would move either up or down. Those expectations were sufficient – at times – to stabilise private spending while official interest rates in fact moved very little.
That pattern is sometimes described as "the market doing the work for us". I prefer a different description. It is the framework of monetary policy doing the work for us. Because inflation expectations matter to the behaviour of households and firms, the critical aspect of monetary policy is how the decisions of the central bank influence those expectations. As Michael Woodford has put it, "not only do expectations about policy matter, but, at least under current conditions, very little else matters". Indeed, one can argue that the real influence of monetary policy is less the effect of any individual monthly decision on interest rates and more the ability of the framework of policy to condition inflation expectations. The precise "rule" which central banks follow is less important than their ability to condition expectations. That is a fundamental point on which my later argument will rest.
How did King go from such an enthusiastic endorsement of the "expectations channel" to talking incessantly about uncertainty? King's 2005 view of monetary policy seems so close to the modern-day market monetarists, if you merely (and it really does seem "merely") shift the focus from the short term interest rate onto the size of the monetary base, and target level of nominal GDP as the nominal anchor in place of the inflation rate.
From the October MPC meeting minutes published today, we get this:
31. There were, as ever, limits to what monetary policy could be expected to achieve. The
Committee discussed the likely effectiveness of further asset purchases, should they be required. Some members felt that there was still considerable scope for asset purchases to provide further stimulus. Other members, while acknowledging that asset purchases had the scope to lower long-term yields further, questioned the magnitude of the impact that lower long-term yields on corporate debt and equity would have on the broader economy at the present juncture.
How depressing. What happened to the spirit of March 2009:
Given the Bank's role as monopoly supplier of sterling central bank money, the Committee had previously chosen to influence the amount of nominal spending in the economy by varying the price at which it supplied central bank money in exchange for assets held by the private sector. Under the operations now under consideration, the Committee would instead be focusing more directly on the quantity of money it supplied in exchange for assets held by the private sector.
Can't we get back to that?
October 19, 2012 at 15:19
And your views on this? http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/pdf/2012_MT/20121009-Mervyn-King.pdf
I have left a revolver in the library.
October 24, 2012 at 02:48
"For some time, the demand for money has been purely demand-determined."
That's one of the dumbest sentences I've read in a while. I usually have to read Hegel or Marx to get such rot.
The point he is trying to make- that the Bank of England doesn't target monetary aggregates- is accurate. The last vestiges of targets for broad and narrow money were removed in 1997, and thankfully bona fide monetary base control was fought off in the early 1980s.
October 24, 2012 at 15:23
He might have meant "the supply of money has been purely demand-determined", but that's similarly stupid. Would one say that the supply of cheese is demand-determined or supply-determined?
The most charitable way I can interpret it is to say that "the BoE has a monopoly over new base money and targets the price of new base money rather than the quantity". Even that's false under QE which is closer to monetary base targeting than interest rate targeting.
It's not even true that the Bank of England targets the price of broad money i.e. the price level, because no-one measures or targets the entire price level, just relatively narrow indexes like the CPI or the RPI, whereas the price measure that is the price of broad money would measure everything that could be exchanged in return for something that comes under a particular definition of broad money. Furthermore, it's not the case that the BoE is a monopolist of broad money in a fractional reserve banking system.
Milton Friedman described British civil servants and central bankers in 1980 as "Rip Van Winkles". Unfortunately, today, most people are in this position: unused to thinking in terms of money rather than credit and interest rates, the analytical tools required to deal with a ZIRP aren't present anymore. Even Mervyn King can't avoid monstrosities like the above sentence.
October 24, 2012 at 03:26


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Subjective vs. Objective nature of film discussions. Can film be discussed objectively? I say it can. What say you?
Alright, so I recently read somewhere I can't remember, an article talking about the objectivity vs. subjectivity when talking about films. Most people think that discussions about film are entirely subjective but what some film critics like Ebert have shown is that there is potential for these discussions to be objective. I suppose, as long as there are clear examples and reasons behind what you're discussing it can be seen as an objective opinion – it can be seen as a fact. For example, if in reviewing a film you give clear facts and examples behind your reasoning it becomes a well-structured objective piece rather than a subjective, unreasoned opinionated feeling.
Either way you look at it, whether film discussions are subjective or objective, it still remains an opinion and how well you argue it depends on how good that opinion is and what you can say to prop up your argument. Therefore in some instances, there is a right and a wrong answer and that depends on how well you can argue your point with relevant facts and observations. But there will always be people who find something wrong with an objective argument and will use pieces of that argument to make their own subjective opinion against it. To them I say, 'whatever floats your boat'. Everyone has an opinion, but the important thing is to read and watch critically with an open mind and respect and appreciation for what you are watching, reading or discussing.
So, what do you think about the subjective vs. objective nature of film discussions? Can there be well-reasoned objective arguments for or against a certain film or film movement? Or is the discussion of film completely subjective? What about those who turn subjectivity into negativity to argue how wrong something is? I think this happens all the time, when people fail to respectfully argue against an opinion and it turns into an emotional negative argument against the film or discussion.
What say you? I welcome your comments on this subjective vs. objective nature of film discussions. And don't nitpick what I say, I'm simply opening up a new discussion on this topic. Please be respectful of other people's arguments.


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Renaissance altarpieces were normally the grand centrepiece of chapels with no connection to the outside world, apart from light flowing gently from high level windows. In contrast, Monique Frydman's "Polyptyque Sassetta", a delicately-coloured homage to the work of Renaissance artist Stefano di Giovanni is set against windows which give views out to the peaceful reflective garden of the Parasol Unit. Known as "Sassetta", di Giovanni's 15th-century masterpiece the "Borgio San Sepolcro Alterpiece" was originally composed of 60 panels, of which 7 are in the National Gallery in London, but many have been lost, damaged or destroyed.
The "Polyptyque" was centrepiece of the exhibition of the work of French artist Monique Frydman (born 1943) with works moving from delicate pastel colours reminiscent of French Impressionist artists to the green liquid which kept many artists energised – absinthe and then to darker and bolder works, along with her Witness series from 2010-2011 which explores different shapes and forms, as if parts of archaeological remains, adding to an overall theme which seems to be exploring how the past can influence the future.


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