---
title: Northeastern Seminary | Maria Rambuski
---

# NORTHEASTERN SEMINARY BLOG

Posts by:

## Maria Rambuski

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2227961806.jpg)

### [Sabbath-Keeping: Practicing Openness](https://blog.nes.edu/sabbath-keeping-practicing-openness)

“You don’t have to try so hard. You don’t have to bend until you break.” I hear these words through my car radio and they fill my soul. Colbie Caillat’s song “Try” is not a theological treatise by any means, but it sure is insightful!

Trying describes today’s teens. As I work in a youth group setting I see first-hand how they try. They are trying to: get good grades, earn money, make friends, beat records, get scholarships, help their family, get a car, and even to escape pain. They’re busy. They’re following the adult model. We all want the best. We all want to be the best. We will pay great prices to get and be the best.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/sabbath-keeping-practicing-openness)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2205371865.jpg)

### [Sabbath-Keeping: So We Can Look For God](https://blog.nes.edu/sabbath-keeping-so-we-can-look-for-god)

Last year I traveled to Peru to talk with some Free Methodist pastors about the importance of self-care in ministry. One of the highlights of that trip for me was a small group time where we talked about taking a Sabbath rest each week. Most of the pastors in the group were bi-vocational, and poured themselves into their ministry whenever they had the opportunity. The idea of taking a rest each week, while acknowledged as im![Slide1](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2205371865.jpg?width=270&name=file-2205371865.jpg)portant, was also experienced as a real challenge.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/sabbath-keeping-so-we-can-look-for-god)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2218279872.jpg)

### [Second Thursday of Advent: Faith and politics in Advent](https://blog.nes.edu/second-thursday-of-advent-faith-and-politics-in-advent)

![Middleton_The_Justice_of_Advent_Thursday](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2218279872.jpg?width=380&name=file-2218279872.jpg)The background to the events of Isaiah 7-12 is an important political crisis, described concisely in Isaiah 7.1 see also 2 Kings 6.5-9). While Judah had for many years pursued a policy of non-resistance as a vassal state to the encroaching Assyrian empire, many anti-Assyrian alliances sprang up throughout the region. One such was led by Rezin, king of Syria (Aram), who was joined by Pekah, newly ascended to the throne in Ephraim, the northern kingdom. Together these kings and their armies marched against Judah in 734 B.C., seeking to lay siege to Jerusalem and replace King Ahaz with a puppet who would willingly join the anti-Assyrian coalition (v.6). Ahaz was understandably shaken (v.2).

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/second-thursday-of-advent-faith-and-politics-in-advent)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2213348283.jpg)

### [Second Wednesday of Advent: God's cleansing fire](https://blog.nes.edu/second-wednesday-of-advent-gods-cleansing-fire)

![Middleton_The_Justice_of_Advent_Wednesday-1](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2213348283.jpg?width=375&name=file-2213348283.jpg)Having described Judah as tinder-dry and ready to go up in flames of judgment (5.24), Isaiah recounts, in vivid first-person narrative, a vision of Yahweh dominated by the image of burning. In the year of King Uzziah’s death, a year that saw the Assyrian empire grow stronger and extend its imperial reach over the ancient Near East, the prophet glimpses another king, enthroned over the entire earth (vv.2-3), to whom even Assyria is subject. The Temple, where this vision takes place, functions as a window on God’s throne room, but itself can contain only *the hem of his robe* (v.1)! The immensity of scale alone is staggering. But add to that the encircling *seraphim*, Yahweh’s six-winged blazing heavenly attendants (*saraph* means “to burn”), whose praise of the Lord of Hosts rocks the Temple to its foundations and fills it with smoke (v.4), and Isaiah is reduced to holy and abject terror.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/second-wednesday-of-advent-gods-cleansing-fire)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2209579349.jpg)

### [Second Tuesday of Advent: God’s alien deed](https://blog.nes.edu/second-week-of-advent-god’s-alien-deed)

| ***Isaiah 5.18-25*** ***Luke 21.29-38*** Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them. *Isaiah 5.24                                    * | ![Middleton_The_Justice_of_Advent_Tuesday](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2209579349.jpg?width=349&name=file-2209579349.jpg) |
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The woes Isaiah began describing in yesterday’s reading here become broader and more sweeping, and quickly pile up in an intensifying series of abrupt accusations (vv.18,20,21,22). Alas! he cries again and again in pained acknowledgement of the people’s sins. Isaiah pictures his hearers slowed down by the heavy burden of their justice, which they drag along like a treasure they can’t part with (v.18). Yet they demand immediate action from God, goading the Lord to provide a sign and so prove himself (v.19). We, of course, don’t ask mockingly, but pray earnestly for God to act decisively in our historical situation to set things right (which usually means to set *our* immediate situation to rights). The irony, of course, is that this is precisely *our *calling, *our *task, to set things right (to do righteousness), if only we would cast off the ropes of injustice with which we have bound ourselves.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/second-week-of-advent-god’s-alien-deed)

### [Second Monday of Advent: Discerning the times](https://blog.nes.edu/second-week-of-advent-discerning-the-times)

| ***Isaiah 5.8-17*** ***Luke 21.20-28*** * * Ah, you…who do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands!         *Isaiah 5.11-12* | ![Middleton_The_Justice_of_Advent_Monday](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2209473989.jpg?width=304&name=file-2209473989.jpg) |
| --- | --- |

Isaiah vividly describes the “wild grapes” or spoiled fruit of Israel’s social life in a series of accusations framed as “woes” (vv.8,11-12) that continue into tomorrow’s reading (vv.18,20-22). The Hebrew *hoy*! can be simply an attention-getter (hey!), a pronouncement of doom (woe!) or a cry of lament (ah! or alas!), as at a funeral or other sorrowful event. In our text these are all combined.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/second-week-of-advent-discerning-the-times)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2207696876.jpg)

### [Second Sunday of Advent: A harvest of disappointment](https://blog.nes.edu/second-sunday-of-advent-a-harvest-of-disappointment)

| ***Isaiah 5.1-7*** ***Luke 7.28-35*** *** *** The Lord expected justice,     but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry. *Isaiah 5.7* | ![Middleton_The_Justice_of_Advent_Sunday](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/hub/120970/file-2207696876.jpg?width=399&name=file-2207696876.jpg) |
| --- | --- |

Today’s Old Testament reading is a carefully crafted literary piece, at once a love-song, a lawsuit and an extended parable with a climactic punch line. Isaiah introduces the piece as a song for his *dodi*, a term of endearment meaning friend or beloved (v.1). Casting himself in the role of best man, he sings about his friend the bridegroom and his *vineyard*. In the ancient Near East *vineyard*, *field *and *garden*, were common metaphors for a bride (see Song of Solomon 8.12).

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/second-sunday-of-advent-a-harvest-of-disappointment)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/file-2196070847-jpg/images/sabbath_keeping_randy_lebaron.jpg)

### [Sabbath-Keeping: An Intentional Endeavor](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/203399/Sabbath-Keeping-An-Intentional-Endeavor)

At a recent lecture Dr. Matthew Sleeth discussed the necessity of Sabbath rest and why this command often gets overlooked or goes underappreciated even within the Body of Christ. In his attempt to remind us of Sabbaths past he asked that we remember some of the special things that happened on Sunday’s when we were children which, for most, meant recalling a time where Blue Laws were still observed which made it almost as impossible to break the Sabbath as today’s culture does to keep it.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/203399/Sabbath-Keeping-An-Intentional-Endeavor)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/file-1912323801-jpg/images/istock_000042392636xlarge.jpg)

### [The Writer's Calling: A Seminary Student's Reflections](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/202479/The-Writer-s-Calling-A-Seminary-Student-s-Reflections)

![book_image_Jae_Newman](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/file-1912323801-jpg/images/istock_000042392636xlarge.jpg?width=311&height=207&name=istock_000042392636xlarge.jpg)What convictions has God planted deep within your heart this semester, this month, this year,  or the past decade? Northeastern Seminary student, Jae Newman (MAT) reflects on his journey of discovering, writing, and the role of seminary.    

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/202479/The-Writer-s-Calling-A-Seminary-Student-s-Reflections)

![](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/file-1607149853-jpg/images/the_cross_and_gendercide_blog2.jpg)

### [Doing Something About Violence Against Women and Girls](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/201514/Doing-Something-About-Violence-Against-Women-and-Girls)

![The_Cross_and_Gendercide_Gerhardt_Blog](https://blog.nes.edu/hs-fs/file-1607149853-jpg/images/the_cross_and_gendercide_blog2.jpg?width=242&height=242&name=the_cross_and_gendercide_blog2.jpg)Toward the end of my first semester as graduate assistant for [Dr. Elizabeth Gerhardt](https://www.nes.edu/northeastern/seminary-faculty/full-time-part-time-faculty.aspx), professor of theology and social ethics at [Northeastern Seminary](http://www.nes.edu), she asked me to help her edit the book she was working on. This included things like checking sources, making sure things were cited properly (I almost memorized the Turabian style guide throughout this process), and checking grammar. I had already gotten to know her fairly well having had the privilege of serving at an orphanage in Fushun, China, with a team that included Beth and her daughter. So when she told me that the subject matter of the book centered on issues of gendercide and violence toward women and how the church needs to respond, I was on board. It was a topic that I had wanted to learn more about.

[Maria Rambuski](https://blog.nes.edu/author/maria-rambuski) 

[Read More](https://blog.nes.edu/bid/201514/Doing-Something-About-Violence-Against-Women-and-Girls)