Alfred Nobel: The Life Of Nagieb Mahfouz

Nagieb Mahfouz is known as a famous Egyptian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. The Nobel Prizes are the world’s most famous set of awards. The prizes were created a century ago by Alfred Nobel.

It is very interesting to know what motivated Nobel to dedicate his fortune to honoring those who benefited humanity. When his brother Ludwig died in 1888, a French newspaper made an obituary, news article that reports of Alfred Nobel’s death, along with his personal life and information. They believed it was Alfred Nobel not his brother. So, while Nobel was alive he read his obituary./ That described Nobel as a man who had made it possible to kill more people more quickly than anyone else who had ever lived. He was the person

Luke says, “Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God . . .” (Luke 2:27-28). His life was attuned to the Spirit. His desire, his dream, his passion, and his whole life were focused upon God.

If God writes your story today, how would God write about your wish, your desire, your longing, your passion, and your everyday life? I wonder how you want to be remembered by God.

Today’s reading also tells about a woman whose whole life had been tuned-in to God. She married young. After seven years of her marriage, she lost her husband. She was probably childless, long unmarried. She was a widow until she was eighty-four. Her life might not be a very desirable life in her days. This woman’s life would have been long forgotten in most people’s memories. Her life might not be the life that people would like to remember and celebrate.

However, the Bible remembers her and her life. God values her everyday life. “She stayed in the temple and worshipped day and night, fasting and praying.” Anna was not controlled by her uncontrollable situation. Rather, she kept herself and her dignity in

Following God’s calling and promise, all of you began a very special and long journey. By coming to seminary, you chose a life to be remembered by God, not by people. Our busy work and engagement in theological study in the seminary are part of our spiritual journey with God. The opportunity to study, research, writing and worshiping in the seminary must be seen as part of spiritual practices of listening to God, of being righteous, to be God-fearing. Karl Barth, Swiss theologian says, “Theological work can be done only in the inseparable unity of prayer and study. Prayer without study would be empty. Study without prayer would be