Volunteers Exploring Vocation Coordinator
April 06, 2010
There are times when I really miss being a parish pastor, like this week. When I was a parish pastor, especially during Holy Week, being a bit busier, folks ask, “how do you do it”? Honestly, not to minimize the work of those still doing those things this week, it really wasn’t so bad.
However, I really don’t miss Maundy Thursday that much. I was always a bit uncomfortable. When liturgical renewal came upon the church, suddenly those of us who were non-Anabaptists went about trying to wash feet. It was not a pretty sight. As a properly trained and educated liturgical leader, I tried my best to capture that spirit. But it never really seemed to work. To recruit potential “washees” I would use all my influence, leaning on some youth, other dedicated leaders of the parish, a few who were just “good sports”, and good friends and family members. And when they came forward that night for the washing, an amazing thing would happen.
Read More & Comment »
Former President, The Fund for Theological Education
April 02, 2010
I came across the following poem while reading Daniel Pink’s new
book, Drive:
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. It is the opening of
the first verse of “Sext:”
You need not see what someone is doing
to know if it is his vocation,
you have only to watch his eyes:
a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon
making a primary incision,
a clerk completing a bill of lading,
wear the same rapt expression,
forgetting themselves in a function.
How beautiful it is,
that eye-on-the-object look.
As we receive application after application for fellowships this year, I
wonder about the faces and lives and stories behind them all.
Read More & Comment »
Associate for Calling Congregations
March 31, 2010
For the past week, one of the Top 10 most popular stories on The New
York Times website has been “Talk
Deeply, Be Happy?” This article highlights a recent study published
in the journal Psychological
Science that found that people who spend more of their day having
deep discussions and less time engaging in small talk seem to be
happier. Overall, about a third of all conversations measured in the
study were ranked as substantive, while about a fifth could be
considered small talk—yet the happiest person in the study reported that
almost half of their conversations were substantive, while only about
20% of the unhappiest person’s conversations were.
Because of my role in the Calling Congregations program at The Fund for
Theological Education, both the content of this article as well as its
lasting popularity throughout a busy news week
Read More & Comment »
FTE Doctoral Fellow ('01,'02), N.A.D. Fellow ('04), Dissertation Fellow ('05)
March 29, 2010
Last weekend the Society for the Study of Black Religion (SSBR) convened in Atlanta for its annual conference and to celebrate the organization’s 40th Anniversary. Emerging out of the racial, religious and political ferment of the 1960s, SSBR has long sustained a dual commitment, first, to create spaces for black scholars often marginalized in the broader academy, and second, to cultivate a critical engagement with the particular complexities of religious experience in the African Diaspora. Fittingly, the West African symbol of Sankofa—the image of a bird both facing forward and looking back—was employed to mark the occasion.
Read More & Comment »
Former President, The Fund for Theological Education
March 26, 2010
In a recent edition of the UK periodical Standpoint, writer Lionel
Shriver bemoans the spiritual cost of the electronic gadgetry which have
insinuated themselves into our lives in ways that leave us feeling as
if we can not live without them (http://bit.ly/bNU3Qp). She writes,
The more gadgets promise to do for us, the more complex
they grow, and thus the more fragile and the more likely to fail. Given
the frequency with which whole businesses are paralysed due to some
obscure IT crash, the Malfunction Tax surely costs Western economies
billions per year. So maybe they should print warnings on digital
packaging, just as on ciggies: "Do not purchase unless able to spare
time and hair-tear when device craps out."
All this newfangled junk costs us in spiritual terms, too, if
only because we don't understand it. I don't mean we don't know how to
"right click" to retrieve a menu, I mean we don't understand it...Since
every new thingamajig may capriciously go on the fritz but only after
having insinuated itself as indispensable, you've just handed another
inanimate chunk of plastic the power to make you cry.
I had coffee with a friend this morning who shared a story of
accidentally backing over her Blackberry on a Sunday afternoon, leaving
her “disconnected” until Monday morning. She described feeling lost and
fearful,
Read More & Comment »
Director, Leading Generations Initiative
March 23, 2010
That was the opening line for three cell phone calls I made on my first day working at FTE as Director of the Leading Generations Initiative. I was wrapped up in orientation to FTE and to the office, and wasn’t with my cell phone to pick up any calls. It is a good idea to do my job, after all!
The neurotic part of me thinks: what if I had missed THE CALL? I’m not advocating people stick like glue to their phones; a recent poll found that quite a few iPhone users sleep with their phones next to them on their pillows (People! Really?). I’m also not advocating taking phone calls in the middle of ordering food or at a meeting. I just think sometimes we run the risk of missing what’s important
Read More & Comment »
Former President, The Fund for Theological Education
March 19, 2010
Our doorbell rang at a little after nine last night. It had the same effect that a ringing phone has in the middle of the night. The three of us who were still awake looked at each other with a mix of confusion and concern.
The man on our doorstep, a stranger, was holding some cash and lists of names. When I opened the door, he immediately began to put my anxiety at ease, giving me his name, telling me where he lives, and launching into his story. The story was of how his nephew was tragically struck and killed only a few blocks from our home, that the driver had not been identified, but that he suspected someone who lived in a nearby house that was known to all as a drug house. The tragedy left his family more than bereft; amidst the chaos in the economy, they have no money for a funeral for the boy. So he turned to his neighbors for support. He wondered how much I could offer.
He was passionate about the injustice. He was deeply sad about the loss of his nephew. And he was sorry to even have to ask for money.
As I went back inside to look for my wallet – because I felt compelled to help him – my wife stopped me. She pointed to a story in a local neighborhood news piece about a recent scam whereby men were knocking on doors and asking for money for the funeral of a son, a nephew or another family member who had been struck by a local drug dealer.
Read More & Comment »
Page 3 of 9 pages < 1 2 3 4 5 > Last »
