Tag Archives: pastoral vocation
The heartbreaking work of love – Psalm 51 and why reading Scripture matters to hard hearts
A friend just sent me this wonderful rabbinical reflection:
“A rabbi told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, “Why on our hearts, and not in them?” The rabbi answered, “Only G-D can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put in on your heart and then when your heart breaks, the holy words will fall inside.”
In that first breath of a new class: a professor’s thoughts standing at the podium on day one
There is that moment at the beginning of the academic year when the professor comes into the classroom, sets down his or her stack of papers and books, moves to the podium and begins class. It is a very mundane moment in many ways. Students chatter away, texting friends, drinking expensive espresso drinks in shimmering travel mugs with café logos you don’t get the reference to and you move … There’s more to read here.
The future of the Church is the future of the seminary: looking through the correct end of the telescope
There have been a recent spate of posts in the media and blogosphere trying to get at the so-called “Future of Seminary Education”. The web portal Patheos.com has sponsored a large online symposium addressing the question that continues to grow.
As a seminary graduate, faculty member at a few seminaries mentioned in the discussions as well as the Associate Dean of a seminary that is trying to see what the … There’s more to read here.
Third Verse Generation: the turning of the tide is pulling the old personalities away
I just returned from a wonderful intergenerational gathering of creatives: film makers, poets, studio artists, dancers and choreographers, novelists, essayists, apologists, working stage actors and directors, pastors and even some theologians in the mix. People were at turns extroverted to nominally passionate, distantly to distinctly vintage and pseudo to suburbanly Christian trending from high to low to no church. During the week together new friendships were forged, people who ‘liked’ status updates … There’s more to read here.
Can you love God without a political party? Freedom of the Self and ‘Republicanity’
In the introduction to my book Freedom of the Self, I open with a story regarding Rembrandt’s famous 1642 painting “the Nightwatch” I heard while viewing it a few years ago in Amsterdam that frames—both literally and figuratively—my concern with the church today and, in particular, a misguided loss of personhood for many faithful people.
Those who have seen many of the 17th century Dutch master Rembrandt Harmenszoon … There’s more to read here.
Pastor/Professor seeking Church – applications are now being accepted
Lately I am in a slump regarding the local church. I have been a pastor in a few different congregations and attended a number of churches in the US, UK and Europe. I have had peek experiences and cringe worthy ones. True, the call of the church is bigger than my experience and needs. True, the marks of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church permeate the momentary concerns of … There’s more to read here.
Vocation and the Call to Discipleship: U2, Dillard, O’Conner and Bonhoeffer
We teach our children one thing only, as we were taught: to wake up. We teach our children to look alive there, to join by words and activities the life of human culture on the planet’s crust. As adults we are almost all adept at waking up. We have so mastered the transition; we have forgotten we ever learned it. Yet it is a transition we make a hundred times
Bruce Springsteen, the Pisgah View, and letting the young become our leaders
In Deuteronomy 3, Moses is allowed to view the Promised Land but not allowed to cross the River Jordan, being told by God that his descendants will eventually enter the land:
“Go to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him,
“Love Wins” the blogosphere – thoughts on Rob Bell, universalism, and Christian cyber-fights
Either you only follow tweets for TMZ.com or ESPN Sportscenter or live under a rock away from the din and clang of the blogosphere if you haven’t heard the rumblings about Rob Bell’s upcoming book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived (HarperOne, 2011) which will hit bookstores on March 29th. For those following the flurry of activity, the basic issue … There’s more to read here.
Teaching as Pez dispensers – Parker Palmer and the active vs. contemplative life
One of the challenges I face as a theologian working with educators in the public school system is helping teachers discover courage and hopefully a passion for engaging students in a life of the spirit as much as a life of the mind. This is no easy task. Teachers in elementary and secondary schools are under huge pressure to ‘teach for the test’ and constantly assessing students in ways that focus … There’s more to read here.
