The Bishop sets a model for married clergy.
Had the honor of meeting with the Bishop not too long ago and he said something I found so upside down in the male dominated world of clergy.
In speaking about his busy schedule he noted,
“And my wife would like to have a little bit of my attention and I would like to have a lot of hers.”
Too often I am pushed by different forces that tell me the only way to be a clergy person is to be at the church 100% of the time and to be reachable at any point in the day to the total sacrifice of my family and personal life.
The models given to me are usually male clergy who note some level of disdain for their family. They use the “gotta work all the time to be a good pastor” line to justify all their time a the church. But more than that, the family is often seen as a force that holds male clergy back from their most effective ministry. It is heard in many ways.
“I would buy my wife wants me to be home.”
“My family would kill me if I were out another night.”
“I would be there but my family is in town.”
All of this to say the Bishop put forth an alternate model for me. Where many male clergy speak of family as a hassle, the bishop spoke of his family like he actually liked em.
Additionally, this removes the blame from the family and says, “I am making a full and conscious decision to not be at certain things because I would like to have a lot of attention from my family.” It puts the blame on the Bishop (or any individual who adopts this way of speaking).
Just one of the many reasons I am proud to have this current Bishop.
Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife
I know it may sound odd, but Sum is one of the best books that I think I have ever read.
These 40 stories are short and can be read while on the toilet (if that is your thing). Yet they are poetic and thought provoking.
I really enjoy the one titled “Ineffable”. However, on Amazon you can read a couple of the other stories to get a feel for the book.
On Vacation
Currently I am on vacation with Estee in Austin. I have not had an opportunity to get ‘plugged in’ for longer than a couple of minutes. I will resume my usual daily posts beginning Monday August, 17.
Desiderius Erasmus was a Christian teacher who lived between the times of the Middle Ages and the birth of the Renaissance. These words are attributed to him. I share these words as they were shared with me upon my graduation from High school
’Tis a brave world, my young doctor!
Do not be afraid of it; do not calculate your chances so closely
That you miss your chance;
Do not pretend to know what you do not know.
Work and laugh and give thanks for these three are one.
You did not make the world. You cannot remake it.
You cannot even spoil it.
You may, however, know the wonder of improving some small corner of it,
But (do not forget that) before you arrived
The world was pronounced “very good.”
Go now and enter into its joy.
Hard vs. Soft power…
I am frustrated with myself and my peers in ministry because we have generally bought into the myth that power comes with getting into a powerful popular pulpit in a large church. That is to say, power comes with getting older and moving into senior roles.
I believe this myth is true in a sense. When we get older and into these senior positions, we do gain power; we gain hard power. We gain the ability to appoint, to direct, appropriate, appoint, etc. These are obvious forms of power which many of us desire in order to create “institutional change” from the top down.
All the work as a young minister early in the process is put into gaining hard power. We take appointments and jobs and see them as “stepping stones” to “get where we want to go”. We even sit around and complain that we do not have “voice” to be heard and are not put into positions of power to create this institutional change.
However, I have found that as a young minister early in the process I have more power than I can actually fully be aware of. This is power of being naïve, full of energy and still “learning” (that is we are still in school). We are in positions of intimacy with groups of people which is very hard for senior ministers to have that same intimacy with people. We are given the ability to preach few times which means that people typically will give us the benefit of the doubt if we mess up or say something controversial/challenging. Additionally, American culture idolizes “youth” and even when we get older, we desire to be young again.
I, as well as many of my peers, am currently in positions of soft power. This power is less appointment and more of influence and challenge.
The problem is we are all so busy trying to get the hard power (because we think that is real power) that we overlook our soft power and dismiss it. Then when we do get into senior positions, only then fell we have a voice to start to make changes. By that time we are 30 years old and in the eyes of the people with all the hard power, we are really powerless.
We are so busy working to get this hard power, believing it to be the best power. While this whole time we are very powerful agents of change but we do not embrace. Do we not embrace this soft power because it means we would have to take ‘lesser’ positions, be vulnerable, be perceived as naïve. Do we not embrace soft power because it would mean putting our pride to the side (for those like me who are very prideful)?
I am making a declaration to be intentional about finding ways to embrace the soft power all around me in order to create change.
Who Would Jesus Smack Down?
By MOLLY WORTHEN
Published: January 11, 2009
The Seattle minister Mark Driscoll is out to transform American evangelicalism with his macho conception of Christ and neo-Calvinist belief in the total depravity of man.
Olympic Statistic
If your country is hosting the Olympics, history has shown your country will earn about 25 more medals in the current Olympics than they earned in the previous Olympics.
If your country is hosting the next Olympics, history has shown your contry will earn about 15 more medals in the current Olympics than if they were not hosting.
