Category Archives: vocation

St. Patrick’s Day and the Vibrant Life

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Vibrant Life is at the heart of Resurrection Lutheran’s mission.  We are called to live in Christ, to vibrate on Christ’s frequency.  St. Patrick is someone who vibrated to Christ within him.  Born in Roman Britain ca 389, he became a slave in Ireland as a child when  captured by Irish raiders.  After escaping back to Britain, he felt God’s call to preach the faith to the Irish people.   He became an evangelist to his captors.

Are you ready for the True Parade?

Now his Saint Day is celebrated with parades, parties and green beer, and the Protestant pietist in me grates at the excess of desire and appetite.   But I recently read a short section by another Irishman, C. S. Lewis, in his sermon, The Weight of Glory, that gives a different perspective on such desires,

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when inifinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.   We are too easily pleased.

The phrase, We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when inifinite joy is offered us, strikes me hard today.   St. Patrick Day celebrations are not a bad thing, but even at their best they are pale imitation of what God has prepared for God’s children.  God created us with a “God-shaped vacuum” that we long to fill.  Alcohol, sex, wealth, and ambition can not fill the vacuum.  We have a thirst, a desire, for God’s joy that we only partially fill in this life.   Heaven is where we will be fully what God created us to be and our celebration will have no end.  In heaven all life will be vibrant.

How have you experienced Vibrant Life?

Integrity of Patience

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As I reread Robert Roberts’ The Strength of a Christian, I notice my own impatience rising to the surface.  I want to glean some quick insight into the practice of patience, so that I can immediately apply it to my life.  I want patience NOW.  Roberts provides instruction on the practice of patience (that I will post tomorrow, be patient), but first Roberts makes a wise observation on the necessity of patience for becoming a whole person.

Patience is also a condition for the integration of the person. Like other strengths, patience gives our lives continuity and autonomy, enabling us to live not by impulse, or at the beck and call of environmental stimulus, but by some design.  The Christian design is of course the love of God and neighbor.  It is one thing to have noble sentiments, such as compassion and concern for one’s neighbor and gratitude to God, but quite another to be in the appropriate sense the author of these, the kind of person who through “interior strength” has etched this design upon life.  Only someone self-present in the way a patient person is can practice Christian life as a spirit does. (p. 56)

The strength of an oak tree

When I was in my twenties, I remember reading a Christian article about how God is more interested in growing mighty oak trees than in zucchini.   Zucchini are rather amazing plants in that they grow from seed to fruit rapidly. Yet they will not survive a hard frost.  Oaks take considerable more time.  Yet it is the oak that survives the winter and summer storms and bears witness to God’s glory, year after year, by being the oak it was created to be.    In the same way, as Christian, we are called to serve God faithfully, becoming fully what God created us to be.   Growth in Godly character is often seasonal, with long stretches where one wonders if God has forgotten you. This is where the integrity of patience comes to bear, trusting God is at work, even in the times of waiting and hoping.  I continue to pray and seek patience as God works on my character of becoming a strong oak (see Psalm 1).

Who has been a model of patience for you?

Presidents and Leaders

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G.W. - Greatest President?

As an American history major in college, I remember a discussion in which we debated who was the greatest president in our history.  Several classmates argued for Abraham Lincoln because he was able to hold the union together during the Civil War.  Others thought Franklin Roosevelt was the greatest because of his leadership during the Great Depression and World War II.  You may want to add a name or two yourself.  I thought then and continue to think that our greatest president was our first, George Washington, for one simple reason.  After two terms he stepped down.

Watching the current turmoil in North Africa as large crowds protest their countries’ long-time leaders, I am thankful that our nation has a rich history of orderly presidential transitions.  George Washington started that tradition when he potentially could have been president for life.  His advisors were advocates for a longer tenure. They feared that the country would break apart without Washington.  But Washington wanted to step down and go back to Mount Vernon.  After eight years he was ready to hand leadership to someone else.

One danger for any leader is to think that your leadership is indispensable for the organization.   That is true in businesses, congregations, colleges and non-profits.  “The organization NEEDS me,” can become an egotistical justification for remaining in a leadership position long past one’s effectiveness.   George Washington showed our nation how one can gracefully step down from high office.  He modeled  a key characteristic of what Jesus described as servant leadership:

 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  But (Jesus) said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.” Luke 22: 24-26

What characteristics in your opinion makes a president or leader great?

Are You Listening?

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To Listen Is To Focus.

When I was about ten years old, I was pulled from my class room and given a hearing test by the school nurse.  I was surprised, since no other student was given the test that day.  I listened carefully to the instructions and dutifully raised my hand whenever I heard the special ping come through the earphones.  I was certain that I had done extremely well, and said so to my mother that afternoon.   Then I told her how strange it was being the only one tested.  

My mom then gave me the second surprise of the day.  She said, “John, I asked for that test, because you don’t seem to listen very well at home.  I was wondering if you had a hearing problem.”  After the test, my mom talked with the school nurse and they agreed that I did not have a hearing problem, but that I did have a listening problem.  I would selectively hear what I wanted to hear, ignoring those sound/voices/instructions that I did not want to hear.  

In a congregation there is always some selective listening.  We tend to pay attention to those activities and ministries that excite or appeal to us.  A busy mother of young children may tune out the invitation to a men’s retreat (or she may tune in if she thinks her husband should go!)  We all have filters that select what to hear, see, or feel.   In our media culture, we are all surrounded by so much “communication noise” in so many forms (music, internet, television, video games, cell phones) that it can be difficult to listen to one another.   Yet each of us can work to improve.

Here are six of my communication rules.  

  1. I never read letters or notes that are not signed. 
  2. Important information deserves face-to-face conversation.
  3. To over communicate is much better than to under communicate.
  4. Never write in an e-mail what you would not say face-to-face.
  5. To over communicate is much better than to under communicate.
  6. God communicates his love to me every day.  Am I listening?

How are your listening for God?  for others?

Persevering on Valentine’s Day

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Holding on to the love you share

I confess that I am not a great fan of Valentine’s Day.  I sense that it is more about momentary commerce (cards, candy, gifts) than lasting love.  I do believe in love and romance and want to share a mental/spiritual exercise that might enhance it for yourself.  It comes from a small book that continues to shape my spirituality, The Strengths of a Christian, by Robert C. Roberts.   It’s an exercise that helps build perseverance and attachment in a marriage.  Roberts writes to a wife about her husband named Henry.

Take a memory that endears Henry to you, a memory of happy common life or of some special affection shown you, and use it as the grid through which to contemplate that aging person across the table.  See him in the eyes of that pleasant memory.  Do not do anything yet, or say anything, but just take some time to look at your partner in this complimentary light. . . .  You may have to shed some grudges (as Christians say, “die to yourself”) just to admit to yourself that this is the person of whom those happy memories are memories.  But if you succeed in seeing him this way, you will find that some affection will come over you. You will love Henry because he looks more lovable to you.  . .  I think you will find that when you explicitly share with each other the happy memories of your past love, those memories will have an even stronger tendency to arouse present affection in you both.  

This technique for persevering in love is just the reversal of what happens in grudge bearing. The grudge bearer also dwells on memories of a relationship with another person and sees the other person through those memories.  But instead of dwelling on happy experiences . . . he or she dwells on offenses (many imaginary, no doubt).   Thus the grudge bearer descends into a confirmed disposition of seeing the other in an uncomplimentary light, which we call hostility.  When we become aware of the dynamic of grudge bearing, we can turn it to the service of love by practicing the contemplation of happy memories of our relationship and the praiseworthy actions of our partner.  When this practice becomes an ingrained habit and skill of self-management, then we have one of the powers of perseverance in marriage. (p. 95-96)

What habits of the heart keeps your love alive?

The Purpose of Scripture

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The Bible is Word Power

Have you heard the concept, “The BIBLE stands for Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth?”   I struggle with that concept.  My fear is that we will turn the Bible into a glorified self-help book that we try to control, rather than the Word of God that comes to recreate us in God’s image.  God’s Word has more than great advice; it has the power to transform us.

N. T. Wright describes this transforming power. “The Bible isn’t there simply to be an accurate reference point for people to look things up and be sure they’ve got them right.  It is there to equip God’s people to carry forward his purposes of new covenant and new creation.  It is there to enable people to work for justice, to sustain their spirituality as they do so, to create and enhance relationships at every level, and to produce that new creation which will have about it something of the beauty of God himself.”   (Simply Christian, p. 182-183)  God’s Word is to actively work at transforming us into the image of Christ.   It calls and empowers us to love God by loving our neighbor in creative, just ways.

Jesus himself had to reinterpret the law because the Pharisees and other religious officials had misused it.   The Pharisee’s loved the Torah (first five books of the Bible), but in their love they tried to control and protect it by building sharp boundaries between holy and unholy.   They tried to avoid all contact with unholy people, so as to remain pure before God.   They used the scripture as their way to stand apart from those in need (lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners).  Jesus proclaimed a message that engaged the unclean and envisioned a new creation.   Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17).

How is God’s Word transforming your life?

Light Work

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Shoemaker as Light to the World

Jesus declared, “You are the light of the world. . .  Let your light shine before others so that they can see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14). I am convinced that our light is to shine in our workplaces, however challenging that might be.  The challenge can come in various ways as we seek to love our neighbor through our work.

I have adapted a story (attributed to Martin Luther?) that helps illustrate the idea that our vocation (calling) is to love our neighbor and by doing that we glorify God.  A cobbler was noted for making very good shoes and he had many customers who valued his craftsmanship.  One day the cobbler had a spiritual awakening and decided he needed to make a more overt witness to Jesus.   He determined that he would place a cross on every pair of shoes as a testimony to God.   At first his customers had no strong reaction, they liked his shoes and the cross was okay.  However the cobbler began to spend more and more time on the crosses and less and less time on the shoes themselves.  The quality of the shoes began to suffer and his customers were disappointed   They first came because they needed good shoes; now they had to go elsewhere to find the shoes they needed.

The cobbler loved his neighbor when he made good shoes for them.  When he neglected that calling, his neighbor and his business suffered.  The cobbler had a good intention when he wanted to bear witness to Jesus by attaching crosses to the shoe.   To bear evangelical witness to Jesus is part of our calling as Jesus’ disciples.  We can pray for opportunities to bear witness to Jesus at work.  There are  times and ways to speak to our faith in Jesus, even at our work place.  Yet the very quality of the work we do can be a light to the world.     

We all have gifts and talents that are needed in the world.  By doing that work well we glorify God in heaven.  We make “Light Work.”

How does God’s light shine at your workplace?