I don’t know what it’s like in other professions, but in software development there is some expectation of a meritocracy; those with the most ability should be in charge. The good programmers who develop stable, well-designed systems should be promoted and the less skilled developers should listen, follow, and learn. For me, at least, in university and my early career, this is exactly how things worked. The skilled programmers got the good projects, got opportunities to design new systems, and got to set the standards for others to follow.
Read more...Figuring out how to live out God’s call to make disciples and love our neighbors is something I think about often. In my little neighborhood I daily see the extremes of deep poverty and homelessness and the excesses of wealth and secular individualism. I know all of these people — the rich and the poor — are loved by God. All of these people need Christ’s church. It is for this reason that today’s Gospel reading makes me uncomfortable. Jesus called these people into the harvest in a world much more dangerous than ours. If he called them to that, then, what is he calling us into today? Can we really say people have changed so much in the last 2000 years that Jesus’ instructions to his followers are no longer contextually relevant?
Read more...“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
Who could truly understand what was happening? He wasn’t the savior they were expecting. He wasn’t saving them in the way they wanted. And, yet, even at that depth of evil, Jesus is eager to forgive, eager for us to return to his Father’s presence. He says, “Father, forgive” that we might boldly pray “Our Father who art in Heaven…”
Read more...I love the lectionary. Not specifically a particular lectionary. (I’m not going to get into the debates of the one-year traditional lectionary versus the three-year cycle of the 20th century, etc.). But, I love the thematic presentation of Old and New Testament. Where else other than the lectionary are you going to find Jeremiah, David, and Jesus in conversation with each other? Where else can we so clearly see the same spirit and Word at work in Jeremiah and David? Where else can we marvel that the God of the universe listens to mere men and not just listens, but will use and perfect their words to his glory?
Read more...Wow. If ever there were a day in the lectionary well suited for a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity today is it. Before I even put my Bible down reading today’s passages, snippets of lectures, and discussions started swirling in my head. The entire army of very online pontifications from Twitter and Facebook that seem to only spring up on MLK day and when tragedy arrives in our country came immediately to my mind. The great crowd of the peers I have and continue to spend much time around seemed to pressure me with invisible force to take it there. And I’m preaching in the “despised” Williamson County and the City of Franklin at that. Lord have mercy!
Read more...I don’t know about y’all, but there’s a lot of noise in my world right now. Politics — almost always a bunch of clanging symbols — is in high gear. The pandemic, still running wild across the world, is — as almost all things seem to be — a divisive often partisan topic. Race is a topic. Police are a topic. Riots, looting, and vandalism are topics. Gender & sexuality didn’t stay in 2019, either, and decided to join 2020’s party. It seems every bizarro COVID-19 2020 interaction is full of strife.
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