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Knowing the People You Lead

In his Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul recognizes an important paradox.  On the one hand, he says: “Bear one another’s burdens.” On the other hand: “All must carry their own loads.”  There are some problems and challenges in life that we’ll never...

“Work”: Not Necessarirly our Job or Career

Since work is a partnership with God, it isn’t limited to our careers or our jobs. Our life’s work is greater and more enduring than the positions we hold and the titles we have. It includes all the ways we express our partnership with God—all the ways we make a...

Work: A Partnership with God

Charlie Brown and Sally are standing at the bus stop. Cars are rushing past them, and Sally asks: “Who are all those people driving in those cars?” Charlie answers, “Those are people going to work.” Sally: “Work?” Charlie: “They used to wait for the school bus like...

Knowledge and Wisdom, Cousins, not Twins

Knowledge and wisdom are related, but they are more like cousins than like identical twins.  Knowledge has to do with facts, data, and skill; wisdom has to do with significance, purpose, and intention.  Knowledge is concerned with “what” and “how”; wisdom is...

Non-negotiable

I sometimes ask the divinity school students I work with to consider their “non-negotiables”: the beliefs, convictions, and practices which are so central and crucial to their understanding of what it means to be a human being and to be a follower of Jesus that they...

Our Faith and the Faith of Children

Here are sketchy notes from a talk I recently gave to parents of children at First Baptist Church of Asheville.  A mother of two preschool children was cleaning her kitchen one morning, hoping to get the breakfast dishes put in the dishwasher, the milk and cereal...

Being and Being Loved, Before Doing and Duty

A lot of us aren’t living the kind of life we were made to live.  In our rare moments of clear self-awareness, when the fog of confusion lifts and the clouds of illusion melt, we can see the distance between who we are and who we’re meant to be.  The good...

Growing into It

There are things we can’t know instantly or do easily. We have to grow into them; our capacities have to develop, and our abilities have to expand. Quite often, practice and experience often precede skill or wisdom.  You don’t start playing golf at Augusta...

Institutions Which Serve

“My church is just like family to me,” the middle aged man said.  “I feel closer to the people in our church than I do to my own brothers and sisters; I just don’t know what I’d do without them.” A lot of people use family language to talk about the church....

Expectations

We base all of our relationships on expectations.  They might be acknowledged or hidden, spoken or silent, but we shape all of our relationships around them.  Sometimes we make those expectations explicit: for instance, we exchange wedding vows, or sign...