Leadership: defining reality and saying thank you (Max DePree).
We are creatures - created beings. Made in the image of God. We are dependent persons. We have limits. We cannot do it all or be good at everything. We have been created for God's glory. We are most glorified when we are grateful to God and give him glory for his creation. C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory that the most creaturely of pleasures is the "specific pleasure of the inferior." "When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather the greater glory of which nature is only the first sketch." Lewis goes on to say: "there are no ordinary people," and "next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." So, we have the privilege of living with our neighbors and being grateful for them. Saying Thank You.
Gratitude is an energizing, satisfying emotion. It is not possessive but builds up and reaches out. It cannot be purchased, or mimicked or stored. It cant be achieved or accomplished because it is not something that is ever finished or that can be checked off. It is the involuntary response of the heart to all aspects of life and ultimately to God. It is not based primarily on circumstances. Some of the most grateful people are poor while some of the most ungrateful people are rich.
Getting or acquiring is very self-focused. It feeds pride. Receiving feeds humility. To receive we recognize the value of others and what they are giving. This is the fertile soil in which gratitude grows. An attitude of gratitude cannot be forced by saying all the right things; if the soil of humility is not there, gratitude is gratuitous, superficial and phony.
Habits of gratitude can be practiced. Thank God daily for all the individuals you work with and live with.
Gratitude is linked with defining reality (clarity). Good, clear job and role expectations are so desired and necessary ( we really need to hear this in the church where roles and jobs which are often voluntary are so vague and ambiguous. This is the cause of so many hard feelings and resentments. I think we need to take this seriously. Church employees including pastors should have clear job descriptions and so should every person who is serving in the church.)
From The Leadership Ellipse by Robert Fryling
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
Summer Reading
Summer is for reading. Hopefully, you get some time away for uninterrupted hours of reading. Beach reading doesn't really happen here. Unless you like to lay on rocks in a driving rain. You can get away to a remote cabin but the bears pawing at the door may be a distraction. If you have a deck that is not in disrepair you may get a chance to lay out on a sunny day and read. But don't count on it - the sunny days. There are not enough of them to finish one book, unless you have a really short book.
You may be scheduled for a plane trip somewhere. If you can get out of Kodiak, you can read on the plane or in the airport during weather delays. This might afford you the best chance to get some reading in. If you finally get to somewhere else, then maybe you can read on the beach.
I have never been a big beach reader or beach goer for that matter. Too hot, too sandy, too windy - generally not good conditions for reading. I like to get up early when it is quiet and read, or go to a coffee shop. Priority number one on vacation is to find a coffee shop. I don't really change my reading habits during the summer. I usually find I have less time to read when I am away from home and my routines. This summer we are planning a driving trip from Kodiak to Oregon. Hard to read and drive at the same time and my wife will only drive for about twenty minutes at a time. Then we will have a few days on the Oregon coast. Beaches there are not ideal for reading but they have good coffee shops. Then we are flying back. So with weather delays always a possibility, I may get some reading in.
I have a huge stack of books I want to read this summer but not too much hope I will get very far. I want to finish a couple of history books I am reading. One is called The War Lovers and the other is What Hath God Wrought. The first has to do with Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Randolph Hearst (why did people use all three names back then - I have noticed most people do it on facebook now too) and the Spanish-American War. The second is largely about Andrew Jackson and his severe treatment of Native Americans, among many other people he treated severely.
I also want to continue my reading in Karl Barth's theology. I have been reading his works for twenty years or so, on and off. He is probably the most influential theologian of the twentieth century. Barth wrote over 500 works but I am just concentrating on his four hefty volumes called Church Dogmatics. This is what attracts me to Barth: he was a pastor first. He broke with European liberals during WW1 and challenged their liberal theology. He was a student of the Bible. Often, in his writing he will go into long conversations with the Word. He wrote his theology after he was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis. To me that was an act of hope. While the Nazis were overrunning Europe, Barth wrote about the Hope we have in Christ. Eugene Peterson said that Barth was a man who believed in prayer; every page of his Dogmatics was prayed through. I do not find Barth easy to read. I feel like I have been reading him all my life and I have not gotten very far. I need to read him slowly and not be in a hurry. Like the way you eat a good dessert. Good books for the long days of summer in Alaska. Whether you are inside or outside. In an airport, waiting or in a plane going somewhere else.
You may be scheduled for a plane trip somewhere. If you can get out of Kodiak, you can read on the plane or in the airport during weather delays. This might afford you the best chance to get some reading in. If you finally get to somewhere else, then maybe you can read on the beach.
I have never been a big beach reader or beach goer for that matter. Too hot, too sandy, too windy - generally not good conditions for reading. I like to get up early when it is quiet and read, or go to a coffee shop. Priority number one on vacation is to find a coffee shop. I don't really change my reading habits during the summer. I usually find I have less time to read when I am away from home and my routines. This summer we are planning a driving trip from Kodiak to Oregon. Hard to read and drive at the same time and my wife will only drive for about twenty minutes at a time. Then we will have a few days on the Oregon coast. Beaches there are not ideal for reading but they have good coffee shops. Then we are flying back. So with weather delays always a possibility, I may get some reading in.
I have a huge stack of books I want to read this summer but not too much hope I will get very far. I want to finish a couple of history books I am reading. One is called The War Lovers and the other is What Hath God Wrought. The first has to do with Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Randolph Hearst (why did people use all three names back then - I have noticed most people do it on facebook now too) and the Spanish-American War. The second is largely about Andrew Jackson and his severe treatment of Native Americans, among many other people he treated severely.
I also want to continue my reading in Karl Barth's theology. I have been reading his works for twenty years or so, on and off. He is probably the most influential theologian of the twentieth century. Barth wrote over 500 works but I am just concentrating on his four hefty volumes called Church Dogmatics. This is what attracts me to Barth: he was a pastor first. He broke with European liberals during WW1 and challenged their liberal theology. He was a student of the Bible. Often, in his writing he will go into long conversations with the Word. He wrote his theology after he was forced to leave Germany by the Nazis. To me that was an act of hope. While the Nazis were overrunning Europe, Barth wrote about the Hope we have in Christ. Eugene Peterson said that Barth was a man who believed in prayer; every page of his Dogmatics was prayed through. I do not find Barth easy to read. I feel like I have been reading him all my life and I have not gotten very far. I need to read him slowly and not be in a hurry. Like the way you eat a good dessert. Good books for the long days of summer in Alaska. Whether you are inside or outside. In an airport, waiting or in a plane going somewhere else.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
(Im)Perfect Game
This one is easy. You are the Commissioner of Baseball. The buck stops with you. Yesterday a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers pitched a perfect game - up to the last out. On the final play of the game the batter hit an infield ground ball and ran to first base. He was out. Replay showed he was out. The umpire said he was out - later. Everyone could see he was out. But he wasn't. The umpire called him safe at the moment of the play. Only hit of the game. Perfect game gone. No hitter gone. Later on the umpire admitted he made a mistake. He hugged the pitcher and told him he was sorry. He cried.
A perfect game is a big deal in baseball. There have only been around 20 of them ever. So, what does baseball do? Admit the umpire made a mistake and award the pitcher a perfect game. Makes perfect sense. Except Commissioner Selig, in another of his bone headed decisions, said No, he would not reverse the call. Why? Was it to preserve some traditional value in the game: umpire's decisions are final. Even if they are wrong. Even if everyone knows it. Even if it costs a pitcher a well earned perfect game. Baseball just lost more credibility. Fantasy leagues have taken over the local ballparks.
A perfect game is a big deal in baseball. There have only been around 20 of them ever. So, what does baseball do? Admit the umpire made a mistake and award the pitcher a perfect game. Makes perfect sense. Except Commissioner Selig, in another of his bone headed decisions, said No, he would not reverse the call. Why? Was it to preserve some traditional value in the game: umpire's decisions are final. Even if they are wrong. Even if everyone knows it. Even if it costs a pitcher a well earned perfect game. Baseball just lost more credibility. Fantasy leagues have taken over the local ballparks.
Junior's Retirement
Ken Griffey, Jr, known affectionately as Junior, retired from baseball yesterday. After 20 plus seasons and 600 plus homeruns (5th on the all time home run list), Junior is a sure bet first round hall of famer. He came to Seattle as a 19 year old kid and stayed for 11 years playing at such a high level it is said he saved baseball in Seattle. Safeco Ballpark is the park Junior built. Since playing for Seattle he has been with the Reds and a short stint with the White Sox. Seattle brought him back last year. It was the feel good story of last baseball season. Griffey brought his infectious love for the game and his fun loving style to the Mariners team and they over achieved. But not this year. The pop in Griffey's bat was gone. There was no bounce left in his legs. He put on too much weight. Rumors circulated he needed naps between innings. He got up to bat almost 100 times this year and got 18 hits for a paltry .184 average. He hit only 2 doubles and no home runs. Not hall of fame numbers. He could not play the outfield. First, he dh'd and then he rode the bench nearly grounding into a doubleplay in his last pinch hit attempt. Sports journalists -mostly tactfully- hinted he had stayed one year too long. It was time to retire. So, he did. Yesterday, was the first day in many years he did not show up to a ballpark. His absence spoke volumes. Some players cried. Everyone spoke fondly of the Griffey years.
How do you know when to retire. Most of the great ones stay too long. Babe Ruth did. Bonds did. Griffey mostly embarrassed himself and put the team management in a tight spot this year. How can you fire a hall of famer? Everyone was waiting for him to bow out gracefully. Which he did, finally.
So how do you know when to retire? Ballplayers can look at their stats and they tell the story of diminished abilities. Ballplayers, especially those of Griffey's caliber, have millions to fall back on and a wide range of options for their post baseball careers. Not so for most of us. Some of us hold on until the "retirement age" doing our jobs even when we've lost the joy of working. Griffey had said when the joy was gone he would retire. Most people don't have that option. Many people today don't even have the choice of retiring; their company chooses to lay them off in a move to downsize. Many more people have seen their retirement portfolios considerably downsized, as well, over the past few years so their retirement plans have been put on hold.
Then there are those who retire only to start a second career. And those who retire and are sorry they did because they forgot to plan for something to do. Travel, or golf, or puttering around the house grows old too.
Griffey seems fortunate to have so many choices in retirement. He would never have to work again if he saved some of the mega millions he has made playing baseball. Hard to feel sorry for him. He had his run and it was a good one. He can find his joy again now that he has more time with his family, or if he joins his fellow retired athletes in the broadcast booth.
His retirement is front page news today. Hardly anyone noticed most of the other people who retired yesterday or those who were forced to retire. How do you know when to retire? Other than athletes and politicians, most people in our society don't have the luxury of asking that question.
How do you know when to retire. Most of the great ones stay too long. Babe Ruth did. Bonds did. Griffey mostly embarrassed himself and put the team management in a tight spot this year. How can you fire a hall of famer? Everyone was waiting for him to bow out gracefully. Which he did, finally.
So how do you know when to retire? Ballplayers can look at their stats and they tell the story of diminished abilities. Ballplayers, especially those of Griffey's caliber, have millions to fall back on and a wide range of options for their post baseball careers. Not so for most of us. Some of us hold on until the "retirement age" doing our jobs even when we've lost the joy of working. Griffey had said when the joy was gone he would retire. Most people don't have that option. Many people today don't even have the choice of retiring; their company chooses to lay them off in a move to downsize. Many more people have seen their retirement portfolios considerably downsized, as well, over the past few years so their retirement plans have been put on hold.
Then there are those who retire only to start a second career. And those who retire and are sorry they did because they forgot to plan for something to do. Travel, or golf, or puttering around the house grows old too.
Griffey seems fortunate to have so many choices in retirement. He would never have to work again if he saved some of the mega millions he has made playing baseball. Hard to feel sorry for him. He had his run and it was a good one. He can find his joy again now that he has more time with his family, or if he joins his fellow retired athletes in the broadcast booth.
His retirement is front page news today. Hardly anyone noticed most of the other people who retired yesterday or those who were forced to retire. How do you know when to retire? Other than athletes and politicians, most people in our society don't have the luxury of asking that question.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
How To Change the World, or not
What are we supposed to be doing as Christians? What is the point of our engagement with Culture? Often, we think or have been encouraged to think that we should be "changing" it for the better, to make it more Christian. We should be influencing the world's way of life so that it becomes more Christian. Our Christian leaders exhort us to "change the world in our generation". We are saddened to find out -often by the words of those same leaders - that our generation is having little or no impact on our culture. They then say we need to try harder or repent of our cultural accommodations so that we can affect the world more significantly. We think that that is the purpose of the Church in Culture. Recently, at least in the last 30 years, we have been taught to think of our impact mostly in political terms. We can change the world by voting in the right people. The right people with the right ideas can make a difference, a Christian difference. Usually that Christian difference has been red colored, Republican. This has been the political party of choice for conservative, evangelical Christians. But, lately, and especially in the past election, Christians of more liberal, evangelical persuasion have argued that the Democratic party has the best chance to change the world for the better or more Christianly. Of course, there has always been an Anabaptist alternative that says the best way to influence culture is to opt out it altogether. Any cultural engagement is ultimately corrupting so our best choice is to stay pure by staying out of it. Politics included.
James Davison Hunter takes on these issues in a new book entitled To Change The World which is an odd title for a book that says we can't do it. A sociologist at the University of Virginia he eloquently and forcefully demonstrates that Christians who talk about changing the world don't have a clue what they are talking about. He challenges the idea that ideas shape culture so that if you change the way people think you can change the way they act. Not so, Hunter says. Christians who talk like ideas coupled with individualistic, pietistic behavior are going to change much are simplistic and naive. Culture is too complex to penetrate and change by ideas. Changes in culture if they do occur take many generations and are the work of complicated networks of influential people and institutions. Cultures are highly resistant to change. That's why America even with so many Christians is becoming more and more secular. It is not because we are not trying hard enough but more likely that it is too hard to do. And it is because the Christian contribution to culture has been weak. Much of the Christian engagement with culture is negative. We tend to see engagement with culture as contaminating (even though we consume culture just as avidly as non-Christians do). So, we have created a parallel Christian culture with Christian music, films, books, schools, and trinkets. Usually, it is seen as lower in quality than the culture it imitates. The "social capital" of the culture at large is much greater than this parallel Christian culture (for ex., the NY Times front page is more influential than that of Christianity Today, or a degree from Harvard carries more weight than one from Wheaton, etc). Then, there is the Christian anti-culture bias. Christians, especially, conservative ones just do not place much value in the arts. We do not produce much good and beautiful art, music or literature. If we are going to "change the world" it is going to be through evangelism not creating works of art.
Hunter is not saying Christians cannot make a difference but he is saying we do not - for the most part- because we are so anti culture and we are so politicized. He says the hope conservative Christians place in politics is quite amazing. Politics is the art of getting things done; it will not produce any solutions to the problems we face. The political process is so angry today. Witness the tea party movement. It is a politics of resentment. People feel victimized and they are going to get revenge on those who have "hurt" or "misunderstood" them through the political process. Christians, Hunter asserts, waste a lot of time and energy on trying to witness to their values and ideas through the political process. Plus, they create a lot of ill will against them and reinforce the idea in non-Christians that Christians want to impose their values on others.
I think Hunter's analysis is convincing. If he is right, then where are we at? What is the answer to the questions this blog post began with? What is our purpose? What is the Church supposed to be doing? Well, not to change the world, that's for sure. That is an arrogant and grandiose goal anyway. How are we supposed to know how or what to change the world into? God has made a new creation in Christ that is coming to be but we don't know now what it will look like. We are new creations in Christ being formed as we follow Him. As we follow him together in the body of Christ, we are salt and light in the communities we live in. We need to think less of changing the world and more about what Christ is doing in our churches and communities. Less about changing the political system and more about changing a diaper if it will help out a stressed family or changing a tire if it will help out a single mom, or changing an afternoon for a kid who has nothing to do but several unhealthy options, or changing the way a non-Christian sees us by coming alongside of him or her as a friend instead of seeing them as an enemy. We can change lots of things in our little worlds even if we give up the idea of changing the world.
James Davison Hunter takes on these issues in a new book entitled To Change The World which is an odd title for a book that says we can't do it. A sociologist at the University of Virginia he eloquently and forcefully demonstrates that Christians who talk about changing the world don't have a clue what they are talking about. He challenges the idea that ideas shape culture so that if you change the way people think you can change the way they act. Not so, Hunter says. Christians who talk like ideas coupled with individualistic, pietistic behavior are going to change much are simplistic and naive. Culture is too complex to penetrate and change by ideas. Changes in culture if they do occur take many generations and are the work of complicated networks of influential people and institutions. Cultures are highly resistant to change. That's why America even with so many Christians is becoming more and more secular. It is not because we are not trying hard enough but more likely that it is too hard to do. And it is because the Christian contribution to culture has been weak. Much of the Christian engagement with culture is negative. We tend to see engagement with culture as contaminating (even though we consume culture just as avidly as non-Christians do). So, we have created a parallel Christian culture with Christian music, films, books, schools, and trinkets. Usually, it is seen as lower in quality than the culture it imitates. The "social capital" of the culture at large is much greater than this parallel Christian culture (for ex., the NY Times front page is more influential than that of Christianity Today, or a degree from Harvard carries more weight than one from Wheaton, etc). Then, there is the Christian anti-culture bias. Christians, especially, conservative ones just do not place much value in the arts. We do not produce much good and beautiful art, music or literature. If we are going to "change the world" it is going to be through evangelism not creating works of art.
Hunter is not saying Christians cannot make a difference but he is saying we do not - for the most part- because we are so anti culture and we are so politicized. He says the hope conservative Christians place in politics is quite amazing. Politics is the art of getting things done; it will not produce any solutions to the problems we face. The political process is so angry today. Witness the tea party movement. It is a politics of resentment. People feel victimized and they are going to get revenge on those who have "hurt" or "misunderstood" them through the political process. Christians, Hunter asserts, waste a lot of time and energy on trying to witness to their values and ideas through the political process. Plus, they create a lot of ill will against them and reinforce the idea in non-Christians that Christians want to impose their values on others.
I think Hunter's analysis is convincing. If he is right, then where are we at? What is the answer to the questions this blog post began with? What is our purpose? What is the Church supposed to be doing? Well, not to change the world, that's for sure. That is an arrogant and grandiose goal anyway. How are we supposed to know how or what to change the world into? God has made a new creation in Christ that is coming to be but we don't know now what it will look like. We are new creations in Christ being formed as we follow Him. As we follow him together in the body of Christ, we are salt and light in the communities we live in. We need to think less of changing the world and more about what Christ is doing in our churches and communities. Less about changing the political system and more about changing a diaper if it will help out a stressed family or changing a tire if it will help out a single mom, or changing an afternoon for a kid who has nothing to do but several unhealthy options, or changing the way a non-Christian sees us by coming alongside of him or her as a friend instead of seeing them as an enemy. We can change lots of things in our little worlds even if we give up the idea of changing the world.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Naptime
Future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr is having a rough go of it this baseball season. He is back for a second year after his return to Seattle last year in a glorious renewal of the great early Griffey years as a Seattle superstar. The city clearly loves him. But, this year he is struggling to hit the ball and seems to have lost all his superpowers. He never plays the outfield. He can barely run and he doesn't have to very often because he only has two extra base hits and is hitting around .200. He looks out of shape and overweight; he looks like a middle aged man. And he is old in baseball years, about 40. He should have retired last year to the accolades of the Seattle crowds. But, he said he will know when he is ready to hang up his spikes and Seattle hoped his hanging on would only help a struggling ball club for one more year. It hasn't. Griffey is a shadow of his former self. The latest embarrassment was last week when the Mariners Manager Don Wakamatsu was looking for an eighth inning pinch hitter and Griffey was asleep in the clubhouse, or so the story in a local newspaper went. Apparently, two of the newer players on the team (Mike Sweeney has challenged them to a fight if they come out and say who they are) said they witnessed the sleeping allstar. Manager Wak denied he was looking for Griffey but admitted he did not know where he was earlier in the game. Griffey denied he was napping.
Whether Griffey should have retired or not is moot at this stage of the season. He did not and he is part of the team and you can't very well release a Hall of Famer who played a huge role in keeping baseball in Seattle when it had some very bad years. Some say Griffey built the new Safeco field. So, let's take another look at napping. Many 40 year olds and older do it. It is necessary to make it through the day. Call it a power nap, if you will. A ten or fifteen minute nap after lunch can make one's afternoon much more productive. Given the Mariners power outage this season (some sluggers on other teams already have more home runs than the entire Mariner team), it might be a good idea to give everyone an afternoon nap on a rotating basis. You have a DH in the American League so why not a DN for designated napper. Let each player catch some zzz's during a game and maybe they will catch fire at the plate. It's a long season, and they travel alot, and it's hard to sleep in a new bed every night. Some of those hotels are brutal. I say, Griffey may have another Hall of Fame idea here. Listen to your leader. Give your players permission to snooze. I know how the saying goes - you snooze you lose. But the Mariners are not snoozing and still losing. So,hey,what do they have to lose. It's time for the DN.
Whether Griffey should have retired or not is moot at this stage of the season. He did not and he is part of the team and you can't very well release a Hall of Famer who played a huge role in keeping baseball in Seattle when it had some very bad years. Some say Griffey built the new Safeco field. So, let's take another look at napping. Many 40 year olds and older do it. It is necessary to make it through the day. Call it a power nap, if you will. A ten or fifteen minute nap after lunch can make one's afternoon much more productive. Given the Mariners power outage this season (some sluggers on other teams already have more home runs than the entire Mariner team), it might be a good idea to give everyone an afternoon nap on a rotating basis. You have a DH in the American League so why not a DN for designated napper. Let each player catch some zzz's during a game and maybe they will catch fire at the plate. It's a long season, and they travel alot, and it's hard to sleep in a new bed every night. Some of those hotels are brutal. I say, Griffey may have another Hall of Fame idea here. Listen to your leader. Give your players permission to snooze. I know how the saying goes - you snooze you lose. But the Mariners are not snoozing and still losing. So,hey,what do they have to lose. It's time for the DN.
The President's Faith
Our President continues to have problems convincing people he is first of all, an American, and second of all, a Christian. I hear it all the time - do you know Obama is a Muslim? No, I did not know that. How come so many people, so many Christians apparently believe that. They believed Ronald Reagan was a Christian when he said it, even if most evangelicals had to overlook, and forgive, his divorce. They believed George Bush the seconds testimony of conversion and rescue from over drinking. They trusted his father's confession of a private Episcopalian faith. But, Obama who professes to be a Christian is not believed. Perhaps it was his pastor when he lived in Chicago. We heard about his sermons and were asked to consider how any Christian could sit through them. Well, do we believe every person in church always believes everything his or her pastor says, never says to herself, I don't agree with that! I hope we don't believe that a pastor speaks for all his or her church members. I hope we go to church for more than just what the pastor says. Maybe it is his family background. Obama's father was Muslim but now is an atheist. His mother was agnostic and his stepfather an unorthodox Muslim. Like many Christians he has a diverse religious background. Should we hold that against him or trust in God's grace working in his life, as well as ours. Perhaps it is his tepid support of a national day of prayer but he is not the first president to do so. Or, maybe it is his willingness to embrace all faiths as president of a pluralistic society. He attended both a Jewish Passover celebration this Easter season and a Ramadan dinner last fall. Yet, he spoke articulately and passionately about his faith at a post Easter breakfast with church leaders at the White House. At that breakfast he said: "As Christians we believe that redemption can be delivered by faith in Jesus Christ. And the possibility of redemption can make straight the crookedness of a character, make whole the incompleteness of a soul." On Easter Sunday the President and family attended services at an African Methodist Episcopal church in one of Washington's poorest and most violent neighborhoods.
One of his pastoral supporters, Kirbyjon Caldwell from Houston, has said: "Never in modern history has a president said I am a Christian and others said, No, you are not." "It is stupid and an insult to him", Caldwell said.
In a recent Harris poll 57% of those who called themselves Republicans also claimed Obama was a Muslim and 45% said he was not born in America.
One of his pastoral supporters, Kirbyjon Caldwell from Houston, has said: "Never in modern history has a president said I am a Christian and others said, No, you are not." "It is stupid and an insult to him", Caldwell said.
In a recent Harris poll 57% of those who called themselves Republicans also claimed Obama was a Muslim and 45% said he was not born in America.
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