Today at Church

Today David Miller preached the first in a series of sermons entitled “Finding Hope.”  The ultimate hope for a Christian is found in John 3:16 (NIV): "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  It’s important to realize that though faith is one of the Christian virtues (faith, hope, and charity), hope is not exclusively a Christian phenomenon.  It is also possible to have faith in the devil--in hatred and all its manifestations.  One can hope for evil things as well as holy. This is essential to understanding much that plagues society.  People need--must have--hope. This is a basic need.  (Maslow's hierarchy of needs makes a fundamental error here.) If they can’t see their way to get it positively, they default back to original sin and get it that way.  The feeling of the need for redemption—in one way or another—is absolute.  The high of twisted hope is behind much criminal activity and societal dysfunctions resulting from unrealistic worldly expectations. The drug wars that we now observe are based on hope.  The real estate bubble was based on hope.  As Christians, we believe that this hope is delusional and destructive.  Twisted hope is based on sin.  The seven deadly sins are: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.  When we place our hope in any of these things, we are denying Christ and eternal life.  The truth of Christ will set us free for even though things may be dark as Golgotha on Good Friday, it is followed by eternal life on Easter Sunday.  In Sunday school we developed our Christmas wish list.  The Deborah Methodist Women’s Circle every year gets our class (The Good Shepherd Class) Christmas presents.  They also provide a hearty breakfast the Sunday of the Christmas party.  Our first lesson today dealt with trusting God: “Not knowing what’s ahead can be as source of great anxiety.  But Christ assures us that we can find peace in trusting God and in being open to God’s will” (Upper Room 10/24/10).  Our second lesson concluded that “We can never outrun God, who has promised to never leave us or forsake us.  Like the prodigal, when we come home we will always be welcome” (UR 10/25/10).

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Warnings from a Friend

Yesterday Mark my supervisor at work said that he thought it was no big deal that he and I can have remarkably different political views and still remain friends.  But, for us, we are not trying to control one another, he observed.  Since we are not movers and shakers in a political sense, our differences are not operative in our relationship.  I got to wondering, instead of being colleagues at work what if we were colleagues in the US Senate.  We would frequently be voting on issues against one another.  What would our relationship be like then?  I think of a football game.  Both teams respect one another but that does not make them any less earnest players when they get on the field.  Each side seriously wants to win.  Each side can earnestly play while respecting the rules of the game.  Dirty play (when fair play rules of the game are intentionally violated) occurs only when we become consumed with winning and lose respect for the rules of the game and for one another.  In other words, I think in Washington we could continue to hold different beliefs politically and work hard to implement our side of the issues while still respecting one another and even be cordial on a personal level.  But there would be few referees in the political game.  There would be no whistle blowers if we started sniping at one another and treating each other with a lack of respect.  In fact, there would sometimes be political incentives (cheers from the stands) if we did so.

Mark thinks government is too big, that taxes are too high, and that the national debt is out of control.  He is of the opinion that even when conservatives get in office, they tend to continue to grow government and the debt.  They say one thing, but when they get to Washington they do another. Mark holds the belief that government, rather than helping us cope with reality, panders to the public selling indulgencies (indulging our lack of discipline) to avoid dealing with reality.  To the extent that he is correct time is without question on his side.  Sooner or later, attempts to paper over basic realties certainly will fail.

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Getting a Fundamental Sense of the Candidate

Today we were discussing questions that could be appropriate for asking job candidates to get a basic understanding of them and to see if they would be a good “fit” for our workgroup.  On my own I made a list of several “approach to life” questions that I would like to choose from if I were giving the job interviews.  I would even like to select some of these questions to ask politicians now running for public office.  The hackneyed liberal and conservative queries are basically unenlightening for in most cases one knows in advance the reliable responses for each side. 

Approach to life questions for candidates

·        How would you characterize a positive person?

·        Laughter is the best medicine.  Why is a sense of humor important in the workplace?

·        How do you balance “attitude is everything” with the need for job skills?

·        How do you arrive at a required tolerance for complexity and the concurrent need for simplicity?

·        What is your typical response to frustrating situations (emotionally and intellectually)?

·        What is damaging about holding a grudge?

·        The customer is always right.  Do you agree or disagree?

·        Which is more important, the letter of the law (policy & regulations) or the spirit of the law (policy and regulations)?

·        We agree to disagree—explain what this means?

·        Define character and integrity.

·        Is it ever ok to break a promise?

·        Why do people tend to overpromise?

·        Which is more important: imagination or facts?

·        How is empathy fundamental to intelligence?

·        Controversy should be avoided.  Under what circumstances do you agree?

·        Someone is expressing an opinion that you strongly disagree with.  Under what circumstances would you turn this into an issue and make your disagreement known?

·        When solving a problem what is the interplay of intelligence and emotion?

·        In your estimation, what makes a good supervisor; a good subordinate?

·        Do you consider yourself an assertive person?  Explain.

·        Are you more of a leader or more of a follower?  Explain.

·        Name a few of your ultimate allegiances.

·        What are some of your greatest personal fears?

·        One should not take themselves too seriously.  In what sense is this true and not true?

·        Overall, do you feel blessed?  Why or why not?

·        What is your greatest gift?

·        Considering people that you most admire, what do you admire about them?

·        When you make an embarrassing mistake or fail at a task, how do you handle it?

·        Pretentiousness vs. simple honesty: What in your view motivates people to be pretentious?

·        List some of your greatest motivators.

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Quiet and Content

All my life in social situations I have been the quiet one.  Today a group of us from work lunched at 4th Street Shrimp Store.  (There were eight of us.)  Doing most of the time, several conversations were going on at once.  Until the very end I sat quietly.  Then I had a rather intense conversation with the person sitting next to me regarding Netflix which I had just subscribed to last evening.  It developed that she too was a subscriber, so we had a subject interesting to both of us.  But again, for 95% of the time I was speechless.  This doesn’t mean that I was fearful or uncomfortable.  I just had nothing to say.  I sat quietly and listened to others and soaked in the Florida cracker atmosphere of the restaurant.  I was relaxed and enjoying the occasion.  When I was young, I felt defensive about being the quiet one.  I was and am now seldom gifted in repartee—thinking of something witty to say in return only long after the beckoning pause has passed.  Again, this caused some consternation in my youth, but now I willingly and non-defensively accept it as just being my temperament. It doesn’t mean that I am intellectually dumb or slow (just as being gregarious doesn’t mean that one is intellectually the superior).  I am now comfortable with myself and don’t feel I am in any way inferior for being the quiet one.  I am confident that I can hold my own anytime there is a subject I feel strongly about while at other times being content with being a listener.

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Trinity Supper

For many years beginning in the late 70’s I attended Trinity United Methodist Church in Saint Petersburg.  It was a church that embodied I John 4: 7 & 8 :(KJV)  Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.  The song IN THIS VIDEO reminds me of our Sunday school assemblies where all ages gathered and occasionally sang this song.  Even though Trinity church has since been sold, a group of us still meet quarterly for supper.  We met Wednesday evening.  Trinity represented a laboratory of love, and it provided an experience I will always cherish.  I am grateful for Andy Hines (my Trinity Sunday school teacher) for mentioning this song and reminding me what was the essence of the Trinity experience.

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God’s Calling

Raised in a Christian home, I was introduced early to the idea that everyone has a calling.  Everyone has a role in life that they can play if they follow God’s leading.  This calling could be a profession or a broader role.  A very familiar construction to this idea is that one can be “called into the ministry.”  Often this involves a particular time and place where one has felt clearly led into the ministry by the Holy Spirit.  My father mentioned a time when he was in France while serving in the First World War.  He was led into an isolated area of the woods where he surrendered his vocation to the will of God.  My brother attended a chapel service at the Methodist retreat at Leesburg and was called into the ministry there.  But while the calling is often mentioned in relation to ministry, it can also be a calling to many other professions and roles.  If you are called by God into a vocation, then you will be led by the spirit in that vocation.  Your job, in a sense, becomes your real and continuous expression of worship.  You worship God by fulfilling his desired vocation for your life.  While being “called into the ministry” sounds right, it can be a little jarring to hear that one has felt “called to be a shoe salesman.”  But actually the latter leading can be just as real and important for the plan of God as the former.  While someone called into the ministry may yearn to be a Billy Graham, actually success as viewed by the world is irrelevant to being faithful.  You are called to be faithful, not necessarily highly profiled in the world or successful in that sense.  Success will be defined by God.

Following the leading of the spirit in whatever decision is at hand, especially watershed decisions, is fundamental to worship.  Sometimes the wisdom of these decisions can be highly debatable, but to one who has the assurance of the Holy Spirit, the way to proceed is clear and is simply something that must be done—on the order of deciding firmly to make an important purchase. What answering a call essentially does is posit great present certainty against great future uncertainty.  Even the broad outlines of the future can be totally a mystery—the wherewithal entirely unknown.  One launches out in faith.  In a sense, it is a test of faith.  Looking back in life, if one has led their life under the call of God, then deep satisfaction is actualized and haunting self-doubts and regrets are nil.         

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In Praise of Objectivity

“In Praise of Objectivity” from: Fall Sailing: Poems on Life, Death, and Other Occasions (1972).

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