What your mother said

Most of us carry a little tape in our heads of things our mothers said repeatedly. And sometimes we repeat those things, often unintentionally mimicking mom’s voice. One of those things your mother probably said, especially if you had siblings, or, when little friends came over to play was, “Play fair!” But you likely remember what your mother also said on those occasions you protested “It’s not fair!” She likely quipped, as countless mothers have through the ages, “Life’s not fair.” (And, if your mother was like mine, she may have added, “Get over it.”). Continue reading

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Possibility and potentiality

I had an interesting conversation with a local church minister who expressed frustration about his congregation’s failure to live fully into its possibility. That’s not an uncommon frustration for pastors and local church leaders. But I’ve found it helpful to make a distinction between possibility and potential, between what is theoretically possible and what is potentially viable. Continue reading

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Will or willfulness?

A reader on Margaret Marcuson’s blog, The Leadership Circle blog, asked a good question that comes up every now and again. He asked about the difference between having a will and willfulness. It’s a point of misunderstanding I hear now and again, namely, that having a will is equivalent to willfulness, or, that because “willfulness is bad” then “will,” or exhibiting that one has a will, is bad. Continue reading

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Kudos to Meg Hess in CC

I was gratified to read a fine article by Margaret “Meg” Hess in the current issue of the Christian Century magazine. Meg is a participant in the Leadership in Ministry Workshops (LIM) and has written a couple of articles for our LIM newsletter. Continue reading

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Is BFST objective or subjective?

A friend asked about where Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST) fell in the divide between subjective and objective. It was an interesting question that led to some stimulating conversation. Personally, I’d put BFST more on the subjective-interpretive side. Continue reading

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Now I’m an art critic

I’ve been invited to write a magazine article on artistic interpretations of biblical texts. I enthusiastically accepted the invitation from the editor. Given my lifelong interest in art in general, and religious art in particular, and the fact that I’ve never written (as well as I can recall) anything along these lines made the novelty attractive. Continue reading

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What’s in a name?

A colleague is making a change in his church staff position. He’s struggling with coming up with a new ministry job title. He says, “While I realize the main thing is how one functions, job titles are suggestive and important.”

He’s moving from a generalist position as Minister of Christian Formation, to a more focused ministry with adults. Here are some titles he’s considering. Continue reading

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