I’m glad you cite Allan Bevere’s blog. Many good things on there, and it really looks nice. I’ve learned and am learning alot from him.

Scot – yes, saw the Cubs at Wrigley North… the Brewers – and their fans – failed to show up.
Not sure which debacle is more embarrassing – last week at Miller Park, or the goings-on between Lambeau and Mississippi….

On the education article,
Brooks tells the secret motivation for pushing early education in the first sentence of his last paragraph… “America rose because it got more out of its own people than other nations.”
I’d like to see stats to back up his assertion, “America?s lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment.” I would guess he’s briefly changed the subject to a comparison of average scores of the educated, which is a different comparison and a rather uneven one.

So great to see the Cubbies take it to the Brewers, especially Sabathia and Sheets — but how do they then get shut out by the Pirates?! Crazy…

Peggy,
I really loved your piece on community and your image of the Bride of Christ as quadriplegic unable to dance when too much hierarchy is imposed. I couldn’t agree more. I have often (politically incorrectly) said to myself: “x, y or z congregation (the lay people) are being crippled by the hierarchy.) I also found your piece a refreshing contrast to the piece on trusting the discernment of your spiritual leaders over your own sense of calling. (“Feel called? What do you think of this piece?”) I “got” that we overuse and misuse the word “feeling” and that some things we characterize as God’s callings are our own desires (no argument) but the advice to relinquish one’s own sense of God’s leading in our lives to wait for the call from the church leadership was highly alarming to me. Perhaps I’ve just seen how flawed and human –and conformed to the larger society — much of church leadership is but I wouldn’t put my trust in that body. And I would argue that the Bible backs up that line of thought very strongly, as the religious leadership in the Bible, from flase prophets to Pharisees is so often a mess. The way to discern a calling is through consultation with (not deferral to!!) trusted spiritual advisers but mostly through lots of prayer and Bible reading. Also, I wouldn’t wait to hear an audible voice, as the blog seems to suggest is the Biblical model.
I did like the piece by John Ortberg on opposition.

Some random thoughts: I read the theory on “the call” and I could appreciate the author’s desire to shed the too-subjective, individualistic baggage often associated with a “call.” As a pastor, a colleague and I had to confront people who “felt called” to the mission field and we did not endorse that “call.” We were accused of going against the very will of God. The idea of processing “the call” in community is wise counsel. But I think that something weighty, enduring and significant to many is being too cavalierly dismissed (in the name of accuracy with “the text”).

Scot,
Thanks for the link … glad I could help out on a “slow blog week” (only Scot McKnight could say that 8) )
Diane, I am glad the images were helpful. I struggled with the “either/or” sense I was feeling when reading the article on being “called”. I think it is a bit of the both/and here. I know for myself the “fingerprint” of God’s call is something that would never occur to me — something outrageous that I wouldn’t think I could do. In each moment God has “called” my name, it has been like this. And as I have answered, “Here am I”, the call has been confirmed over and over in a wide variety of ways.
Certainly that has been the case of CovenantClusters … and I find it very interesting that 2 1/2 years have passed since that first call. It has been a call that set me on a journey, that’s for sure!
Sometimes, God must call to individuals when the leadership is not listening — or sometimes when they just can’t hear because they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing and God is wanting to do something else in a both/and kind of way. That’s what I think my circumstance entails.
And John, I agree totally with you about having to “speak the truth in love” to those whose call raises “red flags” — but to me that also includes helping them discern the true focus on their call. Sometimes folks just need to see the options around in order to connect the dots.
It is a fearful thing to cavalierly dismiss what might be the wind of the Spirit….

I have a bad attitude about the call, because I don’t think often that people seem to care about much of anything except their own call and kingdom. There’s not that commitment to helping others find their good place in God’s kingdom in Jesus.
Part of the reason I am where I am today. You can call it an excuse, but I little care what others think. Some of us do seem to have more to overcome than others, in my case depression most all my life.
But we need to be committed to helping others, and especially those in Jesus when they’re younger. to find their call.
And I agree with what John is saying here. “6

…went back to read Ortberg’s article. Reminded me of a course I took written by a friend at church: “Blossoming Through Criticism.” Still have the booklet, after 20 years. It was an important lesson — like John says in the article — to take every criticism as an opportunity to submit to the Spirit … to be tested (like I just read about Abraham in Peterson’s book: The Jesus Way).
Problem is we don’t like being tested. But untested too often means vulnerable to attack … so I try to let God sort out the tests with me, with gratitude mixed in with grace for the one providing the opportunity.
What was that old saying? “Feedback is the breakfast of Champions.” Goes right with that other old saying: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”

Flourishing » A nation of semi-literate technicians?

[...] I’ve posted before on emerging trends in reading. Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed links to a New York Times dealing with the same topic. As I’ve noted before, Americans aren’t reading less. If anything, we’re reading more. Only, we’re not reading books. The National Endowment for the Arts reports that declines in readership mirror declining standardized test scores. Not that this matters, since universities are beginning to make such tests optional. See for example Wake Forest University. I wish they had done this about fifteen years ago! [...]

Re: The Brooks piece: Not that long ago I read just the opposite — namely that great disparities in education in 3-5 year-olds disappear such that by age 8 you cannot tell who went to pre-school and who played in the sandbox for an extra two years.
The depressing thing about scientific research (and the “soft” sciences are even more prone than the hard ones) is that you can find a study/paper to support just about anything. I had a much higher opinion of the medical field before I was a part of it.

on the Reading Habits article–i have mixed feelings about this. i think if younger people are spending time on the internet READING, this is a good thing. the problem comes in with the IMing and txt language where they lose out on correct grammar, prolonged concentration, and processing stories. But the writer makes a great point that they are reading stories, but it’s their story selected by them. it raises another issue about how to connect with this generation in our preaching and speaking when that is how they are processing with text and communication.
but this also becomes an issue with parental involvement and influence. my husband and i love to read–books, magazines, journals, AND the internet–and so do our kids. we, our kids included, are regulars at the library and spend a good hour or two perusing books when we go at least once a week. we have never met a bookstore we didn’t like, yet we limit our kid’s on-line time (not even close to the 6 hours of the 16-year old in the story!).
Scot-i have to tell you that Lake Michigan is disgusting. i will not go into its water because i come out stinking and not knowing what i’ve possibly caught. it’s gross. i read that article last week and shuddered.
“WHY?” by Don Johnson: What a great perspective by his daughter’s boyfriend.
Michelle Wie: she brought the attention to herself though with the multi-million dollar contracts with Sony and Nike as a 16 year old AND she hadn’t even won a tournament. That had to irk the other LPGA players. If she wants to play the PGA tournaments, that’s fine. Wherever she plays, with that kind of money in the bank, you would expect her to win something. She has been laying low since being at Stanford, hopefully she’s getting good coaching and taking care of herself.

In regard to the article on “the call,” I do appreciate what the author had to say, but I’m glad for the balance brought by some of the replies in this blog. When I am invited to do such-and-such by the church (pastor, sister, whatever) and I take it to prayerful consideration, when I make my decision, what does one call that? “Feeling” is the word most typical in American English: “I prayed and I felt as though I should/should not involve myself in this effort at this time.” One more point: I use this language specifically to be clear and honest – I did what I FELT was best; this is preferable, in my mind, to saying, “God told me such-and-such;” many take the Lord’s Name in vain by ‘anointing’ their own ideas and efforts with “The Lord led us to….,” a form of blasphemy much worse (I think) than saying, “Jesus Christ!” when you stub your toe (not that that is any more acceptable, but hopefully you understand the comparison for hyperbole’s sake).

The Margins » Quotation of the Week

[...] From Michael J. Svigel, via Scot McKnight [...]