Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Ministry is All About Connections
There is a temptation today to simply blast out electronic ideas to anyone who might read it. The most significant thing that disciples have, however, is not technology, rather is authentic community. Sometimes authentic community comes thru social media, but is the most complete when we gather face to face. Disciples need to be together!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Sunny G, a communications manager,
says: “I think the world is plagued with enough negative people. We need more positive people, people who like to zero in on what is right with the world. Negative people just make me feel heavy.” --Now Discover Your Strengths, p. 109
I can relate to what Sunny has to say. Negativity is so…well…negative! I have to wonder about attitude. Why do some people face adversity with such courage, while others mope like Eeyore about this tiniest of inconveniences?
Is attitude hard-wired? Are some people just born negative? Perhaps, but I am convinced that we have quite a bit of control of how we choose to see the world. A SOTH member said to me recently that at a point in his life he “decided to be happy.” His decision was to view his life from the most healthy, positive perspective he could—not to sugarcoat or fool himself or anyone else, for that matter—but to see his glass half full.
An office manager in a previous congregation was not the jolliest of people.
However, she found a way to poke a bit of fun at herself. She found a poster of a bald eagle, looking stern and serious. The caption read: “I am smiling.” She put in on the wall in the church office and for those of us who knew her it captured her attempt to be a positive person, even though she could never be, as she described it “a grinning idiot.”
Neither of these people said so to me, but I believe they could see that part of
becoming more positive about life comes from acknowledging that you and I ultimately are not the ones in charge, but that God is. I suppose that we are hard-wired in some ways, but I also believe that as God’s children when we learn to trust that God is present in our lives and when we expect God to see us through the difficulties we face that we can move through them with a grateful, positive viewpoint. This attitude of Discipleship is far from some kind of pie-in-the-sky naiveté—it is grounded in our hope in Christ.
As you begin this new year, Disciples, may you be grounded in that hope, and may you trust that God will make your paths straight in 2012.
Proverbs 3.5-8
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.
says: “I think the world is plagued with enough negative people. We need more positive people, people who like to zero in on what is right with the world. Negative people just make me feel heavy.” --Now Discover Your Strengths, p. 109
I can relate to what Sunny has to say. Negativity is so…well…negative! I have to wonder about attitude. Why do some people face adversity with such courage, while others mope like Eeyore about this tiniest of inconveniences?
Is attitude hard-wired? Are some people just born negative? Perhaps, but I am convinced that we have quite a bit of control of how we choose to see the world. A SOTH member said to me recently that at a point in his life he “decided to be happy.” His decision was to view his life from the most healthy, positive perspective he could—not to sugarcoat or fool himself or anyone else, for that matter—but to see his glass half full.
An office manager in a previous congregation was not the jolliest of people.
However, she found a way to poke a bit of fun at herself. She found a poster of a bald eagle, looking stern and serious. The caption read: “I am smiling.” She put in on the wall in the church office and for those of us who knew her it captured her attempt to be a positive person, even though she could never be, as she described it “a grinning idiot.”
Neither of these people said so to me, but I believe they could see that part of
becoming more positive about life comes from acknowledging that you and I ultimately are not the ones in charge, but that God is. I suppose that we are hard-wired in some ways, but I also believe that as God’s children when we learn to trust that God is present in our lives and when we expect God to see us through the difficulties we face that we can move through them with a grateful, positive viewpoint. This attitude of Discipleship is far from some kind of pie-in-the-sky naiveté—it is grounded in our hope in Christ.
As you begin this new year, Disciples, may you be grounded in that hope, and may you trust that God will make your paths straight in 2012.
Proverbs 3.5-8
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be a healing for your flesh
and a refreshment for your body.
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