If you graduated from college, you know the drill. Every so often a magazine arrives in your mailbox, full of glossy photos of happy, successful people. Some of them might be the professors who taught you oh so many years ago. Some of them might be silver-haired philanthropists who are leaving a legacy for their beloved alma mater. And some of them are younger than you. . .
My ears perked up when I heard that Atul Gawande--my favorite surgeon/writer--has a piece in the New Yorker about coaching for professionals. You can read the whole thing online here.
I've been thinking lately about disasters -- not only how
frequently they have dominated the news this calendar year, but the
frequency with which natural disaster comes up in the Bible.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus enjoins his disciples, "when you
fast, do not do as the hypocrites do. . . " So I guess it's possible
that many people take this so seriously that I just do not know what
they are fasting from. Perhaps many people's piety does not allow them
to talk about what they have given up for Lent. Maybe we ARE fasting,
intensely and quietly.
For five years I was pastor of a congregation of mostly 20- and 30-somethings, a group some would call postmodern or “emergent.” Spirit Garage was born in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, an area populated by thousands of young people. In those days people would ask me about our model or formula for this ministry. I always found it hard to describe. But after taking up a new sport, I found an apt comparison: ministry in the postmodern era is like racing mountain bikes.
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