non-ministry related, but pertinent....

when i grow up, and age into my early 40s....will Justin Timberlake and NSync do a reunion comparable to the New Kids on the Block? Will my generation reward Christina Aguilera the same way we reward Madonna or Janet Jackson?

Ministry...of the un-ordained

Today in class I was asked if I was from a tradition that requires a call to participate in ministry. And all I wanted to do was correct the statement.

By being Christian we are called to ministry. The call to ordainment is different than this phrase.

I look at my students and wonder what they are working towards--do they recognize the call to ministry that they each have?

It took me 5 semesters of school, and three years of youth ministry to define my call to ministry, but I heard the call since being a Christian. It is not something separate, but one and the same.

It is the priesthood of all believers. I am a minister of Christ's love and grace, just as the next Christian. I have been called to minister this. I am not ordained, nor will I ever take on that role. But, I am called. And I do have a ministry.

I simply hope that people, especially at the seminary level, recognize that all people are called to ministry...and that ministry does not require ordainment.

theology of divinity schools

Often, I find my studies trapped in the theology of my professors. Sadly, they try hard to balance their own theology with various "remnant" writers, however, often times I wonder if this is merely done through a book review used to keep the professor's tenure or if it is done actually because the professor holds these remnants theology as similar to their own.

the religious reality of God (teaching youth to love God)

i will not lie- i am scared beyond anything of teaching Christian Spirituality to a bunch of 12th graders in the spring.

it may be a subject i have studied for 2.5 years, but it is a subject that i feel i have yet to even tap the ice on. i haven't even gotten a hole to drop a fishing line through, and i am supposed to educate students on how to develop and reach the depths of God.

it may seem silly, but my goal is to educate 20+ students on how to reach the depths of God, deeper than i can, and yet my fear is the fact that i don't reach deep enough to model.