SEE
by Dale on Feb.04, 2010, under Philosophy
“The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands, but in seeing them with new eyes.” -–Peter Drucker
It seems that for most of my life, I’ve either been listening to a different drummer, reading a different book, enrolled in a different school, hanging out with “different” friends… or perhaps I just enjoy looking through kaleidoscopes as much as I enjoy looking into microscopes…the point is that my natural inclination is to see things “another way.” Alternatives have always appealed to me.
The challenge for most people in our current multi-culture is seeing things from multiple-other’s points of view. But to really see anymore, you need to embrace multiple ways of thinking and alternative ways of doing everything. Sometime the most “wrong” thing or ineffective way is an idolatrous commitment to the only things or ways of understanding we already know; try to get past issues of practicality, even right and wrong, because these are often just other forms of blind self-centeredness.
If that treads offensively on your particular worldview, here’s my apology—keep in mind that it’s just a lens for seeing things within a particular interpretive context. I’ve been trying to see things differently for so long that I have to wonder if all these lenses simply skew reality and truth in intentionally prejudicial ways.
QUESTING
by Dale on Feb.04, 2010, under Church
One of the deepest challenges to organizations and institutions today is transitioning from old ways to new ways. —-EDN
Our church has a mission statement. Such statements are intended to assist members in the transition from one state of being to another state of being. It is an attempt to conform the membership, or at least the congregation, to a particular state of mind. That’s the gift of statements. And they work (or at least worked) when everyone conforms to the particulars…. Which begs an alternative: like, what happens when some people just don’t get it or when someone just misinterprets the statement? Intentionally!
Yes, I see that recommendation that I put my worms back in the can and go home, but the can is not reusable. But my point is that statements invite debatements. –*– I’ve watched and encouraged, and have become increasingly impressed with the power of conversations regarding various statements. It is interesting in retrospect that every one of these conversations actually began with and was periodically reinvigorated with questions…. A friend of mine recently noted that “The best Questions lead to Quests.” That conversation turned inside-out when we both realized that the best Quests are undertaken by a committed group of people who enjoin the mutual powers of community and conversation through questions—just as we were doing when we discovered it.
Choices Represent Responsibilities–Choose Righteously
by Dale on Jan.22, 2010, under Church
“In the synagogue, when a person is called to the Torah during the public reading, he recites two blessings. The first declares that God chose to give His Torah to the Jewish people (“chose” means “gave them a responsibility”). The second emphasizes that this Torah is true.” (p.322)
ONKELOS on the Torah: Understanding the Biblical Text
by Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner
My pastor, Howard, often exhorts the congregation on Sunday mornings for our choice to be together in worship. As I work my way through the delightful English translation of the ancient commentary Targum Onkelos, I was reminded that ’choice’ (free-will) generally implies ‘responsibility.’ God gave Adam & Eve a choice to which they responded irresponsibly and we still suffer the consequences. As Sunday is the preferred day of worship for most Christians, when given a legitimate option to be with your church family in worship, choosing to be elsewhere diminishes both the corporate worship and the blessings you would have received, if only you had chosen to participate. There are many other choices to be made today, may the Spirit of Christ guide yours.
Missional: A Way of Corresponding to The Way
by Dale on Jan.19, 2010, under Church
Missional thinking moves the planning process out of the realm of asking “what we going to do next?” to asking “what are we really trying to accomplish?” Too often we do something because it’s what’s been done before and we are more confident that we know how. It may not be what is needed, but at least we have a high potential for “success,” even if that success has no particular definition beyond “we did something.” However, if we start with the desired results, clarify the veracity of those results in the larger framework of God’s kingdom, work backwards to a viable process which bears fidelity to Christian ethics in achieving the stated results, then we have a much more likely chance of doing what we are called by Christ to do.
Return to Egypt?
by Dale on Jan.16, 2010, under Church
