Institute's blog
Not Your Father’s Seminary
NEW -- by Ray Blunt
Years ago, General Motors ran a new commercial that attempted to brand the Oldsmobile as no longer a stodgy car for oldsters. They showed the new Olds in various racing poses and included the caption, "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile." Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary came to Washington, DC, last month in what can only be described as a new way of doing seminary.
Unless the Lord Builds the House…
by Anne Cregger
"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." (Psalm 127:1)
Honestly, I think my grasp of Scripture comes in and out over time. I understood this verse in a spiritually mature way a few years ago, then I fell into literal thinking about it, and now I've come out of that, back into a fresh understanding. Has this ever happened to you? It's like finding a long-lost earring in the pocket of an old pair of jeans. Cause for celebration!
Finding Our Calling? It Takes Time and Experience and, Sometimes, Waiting and Wondering
by Anne Cregger
"So, here's the deal," my young friend, Martin, leaned towards me over the small table. His voice was soft, but his tone urgent. "It's been almost a year and I'm still working here. Are you kidding me? I'm folding clothes, serving irritating teenaged girls and working the cash register at GAP. I'm a UVa grad, for Pete's sake. This is so not my calling; it can't be. Really. Come on!!" Frustration. Anger. Fear. Doubt.
Half a Century: A Jubilee Year
by Cary Umhau
I’ve been attempting, in this my 50th year, to live out biblical “Jubilee” principles in an attempt to inhabit the world more faithfully. I’ve been trying to read Scripture with particular attention to what the implications of a true faith in Christ are. I’ve been blogging occasionally on that journey, and at the beginning of the year, I reflected on what I hoped to do. Here is part of that musing...
Surprise! You Joined a Fraternity
by Ray Blunt
Let it be said plainly-I never intended to join a fraternity. Not when I was 17; not now at 67. Fifty years didn't change my mind. Part of the reason I suppose was that my college was the U.S. Air Force Academy, a decidedly non-Greek environment, or, to put it another way, we were all-all two thousand of us-part of one large fraternity when we took the oath of office. I can't say I missed that part of college life in the 60s or much else of what I knew about it. Well, maybe girls if I remember accurately. In any event, I recently discovered I was part of a fraternity, one that I didn't really want to join, and I have yet to even learn the secret handshake. It all happened like this.
What is the gospel we remember at Easter?
by Steve Garber
For pastoral friends all over the country...
I know that these days are among your busiest. So not a long letter-- but a question for you: What is the gospel we remember at Easter?
We all have different callings. The longer I live the more I am aware that one of mine is listening to people in their complex hopes and hurts, trying to understand the meaning of the gospel of the kingdom for the lives they live. Yes, it is another way of saying that my life is given to exploring the integral relationship of faith to vocation to culture. In and through this calling has come an increasing involvement with pastors and seminaries across the country over the question: what is the relation of vocation to the missio Dei, to what God is doing in history?
The Luxury of Vocation
by Ray Blunt
I am starting to rethink one of our basic premises at TWI that we want to help people connect their faith with their vocation with engaging the culture. Not that I think this premise is wrong, not at all, but in today's world, it may be incomplete for many people. What got me thinking is that right now I have three close friends two of whom are unemployed while one is very underemployed for some time now. We pray together and we pray separately in our homes for them, and I agonize over how they will make ends meet soon and how to best help. Looking at the unemployment statistics with some attempt to grasp just what it is we're dealing with, I was reminded of a quote attributed to Stalin (if he didn't say it, he should have) that "one death is a human tragedy; 20 million deaths is a newspaper headline for a day."
In the latest official count by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8.1% of the paid workforce is out of work with 851 thousand jobs lost from in February alone and an increase of 5 million people out of work in just one year. A total of 12.5 million of our fellow Americans are now out of work. On top of that over 6% of our country has either quit looking or taken any part time work just to get a little food on the table. That means of our friends and neighbors across the country, almost 12 million of them are not working and an untold number have simply quit looking or taken part time jobs where they are seriously underemployed. We can debate the economic stimulus that just passed last this past week as to whether it will make a big dent in this or not, but from what I gather, it will get worse before it gets better and time is going to roll forward for a few years before this monstrous thing is under control.
