This week, I was asked to deliver the invocation and benediction at my university's faculty recognition dinner (taking place Friday, 3/25). This honor typically falls to a Dean/VP/someone-way-higher-up-than-a-pretenure-faculty-member.
Such an activity always presents an interesting choice (for people of all faiths or no faith): If I pray specifically after my own faith, I run the risk of alienating and/or offending others; however, if I make a vague "catch-all" prayer, I feel personally insincere (and run the risk of alienating and/or offending those of my faith).
To describe it another way, I have to ask myself the questions: Have I built up enough trust with my colleagues that, if I pray specifically to my own faith, they will trust me to not be proselytizing? Or do I still need to build up their trust by not running the risk of offending them?
I have an idea of how I'll take this opportunity to "be all things to all people;" please pray that I'll have a clear sense of how to do so and deliver honor where honor is due.
I'd also like to see what the blogosphere thinks. (Yes, this is a can of worms, but you need those to catch fish.) So, what would you say?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Writing Season
("Wighting Season," for Elmer Fudd?)
For me, this semester has been the Semester of the Paper. Not the Semester of One Singular Paper (if only life were that simple, anymore), but the Semester of the Idea of the Paper. I am teaching a Physics Seminar course, with the goal of publishing an article with the students; I have worked on two versions of a paper (one addressed to a research mentor and one written with that mentor as a coauthor) about the same project (whose pilot study I haven't yet finished); I have reviewed a paper (on a completely different type of topic) from a collaborator in another state; I've written & submitted a grant proposal about a third project and am preparing a paper proposal about that same project; and, the Monday after Spring Break, I have to submit an abstract (and oversee a student's abstract) to a summer meeting. If you take a look at my whiteboard at home (well, one of my whiteboards at home), you'll see an even longer list of writing projects for the summer.
It always amazes me how the writing process does not necessarilly mirror the research process. A project that failed miserably at each step and was salvaged at the last minute by switching around research goals can sound like a masterpiece; on the other hand, a project that was well planned, well researched, and conducted exactly as scheduled can still come to a screeching hault at the very end and prove to be unsalvagable and unpublishable.
We as Christians base our faith on the result of many individuals' writing processes; no Christians I know of believe that the Bible's authors were somehow mystically guided through some perfection-inducing trance. It would seem that the biblical authors were very much themselves when they wrote these texts. What was Paul's planning & revision process (either on paper or in his head) like when he wrote his letter to the Romans? (Or, given his predeliction for interrupting himself to venture onto tangents, did he not plan & revise at all?) How often did Luke have to revise his outline & thesis as he interviewed witnesses? What kind of sifting process did Solomon go through to pick out & organize Proverbs?
It's amazing to think that, in all of these different writing styles & personal approaches to writing, God crafted together a set of materials for us to base our faith & lives on.
For me, this semester has been the Semester of the Paper. Not the Semester of One Singular Paper (if only life were that simple, anymore), but the Semester of the Idea of the Paper. I am teaching a Physics Seminar course, with the goal of publishing an article with the students; I have worked on two versions of a paper (one addressed to a research mentor and one written with that mentor as a coauthor) about the same project (whose pilot study I haven't yet finished); I have reviewed a paper (on a completely different type of topic) from a collaborator in another state; I've written & submitted a grant proposal about a third project and am preparing a paper proposal about that same project; and, the Monday after Spring Break, I have to submit an abstract (and oversee a student's abstract) to a summer meeting. If you take a look at my whiteboard at home (well, one of my whiteboards at home), you'll see an even longer list of writing projects for the summer.
It always amazes me how the writing process does not necessarilly mirror the research process. A project that failed miserably at each step and was salvaged at the last minute by switching around research goals can sound like a masterpiece; on the other hand, a project that was well planned, well researched, and conducted exactly as scheduled can still come to a screeching hault at the very end and prove to be unsalvagable and unpublishable.
We as Christians base our faith on the result of many individuals' writing processes; no Christians I know of believe that the Bible's authors were somehow mystically guided through some perfection-inducing trance. It would seem that the biblical authors were very much themselves when they wrote these texts. What was Paul's planning & revision process (either on paper or in his head) like when he wrote his letter to the Romans? (Or, given his predeliction for interrupting himself to venture onto tangents, did he not plan & revise at all?) How often did Luke have to revise his outline & thesis as he interviewed witnesses? What kind of sifting process did Solomon go through to pick out & organize Proverbs?
It's amazing to think that, in all of these different writing styles & personal approaches to writing, God crafted together a set of materials for us to base our faith & lives on.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Broadening our sympathy to deter hopelessness
Last week, I posed the question of what motivation leads to withdrawal (and ultimately dissipation), based on the thesis of The Fabric of Faithfulness that a burden of responsibility leads to engagement (and ultimately multiplication).
The answer (as usual) was to keep reading...
And it seems to me that we make the disappointment more painful and the hopelessness bleaker when we are sensitive only to hardships that are similar to those with which we are familiar. How often do we hear of someone's struggle in life, only to respond with, "Well, you're not as far along as I am, so you've got it easy?" (And how many times have we used that response on a student!)
Garber says that cultivating responsibility requires a community who cares. So, how can we expand our range of sympathy to include those in our community whose struggles seem foreign to us?
The answer (as usual) was to keep reading...
[T]he years between adolescence and adulthood are a tumultuous time, anywhere and everywhere. Many students, perhaps most, emerge from their university experience ready to take on the world; the idealism of youth, we call it. But then somewhere along the way the reality of life in the fast lane of adult responsibility hits--sometimes like a ton of bricks, sometimes like acid rain. In a thousand ways they see how hard it is to be faithful to family, at work, in politics. Day in an day out they experience disappointments in every part of life--every part of life--and see how hard it is to be hopeful (and therefore responsible) actors in human history as they try to be neighbors to those next door and to those around the world. --The Fabric of Faithfulness, page 33 (italics is Garber's; underlines are mine)So, it would seem that disappointment (bred by hardship) leads to hopelessness which induces an abandoning of responsibility--AKA withdrawal.
And it seems to me that we make the disappointment more painful and the hopelessness bleaker when we are sensitive only to hardships that are similar to those with which we are familiar. How often do we hear of someone's struggle in life, only to respond with, "Well, you're not as far along as I am, so you've got it easy?" (And how many times have we used that response on a student!)
Garber says that cultivating responsibility requires a community who cares. So, how can we expand our range of sympathy to include those in our community whose struggles seem foreign to us?
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Responsibility leads to engagement, ??? leads to withdrawal
The Emerging Scholars Blog is hosting a discussion of Steven Garber's The Fabric of Faithfulness. I read this book a couple years ago, and am enjoying a reread.
One of the main themes (or, at least, how I would word it) of the book is that a burden of responsibility leads to engagement. My wife Amy and I were discussing this theme last night, and considered how such responsibility-based engagement, when pursued in a healthy community of fellow engagers, leads to a multiplicative cascade. The "community of fellow engagers" is one of the three goals that Garber encourages his readers to pursue (along with a worldview that inspires responsibility and a mentor to nurture that worldview).
We pictured the process as:
responsibility --> engagement --> multiplication/cascade
Yet many Christians and churches seem to exhibit disengagement, and feel their energies being sapped and dissipated. We came to the question of, "If a burden of responsibility leads to engagement, what kind of motivation leads to withdrawal?" In other words, what would replace ??? in the picture:
??? --> withdrawal --> sapping/dissipation?
What do you think?
One of the main themes (or, at least, how I would word it) of the book is that a burden of responsibility leads to engagement. My wife Amy and I were discussing this theme last night, and considered how such responsibility-based engagement, when pursued in a healthy community of fellow engagers, leads to a multiplicative cascade. The "community of fellow engagers" is one of the three goals that Garber encourages his readers to pursue (along with a worldview that inspires responsibility and a mentor to nurture that worldview).
We pictured the process as:
responsibility --> engagement --> multiplication/cascade
Yet many Christians and churches seem to exhibit disengagement, and feel their energies being sapped and dissipated. We came to the question of, "If a burden of responsibility leads to engagement, what kind of motivation leads to withdrawal?" In other words, what would replace ??? in the picture:
??? --> withdrawal --> sapping/dissipation?
What do you think?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Encouragement Mistiming
It's Week 8 of the semester - The week when...
...and yet it's when encouragement is at its lowest. The irony is that those outside the educational world tend to think of offering encouragement at the very beginning of the semester (when we're running on the steam of excitement) or at the very end (when we've given up steam on the present semester and are hoping for a better run next time).
When have you experienced an encouragement mistiming?
- ...my students have learned all the skills they need to learn, but have to be reminded daily that they still apply.
- ...I have to lay down the law with some students and challenge them to manage their time better.
- ...I have to tell some students that they should consider withdrawing from a course.
- ...any special projects I wanted to start but haven't will have to wail until another semester.
...and yet it's when encouragement is at its lowest. The irony is that those outside the educational world tend to think of offering encouragement at the very beginning of the semester (when we're running on the steam of excitement) or at the very end (when we've given up steam on the present semester and are hoping for a better run next time).
When have you experienced an encouragement mistiming?
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Have we been here before?
This past weekend, my wife and I discussed our level of interaction during the day, concluding that it was not enough. I pointed out that I have a good fifteen minutes in the morning during which I eat breakfast, get dressed, and gather my things for the day--during all of which she could interact with me if she woke up about half an hour earlier than has usually her custom since she started law school.
This morning, she got out of bed as I was fixing for myself a bow of cereal. I offered to fix her a bowl, but (with one eye opened) she replied that it was too early for her to eat. So, I ate my breakfast while she sat beside me with one eye opened.
Suddenly, I heard the "whooshing" sound of a LOST flashback. "We've been here before," I said, "only last time, it was in reverse."
Five years ago, when we first got married, I was the one in graduate school and she was the working stiff. She asked me to wake up early enough to eat breakfast with her. I would wake up, but usually felt it was "too early to eat" (granted, this was 7:15 instead of 6:45), and so I would sit silently next to her while she (wide awake) ate her breakfast.
I pointed this out to her this morning. Suddenly (five years later), we understood each other.
When have you seen roles reversed, leading to a greater understanding of another person from earlier in your life?
This morning, she got out of bed as I was fixing for myself a bow of cereal. I offered to fix her a bowl, but (with one eye opened) she replied that it was too early for her to eat. So, I ate my breakfast while she sat beside me with one eye opened.
Suddenly, I heard the "whooshing" sound of a LOST flashback. "We've been here before," I said, "only last time, it was in reverse."
Five years ago, when we first got married, I was the one in graduate school and she was the working stiff. She asked me to wake up early enough to eat breakfast with her. I would wake up, but usually felt it was "too early to eat" (granted, this was 7:15 instead of 6:45), and so I would sit silently next to her while she (wide awake) ate her breakfast.
I pointed this out to her this morning. Suddenly (five years later), we understood each other.
When have you seen roles reversed, leading to a greater understanding of another person from earlier in your life?
Friday, February 4, 2011
Emotional Flashcards
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