Living Theologically: A Response To R. Paul Stevens’ Book, “The Other Six Days”

R. Paul Stevens’ book, The Other Six Days: Vocation, Work, and Ministry in Biblical Perspective, unabashedly begins with an “outrageous proposal”: the abolition of any distinction between clergy and laity, since we are all one people called to serve God in ministry.

This is my response from the perspective of someone who has been actively engaged in what is traditionally known as “lay leadership” within the church at the local, regional and national levels. I am most interested in forming my thoughts around how I might serve better as a leader in church and, from there, understand its implications on my understanding of ministry, work, vocation and calling.

Read or download my response here.

Christianity is essentially (good) news – Timothy Keller

I’m reading Timothy Keller‘s King’s Cross (since re-released as Jesus The King) and enjoyed this explanation about Christianity, and especially how it’s predicated on the Gospel, or Good News (highlighted portion it’s mine):

A gospel is an announcement of something that has happened in history, something that’s been done for you that changes your status forever.

Right there you can see the difference between Christianity and all other religions, including no religion. The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially news.

Other religions say, “This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to love in order to earn your way to God.” But the gospel says, “This is what has been done in history. This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you.”

How do you feel when you’re given good advice on how to live? Someone says, “Here’s the love you ought to have, or the integrity you ought to have,” and maybe they illustrate high moral standards by telling a story of some great hero. But when you hear it, how does that make you feel? Inspired, sure. But do you feel the way listeners who heard those heralds felt when the victory was announced? Do you feel your burdens have fallen off? Do you feel as if something great has been done for you and you’re not a slave anymore? “

 

Anna Quindlen’s A Short Guide To A Happy Life

I recently re-read Anna Quindlen‘s “A Short Guide To A Happy Life.”

I first came across the contents of the book via email, way back on 6 March 2002. When it was sent to me, I was informed that it was a speech delivered during a college commencement at Villanova University, although that may have been erroneous. Nevertheless, I read and was totally blown away! I’ve been hooked on Anna Quindlen’s work ever since. She is a powerful writer and an eloquent wordsmith.

Reading the “A Short Guide To A Happy Life” again, I was amazed that so much of it still resonated with me even today. I’ve reproduced the content of the email that was previously sent to me below. However, since the book has slightly different/additional content not found in the speech text, I wanted to highlight some of my favorite parts from the book here:

• Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.
• Don’t ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for reelection because he’d been diagnosed with cancer: “No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time in the office.”
• Don’t ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: “If you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.” Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
• You are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life.
• It’s so much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit.
• You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you are.
• Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you’d care so very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump in your breast?
• All of us want to do well. But if we do not do good, too, then doing well will never be enough.
• I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only guarantee you get.
• Learn to be happy. And think of life as a terminal illness because if you do you will live it with joy and passion, as it ought to be lived.

The full text of the email sent to me:

Who The Hell Goes To Hell?

I was reading this Associated Press article, “Who’s In Hell? Pastor’s Book Sparks Eternal Debate” which basically discusses the supposed “controversy” over “Love Wins” a book by Rob Bell, pastor of the 10,000 Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The debate is essentially over how a loving, good God can allow millions (or billions, if you have less faith in the ability of mankind to respond to God’s message) of His children to go to a place of pain, suffering and torment… for eternity? How is He a good God, and how is the Christian message Good News?

Here’s the trailer for Bell’s book:

As interesting – or even “controversial” – this discussion is, it is actually, to me, quite an “old” debate. Historically – this has been a major theological debate. However, how I came to terms with my views of heaven, hell and mankind’s choice for eternity was when I discovered and read C.S. Lewis‘ “The Great Divorce” – one of the best explanations on the subject.

My takeaways from The Great Divorce is that:

• Hell is a place where God is not
• If mankind finds their ultimate humanity in God, then we become less than human where God is denied
• People who reject or deny God will continue to do so, even in hell and even if they were given a choice to go to Heaven

What do you think?