FEBRUARY 2005 e-Letter from
CenteredLife.org
NEWS |
INTERVIEW |
ACTIVITY |
RESOURCES |
ODDS & ENDS |
NEWS
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Upcoming Events |
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Dependable Strengths in Your Congregation
2/28-3/2 or
5/16-18
Review positive life experiences to
discover your unique pattern of giftedness in this fun, hands-on, "train
the trainer" workshop.
register
Leadership Training Conference
3/10-11 & 5/6-7
Does your congregation awaken, call,
set free, and nurture individuals for service in God's world?
Learn how to connect Sunday to Monday using the Centered Life assessment
tool, seven-phase process, and activity toolkit in a collegial and
collaborative context.
register
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Living Out Our Callings in the
Workplace
Transcripts and CDs Now Available |
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 Did you miss Luther
Seminary's 2005 Mid-Winter Convocation? If so, presentation
transcripts and
CDs are now available.
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INTERVIEW:
John Snider
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 Q:
How do you define vocation?
A: Vocation is the "struggle to make
my life a gift."
Read Faith@Work magazine's complete interview with long-time Centered
Life pastor John Snider
here.
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ACTIVITY:
Workplace Visits
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Want a better
understanding of Monday-Saturday hopes, triumphs, needs, and concerns in
your congregation? Schedule some workplace visits!
Here are some questions to guide your
conversation before, during, and after the visit.
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RESOURCES
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Litany: For the Ministry of the Laity
Excerpted from 2005
Mid-Winter Convocation at Luther Seminary. |
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 P: Let us thank God
for those persons who have responded to Christ's call to serve him
in the world.
C: Lord, we know that you call us to serve our neighbor in
love in the world in which we live.
full text (PDF)
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Article: Luther on Vocation
From Marc Kolden, Word &
World, Volume III, Number 4, pp. 382-390 |
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"The popular view of Martin Luther's teaching
about Christian vocation is that it has to do with one's occupation.
That is, when one is 'called' to follow Christ one's occupation
becomes the 'calling' in which one serves God. This is not a
completely wrong interpretation of Luther as much as it is one-sided
and incomplete."
"Defining vocation as occupation
allows us to restrict it largely to self-serving actions (unless we
are in some of the privileged service occupations, and even here the
rewards are greatest for ourselves). Seeing vocation as the
situation in history and society in which we find ourselves enlarges
it almost beyond our strength. But responding to such a calling will
surely allow God to sanctify us and empty us so that Christ will be
all in all."
full text (PDF)
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ODDS & ENDS
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Sunday-Monday
Disconnect?
Paul Minus, president of the Coalition for Ministry
in Daily Life, cites recent research by sociologist
Robert Wuthnow. |
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"[T]he great majority of American
Christians choose their work without regard to religious teaching;
only 22% of people who attend religious services weekly reported
that their faith had any influence on their choice of work.
Moreover, Christian laypeople reported receiving little help from
their pastors regarding issues rising in their everyday work lives.
Only one in eight church members (13%) say they would talk to their
pastor about ethical problems at work; far fewer (4%) would talk to
their pastor about the stress they encounter at work."
full text (click and scroll to
"Wuthnow research")
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