I remember reading this the first time you posted it - but it hit me differently this time. It’s a subtle yet important distinction, Jake. We must start each day in humility, I believe, admitting that we have no idea what we will experience this day nor how many days we will have - this opens us to receive direction. Just my take - it’s about receiving, staying in the flow of Christ’s presence.
Thank you for the clarity in this reflection. I wonder whether there is a middle way here, a way in which the inward gaze and outward call entwine into a more complex sense of self and vocation. I suspect each of us is more that just our self-expression or an outer calling, that becoming fully human somehow involves both. Just a wonder.
Hi Beth! Good to hear from you. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. As you know there’s so much written around this. My own sense is that outward call is a telos that transforms our interior life and our way of being in the world.
Yes. The transformation of the interior life at least presumes some awareness and sensitivity to its needs. And yes, our way of being in the world is how that call is lived out. Peace and blessings!
What if the path your member was following was shaped by a sense that the church and its ways felt like a dead end? …as if the message and practice conflict and become a puzzle when it's not a vocation?
Hi Judith! Thanks for that question. That is certainly the case for some people. I would love to hear a bit more from you to understand your question so I don’t talk right past you.
Feel free to DM or email if that’s helpful. Comments are fine too. I’m away from my computer so my responses will be brief until I get back home. I’m clumsy with the phone
I’m clumsy with the phone and many other devices. I’ll DM you in a week or so when you are back to your vocation as opposed to vacation. One letter makes a difference.
I think even Christianity has its own touch of the smorgasbord approach. We look at difficult passages and explain them away as a cultural context. We lift other passages out of context and apply them universally and even make laws around some of them —and each side in that argument does it because it works for them.
I have a little part-time gig here. I work at my local municipality in our Code and Ordinance office. It’s fun . I was having a discussion and a disagreement with the town attorney the other day on how a section of our code is interpreted. He interpreted it one way and another attorney that we use in town interpreted another way —-leading to quite the kerfuffle in helping a resident.
I asked the lawyer when he was explaining his educated interpretive abilities (and how I was wrong lol) how then do we have another lawyer with equal education interpret it as I do ?
I said , look I think our code is wrong because it should not take two lawyers to interpret the same line when I should be able to do it as just somebody who works with the code every single day.
I think about God in similar fashion. It really shouldn’t be up to us to decide or interpret either externally or internally how we are going to navigate the spiritual aspects of being human.
It could be that God likes the smorgasbord or it could be that Jesus showed us a universal approach (which is hard to argue with no matter what’s at the buffet.)
But I still think we are owed clarity. Because without clarity, sometimes we have to make our own smorgasbord because the idea that our spiritual experiences… Or even our interpretation of our spiritual experiences leave us within an opinion of God that is not all very complimentary.
Hi from DC Renee! I think a longer conversation about hermeneutics would be interesting. Interpretation is an ongoing communal process. Check out the Talmud. That’s not an example of subjective preferences and eisegesis. Check out also Ricoeur on surplus of meaning. Finally I wonder if clarity is entirely consistent with infinite mystery. Sorry this so brief and merely suggestive. More over time after I’m home from vacation. Take care my friend
I remember reading this the first time you posted it - but it hit me differently this time. It’s a subtle yet important distinction, Jake. We must start each day in humility, I believe, admitting that we have no idea what we will experience this day nor how many days we will have - this opens us to receive direction. Just my take - it’s about receiving, staying in the flow of Christ’s presence.
Hi from the National Gallery Korie! And I so agree with you about the centrality of humility
Thank you for the clarity in this reflection. I wonder whether there is a middle way here, a way in which the inward gaze and outward call entwine into a more complex sense of self and vocation. I suspect each of us is more that just our self-expression or an outer calling, that becoming fully human somehow involves both. Just a wonder.
Hi Beth! Good to hear from you. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback. As you know there’s so much written around this. My own sense is that outward call is a telos that transforms our interior life and our way of being in the world.
Yes. The transformation of the interior life at least presumes some awareness and sensitivity to its needs. And yes, our way of being in the world is how that call is lived out. Peace and blessings!
What if the path your member was following was shaped by a sense that the church and its ways felt like a dead end? …as if the message and practice conflict and become a puzzle when it's not a vocation?
Hi Judith! Thanks for that question. That is certainly the case for some people. I would love to hear a bit more from you to understand your question so I don’t talk right past you.
Feel free to DM or email if that’s helpful. Comments are fine too. I’m away from my computer so my responses will be brief until I get back home. I’m clumsy with the phone
I’m clumsy with the phone and many other devices. I’ll DM you in a week or so when you are back to your vocation as opposed to vacation. One letter makes a difference.
“A faithful spiritual path doesn’t just affirm us—it confronts us. It names our limits. It surfaces our sin. And in doing so, it opens us to grace.”
Thank you, Bishop Jake
Greetings from hot and smoky DC
"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit..." ... curating a spiritual identity v walking the path of vocation.
Thanks for the simple focus ..
Thank you Ruth!
Thank you, Jake. These are words I needed to hear today. Pray for me.
I’m glad this resonated with you Joy. Prayers ascending
I think even Christianity has its own touch of the smorgasbord approach. We look at difficult passages and explain them away as a cultural context. We lift other passages out of context and apply them universally and even make laws around some of them —and each side in that argument does it because it works for them.
I have a little part-time gig here. I work at my local municipality in our Code and Ordinance office. It’s fun . I was having a discussion and a disagreement with the town attorney the other day on how a section of our code is interpreted. He interpreted it one way and another attorney that we use in town interpreted another way —-leading to quite the kerfuffle in helping a resident.
I asked the lawyer when he was explaining his educated interpretive abilities (and how I was wrong lol) how then do we have another lawyer with equal education interpret it as I do ?
I said , look I think our code is wrong because it should not take two lawyers to interpret the same line when I should be able to do it as just somebody who works with the code every single day.
I think about God in similar fashion. It really shouldn’t be up to us to decide or interpret either externally or internally how we are going to navigate the spiritual aspects of being human.
It could be that God likes the smorgasbord or it could be that Jesus showed us a universal approach (which is hard to argue with no matter what’s at the buffet.)
But I still think we are owed clarity. Because without clarity, sometimes we have to make our own smorgasbord because the idea that our spiritual experiences… Or even our interpretation of our spiritual experiences leave us within an opinion of God that is not all very complimentary.
Hi from DC Renee! I think a longer conversation about hermeneutics would be interesting. Interpretation is an ongoing communal process. Check out the Talmud. That’s not an example of subjective preferences and eisegesis. Check out also Ricoeur on surplus of meaning. Finally I wonder if clarity is entirely consistent with infinite mystery. Sorry this so brief and merely suggestive. More over time after I’m home from vacation. Take care my friend
Once again, you’ve given me something rich to consider. Thank you for your wisdom, my friend.
Mulling over lots of things these days. Thanks for coming along Randy