April 2010 Archives

                Horace Bushnell was from Hartford, Connecticut, the same area as my favorite fictional characters, the Gilmore Girls! It sounds like that's about all he had in common with them though--he was a pastor in the North Congregational Church, something that the Gilmores never would have done.  So, unlike the Gilmores, he was really dedicated to the Sunday School movement--he thought that kids could be raised in the faith without having to have the conversion experience that a lot of people believed in.  Ideas like these help him to tell Christians how we are to know what our callings are. 

                Bushnell argues that everything in creation has a God-given purpose.  He first talks about men in the Bible and how they were given purposes.  Then, he notes that God has a particular care for every man, so it makes sense that he would give each his own purpose.  He notes that every single star has a specific purpose, every grain of sand too.  If one star or one grain of sand was out of place, the whole system would be ruined, so each part of the system has its own purpose.  Likewise, every human has a purpose and a plan that God has given him or her.  Although we have the free will to do things that are not our purpose, the best thing for us is to do what God made us to do.  This argument could be a bit disheartening, but I don't really think it is too bad--it makes complete sense, and I definitely agree with it.  I think it could cause a lot of stress in finding one's calling, but I have already found mine, so that's not as big of a stressor for me. 

                Bushnell doesn't just leave us on our own, though.  He tells us to consider the character of God, and how we can make ourselves like him.  He tells us how to use our conscience according to the law and be an observer of Providence, and to consult our friends for help.  Lastly, he tells us to pray for our callings to be made known to us.  I definitely think this advice is helpful.  Like I said before, I feel like I knew my calling before I did my project, but my project really helped me be sure of myself.  If nothing else, my project has given me the "friends" component that he talks about--I have had people at my project site and on campus recognize my gifts and how I can use them, and that is really assuring.  One thing that I didn't really get from Bushnell was the idea of experimenting with one's calling, however, and I think that's really important too! While trying to tutor for children or babysit or other related things, I realized that my heart just isn't in it unless I am helping the Latino community--in fact, sometimes when I babysit, I start to speak Spanish just because I associate kids and Spanish now.  I think that the experimentation was really necessary for me to find this out, and this is definitely a benefit that the project gave me that Bushnell didn't really talk about too much. 

Note: I was going to add pictures, etc. but my computer has other ideas in mind....

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Howard Thurman was the grandson of a former slave.  He grew up in poverty, but was very committed to non-violence--so much so that he was an influence for Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the civil rights movement.  As a theologian in the "Post-Christian World" era, he addresses one or both of the questions "How do I simply live as a Christian?" and "Is my life's work a 'calling' or 'job'?"

            In "What Shall I Do with My Life?" Thurman talks about the temptation of Jesus.  He had a few notes about the third temptation in particular.  He remarks that the "tempter strikes at the center of Jesus' dominant passion, to bring society under the acknowledged judgment of God and thereby insure its purification" (387).  He also talks about how the tempter tells Jesus that all the kingdoms of the earth belong to the tempter himself, not to Jesus. Because of this, Jesus told his disciples to be careful of the wolves when he said "Behold, I send you out as lambs among the wolves.  You must be as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves" (387-388).            

            Thurman also makes a few statements about the role of Christianity in the public square. Basically, what he said (I think) was that there are lambs and wolves both in this world, but they have to learn to work together.  Obviously, we are going to have some wolves in the public square, but it is not until we can inject some of our "lambliness" into their lives that any good can actually occur.  How I see it, at least, was he was saying that we have to show people love regardless. 

                I have to say, as far as theologians, etc. go, John Wesley is actually one of my favorites (mostly because I can understand him a little!).  The "creator" of the Methodist church (although he never was actually a part of it, so maybe a better word would be "inspiration"), I know there are many churches with his name in theirs (and my sister's school, Illinois Wesleyan University, which used to be Methodist, has it as well).  The book doesn't give us very interesting information about him (in my opinion), so I'm going to go off memory, supported by the internet.  Okay, so mostly it's going to be from the internet, but I do remember that he wrote a lot of hymns we use in our church...which ones, I can't remember, but they are good ones.   I digress...Wesley believed in the whole "experiencing God for yourself" idea, perhaps stemming from an experience when he was young and was rescued from a burning building, which made a big impression on him.  I'm guessing that these ideas will maybe play a part in what we get to read this week, "Sermon 28: Sermon on the Mount-8), but maybe not...we shall see.  I am fairly certain, however, that we will see the themes of "To what particular work is God calling me?" or "How can I serve God through family life?" which are the themes for this era of writings.

                Wesley points out what is not forbidden by Matthew 6:19-21.  Basically, he's talking about how to not be greedy in today's world.  We can "use all diligence in our calling, in order to owe no man anything," thus obeying the law that says that you have to pay people back.  We can also provide for ourselves--that's not out of the question.  We are to provide for ourselves with things that we need, like plain, wholesome food, and clean clothes.  That way, we aren't a burden to anyone else who would have to otherwise take care of us (God isn't telling us to be lazy!).  Likewise, we are not forbidden to provide for our children and the people in our household, because that's one of our duties.  And lastly, we are not forbidden to save up a little, so that we can carry out all the other things--providing for ourselves and families, paying people back, etc.  He recognizes that money is necessary to have in this world, and it's necessary to have something to fall back on in case things go wrong. 

                A huge aspiration of many Americans is economic success.  That really hasn't been one of mine since I was really young, or shall I say, economic success in the sense of being really rich.  My project has not caused me to re-evaluate this, but if I had had different thoughts on the subject in the first place, I could guarantee you I would feel differently. 

  When I was really little, I wanted to do a job that did guarantee a lot of money--when I was really young, being a princess seemed to be the easiest way to do that.  I contemplated on being a lawyer or something along the way (being a doctor is out of the question for me--I can't handle blood!), but when I started going to school, my thoughts really changed because I had such positive influences in my teachers.  I'm pretty sure it was my first day of pre-kindergarten that I decided that I wanted to be a teacher just like Mrs. Zimmer.  I told my mom, and she explained to me that generally, teachers don't make a lot of money, and maybe I would want to consider another career if I cared about that kind of stuff.  Ever since then, I have been considering careers like that--except I think every time I change career ideas, I end up changing to something that makes even less money.   I've just had so many positive influences in my life, from my elementary and high school teachers to my internship supervisors to professors and bosses, and they have shown me what is really important.  I understand that there are people that do want to be rich and that's how they see success, but for me, economic success means having enough money to live, which at the rate I'm going, is going to require a lot of praying (I can't keep changing careers--pretty soon I'm going to be at hobo, since I keep changing to lower and lower income careers).  But really, through all these people--the teachers, the social workers, etc., I can see that even if you don't make a ton of money, it's definitely possible to still live a comfortable, happy life, as long as you get to do what you enjoy. 

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Confucius.