March 2010 Archives

This past Tuesday, we had the honor of attending Dr. Loma Meyer's speech, which was part of the Poehler Lecture series. Dr. Meyer has had a very distinguished career, and has contributed a great deal to Concordia University. She came to Concordia University in 1967, and has served on multiple committees and has held many positions. These include professor, director of instruction, dean of the faculty, vice president for academic affairs, and executive vice president, and there were times that she held some of these positions simultaneously.

As far as the lecture goes, Dr. Meyer had some very great points to make. Seeing as how she has been a part of this institution for 43 years, she had some great insights to give. The main point of her entire lecture was "change." Everyone goes through change in their life and this goes for universities as well. Each new University president has left his mark and changed aspects of the school. A lot of the change has had to do with the way that faith and learning are intertwined. When Dr. Meyer started in 1967, 93% of the students were in some church-related program; today, only 6% are. This definitely affects the way that faith and learning are integrated. Also, with technology and online classes always growing and becoming more prominent in the education field, this also changes the way that faith is brought into the classroom.

If there is one program at Concordia that integrates faith and learning, it would definitely be the Honors Program. The whole mission of the Honors Program is to effectively combine faith and learning in the classroom setting. Dr. Mark Schuler always says, "Jesus came to take away your sins, not your brains." The Honors Program is so brand new that it seems to constantly be in motion. Just as Dr. Meyer talked about in her speech, technology is a big part of the program. A lot of the work that is done in the class is done online. In fact, during the first semester, we did an entire section of the class on online chats (this part of the course was on religion and cyberspace). It is so exciting to see a class, a program, and professors that are already implementing the things that Dr. Meyer talked about.

For my Callings blog for this week, I chose to write about William Perkins and his "Treatsie of the Vocations." This short book/essay was written in 1605 and helps to answer the questions about calling and vocation in this era. As I may have mentioned in earlier blogs, after the Reformation came about, the idea of a "vocation" changed. Instead of a vocation only being called to a Christian ministry, a vocation can be any "office" that anyone holds in their daily life: parent, child, student, teacher, spouse, layman, etc. Perkins uses the ideas from the Reformation and philosophy to further explain this idea (which ironically neither Luther nor Aristotle probably would have agreed with).

Perkins has six rules on vocation. But first, he outlines the two types of callings: general and personal. The general calling is the calling of every Christian, namely, to be called by God to be a Christian. The second, personal, is our earthly calling. But there is a lot of variation on what our personal calling can be. This is where the six aforementioned rules come into play. Let me summarize them:

1) "Every person...without exception, must have some personal and particular calling to walk in." This is self-explanatory: we ALL have a calling.

2) "Every man must judge that particular calling, in which God hath placed him, to be the best of all callings for him." Perkins goes on to explain that this calling that this particular calling doesn't have to be THE best, but instead, the best for YOU.

3) "Every man must join the practice of his personal calling with the practice of the general calling of Christianity." This rule is where the two types of callings are combined. In our particular calling, we must seek to work our general calling in as well. According to Perkins, teachers, judges, merchants, fathers, and soldiers must find a way to show their Christian faith in their callings.

4) "Such as bear public callings, must first reform themselves in private." From Matthew chapter 25: "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things." To be an effective leader, your family life must also be in order. How can a man effectively serve a community for the common good if he cannot even arrange his personal life?

5) "A particular calling must give place to the general calling of a Christian when they cannot both stand together." Just as a man cannot serve two masters, our callings must also co-exist. However, the general calling ALWAYS takes precedent. If, in our personal callings, we come across a situation where we must depart from our general calling, then that particular personal calling must be left.

6) "Every man must choose a fit calling to walk in; that is, every calling must be fitted to the man, and every man be fitted to his calling." Our callings should be supported by God's will and our natural gifts to glorify God.

I definitely believe that the leaders of the Wilder Foundation have found their calling in the organization. The goals of the organization is to give youth the skills and tools necessary to be effective leaders in their families, schools, and communities. While it is not a Christian organization, the work that is done is truly God's work. The Wilder Foundation is giving these youths better lives just by providing a support group and a listening ear. While this might not be my "Calling (with a capital C)," but for now it is a calling.