Jesus was so interruptible
Yesterday, in my post “Walking as if other people are important,” I wrote that we should live – and even walk – in a way that demonstrates that other people are important to us. In that post, I quoted a post from some friends of mine who are now living in Africa. Some of the people they work with were talking about the way that foreigners walk: “with such determination that you don’t even stop to greet people on the way.”
In a comment responding to that post, my friend Art (from “”) said: “This begins to explain why Jesus was so interruptible.”
Jesus was so interruptible.
Let that sink in for a while… a few seconds… a few minutes… Or, like me, let it rattle around in your head for a few hours.
Jesus was so interruptible.
There’s a famous portion of Luke’s Gospel called “the journey narratives.” This is the last half of the book that begins in Luke 9:51 where he writes about Jesus: “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
So, Jesus “sets his face to go to Jerusalem.” He was on a mission… determined… had a goal in mind. But, even while he was moving with determination toward Jerusalem, he was still interruptible.
In Luke 9:51-56, Jesus tries to spend some time with some people in Samaria. In Luke 9:57-62, he talks with some people on the road. In Luke 10:1-12, he stops to spend time with 72 followers before sending them out to proclaim the good news of the kingdom. He later rejoices with that same group and spends some private time with them. In Luke 10:25-37, he even answers questions from a man who was only trying to test him, and Jesus then tells a story. In Luke 10:38-42, he stays in the home of Martha and Mary.
And, it keeps going from there. Even though Jesus was walking toward Jerusalem with determination, he was still interruptible.
Jesus was so interruptible.
I want to live interruptible as well. I want other people to be important to me like they were to Jesus. I don’t want to see other people as distractions or interruptions. I want to live interruptible.
Jesus was so interruptible.
And, if we are following Jesus, then we will be interruptible also.
Walking as if other people are important
Love one another. Consider others more important than yourself. Serve one another. Care for one another. Encourage one another. Teach one another. Edify one another.
Did you know that there’s an important precept underlying all of the instructions above? Yep. That precept is this: For those who follow Jesus Christ, other people are important.
My friends Paul are Laurel moved to the Congo last year. They are working with Wycliffe Bible Translators, and they’re currently working with several local languages. But, it seems they are learning much more than just languages. Last week, they published a post called “Convicting Language Lesson.”
Here’s how they described an important lesson they’re learning:
A few days ago, I was sitting in the office along with the Komo translators when suddenly one of them, Tony, stood up and walked brusquely across the room with a very determined look on his face. Then they all started laughing. After a minute or two, Amisi, the director asked me, “Do you understand what we are talking about?” When I said no, he began to explain a very interesting verb to me. In Komo, they have a word for going somewhere with such determination that you don’t even stop to greet people on the way. He said “You know, like you foreigners often do” . . . Ouch! It’s true, isn’t it? We are often more goal oriented than people oriented and it really sticks out in a culture like this. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty cool verb.
There’s not much left to say after that, is there?
The way we live… even the way we walk from place to place… demonstrates whether or not we think people are important.
I’ve been to a couple of places around the world that are not event oriented (like most people are here in the United States). I’ve learned so much from the people of these culture. Primarily, I’ve learned how to live in a way that shows that other people are important. I’ve learned to talk to people in a way that shows that I care more about what they have to say than what I plan to say next.
Of course, sometimes my old American habits come to the surface. But, I want to live – and even to walk – in a way that shows other people that they are important to me.
But, then, they have to actually be important to me first…
But they seem so much more holy than me…
We are having a great time discussing Romans together. (Well, at least, I’m having a great time studying Romans with my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I’m assuming they’re having a great time also based on what I’m hearing and learning as we gather.)
Last Sunday, we worked our way through Romans 3. You know chapter 3, right? That’s the famous chapter in which Paul emphasizes that everyone is sinner, no one seeks God, no one is righteous – not the Jews, not the Gentiles – no one.
Of course, he also tells us that while we are not righteous on our own, we are righteous in Jesus Christ – apart from the law, apart from works, apart from ourselves, apart from anything other than Jesus Christ. Period.
The discussion moved in the direction of talking with people about our own sins.
While visiting his daughter, one of our brothers recently spoke to a college student who is a new believer. That night that they spoke, the student had been smoking marijuana with some old friends. He told my friend about this, and they talked for several hours about the student’s struggles with past sins and habits. Of course, my friend also shared some of his own struggles and how God’s presence, power, and grace continues to help him through those struggles.
At one point, my friend asked the student if there was anyone among the church who he could talk with, who he could share these struggles with, and who would help him through the temptations.
The young man replied, “No way! They are much more holy than me. They never do anything wrong. They make me feel so unclean.”
Now, I would assume that those brothers and sisters would be surprised to hear this student say this about them. I’m sure they would admit that they sin and that they rely completely on the grace of God through Jesus Christ for righteousness – not their own good works or life.
But, here’s the problem… regardless of what they may think about themselves, they’re obviously projecting a completely different vibe. From hanging around them, this student feels that they would look down on him and judge him because of his sin.
This tells me something about these brothers and sisters in Christ: they don’t talk about their own sin. They don’t admit their own failures. Even though I’m sure they know they sin, they present themselves to others as if they don’t.
This is a big problem… huge problem.
And, this story (true story, unfortunately) with my friend and this young believer demonstrates exactly what this is a big problem. You see, that student needs to turn to his brothers and sisters in Christ for help, for prayer, for example, for discipleship, for teaching, for admonishment, for counsel, for love, for forgiveness, for mercy… but he won’t because he thinks he will be judged (whether he would be judged or not).
Do you do the things you don’t want to do? Do you not do the things that you want to do? Do you recognize that the only help for you and this body of sin is the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord? Then, admit it openly and publicly to your brothers and sisters in Christ. They need to know that they can turn to you for help with their own temptations, struggles, and sin.
Labels, names, and pretending to be what we’re not
Several years ago, an airport near my hometown spent millions of dollars on a study to determine how the airport could be changed from a regional airport to an international airport. After all the money was spent and the study was complete, the airport enacted the conclusions delivered in the report: The airport changed its name, adding the word “International.”
Yep. Nothing changed but the name.
I’ve seen that happen too many times among the church. Do we think evangelism is important? Well, let’s add that to our “mission statement”. Do we want to be friendly? Let’s put that on our sign or bulletin. Do we want to make disciples? Let’s change our “Bible study classes” to “Discipleship classes.”
And, too often, just like with the airport near my hometown, nothing changes but the name.
Miguel at “God Directed Deviations” touched on this issue recently in a post called “Has ‘Missional’ Become a Self Congratulatory Word?”
He writes:
In my desire to be “missional” I’ve always had to guard against wanting to be part of what is gaining approval by the mainstream. Those missional folk, after all, tend to be very hip and trendy. Being missional can become a destination disease where we pat ourselves on the proverbial back when we’ve arrived. So, as difficult as it may be, I think it might be time to check our motives in missional mania and decide if we’re just on a trajectory of self-congratulation.
He also mentions something similar regarding the word “organic”:
I think this would apply to my “organic” friends too. Striving to be organic (total participatory, non-hierchacal, smaller, mobile, relational, non-institutional, and often more spontaneous,) can serve to board up our missio-boxes rather than being a spring-board for mission. It’s tragic when open ended Kingdom processes become closed self approving systems.
You know, we’ve learned that it doesn’t really matter what we call ourselves or what other people call us. What matters is how we live with God, with one another, and with the world around us. If we are “missional,” we won’t need to use the label in order for people to know it. If we’re “organic,” we don’t have to advertise it for people to recognize it.
On the other hand, while I don’t think the labels and names are necessary, there’s no reason NOT to use descriptive words like “missional” and “organic” if they actually describe the way you are living together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
I think the same could be said of many other terms, labels, and names that people throw around.
Let’s not worry so much about what we call ourselves or what others call us.
This punishment by the majority is enough
For the last few days, I’ve been examining the topic of judgment, specifically whether or not Christians should judge others. (See my posts “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God,” “Judging people based on their dishonorable passions,” “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?,” and “I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.”)
So far, from my study of (primarily) Romans 1-2 and 1 Corinthians 5, I have concluded that 1) followers of Jesus are not judge unbelievers because of their sinful lifestyles, but 2) are to associate with them, even sharing meals with them. And, finally, 3) there are circumstances and situations in which believers are to judge one another.
As I stated at the end of my previous post, this last conclusion leads to a question: What does it mean to judge another follower of Jesus Christ?
Neither Paul nor any of the other authors of the New Testament provide a treatise on this subject (or any other subject, for that matter). Instead, they answered specific questions and concerns as they were writing to specific people dealing with specific problems at specific times in specific places.
For example, in the case of 1 Corinthians 5, Paul was instructing his readers (believers in Corinth) about how he would deal with a certain person who was a Christians and who was sleeping with his father’s wife. We have to determine by comparing that passage with other passages to what extent his instructions would apply to other people in other situations.
For example, we know that Paul did not tell his readers to “hand over to Satan” anyone who has sinned. In fact, he consistently urged his readers to offer grace, mercy, and forgiveness to people and to help them when they fall. (Galatians 6:1 is a good example of this.) Thus, Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 5 (about not associating with the sinning brother) does not apply to everyone who sins… of course, we would be required to stay away from ourselves if that were true.
So, whatever it means to “judge” another Christian, it is not applied to someone who has committed some sin, either a specific sin against God or an offense against another person.
Also, in the case of 1 Corinthians 5, the “judgment” is not an issue of salvation, but an issue of relationship and fellowship. Notice some of the phrase that Paul uses in that passage: “be removed from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:2), “not to associate with sexually immoral people” (1 Corinthians 5:9), “not even to eat with such a one” (1 Corinthians 5:11), and “Purge the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:13).
Without existing relationships, the type of “judging” that Paul has in mind is not possible. (Unfortunately, because of the organizational nature of many groups of believers today, these kinds of relationship are few and far between.)
Finally, many believe that a passage in 2 Corinthians refers to this same individual and the results of the “judgment” he suffers:
Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely — to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs. (2 Corinthians 2:5-11 ESV)
While Paul may not be quick to offer “judgment,” he does seem to be quick to offer forgiveness. Notice Paul says the Corinthians should “reaffirm” their love for the man, indicating that the love itself never ended (although the demonstration of love through close association was halted for a time).
Finally, while Paul used strong language related to judging the man (“you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” – 1 Corinthians 5:5), he offers just as strong language to those who may not want to welcome this brother back: “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (1 Corinthians 5:11 ESV)
What can we take from all this? 1) “Judgment” or “punishment” is relational in nature. 2) “Judgment” is not the first option. 3) Reconciliation is always the first option, even for someone who is currently undergoing that relational judgment.
What would add to this discussion?
I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing
For the past few days, I’ve been talking about judgment… primarily, asking if Christians should judge others. (See my posts “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God,” “Judging people based on their dishonorable passions,” and “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?“)
So far, I’ve dealt mostly with passages in Romans 1-2 and 1 Corinthians 5 in which Paul indicates that believers should NOT judge unbelievers because of their sins. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 5 especially, Paul says that Christians should readily associate with nonChristians in spite of their sinful lifestyle.
But, what about other believers? Are there circumstances or situations in which believers should judge other believers?
Well, to answer that very important question, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 5 again:
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:1-13 ESV)
First, it’s clear that Paul is talking about judging another believer – or at least someone who “bears the name of brother/sister,” that is, someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus. He makes a couple of statements directly related to judging another believer: 1) “I have already pronounced judgment on the who who did such a thing” (1 Corinthians 5:3 ESV) and 2) “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” (1 Corinthians 5:12 ESV)
So, to answer my earlier question: Yes, there are situations and circumstances in which believers are to judge other believers.
That raises another question, of course: What does it mean to “judge” another believer in this context?
I’ll look into that question in my next post.
For what have I to do with judging outsiders?
For the last few days, I’ve been publishing posts about judging others. (See my posts “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” and “Judging people based on their dishonorable passions.”)
Just to recap quickly, a few weeks ago, while we were discussing Romans 1 together as the church, we began to talk about judging others, especially since Romans 1 lists several sins of those under the wrath of God then Romans 2 instructs the readers not to judge those people.
But, as we were discussing Romans 1-2 and judging others, someone brought up 1 Corinthians 5. And, of course, since Paul also deals with judging others in that passage written to the church in Corinth, it is a very good passage to consider when thinking about judging others.
At the beginning of the chapter, Paul talks about dealing with a brother in Christ who is having sex with the father’s wife (probably the man’s stepmother, given the way Paul describes the relationship). But, at the end of the chapter, Paul writes this:
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13 ESV)
Once again, Paul is clearly stating that Christians are NOT to judge those who are not Christians based on the way that they live. In fact, in this passage he lists several of the same sins that he listed in Romans 1. While he does not state it outright, Paul intmates that Christians are NOT supposed to separate themselves from nonChristians even though the are sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, swindlers, etc. In the same way, Paul suggests that Christians should even share meals with nonbelievers who live in this manner.
So, this passage goes beyond the instruction not to judge unbelievers because of their manner of life. Instead of judging “outsiders” because of their sinful lifestyle, Paul tells the Corinthian believers to associate with them.
In many ways, much of the church has this backwards today, separating themselves from unbelievers because of their sinful lifestyle. I’ve heard excuses about “keeping ourselves pure and unspotted from the world,” but obviously that description (in James 1:27) does not mean to stop associating with unbelievers, even and especially those believers whose lifestyle is very different from our own.
So, when it comes to judging “outsiders,” Paul is crystal clear: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” But, then, he goes further by indicating that believers should associate with those who are not believers.
But, what about judging believers? I’ll look at that question in my next post.
Judging people based on their dishonorable passions
As I mentioned in my post “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God,” this week I am tackling the thorny subject of judgment. Like I said in that post, it seems that some Christians specialize in judging others – judging other Christians and judging those wicked, ungodly, pagan sinners that roam the streets looking for their next chance to do evil.
But, is this what God wants from us? Does he want us to judge others?
We talked about this with the church a few weeks ago when we were studying Romans 1. That’s the famous passage in which Paul spells out how hideous those sinners are:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. (Romans 1:18-27 ESV)
We Christians love to point out the sins listed in those verses and wag our fingers at those who practice such things. Of course, we often forget the list of equally hideous sins that Paul lists next:
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:28-32 ESV)
You see, Paul’s purpose in listing these sins is not so that we can judge people who commit such things. In fact, that’s the OPPOSITE of Paul’s purpose.
In the very next passage (which was not part of a separate chapter when Paul wrote it), he tells his readers not to judge people who sin, because they (we) do the very same things:
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:1-3 ESV)
Oh, we may not practice a certain sin – one that we may point our figer at or judge – but we do practice some other sin that is equally as hideous in God’s eye.
So, why did Paul write that long list of sins if we are not supposed to judge people who participate in such things? He wrote that list to show us just how awesome the good news of Jesus Christ is. Although we often separate it, notice how parallel these two parts are:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Romans 1:16-18 ESV)
Although we all practice ungodliness and unrighteousness, because of the good news of Jesus Christ (the gospel), the wrath of God is not being revealed in the lives of those who trust him (live by faith). Instead, in our lives, God is revealing his righteousness. Now, that’s good news! Instead of wrath, we get righteousness.
As someone pointed out, this idea is very similar to what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)
When we recognize the sinfulness, ungodliness, and unrighteousness in the world around us, it should not cause us to judge, but to rejoice in the fact that God is revealing his righteousness in us (in spite of the sinfulness, ungodliness, and unrighteousness in our own lives). This is definitely good news!
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God
You may recognize the title of this blog post. It comes from this passage of Scripture: “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17 ESV)
The passage is in a larger context of suffering. (Of course, most – perhaps all – of 1 Peter is about suffering, so it’s not surprising that this verse is found in a context about suffering also.)
Regardless of the context, judgment is a huge issue among the church today. What is judgment? Who judges? Who should be judged?
Of course, even when those questions are not asked (or answered), judging seems to be the sport of choice for many Christians. In general, we love to judge each other as much as we love to judge those who are not Christians. Of course, many of us have a list of favorite sins to judge as well.
And, it’s one of the passages that lists some of these “favorite sins” that caused me to start thinking about judgment. What passage? Romans 1:18-32… that dreadful passage that is often thrown against those who are “under the wrath of God” and who God has “gave them up in the lusts of their hearts.”
What kinds of sins? You know, those dreadful sins like gossip, slander, insolence, haughtiness… oh wait, that’s the wrong list. That list isn’t in Romans 1:18-32… oh… never mind. (Romans 1:29-30 ESV)
Obviously, though, we tend to love to judge those “sinners” mentioned earlier in that passage.
But, when we were discussing that passage a couple of weeks ago, we noticed something. We noticed what Paul says after Romans 1… in the part of the letter that we call Romans 2. Specifically, after listing these dreadful sins and the sinners who are under the wrath of God, Paul wrote, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.” (Romans 2:1 ESV)
So, Paul didn’t list all of those dreadful sins so that we could point our finger at them and judge them? Well… huh. What do you know?
And, of course, this began a great discussion on the topic judgment… dealing with some of the questions that I mentioned earlier: What is judgment? Who judges? Who should be judged?
Over the next few days, I’m going to publish posts on several passages of Scripture related to judgment and judging. Hopefully, we’ll be able to help one another figure out what all this judgment stuff is about.
If you’re interested, this is a great place to share your views on judgment and judging now.
Titles, Jogging, and Seminary… but not all at the same time
There have been some really good blog posts published lately. And, these posts have covered the gamut of topics related to the church and ecclesiology – related to our relationships with one another in Jesus Christ (that’s what the church is, after all).
In this post, I want to point to three of those really good blog posts, on the topics of 1) titles and positions of authority, 2) jogging with others, and 3) seminary (of all things).
First, Gibby wrote a post called “titles, positions and authority.” In this post, he tells the story of talking with someone who has the position of “senior pastor” in a local church organization. Gibby asked him if he’d be willing to set aside his title if it meant people “would discover the kingdom of God, live a missional and incarnational life in order for them to discover that Jesus is the Head of the church”? The man’s answer was, “No.” You can read more of the story in Gibby’s post.
While it’s easy for some of us to cast stones as this man, this story should make us think about ourselves. No, we may not have the title of “senior pastor” (or perhaps we do), but what if we’re known as a great teacher or a prophet or an evangelist? What if we have a “position” of respect and leadership among the church (even if it’s not an organizational or hierarchical position). Would you be willing to give it all up if it meant that other people would benefit?
Also, for many believers, it’s difficult for them to separate the “title” and “position” from the function. You see, I know and you know that you don’t have to have a title (like “senior pastor”) in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, to teach and encourage other believers, or to shepherd those people who God brings into your life. But, for others, the title/position and functions go together.
Second, Jon at “Jon’s Journey” wrote a post called “Jogging with Others.” I hope you take the time to read this post, and I hope that you recognize that it’s not really about jogging. (Although, I – for one – actually do love jogging with others.)
Can I say something that may seem very radical to some? You may personally have an awesome and close relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. But, God did not create you for that personal experience. He created you to walk with him AND others at the same time. If all you have is your personal experience with God, then you’re missing something important that God has in store for you. That “something” will come through other children of God as you share your lives together.
Finally, Scot at “Jesus Creed” wrote a post called “Seminary Life Today 2.” Most of the post is taken up by a large infographic from another site. I’ll just share the first two sentences of Scot’s summary: “81% of all incoming seminary students do not expect to have a parish ministry position. Less than half of all incoming students plan to be ordained.”
This was my experience in seminary as well. Of the students who I knew in seminary, very very few of them are planning to take part in “ministry” the way it’s traditionally defined. (However, all of them are heavily involved in ministering to – serving – others in Jesus’ name.)
So, there ya go… titles, jogging, and seminary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on one, two, or all three of these subjects.