Rise Up Together – create power with posture
Rising up does not mean having power over but, rather, having power with. Mary Parker Follett, a social worker who in the early 20th century became a management theorist and consultant, helps us understand the difference: “Power over is a...
Surrender to the experience
We are either baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection or, as the Rev. Richard Rohr says in his book “Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi,” “Christianity is largely a mere belonging system, not a transformational system...
Carrying the good news into the world
I promise that youth and adults who attend the ELCA Youth Gathering will return knowing the opening line of Mark’s Gospel by heart: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). They will...
The grace of a new beginning
In his poem “For a New Beginning,” John O. Donohue writes: Though your destination is not clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is one with your life’s desire. Awaken...
Giving of the self for the sake of the other
Why are we so captivated by celebrities’ acts of kindness? I have been overly aware, particularly during this past Christmas season, pictures of celebrities offering a day at a soup kitchen, or ballyhooing a good cause, or sharing their talents...
A calling to live a life that serves
While driving back to Chicago from Detroit a few months ago, I listened to a segment on public radio in which a business professor was talking about the national trend of lower enrollment in MBA programs. There are as many...