The first section with Obama is over. I'm not as much impressed with Obama's answers. Once you hear him speak a lot, you pretty much anticipate his answers. What I AM impressed with are Warren's questions. They are insightful and nuanced. I only wish that the candidates dared to answer them honestly.
Warren understands that so-called flip flopping isn't necessarily bad. Sometimes it's necessary because you change your position based on new information. It means you are able to grow and adapt.
Warren is interested at getting at personal failure, weakness, integrity, leadership, how one makes difficult decisions with love and integrity. This is where faith and politics often clash. Because in the world of politics, it is often considered disastrous to show weakness, to fail, to change and grow.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
faith forum live blogging
Greatest moral failure in America?
Obama's answer - that we still do not abide by the principle in Matthew that "whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me" ---- applies to racism, sexism, poverty, etc.
Obama's answer - that we still do not abide by the principle in Matthew that "whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me" ---- applies to racism, sexism, poverty, etc.
faith forum: civil discourse
It's starting...
Rick Warren "We have to learn to disagree without demonizing each other."
Hmmm. Novel. I like his emphasis on civil discourse. That he would even reach out to both candidates and give them an equal platform.
Rick Warren "We have to learn to disagree without demonizing each other."
Hmmm. Novel. I like his emphasis on civil discourse. That he would even reach out to both candidates and give them an equal platform.
faith forum live blogging
I am going to try my first take at “live-blogging” the faith forum. I just turned on CNN to see my favorite commentator Roland Martin taking on Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council right after Rick Warren said on public television that he does not consider himself pro-life, but rather “whole-life.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how the issue of abortion comes up further tonight.
I'm also curious to see how the media and others unpack this forum especially because they generally treat evangelical as a political category instead of as a religious term. I think that this forum is going to challenge this a bit.
Roland is kicking ass...
And can I just say that while I rolled my eyes a few years ago when it seemed like the whole world was reading The Purpose Driven Life ---- I have been really impressed with Warren as I have followed him over the years, especially with how his faith and conviction about social justice seems to have genuinely deepened as he has experienced God's work in the world among the most poor and vulnerable. Who would have thought?
It’s going to be interesting to see how the issue of abortion comes up further tonight.
I'm also curious to see how the media and others unpack this forum especially because they generally treat evangelical as a political category instead of as a religious term. I think that this forum is going to challenge this a bit.
Roland is kicking ass...
And can I just say that while I rolled my eyes a few years ago when it seemed like the whole world was reading The Purpose Driven Life ---- I have been really impressed with Warren as I have followed him over the years, especially with how his faith and conviction about social justice seems to have genuinely deepened as he has experienced God's work in the world among the most poor and vulnerable. Who would have thought?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
graduate school update
The Olympics have been inspiring me recently. In the last 3 years, I have had a hard time with concepts of discipline and success. Stepping away from everything and simply learning to be me has been good. Gradually, I’m gaining affirmation that it is possible to be strong and gentle, do graduate work and take care of myself, and be an intellectual while staying connected to the other things that give me life. An old professor told me a few months ago that the sense of “pretense” in academia is really much more of an outside perception as I confessed my own fears. I’m starting to believe this.
As I’m entering a phase in the application process where I need to be wise, discerning, and very focused, I’m realizing that it’s ok to be driven. It sounds funny, but for a long time I have been afraid of focus, discipline, and naming some of my passions because I have been so afraid of losing the sense of self that I have nurtured and protected. At the same time, my spirit and approach has changed so much. I’m starting to believe that the center will hold. The center will hold.
As I’m transitioning from a walk to a sprint, I hope that I will continue to cultivate this posture of prayer, trust, and anticipation. I’m realizing that I can afford to wait. In fact, I can’t afford not to wait and really listen to my own voice and God’s Spirit within me. I can be offered all the opportunities in the world, but if the clothes don’t fit, they are not worth wearing. I’m not holding onto anything too tightly.
But, as I started revising my writing sample last week, I found myself crying at one point in the writing process because the truth of what I was writing – the ways the ideas were coming together and their real life application – felt so profound. It was especially wondrous to realize that those seeds where there years ago, but it is only now with a different perspective and maturity informed by my own experience of sorrow, that I can bring these threads and concepts together. On another level, it felt really good to be writing an academic paper again. I honestly haven’t touched that stuff since I graduated…my writing instead has been heart-focused, open, playful, investigative, and free-form. It felt good to funnel that energy into something focused again.
The ability to believe in myself has been slow to return, but I’m slowly learning that it is ok (and safe) for me to embrace passion, direction, and even success in a healthy way. I’m actually surprised at the direction everything has taken and the focus that is emerging. There is a deepening sense that I am held even as I step into the unknown. I’ve narrowed my list down to 10 schools with 7 of those schools being religion or theology programs. I would be delighted to be accepted into any of the programs. From a list of 50 schools, I’ve decided over the last few months that it is only worth applying to schools where there is a sense of connection and fit. It’s not about prestige. It’s about resonance and a deeper sense of prompting and vocation. And the money? The timing? Than? I trust that these things will be made clear in time.
What is important to me is the stuff that has always been important: opportunities for interdisciplinary cross-cultural education, and the chance to learn under a diverse faculty with knowledge of and a commitment to global issues, Africa, social justice, healing, and reconciliation. It is these scholars, though rare, who are invaluable to me. I'm ready to learn from them again.
As I’m entering a phase in the application process where I need to be wise, discerning, and very focused, I’m realizing that it’s ok to be driven. It sounds funny, but for a long time I have been afraid of focus, discipline, and naming some of my passions because I have been so afraid of losing the sense of self that I have nurtured and protected. At the same time, my spirit and approach has changed so much. I’m starting to believe that the center will hold. The center will hold.
As I’m transitioning from a walk to a sprint, I hope that I will continue to cultivate this posture of prayer, trust, and anticipation. I’m realizing that I can afford to wait. In fact, I can’t afford not to wait and really listen to my own voice and God’s Spirit within me. I can be offered all the opportunities in the world, but if the clothes don’t fit, they are not worth wearing. I’m not holding onto anything too tightly.
But, as I started revising my writing sample last week, I found myself crying at one point in the writing process because the truth of what I was writing – the ways the ideas were coming together and their real life application – felt so profound. It was especially wondrous to realize that those seeds where there years ago, but it is only now with a different perspective and maturity informed by my own experience of sorrow, that I can bring these threads and concepts together. On another level, it felt really good to be writing an academic paper again. I honestly haven’t touched that stuff since I graduated…my writing instead has been heart-focused, open, playful, investigative, and free-form. It felt good to funnel that energy into something focused again.
The ability to believe in myself has been slow to return, but I’m slowly learning that it is ok (and safe) for me to embrace passion, direction, and even success in a healthy way. I’m actually surprised at the direction everything has taken and the focus that is emerging. There is a deepening sense that I am held even as I step into the unknown. I’ve narrowed my list down to 10 schools with 7 of those schools being religion or theology programs. I would be delighted to be accepted into any of the programs. From a list of 50 schools, I’ve decided over the last few months that it is only worth applying to schools where there is a sense of connection and fit. It’s not about prestige. It’s about resonance and a deeper sense of prompting and vocation. And the money? The timing? Than? I trust that these things will be made clear in time.
What is important to me is the stuff that has always been important: opportunities for interdisciplinary cross-cultural education, and the chance to learn under a diverse faculty with knowledge of and a commitment to global issues, Africa, social justice, healing, and reconciliation. It is these scholars, though rare, who are invaluable to me. I'm ready to learn from them again.
Monday, August 11, 2008
georgia and russia
Very worried about the situation in Georgia, as I'm sure everyone in my family is. We had a great adopted exchange student from Georgia who spent a lot of time with my family in 2003. She was with us during the pro-democratic elections, and full of hope and excitement for what this could mean for her country, family, and future. I can't help but think of her smile and optimism.
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