So, where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

1. I am extremely grateful for my current position. I was rescued from a negative situation (caused by a previous employer, but that’s another conversation) and I am thrilled to do what I do.
2. (or is this 2.1?) At my age, the chance to still offer value to a new employer is a blessing.
   1. I brought my skill set, but
   2. They took a chance on me learning a new context.
   3. I think it’s worked out so far.
3. Employers have to offer a career growth plan in order to keep talented employees.
   1. I totally support that
   2. I am not part of that audience
      1. In my 1on1 meeting today with my team lead, I shared
         1. My age
         2. Based on my age, I am not interested in building my career.
         3. Rather, I’m working on finishing my career with this employer.
         4. This won’t apply to youngsters on their career path, but…
4. I want to do what I do to the best of my ability for the rest of my career
   1. I don’t need to move up the career ladder
   2. Despite where this is in the outline hierarchy, here’s the Main Point:
      1. I teach
      2. When I think about my favorite teachers, all of them ended their careers doing this
         1. They didn’t progress up the career ladder
         2. Instead, they influenced thousands of students just like they influenced me.
         3. I am profoundly grateful for their careers.
      3. I do not want to be downgraded for doing what I love to do in my career without the desire to “progress” away from it. I will not allow it.
   3. I believe my (hopefully last) employer appreciates and supports my career decision.
   4. Do you?

A Wish For Wings That Work (for you)

TL:DR  There is no TL:DR. Do you think I wrote this for you?  Hahahahahahha!

Preamble:

1. If you are my age, you should know of/will benefit from Berkley’s catelog  If you are not familiar with A Wish For Wings That Work, that’s okay, but will need to at least know where to find it.
2. Spoiler Alert! For a 30 year-old book? Hahahahahaha!
3. You should be ready to read most of his books to your children, or grandchildren, or any child you have the opportunity to read to.
4. For A Wish… you must have a fitting  Santa Claus voice. Mine, turns out, is Walter Cronkite. 
5. This is my application of values/lessons from this story. Your mileage may vary, and I welcome your interpretations. That only speaks to the value of the story.

The Story:

Opus, a fllght-less waterfowl, has only one wish for Christmas: the ability to fly. So he sends a Xmas letter to Santa, the only entity who could make it happen.

He’s summoned on that fateful eve to rescue a desperate Santa who’s sled  is stuck and sinking in a lake. 

Opus rushes into the water and pulls Santa and the sled to shore. “He was swimming – and swimming, after all, is what penguins do best.”

I’ll not rob you of Santa’s line in response, which still chokes me up sometimes. Nor will I tell the end of the story.

So What?

Here’s where you insert your reactions, but these are mine;

• Opus wished for an ability that he could not physically do.
• He saved the day doing what he could actually do.
  • This story really isn’t about what you wish you can do, but what you actually can do.
    • For years I pursued sales opportunities
    • I never succeeded, and was never happy
  • What you can do is valuable. Find out what that is and follow that
    • I train/teach. I’m really good at it,
    • Training is not selling. It took me a long time to realize that, but when I did, my career options became much more clear
• I don’t want to discourage your wishes, but
  • You have skills/gifts
  • Figure them out and
  • Pursue opportunities that suit them
  • If you want to dream bigger, great, but make them in context of who you really are

Want to rage against me? Want to offer your own interpretation? Go! No TL:DR rules apply.

Career 1,3

After a 3.5 year search for a permanent position, I’m embarking on (what I hope will be) the last stage of my professional career. I wanted to write a flaming bridge-burning post about how I got to this point, but instead decided to catalog this milestone in my life journey.

I have always been a teacher.

I thought I would teach Christians how to sing as believers in the corporate setting.

I thought I would teach legal professionals how they would use technology in law firms.

I will teach. In the latest iteration, I will teach people how to use technology in project management, among other business process management skills they need.

I will teach.

I teach

A message to my Evangelical friends

I’m not certain what you gain by your reactions to BLM.

At all costs, you seem to be only interested in proving yourselves right. You’re not racist. You defend historic monuments. You do not want to reach out to hurt people. You do not want to extend grace to them. You do not want to forward the Gospel to them. You only want to be RIGHT.

You want to show you are right. You want to show you are holy.

That’s not holiness. That’s assholiness.

Org Chart, Schmorg Chart

You do what you do. Don’t worry what the C-level wants. You’re the professional in your field.

Of course you abide by whatever approval process is in place, but don’t compromise on what you KNOW you should do.

Fallen and Broken Ones

I remember once writing about a seminary classmate who lost his job because of wrong choices he made in the office. I made the remark that I was praying for “grace on the other side of stupid.”

Perhaps we all need that from time to time. We all act stupidly from time to time. We all need grace. How do we move on toward restoration, growth, betterment?

So you want your church to be visitor friendly…

Note: I shared this on another site earlier this year. We’re now plugging into a good congregation, but I think it’s still worth posting.

 

My family attended seven different churches so far this year. We have one that we plan to see again, plus maybe a handful more to at least visit.

Most churches want to encourage visitors who arrive. They want to make a good impression. They want people to come, then come back, and then stay. So let me say at the top that you are always going to struggle with this, and it’s not always your fault when it doesn’t work out. Your best efforts at visitor friendliness are going to fall short because different visitors are looking for different experiences.

 

For instance, how to greet a visitor? When our family walks into a new church, my wife is willing to announce her name to the first person she sees, notify them that we are there for the first time, and ask how to get to the sanctuary. On the other hand, I would rather walk in quietly, find the room and go sit down with the least amount of air disturbance. How should you handle this? Do you have greeters ready to offer a handshake and a program and walk them to the sanctuary entrance? Do you let people enter on their own, presuming that navigating from your main entrance is simple? Both are good strategies, but neither works for all people. While I’m more introverted than my wife, I think the greeter method is probably best. I’m not offended by someone who wants to greet me, even if I don’t need it.

But someone walking into your building should be able to figure out where to go without personal contact. And it’s not just your main entrance that requires attention. Based upon the layout of your parking lot, the front door is often not the closest from the car. My last church had a beautiful main entrance where greeters greeted with gusto and elan. But on the south side of the lot was a door that was much closer from where many parked, with almost immediate access to the sanctuary. Yet in the 5 years that we were there, they never put a greeter at that door.

People should be able to navigate from every unlocked entryway you have. Last Sunday we entered on the lower level from the parking lot. The sanctuary was upstairs, but we didn’t know how to get there. We went up a flight of stairs to a closed door. We had no idea what was on the other side. It turned out to be the children’s ministry hallway, and we weren’t certain that we were permitted to go in that way.

What should I be able to find the moment I walk into your building? The bathrooms, the sanctuary, the nursery, the information desk or visitors center if you have one. I know you’re proud of your coffee station (that’s what all the hip, relevant churches are doing these days), but that’s really the least of my interests. I can usually follow my nose to the coffee if I want it. I can’t always find a place to pee.

 

Here’s the next big hurdle: getting visitor information.

If a church is going to be able to minister to a new family, they need information about them. Names. Contact info. Age of children. From this they can begin a communication plan that may benefit the family as they check out what the church has to offer. And the sooner they can capture information, the sooner that plan can begin. With the best of intentions, churches want to follow up with a visiting family quickly to see how they can help them take the next step.

This is completely understandable. I get it. But I have no intention of giving you my information on the first visit. I will not sign your guest book in the narthex. I will not fill out your attendance book in the pew. I will not fill out the information card attached to the worship folder. I will not go to your visitors desk and fill out a form. I’m not going to tell you my last name when you shake my hand and introduce yourself. I will give you whatever information you require if I leave one of my children in your care while I attend the worship service, but that’s the only instance that applies here.

You see, odds are I’m not coming back. I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t want to hear from you again unless I initiate the contact. But that’s just me.

It’s a delicate balance. Churches want the information to be more responsive. Visitors don’t want to give you that information until they’re ready, yet some may feel snubbed if you don’t pursue that information. Somehow churches have to communicate their eagerness to get to know new people as soon as the new people wish to be known. And many new people aren’t very good at telling you when to respond. In the end, I would err on the side of asking for the information, but assume that they won’t do it on the first visit. Please don’t be offended if I tell you you’re not going to get lucky on our first date.

 

Finally (for now), let’s talk about liturgy. I’m not looking for your church history at a glance, but after visiting traditions for the first time ever, there are things you do that I have no idea what to expect. Episcopalian and Catholic worship guides do a pretty good job of explaining what I’m experiencing, but the rest of you suck at this. What am I about to do? What if I don’t want to take communion? And what is the process of taking communion anyway? Am I okay if I don’t kneel or genuflect at certain moments?

Here’s the deal: in our post-modern, hipster American society, I don’t know what you’re doing, and it’s a little weird without some explanation. So tell me at the beginning that it’s okay if I don’t get it at the moment (a woman sitting next to me in the Episcopal service was very patient with me as I didn’t help her lower the kneeling bar for prayer), or explain it to me as you’re doing it. You need to know that your traditions are new and strange to me. And if you want me to come back, tell me you’re not ashamed of my ignorance.

Current Mindset

If I have to hug a liberal to embrace orthodoxy, so be it, as I’ve yet to get there by french kissing fundamentalists for 30 years.

Pomp and Circumstance… and Patina

I went to my high school reunion last Saturday. The 30th reunion. Sheesh, where has the time gone?

I used the dread these things, nervous about how I would be perceived by my former classmates. But after 10 or 20 years, you start to relax and just enjoy the experience. This one had it’s particularly good moments.

Almost as an afterthought, we reached out to a few teachers to see if they could come. Four of them did, and among them were:

• My band director. Mr. L was a fiery conductor. We all loved and feared him at the same time. I can still march a 22.5 inch step from my marching band days.
• One of my favorite English teachers. Mr. D taught me to read novels with an eye for what the author was saying about life and society. I never wrote a good essay for him, but his passion for literature spurred me to read with more understanding.
• My favorite history teacher. Mr. M taught ancient civilization, but was a true Renaissance Man. He taught history well, but was gifted in the theater arts. I had the privilege of working for him in both school and community plays. It was a  great pleasure telling him that I chose my college degree (social studies education) because of him.

I received a crushing bear hug from a fellow choir member who happened to be a gold-glove boxer in his younger days. He was among the many black students that came to my school when we merged districts. I was painfully reminded of my initial fear of kids who were different than me, and of my gratefulness that they were a part of my young life. Looking back, I wish that I had made more friends like him in school.

I got to talk to old friends that I seldom contact, to marvel at what they’ve become. Some have grandchildren already. Some have experienced the death of a spouse. Many look back on their younger years and smile at their ability to still emulate those days, while others chose a completely different path as young adults, and relish at their accomplishments today. Others still, have completely reinvented themselves and are enjoying a new start in adult life.

They’re all remarkable stories. I’m the richer to have heard them that night.

So here’s to the McCluer North Class of 1983.

The Rhetoric of Liturgy

I got to go to the London office last week, but the reason is not important here.

I landed on Sunday morning, but my hotel room wasn’t available yet. “Go have a coffee and come back in a bit,” the desk clerk said. So I walked toward the office location to verify that I could get to it on time the next morning.

Along the way I passed St. Paul’s Cathedral. I can’t help but think of the song “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins when I think of that place, but it’s truly a magnificent site.

English: St Paul’s from the south west in 1896. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got there in time to attend a Choral Mattins service. For those of you like me who weren’t raised in Catholic, Anglican, or other high-church traditions, a Mattins (or Matins) has all the basic parts of a Mass, but without observing Communion. The “Choral” part was provided by a gifted choir of men and boys, singing many of the prayers that are offered throughout the service.

During the homily (sermon), the reverend referred to the Te Deum (song of praise) that the choir had just finished. He said that the Te Deum had been offered in that location for 1,400 years. I had to chew on that notion for a bit – my church just celebrated its 40th anniversary last month.

Then he made what I thought was a truly profound statement: The rhetoric of liturgy is etched into our Christian experience.

The Rhetoric of Liturgy. The words we use as part of the teaching of our community, in the context of what we do as we gather. It becomes a part of how we identify ourselves. It is etched into our existence. It is how we teach our children and grandchildren what we believe, who we are, who we belong to.

And it doesn’t matter if your church is 40 or 1400 years old, high and formal or hip and trendy. You have a Rhetoric of Liturgy. Celebrate it. Be mindful of it. Be careful with what it teaches your children.