Last week I flew out of the airport in Buffalo, New York, and saw a new thing: Sally, a machine that makes salads. It was just opposite my gate and next to a Which Wich? outlet where humans make sandwiches with their own two hands. Sally is basically a vending machine, except it makes food to order. It also lays bare…
Fifth in a series. We have seen that the biblical epic of Babel does not end with the original Babel account, but is central to the call of Abram and the agony of exile. And we have seen that the epic of Babel has much to say about our daily work: Good work done well is a temptation to pride and…
Reprinted from Made to Flourish. Trinity Presbyterian in Charlottesville, Virginia, has hosted a Fellows Program for nearly 15 years. It’s an opportunity for recent college graduates to come to our city, live in congregants’ homes, serve in our church and community, take seminary courses, and work part-time in marketplace jobs suited to their career interests. Dennis Doran has directed Trinity’s program since its…
By Mark Roberts Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network website. Fuller Seminary remains grateful for the work of the Oikonomia Network and deeply committed to our common goals. In the past year, we have continued to help all our students grapple with issues of work and calling in required core courses. We have entered the second year of our D.Min. cohort that…
Our society is sick. The United States is obviously in tumult with sharp divisions between Red and Blue with the litmus test being which political party one thinks is treasonous. Surely there is some mush in the middle, but it would be a happier world if the simplistic generalization were farther from the truth. And, though the unhappiness of our…
By Demi Prentiss With the passage of Resolution C005, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention earlier this year created the Task Force on Formation and Ministry of the Baptized. That group of 12 Episcopalians have been charged to “identify or develop curricula, practices, and strategies that can be used by dioceses and congregations to encourage and engage all the baptized in…
By Debra J. Dean Buckingham and Coffman’s classic book First, Break All the Rules (1999) is inspiring, insightful, and encouraging, and their common sense approach to finding the answer to what makes a great manager is brilliant. Their findings confirmed that not all great managers use the same leadership style, nor do they all adhere to conventional wisdom. This book…
I have an essay about work and meaning in the current issue of The Hedgehog Review. The essay has elicited some good responses from friend and stranger alike; I’m grateful for all. I always have mixed feelings when people write to say my essays about work resonate with their experience. On the one hand, my entire goal is to put words to the experience…
Fourth in a series. Israel’s exile in Babel (a.k.a. Babylon) is the next step in the big biblical epic of Babel that we can draw on to rethink our daily work. It’s become fashionable in the evangelical quarters of the faith and work movement to talk about exile these days. In fact, it’s been so fashionable for so long that I…
By Charlie Self In seminary classes and seminars, informal conversations and large conferences, I enjoy asking pastors, church planters, and revitalizers this question: “As you plant and revitalize, have you given any prayer and thought to how your congregants will eat in the next 10-20 years?” This query is met with puzzlement. These gifted and sacrificial men and women are prayer-walking,…
The Green Room 