I had a profound thought on Sunday that I thought might be worth blogging about, but now I can only remember half of it - which doesn't seem nearly as profound. There's a very simple truth about me in this somewhere! Perhaps the truly profound thought is that really you're probably more interested in what I'm doing than my musing on life!
This week I'm working with Lucille, my co-Program Manager (she's the Plenary Program Manager, I'm the Development & Non-Plenary Program Manager... for those of you who are keeping track of these things! - We're not always entirely sure where the line between us lies, but we're happy to try and explain it to you if you'd really like to know!) Where was I before the long paranthetical insert? Oh yes, this week...
This week we're working on calls to commitment for Urbana. It's a struggle to think about how to clearly and succintly express something which will be compelling and memorable (it's important that people remember what they're committing to!), broad enough to include a wide diversity of people yet specific enough not to lose it's punch, so to speak. We spent a couple of hours digging into Ephesians again together and looking at the overall program as it's currently planned and attempting to answer the question: "So what are we asking people to commit to? What do we want the outcomes of Urbana 06 to be for individual participants?"
I love that kind of thinking - it's a bit like interpreting Emily Dickinson - you start with an enigma and if you work hard enough you get through to a beautiful and clear truth. We'll see. My draft one summary was too verbose - but that's just me. We'll cut out some words (which will be painful for me, but there you have it) and get down to something which I suspect will be good. We'll see.
The profound church thought had something to do with worship - the measure of good worship being the quality of our lives lived in response rather than the affective experience in the moment. But then I had to qualify that - because the affective experience matters to God as well (our worship has more quality when it springs from joy and thanksgiving than if it is merely a dry rational obedience). So it must have it all - our hearts, our minds & our lives. And true transformation must engage all of me - my emotion, my will, my thoughts, etc. Perhaps not so profound. These are the things I stand and think about in church. Perhaps I think too much!
This week I'm working with Lucille, my co-Program Manager (she's the Plenary Program Manager, I'm the Development & Non-Plenary Program Manager... for those of you who are keeping track of these things! - We're not always entirely sure where the line between us lies, but we're happy to try and explain it to you if you'd really like to know!) Where was I before the long paranthetical insert? Oh yes, this week...
This week we're working on calls to commitment for Urbana. It's a struggle to think about how to clearly and succintly express something which will be compelling and memorable (it's important that people remember what they're committing to!), broad enough to include a wide diversity of people yet specific enough not to lose it's punch, so to speak. We spent a couple of hours digging into Ephesians again together and looking at the overall program as it's currently planned and attempting to answer the question: "So what are we asking people to commit to? What do we want the outcomes of Urbana 06 to be for individual participants?"
I love that kind of thinking - it's a bit like interpreting Emily Dickinson - you start with an enigma and if you work hard enough you get through to a beautiful and clear truth. We'll see. My draft one summary was too verbose - but that's just me. We'll cut out some words (which will be painful for me, but there you have it) and get down to something which I suspect will be good. We'll see.
The profound church thought had something to do with worship - the measure of good worship being the quality of our lives lived in response rather than the affective experience in the moment. But then I had to qualify that - because the affective experience matters to God as well (our worship has more quality when it springs from joy and thanksgiving than if it is merely a dry rational obedience). So it must have it all - our hearts, our minds & our lives. And true transformation must engage all of me - my emotion, my will, my thoughts, etc. Perhaps not so profound. These are the things I stand and think about in church. Perhaps I think too much!
posted by Lucy at 8:50 PM
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