Today’s post falls on Epiphany, and that makes today a good day to call on our ancestors and descendants for help with our vocations. Looking back and looking forward is a good way to tune into the present moment. To…
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3MMM | Episode 220: Vocational Reflection Questions
This week I had the joy of interviewing four senior scholars by asking them vocational reflection questions. The occasion was the gathering in San Antonio, Texas of the American Academy of Religion. The AAR program unit “Psychology, Culture, and Religion”…
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3MMM | Episode 217: Vocational Grief
Gratitude is rightly our focus during clergy appreciation month, yet as part of our acknowledgement of clergy today, let’s also attend to the reality of vocational grief. While it can be hard to name and process, and typically remains out…
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3MMM | Episode 181: Discerning Vocation
How are you discerning vocation in this new era of ministry? So much has changed about life in the last 33 months. Tonight at dinner we observed that the waitstaff in the restaurant was also bussing all the tables, cleaning…
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3MMM | Episode 79: Called to Justice
“I knew early on I was called to this work.” -Rev. Alisha Smith Haddock Called to ministry Vocational calling comes in all different sizes, shapes and forms. Traditional congregational ministry, in spite of what people think, is not the only…
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3MMM | Episode 41: Two Vocations
Vocation. Work. Calling. Ministry. Family. Life. Vocation is a word that often evokes the idea of work. Yet vocation is not just work. Vocation may bring to the top of your mind the idea of calling. Yet vocation is more…
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3MMM | Episode 27: Preaching and Prayer
What is the role of prayer and meditation in the practice of ministry? I have worked on that question for many years. It became focused as a question around the time that I finished my doctoral studies. In these last…
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3MMM | Episode 24: Vocational Discernment
Discernment. Vocation. Purpose. Life. Unpacking one’s purpose for life is no small thing. For many people it takes most of a lifetime to say fully what they believe their purpose to be. And for others purpose changes over time and…
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Review: “The Calling” Documentary
Review: ‘The Calling’ a hopeful portrait of religious leadership* Becoming a pastor, priest, rabbi or imam is no simple matter. The Calling, a new four-hour documentary premiering on PBS, follows seven men and women on their paths to becoming religious…
Read MoreOrdinary Time IV – God is (Still) Waiting
God Is (Still) Waiting More Baptist churches are calling women as pastors, but the gender gap remains large. This coming Sunday, Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, N.C., will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first ordination of a woman in…
Read MoreEpiphany I
Epiphany: A Season for Unsettling Questions On the Ninth Day of Christmas . . . I was feeling somewhat adrift. Needing some guidance, I decided to ask myself some questions. As a long-time journal keeper, I’ve found that sometimes questions…
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