Reflection Roundup: Joy Bomb
Each week we gather news stories, notable pieces, and other important items for Christian leaders today. As always, listening broadly draws together differing perspectives from which we can learn but may not concur. Here are 10 things worth sharing this week.
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Our youngest son’s birthday is next week. When he first arrived on the scene, he emanated joy from within. Still does! How might we bomb those around us with joy this week?
1. Fred Smith, founder of The Gathering, writes “Hands Off” for his blog. Here, Smith draws together familiar concepts for many leaders: successful entrepreneurship, the trap of founders, and the essentiality of letting go. He reminds Christian leaders of the story of Jochebed, Moses’s mother, and how releasing him saved his life. Her contentment to nurse rather than raise him positioned him to lead an entire people to liberation and entrance into the realized promises of God. This blog is particularly friendly to the reader, including compelling art and an audio option for each post.
2. In consideration of my fellow professors (many of whom are preachers) as we develop our syllabi for next semester, Beckie Supiano’s piece, “The Student-Centered Syllabus” for the Chronicle of Higher Education, is too good not to share. It’s an overwhelming task to create a comprehensive document that encompasses every aspect of a semester, the terms to which both professor and student are held. As much as professors emphasize the importance of this verbiage-baby they’ve birthed, students will skim at best rather than read. Supiano suggests that we continue to use the creativity the pandemic required for a time. Why not create a course with compelling options for the curious and more rote selections for those who function in predictable rhythms? Can we have conversations about honoring both the priorities of the professor and the values and needs of adult students rather than prescribing a dictatorial and borderline punitive environment for learning? This week is the perfect time to consider approaching the ways we structure our semesters with fresh eyes.
3. This week last year, Aisha S. Ahmad wrote “How to Have a Restorative Holiday Break During a Pandemic,” speaking into a time when we were all experiencing a range of what we’d call challenge, hardship, and tragedy due to the separations that the pandemic presented to individuals and communities. Ahmad’s practical suggestions about how exactly to take a break from work are transcendent and valuable, maybe even more so this year as we’ve weathered the challenges even longer. Work can become a comfort in its familiarity, but one that distracts us from the other aspects of our lives that keep us balanced spiritually and as people in general. Taking a break acknowledges God’s continuing, faithful work in us, through us, and in spite of us.
4. I can hardly consider the Christmas carol, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” without hearing a childhood friend jokingly call out, “Hark Harold! The angels sing!” You know who you are. Daniel Hyde’s piece for Ligionier is definitely not that, but instead offers a doctrinal dissection of the theologically sound carol. Hyde invites the reader to join in the refreshing activity of really thinking on the words we sing alongside a tour of some meaning-filled verses we often don’t.
5. Writing for Mosaic, Shelby Coble expands on Faith Communities Today’s 2020 summary report, “Twenty Years of Congregational Change.” While declining churches have received negative press in the last year, this comprehensive report highlights a balance of positive aspects. Coble notes what’s always been true about America: innovation has always been the norm. Looking forward to the future for Stone-Campbell churches, the ways in which recent years have inspired out-of-the-box thinking, combined with reflection on tradition and Christian history, will be keys to thriving congregational life.
6. Hear the trusted voice of Rick Atchley, preaching minister for The Hills Church in the Fort Worth Metro area, on the topic of “What Does the Church Need to Hear About Church?” This empathetic, challenging Intersection conversation with Siburt Institute executive director Carson Reed and Randy Harris is a no-miss.
7. Back in January, Doug Powe and Ann A. Michel wrote what proved to be one of the most widely read articles within the Leading Ideas blog for the Lewis Center for Church Leadership: “8 Trends Impacting Church Leadership for 2021.” While the pandemic accelerated changes that, in many ways, had been latent and necessary for some time, Powe and Michel highlight how basic Christian practices such as prayer and gathering have strengthened both our resilience and our witness to one another and the world. With staff changes, decreased emphasis on denominational differences, and renewal of practices outside congregational life, these authors note compelling tendencies, including the expectation of continued change.
8. Magrey deVega writes “Resolved for 2022: Affirm Abundance, Not Scarcity” for Ministry Matters, calling to mind multiple instances where Scripture reminds us of God’s faithfulness: “I have everything I need” (Ps. 23) and “you give them something to eat” (Mark 6). DeVega cites Scripture and other resources that call us to measure with kingdom weights. Adaptive change may yield fruitful losses as congregations engage in faithful risk-taking, trusting the resilience of the church, the full body of Christ.
9. Erik Tryggestad writes “Devastation in Kentucky: Killer storms topple church members’ houses, businesses” for the Christian Chronicle. These folks are being the church by finding joy to bring to one another, with or without a building. Worship is still planned to continue as members say that’s what they need most right now.
