You Aren’t Racist, But You Make Racism Possible

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Racist Racism postThere are many ways that it is said, but the results are the same.

“If blacks would stop talking about slavery all the time they could just get on with successful careers.”
“I don’t see color. Black, white, and brown are all just people. Stop talking about it all the time.”
“Blacks shouldn’t be telling their kids about racism and they wouldn’t learn to think of themselves as inferior.”

Usually these people aren’t themselves racist. But this kind of talk does allow racism to continue in our country.

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What Am I Called To Do? (Part 8): You Can’t Fix The Plumbing With A Basketball

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To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

To learn how tools are integrated into the entire notion of call, click the map.

As I’ve explained in previous posts, what you love to do and the things that make you angry are good indicators of God’s call on your life. But you still can’t fix the plumbing with a basketball, no matter how much you like running water. Let me explain.
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To A Student At Graduation Time: An Open Letter From The University Chaplain

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Photo Courtesy of Hagerstown Community College

Photo Courtesy of Hagerstown Community College

Dear Student,

You are leaving this place for new adventures and new responsibilities. Some of that is exciting and some of it is scary. Some of it is just unknown.

But you can be certain of one thing. The relationships that have been so meaningful for you while you have been here are about to change radically.  [Read more…]

Conservative Christian Women And The Worst Accusation

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Photo by Erin Rempel

Photo by Erin Rempel

Arguments that restrict women from leadership devalue womanhood and question the calling these women have to pastoral ministry. As I have defended my work on the biblical and theological support for women in ministry, I’ve learned that these implications may not even be the most hurtful thing that is said to these women.

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Meet the 2014 Lantz Center Commissioning Class

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The Lantz Center for Christian Vocation and Formation is one of the programs of great depth in the Christian faith at the University of Indianapolis. UIndy, as we refer to the university, is not a “Christian university” in the way that many persons think of them. We don’t require chapel or a commitment to Christianity to attend. But we have always been affiliated with the United Methodist Church and its predecessor denominations and we take seriously our opportunity and responsibility to prepare our students (United Methodist and otherwise) for religious leadership. In the Lantz Center we do that by way of a two year program in ecumenical spiritual formation, where we teach prayer practices, study a theology of vocation and the place of God’s call in the students’ lives, and we form a small covenanted community of followers of the Way. The students that go through the program are of the minority of students that grow deeply in the Christian faith while in college, even while so many are walking away from their religious commitments.

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