Do you want to know one of the worst pieces of advice I’ve ever received? “Don’t take it personally.” Over the years, I’ve been in situations where a decision was mad,e and someone gave me that advice.  My reaction is always the same. Why wouldn’t I take it personally? Whatever they are deciding, it affects me. Whatever is happening because of their decision, it is happening to me.  How much more personal can it get?

Often I’ve heard this sage advice from the very people who made the decision. I’ve always figured they were trying to avoid taking personal responsibility for how their decision affected others.

Regardless of the intended meaning, here’s what this advice always seems to mean to me: “Don’t take things to heart. Everyone has dirt thrown on them and then gets to throw dirt on somebody else.” It fills me with dismay.

Jesus said, “Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.” Paul said, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  And Peter said, “. . . love one another deeply, from the heart.”

Just how does “don’t take it personally,” reconcile with the commands to love one another?When we interact with people, life gets messy. We can’t say, “It’s just business,” as if that brief epitaph divorces us from the rest of life. Making decisions about people’s lives can get uncomfortable. It’s easier if we take the person out of the equation. But Jesus always kept the person in the equation. It may not change the decision, but it forces the decision maker to consider the other person and to love that person. It doesn’t mean we can’t reprimand each other. “Get behind me Satan” seems to be a fairly strong reprimand, but is also intensely personal for Peter.

So the next time you’re tempted to say, “Don’t take it personally” remember the command to love. And the next time I hear, “It’s just business.” I’ll have a reply ready. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” It’s just Jesus.

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So God created man in his own image,
       in the image of God he created him;
       male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:26)

Andy Crouch presents two roles for us in Culture Making. The first is our role as co-creators, where God gives us the opportunity to shape something where nothing existed before. The second role we have as culture makers is less spectacular but perhaps more conventional, the role of cultivator.

According to Andy, “Culture is what we make of the world.” For example the people I work with on a daily basis make up an organization, The Foundations for Laity Renewal (FLR). We come together with different sets of life experiences and interpretations. We rally around a shared vision with a shared purpose. At FLR, we refer to our Core Purpose:

To serve God by creating opportunities for people to encounter God for the transformation of daily life, work, and our world.

Agreeing to the core purpose, we form a culture of working together. This corporate culture changes with time and with different people coming into it. When I first came to work here twenty-five years ago we had a 3:00 break. Everyone would gather for about fifteen minutes and then back to work. Somewhere in the last twelve years, we’ve lost that piece of our culture. There was no ruling against it, we just stopped gathering together at 3:00. It just became inconvenient. So we stopped doing it.

There are many ways that we, along with our colleagues, shape the work culture. Character, attitude, and responsibility are three major ways we can shape our work culture.

First, character (temperament, spirit, moral fiber, integrity, etc.) plays because who we are at our core influences how people respond to us. So if I’m an irritating slug of a jerk, chances are people will respond negatively towards me and produce tension in our work culture. However, if I’m an empathetic, funny, and enthusiastic leader, the workplace culture will be influenced more positively.

Attitude (outlook, demeanor, worldview, opinions, etc.) shapes the general view our work culture holds. At FLR, we have an optimistic and hopeful outlook. It wasn't always this way but it is now and excessive negativity stands out and strains work relations.

Whether it’s taking the blame, accepting the challenge, or being accountable for our performance, responsibility is a strong piece of our work culture. Shirkers or labor fakers need not apply. If you can’t carry the load of your job, it becomes apparent and uncomfortable for everyone.

Coming in to this organization, we didn’t negotiate the vision before I came aboard. Instead, I joined a vision I felt drawn to engage. The vision existed first as it did for all the employees. After we joined the organization, we were entrusted with cultivating the vision. We became caretakers, growers, explorers, and sometimes visionaries ourselves as the work has grown to meet specific needs.

While we participate in shaping the vision and actually create subordinate visions of our own work, the actions of creating and cultivating are not equally balanced. Cultivating is overwhelmingly more of the task of culture-making than visioning.

When God enlisted man as co-creator, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.” (Gen. 2:19–20.) He entrusted humanity to name and care for creation. In our workplaces, we are called to nothing less than to create in God’s image and to cultivate that creation.

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Hermeneutics entails the understanding and interpretation of linguistic and nonlinguistic expressions. Biblical hermeneutics is the methodology for biblical interpretation. I like to look at hermeneutics as the study of contexts. It’s a helpful handle for me, although I’m sure scholars would probably object.

The first context to consider in biblical hermeneutics is history. The Bible was written during specific periods of time and depicts actual events. From that narrow perspective, it is a book of history.

It is also a book of revelation. God reveals himself to his people. Understanding its place in time helps us understand the context for the text. Its uniqueness is that it is God’s story written by humans.

Language presents another context. The languages in which the texts were written include Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. Correctly interpreting the biblical texts requires proper linguistic understanding and application of the words in the text.

Another important context is the writer of the text. Although inspired by the Holy Spirit, each writer brings his own unique circumstances, including style, to the work. For example, Paul’s style is different than that of Peter or John.

So if we just consider two contexts, we can create a simple understanding of how the fusion of horizons might work.  The following paragraphs consider only the historical context and the author’s context.

Fusion of horizons considers the differing horizons of the work and the observer.  There is the historical context of the piece itself. What was happening in the world at the time the piece was produced? How did that historical reality influence the author? What is my current understanding of the world? Is my understanding different than that of the author? That’s one layer of the fusion of horizons.

The next layer concerns the work itself. How did the author intend the work’s meaning?  How does the viewer of the work interpret its meaning? What we have is the work itself; then the work’s author has an intended meaning; and finally, there’s the current reader’s interpretation. Taking the work, the author, and reader all three into account, we have the fusion of horizons.

This is all very dizzying. Philosophers and theologians spend lifetimes thinking, writing and arguing about these points. We can often question the purpose it serves? It helps us to understand a bit deeper within the context of our current world (horizon).

In 1 Corinthians 7:29–31, Paul wrote about the end of the world:

"But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away."

Paul’s understanding was the same as the twelve apostles. The world would end soon. Jesus would return to “judge the living and the dead.” We’re still waiting, but our horizon has changed. We understand that more than two thousand years have passed and the world continues. We have an "already not yet" understanding of the kingdom of God.

In one of Mark Roberts’ Daily Reflection and Prayer pieces, "Thriving Right Where You Are," he points out the situation of the Corinthians and their desire to change the circumstances of their lives.

But sometimes we can focus so much on altering our circumstances that we fail to thrive right where we are. We can get so wrapped up in our own misery and victimization that we can’t see what God might want to do in us and through us.

Paul’s point was to not worry about our current situation or circumstance. The end is coming soon enough for each of us. Concentrate on God, his blessing, and his Word.

While hermeneutics is important and a useful tool for research, it can cause a meta-thinker to get to caught up in thinking. It’s important to remember a Karl Barth quote. Mark Galli, editor at Christianity Today, wrote:

When [Karl Barth was] asked in 1962 . . . how he would summarize the essence of the millions of words he had published, he replied, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so."

The subject of hermeneutics rarely surfaces in our everyday lives, but it is important. Knowing something about the messages being preached and what shapes them is a useful knowledge. Understanding contexts and their influence on texts preached is a helpful tool in discernment.

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The Psalms often speak of lament. There is a plea to God for relief. Prayers get answered. Joy, thanksgiving, and praise follow. So goes the rhythm of my life. I’m working to change the rhythm.

First, I want to make clear that I realize that I’m incredibly blessed. That’s not really my point. It’s that no matter how much I want to be a glass-half-full kind of guy, I’m really a glass-half-empty person at heart. It’s part of my DNA reinforced by my upbringing.

Many of the Psalms capture that feeling. Psalm 138 is one of those. It begins with praise and thanksgiving, and then it moves to lament in verse seven. “Though I am surrounded by troubles, you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.”

Even the concluding verse, which is filled with hope and faith, is tinged with self-doubt.

The Lord will work out his plans for my life—

     for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.

     Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

I look at this in my own life as the ravages of shame. What I mean by shame are feelings of humiliation, embarrassment, or failing to live up to expectations. I put enormous pressure on myself in order to avoid shame.

Ironically, while I try to think about things so that I might avoid shame, I’m an auditory thinker. I like to verbalize my thoughts. Also, I’m emotional and have a tendency to respond quickly in an emotionally charged situation. This often leads to feelings of shame after the fact.

The Cross was a shameful act. There were many ways to punish lawbreakers in the ancient world. Being crucified was the most hideous. Only the worst of the lawless were crucified. Jesus endured the humiliation of the Cross, the public embarrassment of carrying his cross through town. His followers even abandoned him for his failure to live up to their expectations.

Yet Jesus didn't accept the Cross as shame. He and his followers used it to announce the "good news." The brutality and the shame of the cross could not prevent Christ's overcoming death.

Shame is real. The Cross is real. Our hope is in the redeeming qualities of the Resurrection. 

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Aesthetics matter. In an office setting, the aesthetics can affect your mood and I suspect your productivity too. Since our offices were recently remodeled, I can share some observations about how the changing aesthetics affected us.

During the process, I was temporarily exiled, I mean "relocated," to another building. For a time, I found myself in an office I used many years ago. It overlooks a lawn and garden and some towering pecan trees. Three small boulders and a statue of Saint Francis complement the garden.

By contrast, my remodeled office overlooks a brown standing seam roof, a parking lot, and a brown carport. Since I gaze out the window as a means of contemplation and mental clearing, the contrast is harsh.

The remodeled offices are terrific. Gone are the white walls broken up by aluminum windows. Gone are the stark images of seventies chic. In their place are beige walls with sage bookcases and wood trim with a deep walnut stain. Even the vinyl windows are beige and contrast nicely with the sill and trim. New flooring and light fixtures all add to a calm and inviting space. (The accompanying photo is of the entrance to our remodeled offices. And that's Marcus at his desk.)

There is no biblical mandate for aesthetically pleasing work spaces. The Epistles speak more about stark prisons than magnificent buildings. However, we know that goodness and beauty speak of God. Aesthetics are a key element as each of us work to Create a Beautiful Workplace.

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In my last post , I wrote about my first encounter with Michelangelo's Pieta and the use of Rodin's work in the Dobie Gillis sitcom. In this post, I'd like to concentrate on the paradoxical nature of these works. The Pieta evokes beauty through the broken body of Jesus in the arms of his mother. Even Rodin's The Thinker is based on a figure he originally created for The Gates of Hell. 

Rodin wrote about his project:

For a whole year I lived with Dante, with him alone, drawing the eight circles of his Inferno. At the end of this year, I realized that my drawings had become too remote from reality; so I started all over again, working from nature, with my models.

From his words, we catch a glimpse of the total immersion Rodin had in his work, the painstaking care he took as an artist to read and absorb Inferno some six centuries after Dante wrote it.

Rodin placed The Thinker overlooking The Gates of Hell. There is great speculation about its meaning in the overall piece. Another stand-alone sculpture, The Shades, is at the very top of The Gates.

 

Originally, the three figures pointed to a Dante quote, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." But the quote was eliminated from The Gates. Now, the three figures seem to represent the Trinity pointing to what mankind faces in hell. In addition, the three figures form the base of a triangle whose inverted apex is The Thinker. The combined image speaks of God.

Is it God overlooking the ravages of hell? Looking closely at the images, I could also wonder if it is the paradox of God and the world.

Similarly, Michelangelo's Pieta is a library of theological thought in one sculpture. The mother and child, Mary and Jesus, purity and brokenness, God and the world. All theses images are present in the Pieta. The sculpture has wonderful beauty, but it also conveys incredible pain. Again Dante comes to mind. He wrote these paradoxical words: "Virgin Mother, daughter of your son."

These artists represent what we are trying to capture and promote. Their work is the best of what the high calling of our daily work can be. It demonstrates total devotion. They use their talents to glorify God.

There’s whimsy and pathos, humor and devotion in the life of faith. Christian living is a paradox centered on an impossibility resting on a wonder. Thank God.

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In my office is a replica of Rodin’s The Thinker. It takes me back to my childhood. My favorite TV show in my elementary school days was The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, a sitcom based on the tribulations of a late teen and his off-center friends. Dobie would often contemplate his fate, at the city park, while being dwarfed by a larger than life statue in the background, The Thinker.

These scenes are my fondest memories of the show. Always looming was the statue of The Thinker providing a wonderful backdrop as Dobie contemplated his latest situation. In light of an earlier post, I’ve retitled my own miniature of Rodin’s work Meta Thinker .

Dobie Gillis’ show ended its run at about the time that the World’s Fair opened in New York. My sister lived in Queens, so my parents took us to the Fair where I saw was another great sculpture for the first time. Michelangelo’s Pieta was on display in the Vatican pavilion.

I remember vividly standing in front of that masterpiece. I had an overwhelming sense of sadness for Mary as she held her dead son in her arms. I was twelve years old, and that image and feeling are still with me.

Two magnificent sculptures by two masters left an indelible mark on my soul. These two great works continue to speak to me more than forty years later. The irony is that I’m not artistic at all, and I rarely go to art museums or even Laity Lodge art exhibits at the Cody Center. Yet The Thinker and Pieta have shaped my world. They have become symbols which represent my life’s work and devotion.

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When I graduated from college, I reconnected with some high school buddies who were putting together a softball team. They didn’t need me. They needed a body, and I was available. I pulled my weight but these guys were good. They were very talented baseball players, and the talent transferred well to softball.

Because we were new, we played one step below the highest level in the city leagues. The teams we played were serious about their softball. They had slick-looking uniforms with their corporate sponsors’ name emblazoned across the chest of the uniform shirt. Matching caps, baseball pants, and stirrup socks completed the uniform. The teams looked sharp. Plus, they were filled with grizzled veterans of the summer softball leagues.

As contrast, we wore tight-fitting royal blue jerseys with a white band around the crew neck. These were something straight out of a seventies Little League minors’ wardrobe. We did have matching caps, but we wore jeans and an array of different footwear.  We were young, brash, and a ragtag bunch in more ways than one.

With our long hair bursting out from under our hats, we looked like a casting call for Bozo the Clown. Then, when we took to the field to warm up, things got even uglier. I’m telling you, the guys on my team were good, but I was amazed how bad we looked during warm-ups. Ground balls muffed, wild throws, dropped balls.  It was ugly.

When the games started, our bats went to work, the fielding was crisp, and throws were accurate. It was nothing like warm-ups. Because of all this, we were hated in the league. The other teams in the league didn’t greet us warmly. The looks and the words weren’t friendly. They hated to lose to us, which they did, routinely.

One game stands out as the height of jealousy that followed us. One of our better players showed up late to a game.  He had missed several innings, and we inserted him immediately into the lineup. Jerry went right to work and smacked a double.  When he was safely in to second base, the opposing captain approached the lead umpire.

After a lengthy discussion, the captain stepped away and the umpire moved from behind the plate toward the pitcher’s mound. He adamantly signaled that Jerry was out!

Then he turned to us and said, “He can’t wear shorts. It’s not part of the uniform.”

We exploded with anger. There was no such rule, but we knew where we stood, and they weren’t going to change the call.

There was another problem that needed addressing. Jerry was our final substitute for the game. We only had ten players make it to the game, and when Jerry arrived, we put him right in the game. Now we had a choice. We could play with eight players, but we figured they would say we couldn’t do that and we’d forfeit the game. Or we could use Lenny.

Lenny was home on leave from the Naval Academy and came by to watch. He was sitting on the bench with us when all this was happening. In high school, Lenny was a legitimate pro prospect. He was the best player in our area. He played football for Navy, and they wanted him on their baseball team.

We moved quickly. Lenny was angry at what he thought was an unjust ruling. So he agreed to play for us. He got to bat two times in the remaining innings. Both times Lenny crushed the ball. He hit two homeruns and drove in five runs.

We won. Then we laughed all the way to our favorite watering hole where we analyzed the game.

This is a funny story that always reminds me how destructive jealousy can be. The teams in the league were envious of our talent. They didn’t like the way we looked. The umpires didn’t like us, because we were new to their league, and we were dominating it.

Jealousy drove the other team to cheat, and the umpire agreed to join in. We cheated when we put Lenny into our lineup. We didn’t tell him, but we added him under someone else’s name, somebody whose name was on the roster but not there for the game.

Jealousy leads to anger and unintended outcomes. Jealousy is destructive and can cause people to act in a way they wouldn’t act if emotions weren’t clouding their judgment.

In 1 Corinthians 3:3, Paul writes, “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?”

We were worldly. The league was worldly. The whole experience was worldly. I believe in the redeeming qualities of sports. Beauty, fair play, sportsmanship all can elevate the human spirit. Jealousy can bring it all crashing down to the basest qualities of humanity.

That was the end of our softball team. We never entered that league again. A few guys played with other teams in other leagues. As a group, we were done. The joy was gone, but the memory of one game remains.

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We’ve just completed our building remodel, and I’ve spent much of the past two days moving back into my office.  Furniture needed to be located and moved. Computer components came back from a dust-free environment. Then there were books—plenty of books—seventeen boxes of them found their way back from storage.  They needed to be organized and then placed on shelves.

This disarray threw me. I started barking out complaints, “Where’s my chair? Where's my stool? Somebody took my monitor and surge protector. And where are the doors to my cabinet?”

Vicki said, “They’re here. You act like somebody stole them.”

Obviously, I was not my usual cheery self. I was unsettled. I enjoy change. It’s fun, invigorating, and it makes me think differently. So why am I struggling with moving back into my office?

Even though I can operate amid chaos, there needs to be some order somewhere for me to cling to. Genesis 1 is all about order. God brings order to the chaos. Out of the void, God creates. God creates more than matter or things. God brings order to all matter.

Here I am among the disorder and chaos. I’m creating more havoc in a desperate attempt to claim order. Others suffer because I’m focused on the disruption of my order.

Now I understand that my overreaction is not just about my office. I’m bringing outside influences into my workspace. Worrying about my kids, my wife, my brother, my mother-in-law have thrown me off balance. I’m bringing worry into my work, and when I’m faced with some disorder, I’m responding inappropriately. Others are affected, and I just add to the disruption.

Writing this post has helped me regain some balance. By taking a step back and reflecting on the situation, I’m able to understand my response better. It’s not fair to those I work with to be subjected to overreactions.

I’m trying hard to rest in the buoyancy of God’s grace.

Look around in your workplace and see the one who’s off balance. Who’s responding inappropriately to change? Empathize and know that order can be restored. Offer a little encouragement.  That's what grace is for. 

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A colleague, Steven, stepped into my office to chat. During our conversation, he said that he wished he had more time to read.  Then Steven alluded to how nice it must be for me to do all this reading.

I told Steven how difficult it was for me to find time to do extensive reading. He looked at me quizzically, and I quickly told him that I felt guilty spending too much time reading because it took me away from my work.

With a look that was part puzzled and astonished he said, “Really?”

My work requires me to read a diverse amount of material. We then synthesize it into workable concepts, incorporating it into our programs to advance our core purpose:  To serve God by creating opportunities for people to encounter God for the transformation of daily life, work, and our world. 

Sometimes we talk about what I read in a setting of mutual sharing of ideas. Other times I read and assimilate the information on my own, looking for ways to share it more broadly with my colleagues. I know what I’m reading is important. I understand my responsibility to the broader team, which I serve. It’s just that reading doesn’t feel like work.

Reading is an important part of my job, but I probably enjoy reading too much. Reading feels like play .

The best thing for me to do is to get over my little hang-up and just do my job. Reading is an important function in my work. I understand it. I just find it difficult to do.

Five times in Mark’s gospel, Jesus deals with the Apostles lack of understanding. When an epiphany, like my conversation with Steven, strikes, I’m often reminded of Jesus’ words to the twelve, “Do you still not understand?”

Maybe I don’t, but I’m really trying to understand, but understanding needs to be demonstrated through action.  Help me Lord.  Let the Holy Spirit guide my path.

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