Implicit Association Tests
A couple years ago I posted the link to the Harvard Study which is attempting to help us understand human beings natural biases. For instance do you have a natural bias against people of color or of another religion? Do you have implicit associations with the roles of males and females? Do you think you are neutral in the way you view people and situations? Perhaps you are or perhaps, in the words of an Avenue Q song, everyone is a little bit racist.
Here is the link again, they have a few more tests since 2008 such as the presidents and weapons.
Take a couple of minutes and if you would like to share any bias you might have in the comments sections feel free.
These are not to stereotype people but to help each of us better understand ourselves so that we might be able to become aware of our biases and work on them.
I took a couple and I have a slight preference to light skin tones, slight association with males and science, and "neutral" on homosexuality/straight.
Here is the link again, they have a few more tests since 2008 such as the presidents and weapons.
Take a couple of minutes and if you would like to share any bias you might have in the comments sections feel free.
These are not to stereotype people but to help each of us better understand ourselves so that we might be able to become aware of our biases and work on them.
I took a couple and I have a slight preference to light skin tones, slight association with males and science, and "neutral" on homosexuality/straight.
If you are minister of a church, please consider...
If you are minister of a church, please consider the idea that you are not a shepherd. It is an identity of many ministers in my context that the best clergy are those who function like pastors, or shepherd.
Shepherd is then defined as those who seek out lost sheep. Shepherd is that one who feeds the sheep and leads them to still waters. Shepherds are those who fight of danger and the sheep know the voice of the shepherd.
Ministers are not shepherds. In fact we have a shepherd, the Good Shepherd, in Jesus Christ. Ministers are not shepherds, Jesus Christ is.
If you are still holding on to the idea of minister as shepherd because you have a strong connection to that imagery, then might I suggest that instead of thinking of the ministry of the clergy as shepherds we might begin to think of the ministry of the minister are a sheepdog.
Ministers, like sheepdogs, are not responsible for the flock. We take our instructions from the Shepherd. We nip at the heels of the sheep. We help guide the sheep as we best can understand the instructions of the Shepherd. We are not to seek out lost sheep, that is the role of the Shepherd but we are embedded with the sheep. Sheepdogs rely on the care, wisdom and guidance from the Shepherd as much as the sheep and in fact are called to intense training with the Shepherd in order to make sure we are functioning as best as we are able.
Being a sheepdog means we are able to say no to responsibilities which are asked of us which are the responsibilities of the Shepherd. Being sheepdogs means we identify that we are not the Shepherd and that we are in need as much as anyone.
So, if you are a minister of a church please consider letting go of the idea that you are the shepherd of "your flock".
Christ is the Shepherd.
The flock belongs to God.
We are servants of the Shepherd.
Shepherd is then defined as those who seek out lost sheep. Shepherd is that one who feeds the sheep and leads them to still waters. Shepherds are those who fight of danger and the sheep know the voice of the shepherd.
If you are still holding on to the idea of minister as shepherd because you have a strong connection to that imagery, then might I suggest that instead of thinking of the ministry of the clergy as shepherds we might begin to think of the ministry of the minister are a sheepdog.
Ministers, like sheepdogs, are not responsible for the flock. We take our instructions from the Shepherd. We nip at the heels of the sheep. We help guide the sheep as we best can understand the instructions of the Shepherd. We are not to seek out lost sheep, that is the role of the Shepherd but we are embedded with the sheep. Sheepdogs rely on the care, wisdom and guidance from the Shepherd as much as the sheep and in fact are called to intense training with the Shepherd in order to make sure we are functioning as best as we are able.
Being a sheepdog means we are able to say no to responsibilities which are asked of us which are the responsibilities of the Shepherd. Being sheepdogs means we identify that we are not the Shepherd and that we are in need as much as anyone.
So, if you are a minister of a church please consider letting go of the idea that you are the shepherd of "your flock".
The flock belongs to God.
We are servants of the Shepherd.
Expectations
Reverend Nancy Allen delivered a sermon the other day about expectations. The text that was used to root the sermon was Luke 3:15 vv.
After the sermon and while the communion liturgy was going on I could only think about my own expectations.
I am frustrated with my fellow clergy for generally one thing. I perceive a lack of urgency in their ministries which leads to complacency with the status quo. The status quo is not necessarily bad, but complacency is a dangerous position to be in as a leader of a local church.
Rev. Allen shared that our expectations of ourself are often very high, which on one level I agree with. I have high expectations of myself when it comes to things in which people are dependent upon me in some way - parenting, sermon delivery, leading a Bible study, playing on a sporting team. I expect that I will rise to a level of excellence that is impossible to reach and then critique myself afterwards when I did not meet that level.
However, I wonder if one of the reasons I am frustrated with my fellow clergy is not because there is no sense of urgency in their ministry but that expectations are too low.
We do not expect people to be generous unless we have a massive stewardship campaign.
We do not expect worship to change people's hearts.
We do not expect prayer to be any more or less effective than counting to ten when we are angry.
We do not expect God is working toward a peaceful world.
We do not expect God to work.
We do not expect that violence will ever end.
We do not expect lions to lay down with lambs.
I wonder if the reason we do not have vibrant churches is because we do not have any expectations. Who wants to be a part of a community with little to no expectations for hope, change, life and transformation?
So I extend the invitation to all Christians to raise our expectations. We have lived with low expectations for far too long
After the sermon and while the communion liturgy was going on I could only think about my own expectations.
I am frustrated with my fellow clergy for generally one thing. I perceive a lack of urgency in their ministries which leads to complacency with the status quo. The status quo is not necessarily bad, but complacency is a dangerous position to be in as a leader of a local church.
Rev. Allen shared that our expectations of ourself are often very high, which on one level I agree with. I have high expectations of myself when it comes to things in which people are dependent upon me in some way - parenting, sermon delivery, leading a Bible study, playing on a sporting team. I expect that I will rise to a level of excellence that is impossible to reach and then critique myself afterwards when I did not meet that level.
However, I wonder if one of the reasons I am frustrated with my fellow clergy is not because there is no sense of urgency in their ministry but that expectations are too low.
We do not expect people to be generous unless we have a massive stewardship campaign.
We do not expect worship to change people's hearts.
We do not expect prayer to be any more or less effective than counting to ten when we are angry.
We do not expect God is working toward a peaceful world.
We do not expect God to work.
We do not expect that violence will ever end.
We do not expect lions to lay down with lambs.
I wonder if the reason we do not have vibrant churches is because we do not have any expectations. Who wants to be a part of a community with little to no expectations for hope, change, life and transformation?
So I extend the invitation to all Christians to raise our expectations. We have lived with low expectations for far too long
Be the change by Jason Valendy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.