Entries Tagged 'Vocation' ↓

On this Veterans Day (observed), I would like to salute the veterans of our armed forces, past, present, and future (which includes our troops on active duty who, if they survive, will become veterans). To them I say, I support you not just by feeling sorry for you. Rather, I admire your prowess, exult in your victories, and thank you for protecting me.

I observed, as an outsider and a guest, a congregational voters’ meeting that was trying to decide whether to call as their school’s principal a pastor or a teacher. Strangely missing from the discussion was the doctrine of vocation. A member asked me to blog about this, so as to solicit my readers’ famous insights.

An earlier version of this post gave my views, but I decided to cut them out for now. What do you think? In light of the doctrine of vocation, what is a pastor called (and equipped) to do? What is a principal called (and equipped) to do? How would you vote on whether to call a pastor or a teacher to be principal of your parochial school?

Look what I can do with my new blog! I offer here this video on the doctrine of vocation for your edification and theological analysis.

The release of a DVD anthology of the first 19 Three Stooges episodes is the occasion of some much-deserved critical commentary. The funniest part of the article is the juxtaposition of the expert’s title with the topic that he is expounding:

“I call it their ‘triadic dynamic,’ ” says Jon Solomon, the Robert D. Novak professor of Western civilization and culture at the University of Illinois.”

But the commentary, with its background information, is quite revealing, such as this on the typical plot structure of a Stooge episode:

The basic premise of many a Stooges comedy wasn’t complicated: The three down-on-their-luck schmoes take on some job for which they are completely unqualified, making a complete mess of it. For example, after happening upon some wealthy homeowner with leaky pipes, Moe will declare, “Sure, we can do your plummin’, Toots. We’ll have you fixed up in a jiffy!” Typically, this is followed by more broken pipes, pipes clobbering heads and, of course, a flood.

See, even the Three Stooges are all about the doctrine of vocation!