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My apologies all the way around for what amounted to a great big tease last week when no video was embedded in the previous blog. The problem has been sorted out but the only solution is to include the link rather than the actual video. The ideas that Dr. Amy Sherman, a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research (where she directs the Center on Faith in Communities), puts forward is worthy of our consideration as we embark on vocational guilds together.

We are back and off of the July Screen Sabbatical. This week’s blog post is an interview with James K.A. Smith and Roberta Ahmanson and they are discussing a fascinating topic—patronage. Most interviews that are transcribed can be a little rough and this one is no exception, but it is well worth the read.  Patronage is a lost concept in our culture today and especially with a view towards eternity. 

Aaahhhh! Summer is here and hopefully that means you will be taking some much-needed time off. Interestingly, Americans have become so focused on productivity that we often struggle with how to unwind, destress, and actually relax. Many of us even wrestle with whether or not we should strive to achieve these things a part from a perfect world, and sense that does not exist, then why try.

We are all familiar with the exciting and encouraging opening lines of Oh the Places You’ll Go. I read it the night before going off to college, full of confidence, ready to start my life, excited to see where my brains and my feet would take me. 

It is hard to believe. It is has been two years since the Pulse shooting that tragically took the lives of forty-nine people. Forty-nine lives that seem to have been cut short and many, many more who will be forever impacted—families, friends, and first responders (including all those at ORMC).

On Case Thorp’s recent trip to Scotland, he came upon this amazing stained glass window at Stirling Castle—Holy Rude Church. This window was dedicated to the Merchant Guild. By clicking on the audio bar below, hear an explanation of its origins and meaning from Brian Morrison, an elder in the Church of Scotland. Enjoy the incredible workmanship reflected in the artistry of this stained glass…what a thing of beauty!

“It’s not enough to just build tools. They need to be used for good,” said a repentant and scared Mark Zuckerberg before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. Facebook embodies today’s cultural zeitgeist, and its disregard for privacy coupled with its mammoth influence have caused our nation to question how its unhealthy practices are impacting culture. Makoto Fujimura, surely, is pleased with Zuckerberg’s comment, as he has painted a vision for such and more in Culture Care: Reconnecting with Beauty for Our Common Life.

Another school year is drawing to a close, vacation plans will soon be realized, and that business phenomenon that closely resembles a summer malaise is just on the horizon. Amidst all of these, for most of us, during the months of June, July, and August life moves more slowly or at least you have some extended period where this is the case. Even though it may take longer to transact business in the summer, there seem to be margins in our schedule that we do not enjoy at any other point in the calendar.  There are enough distruptors in the ebbs and flow of life that usually our lives are lived at a slightly slower pace. These different rhythms provide welcome opportunities to squeeze in more reading. 

At the corner of Liberty and Albercorn in historic Savannah, Georgia, stands a monument to the work of the Roman Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Serving the city since 1845, the sisters pioneered the creation of schools, orphanages, and hospitals, most of which still thrive today. Over the years the sisters served students, orphans, slave children, and more. They battled yellow fever and nursed Civil War soldiers back to health. The newly minted unweathered monument describes this work and concludes, “They made historic contributions to this city in the fields of education, medicine, and pastoral care.”

As Human Resources (HR) professionals, we’ve all heard the phrase ‘seat at the table’; this notion that we must manage our careers in such a way to be included in senior-level business decisions in order to be considered successful. Many of us are over it.