In the latest issue of "Christianity Today" magazine, Philip Yancey quotes George Orwell's essay "Notes on the Way". My curiosity was piqued, so I checked out the essay. At the end Orwell mentions that Karl Marx's statement "religion is the opiate of the masses" is taken out of context. I've always heard that Marx was indicting religious leaders for keeping people "drugged" so that political leaders could do whatever they wanted. But Orwell points out that the sentence immediately preceding the famous quote is: "Religion is the sigh of the soul in a soulless world." In other words the soul itself creates religion as a way of coping with a world that is becoming less and less human.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." (John 14:6) Jesus didn't offer religion, he offered himself. And through His Church he continues to offer himself. We are offering, not a drug, but that which souls are truly longing for.
(BTW, Orwell wrote his essay in 1940. But Marx is still being taken out of context.)
Sunday, August 31, 2008
shadowing
How does one learn to be a leader? One technique is to "shadow" someone who is a model leader. I've heard about people being given the job assignment of "shadowing" someone (which sounds like something from film noir or detective fiction) so that they can learn how to do a particular job. I've never been given such an assignment, but I was just thinking about leaders that I look up to and how they would handle situations I'm facing. I guess I'm mentally shadowing them and trying to learn from what I think their responses would be.
I'm sure that when people are given the assignment of shadowing an executive it's hoped that the underling will also pick up some of the higher-up's character qualities. So this little mental exercise is teaching me a couple of things. If I'm to become a better leader, I need to be a continual learner. Shadowing isn't just for newbies. And how good a leader I become depends on who I'm learning from. It's not just a matter of learning specific job skills. It's a matter of character development. And whose character do I most want to emulate?
My little shadowing exercise actually came as I was reflecting on a prayer from Sacred Space: "May nothing ever separate me from You." In my pursuit of being a better leader am I staying as close as I can to the Person who started a movement 2000 years ago that turned the Roman Empire upside down and is continuing to change lives today? How well do I know the details of Jesus' life? How would he handle situations I'm facing? And wouldn't it be great to have his character?
"Be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ." 1 Cor. 11:1 RSV
I'm sure that when people are given the assignment of shadowing an executive it's hoped that the underling will also pick up some of the higher-up's character qualities. So this little mental exercise is teaching me a couple of things. If I'm to become a better leader, I need to be a continual learner. Shadowing isn't just for newbies. And how good a leader I become depends on who I'm learning from. It's not just a matter of learning specific job skills. It's a matter of character development. And whose character do I most want to emulate?
My little shadowing exercise actually came as I was reflecting on a prayer from Sacred Space: "May nothing ever separate me from You." In my pursuit of being a better leader am I staying as close as I can to the Person who started a movement 2000 years ago that turned the Roman Empire upside down and is continuing to change lives today? How well do I know the details of Jesus' life? How would he handle situations I'm facing? And wouldn't it be great to have his character?
"Be imitators of me, even as I am of Christ." 1 Cor. 11:1 RSV
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