Tuesday 30 October 2007

Humility

Last week our Ethics lecture took place in the living room of a storyteller and author who was from the Hindu tradition. This was fascinating as Debjani shared her views on wide ranging issues of life and faith. Coming from the Methodist church I have always felt privileged to be part of a society that has placed such a high regard for all people. But I was challenged by Debjani's view of inclusivity which was a much broader approach. The respect for all traditions was truly humbling. I have always learnt much from sharing in the faith of other people from a wide tradition. What have you learnt? and from whom?

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Ethics???

I am due to have my tutorial next week to decide on my title for my assignment on Ethics.
I somehow want to get work, ethics and theology linked and I am considering the use of some study on the Brady (the company I work for) Ethics policy. Not sure how this would work yet but I am particularly interested in whether the policy is intentioned to support a positive ethical management approach or whether it is just a box-ticked? Not sure about the theological link yet... Any ideas on what I could focus on?

Monday 15 October 2007

Challenge

Today was quite a challenge - physically & mentally rather than spiritually!
I had a very important work meeting which ran from 8.00am-12.30pm in Banbury and then a 2 hour drive to get to college just in time. I was pretty tired through the seesions and the OT review of genre was fairly steady. However the worship was very meaningful and extremely thought provoking. I will look to add a "question" tomorrow night.

Monday 8 October 2007

Biblical truth

We covered some ground today which demonstrated a complete turnaround in understanding over the past 30 years of the archaeological evidence to support the biblical accounts of the Settlement. Although we have not looked at this in detail it raises a great question. When we say the Bible is infallible does that mean our interpretation of it can never change in any fundamental way?

Settling In

Well two weeks in and everyone is starting to settle in to their new routine (for some it is a renewal of an old routine!). I managed to get some reasonable time in over the past week in reading - although the postal strike put paid to some plans.
The Old Testament (OT) study is very interesting for me. I am learning concepts that I have never really covered before and it is really encouraging me to spend more time studying the OT and OT times (I say this now - the proof is in the pudding as they say). I am enjoying the friendship and encouragement from the group.
The vocational discernment is helping a bit but I am actually not spending much time thinking or reflecting about my calling at the moment. Getting to grips with what I have to read and submit is providing enough for all my focus. However I know I am in the right place at the right time.

Monday 1 October 2007

Worship

We shared in a short act of worship today with Holy Communion. It was truly liberating experience to have worship as part of your "working" day. I will look forward to that special time every week now. Fantastic!

Connections

One of the people on the course I met today is associated with one of my Dad's previous churches (Dad is a Methodist Minister). It was quite a shock to realise this connection and I was able to share some names that we both knew.

Introductions

Today was the first day of formal sessions on the course. We were looking at our Vocational Discernment (what do you want to be when you grow up?) and an Introduction to the Old Testament. Lots of interesting and helpful stuff and a good chance to get to know a bit more about my colleagues. We were also introduced to the role and function of the Methodist Conference. One of the challenges for us was to consider how we would cope working in a position where there is sometimes very little support. This really interested me because this may be something to do with my calling i.e. finding realistic ways to provide some support to people in work. This is definitely something that needs more reflection.