Sunday, June 7, 2009

Putting it into Practice.

We might say that some swimmers become coaches. And, there are some swimmers who could never coach. It's possibly just as true to say that there are some coaches who could never swim. In other words, there are people who know all the right moves and techniques, but could never or would never put them into practice.

One of my favorite moments at Synod so far has been the ordination of our Professors of Theology. I asked around a bit and I am not aware of any other American denomination that honors that office. I am proud of us for that as I see it honoring Jesus' call to love the Lord with all our mind. I once read in a newspaper article a ranking of various denominations and their average SAT score. I remember that Unitarian Universalists were first, there was a Jewish and Lutheran denomination and then us!! The RCA had the fourth highest SAT average in the country. We are an educated denomination. We value education.

Our President-elect Seawood noted how well-written our General Synods often are. There are well-written reports and recommendations that reveal well thought out arguments (and often passion and feeling). Rev. Seawood affirmed this. However, he also noted how often it seemed that these great words were not put into practice. In other words, the RCA has often seemed to be a coach who knows all the moves and techniques, but could never or would never put them into practice. Rev. Seawood rightly called us to task on this.

Congratulations to him.

A challenge to us: to continue to value our education (even if it delays ordination) but not to view education as an end in itself. Continue to write well crafted recommendations (and blogs!), but not let the recommendation be our final act on the matter.

Professors of Theology
Educated
Great writing
But have to practice

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