A Closer Look #5 Teaching as a Sacramental Act

A Closer Look

Today I have a review of Teaching as a Sacramental Act by Mary Elizabeth Mullino Moore, a professor-turned-dean and ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church. I found a lot of inspiration on Moore’s book and hope you’ll give it a closer look. You can also read, rate, and comment on my review at Amazon.

We collect wisdom and this is a wisdom book. Teaching is quickly described as something which is not “about,” “for,” or “by way of” the sacraments but can be approached in such a way that it is a holy experience, it becomes sacramental (5). In this way, one can set aside the frenetic energy sometimes needed to teach and take time and energy to focus on the art of teaching as a blessing. Professor Moore collects the wisdom of inspirational Christian and spiritual leaders who, coming from different contexts across time and space, have all influenced her theology of teaching. Perhaps it’s because I’ve already drank from the well of so many whom she affords attention that the wisdom seemed to run so deep (Maya Angelou, Rita Nakashima Brock, Walter Brueggemann, Martin Luther King,

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When Men Are Boys.

2013.01.17 When Men Are Boys
I didn’t mean to become an adult who plays video games but it happened. I think video games all have tremendous capacity to be art even if the vast majority of them are a commercial product first, art second (video games are, after all, a $67 billion industry).
I’ve played the first Dead Island and there’s plenty of fun scares in the all-out zombie mayhem. It’s also impossible to miss the digital “bikini babes” everywhere. Sure, 99% of them are grotesque walking corpses who want to give my character a masticated makeover but

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When (Not) to Press for an Excuse.

2013.01.27 When Not to Press for an Excuse

I’m in a position through my vocation to throw a lot of opportunity at people and see what happens. Some of them leap at it, some need a little more coaxing, and others always have an excuse.

I recently asked several people to step up for a service opportunity. A small handful said “yes” immediately. I got a few excuses, too, nothing out of the ordinary. Then there was this young man who simply told me this:

I can’t, sorry.

In a strange way, I sort of respected him more for

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