flotsam & jetsam (10.26.07)

Ms. Noonan knows a "buncha hooey" when she sees it.  I am struck by her observation of many of the young professionals in journalism and other fields:

It has to do with what sometimes seems to me to be the limited lives that have been or are being lived by the rising generation of American professionals in the arts, journalism, academia and business. They have had good lives, happy lives, but there is a sense with some of them that they didn't so much live it as view it. That they learned too much from media and not enough from life's difficulties. That they saw much of what they know in a film or play and picked up all the memes and themes.

I think this quiet disease is what Neil Postman diagnosed in "Amusing Ourselves to Death."  Now we see the symptoms played out in real time where lives and careers are ruined. 

Al Mohler reviews what looks to be an interesting read on the loss of vocation in modern culture.  It is entitled, The Listening Heart: Vocation and the Crisis of Modern Culture by A. J. Conyers.  Leland Ryken and Gene Edward Veith both have helpful reads along the same lines in Redeeming the Time and God at Work respectively.

Resurgence posts an interesting interview with Mark Dever about his recent book, What is a Healthy Church?

A 750-year-old church in Germany is moved 7.5 miles to a neighboring town in order to save it.  Can you imagine pastoring a congregation in a building that first appears on the record books in 1297?  Be sure to look at the photo gallery.

Comments

[MikeS]

Re: old church
We visited Delft, Netherlands once, and the town square has two big church buildings. One is called the Old Church and the other New Church. Well, the new church was built in 1400 and the old church 1200. There are many church buildings in Europe that are over 1,000 years old.

You know what they say is the key difference between Americans and Europeans. Europeans think 200 miles is a long distance and Americans think 200 years is a long time.

[anom]

Thanks for listing those books on vocation. I've been struggling with my place in the work world recently. I've thought I've done well to keep (properly) a heavy emphasis on family and church. But I have not been able to redeem my time at work and really do it to the glory of God. I've worked hard, but I don't look forward to doing the work as if I am doing it unto the Lord.

[jon]

Anom,

Glad you found the link to be helpful. I have read Ryken's and Veith's work and found them both to be very helpful. If you get a chance, invest in reading one or both...I like Ryken best because he deals with leisure as well as work.