Tag: featured

The Climate Strike, Scripture and the Deep Question of Value

A. G. SiegristLeave a comment

How much is a great whale worth—alive? One study puts the number at $2 million. Whales are an important part of marine ecosystems. They sequester carbon and distribute nutrients.  But putting a number like that on a whale brings up deeper questions about value.

Yesterday young people led a global protest against the lack of serious action on climate change. Let’s be clear, the debate is not essentially a disagreement about the relative importance of the economy or the environment. There are jobs to be had and money to be made on both sides. The real issue raised by these activists is one of value. Continue reading “The Climate Strike, Scripture and the Deep Question of Value” →

Vocation and the Economy of God

A. G. SiegristLeave a comment

On my desk I have a sticky note with a few key words that guide my preaching. One of them is the word ‘meaning’. I think we’re all looking for meaning. We want our lives to mean something and we want to participate in something bigger than ourselves. We want to make a difference in something that really matters. Yet I think it’s increasingly uncommon for people to have this sense, this deep conviction that their lives mean something. This is one of the reasons that I’ve found myself drawn again to the theological concept of vocation. Continue reading “Vocation and the Economy of God” →

Big Mountains and Dreams that were too Small

A. G. SiegristLeave a comment

The other week I was thinking about the way life unfolds along all kinds of unpredictable lines. I was reminded of an unfinished essay I’ve had sitting on my laptop for some time. Here it is . . .

The hike was not more than four or five kilometers long. We had just started when two fat-tire bikers zipped by. As I watched them drift up the banked turns and grab as much of the up-and-down as they could, it was hard not to be a little envious. They were alone. They could travel at speed if they wanted. I on the other-hand, was trying to convince a four-year-old that it makes more sense to let the legs of his rain pants hang over his boots than to tuck them inside. Not yet out of sight behind us was the place where we stopped to deal with an issue of bunchy socks. It was chilly, the rain morphed into snow and then back to rain. Continue reading “Big Mountains and Dreams that were too Small” →

Five Thoughts on Laudito Si

A. G. SiegristLeave a comment

My household relies on one of those old-style push lawnmowers with rotary blades and no engine. I like it for a couple of reasons. First, it’s quiet: I can mow and still talk to my kids. Second, it meets two needs at once: the lawn needs cut and I need exercise. I’ll admit that it doesn’t always do a great job when the grass gets particularly long. However, the only thing it’s cost us in the last ten years is a little bit of lapping compound (to sharpen the blades).

As I was mowing last week I was thinking about Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter Laudito Si (On Care for Our Common Home). Like most people, I usually think about papal documents as I cut the grass. Laudito Si has been on my to-read list for a while. I tried reading through it online a few times (available here), but because reading on a screen stinks I never finished it. Continue reading “Five Thoughts on Laudito Si” →

Reflections on the “Clergy Health Crises”  

A. G. SiegristLeave a comment

I believe it was the ancient theologian Irenaeus who said “the glory of God is a human being fully alive.” Part of that celebrated state, it seems right to assume, would be satisfaction with one’s work. If that’s true then pastors are (reportedly) well-positioned to bring God buckets full of the good stuff. Apparently pastors are more satisfied with their work then just about anyone else. One survey from the US found that more than 87% of pastors were very satisfied with their work. That’s 20% better than painters and sculptors and a bit better than physical therapists and firefighters. However, knowing pastors as I do, it’s a number that I find hard to believe. It turns out that the survey didn’t actually include very many pastors—just 68. What seems more realistic is the finding of another study that suggests clergy are experiencing depression at a rate 3% higher than the general population. The disparity is even higher among men. Many pastors do find ministry to be deeply satisfying, yet even they find it to be full of anguish as well.

Continue reading “Reflections on the “Clergy Health Crises”  “ →