An Odyssey of Epic Proportion<\/p>\n
The term odyssey is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a voyage or series of experiences that give knowledge and understanding through many changes of fortune. \u00a0To me, LPG5 has been a true odyssey marked by amazing global experiences, an exponential increase in knowledge through diverse exposure to powerful texts, writings and resources, and a life-altering shift of perspective and understanding from the astounding lives met along the way. \u00a0As I write this concluding review, I am reflecting particularly on the concluding thoughts of each of my essays that have been a culminating piece to of each of the semesters experienced. From the exploration of happiness, human flourishing, and the church and politics, to the investigation of leadership, power, ethics, and social movements, an odyssey of epic proportion has been the result of my great fortune.<\/p>\n
The prevailing question I entered this program with was, \u201cHow can the Church better contribute to making the world a better place?\u201d For my first essay entitled, \u00a0Making the World a Better Place: Understanding the Pursuit of Happiness and Human Flourishing<\/em>, my concluding thought was the Church has lost its voice<\/em> in our culture. In my second essay, Making the World a Better Place: Understanding the Church and Politics,\u00a0<\/em>my\u00a0culminating\u00a0thought was for the Church to find its voice in our culture, it must discover or rediscover its identity<\/em>, narrative<\/em>, and politic<\/em>. My third essay, Making the World a Better Place: Understanding Leadership, Power, and Ethics, <\/em>contributes the possibility that the Church will have its best opportunity to determine its identity, narrative,\u00a0and politic based on how it approaches, practices, and stewards leadership, power, and its ethic. I remember coming up with the the concluding thought, \u201cThe weave of leadership, power, and ethics is a constitution on which the possibility of personal\u00a0and social flourishing lies.\u201d Lastly, Making the World a Better Place: Understanding Social Movements,\u00a0<\/em>was my capstone essay that uncovered an organizing structure the Church may find necessary\u00a0to best\u00a0speak-up and ultimately help contribute to making the world a better place.<\/p>\n The work God has been doing in my heart and head through this epic odyssey currently has me packaging these thoughts in the following framework:<\/p>\n The voice<\/em> of the Church is\u00a0for the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized.<\/p>\n The identity<\/em> of the Church\u00a0is based on the incarnation and that God is with us and we are to be with those God is calling us to reach … becoming poor to reach the poor.<\/p>\n The narrative<\/em> of the Church is that all things can be made new.<\/p>\n The politic<\/em> of the Church is a politic of courage and hope.<\/p>\n Leadership<\/em> in the Church should be a leadership of thought and thoughtfulness.<\/p>\n Power<\/em> in the Church\u00a0is to be diffused and redistributed to the fringes.<\/p>\n And finally the Church is an ethic<\/em>, a way unto itself, the Kingdom and virtue of God’s way in this world and for this world and all of creation.<\/p>\n I do not mean to apply these conclusions universally. \u00a0Rather personally, for right where God has me now, and for what he is calling me to be concerned about and to attend to in the coming days of my life and ministry, he is wrecking my heart for these matters. \u00a0 I continue to be amazed by all that God is doing in my life, ministry, and calling through the Leadership and Global Perspectives doctorate. \u00a0I continue to be filled with gratitude and thankfulness for these days and the days ahead and what I know will continue to be a true odyssey of epic proportion.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An Odyssey of Epic Proportion The term odyssey is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a voyage or series of experiences that give knowledge and understanding through many changes of fortune. \u00a0To me, LPG5 has been a true odyssey marked by amazing global experiences, an exponential increase in knowledge through diverse exposure to powerful texts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[755],"class_list":["post-8851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-year-in-review","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}