Paradox:
Finding Your Piece of the Puzzle
Staff Development Conference
George Fox University
October 23, 2008
Dan Brunner
Paradox
Paradox
• Being – Doing
Being – Doing
Being – Doing
Being – Doing
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers!”
Mark 3:34
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he
said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and
you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings this is
impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:27
Being – Doing
“The desperate need today is not for a
great number of intelligent people, or
gifted people, but for deep people.”
Richard Foster
Being – Doing
“Until we love, we really do not even know
who we are. In fact, we can buy into all the
self-discovery the world has to offer and still
not know ourselves.”
Richard Rohr
Being – Doing
• Doing…
• God’s Spirit has given every believer a spiritual gift to
use in service of others
• Being…
• God will do whatever is necessary to make us reliant
on Him alone
For Reflection & Discussion
• How much of what you “do” is a genuine
expression of who you “are”?
Paradox
• Being – Doing
• Solitude – Community
Solitude – Community
• Hearing the one Voice
• Gaining freedom from the many voices
Solitude – Community
Solitude – Community
“Entering a private room and shutting the
door…does not mean that we immediately shut
out all our inner doubts, anxieties, fears, bad
memories, unresolved conflicts, angry feelings,
and impulsive desires. On the contrary, when
we have removed our outer distractions, we
often find that our inner distractions manifest
themselves to us in full force. We often use the
outer distractions to shield ourselves from
interior noises. It is thus not surprising that we
have a difficult time being alone.”
Henri Nouwen
Solitude – Community
Solitude – Community
Solitude – Community
“We find ourselves not independently of other
people and institutions but through them. We
never get to the bottom of our selves on our
own. We discover who we are face to face and
side by side with others in work, love, and
learning.”
Robert Bellah et al.
Solitude – Community
• Unconditional Love
• Unapologetic Accountability
For Reflection & Discussion
• How do you personally live out the tension
between solitude and community in your life?
Paradox
• Being – Doing
• Solitude – Community
• Servanthood – Mission
Servanthood – Mission
“For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for
many.”
Mark 10:45
Servanthood – Mission
“When our character is defined by
integrity, we can be trusted with
power. … The condition and depth
of your integrity determines how
you will use authority when
entrusted with it.”
Erwin McManus
Servanthood – Mission
“A non-servant…might become a natural
servant through a long arduous discipline of
learning to listen. …True listening builds
strength in other people.”
Robert Greenleaf
Servanthood – Mission
“Thus if you want to know how the
neighbor is to be loved and want to have an
outstanding pattern of this, consider
carefully how you love yourself. In need or
in danger you would certainly want
desperately to be loved and assisted with all
the counsels, resources, and powers not
only of all people but of all creation.”
Martin Luther
Servanthood – Mission
For this reason the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to
take it up again. No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it up again. I have
received this command from my
Father.
John 10:17-18
Servanthood – Mission
Servanthood – Mission
“The place God calls you to is the place
where your deep gladness and the world’s
deep hunger meet.”
Frederick Buechner
For Reflection & Discussion
• Where do you feel the pull towards servanthood
in your life? Is it healthy?
• Are you clear enough in your mission that you
are able to say “no” to other good things?
Paradox
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•
•
•
Being – Doing
Solitude – Community
Servanthood – Mission
Clarity – Fog
Clarity – Fog
Clarity – Fog
Clarity – Fog
“Craving clarity, we attempt to eliminate
the risk of trusting God. Fear of the
unknown path stretching ahead of us
destroys childlike trust in the Father’s
active goodness and unrestricted love.”
Brennan Manning
Clarity – Fog
“It is the characteristic of
human nature that we can face
the great crisis moments of life
with honour and dignity, but
allow the routine demands of
everyday life to irritate and
annoy us.”
William Barclay
Clarity – Fog
“The reality of our faith is
demonstrated more in the way
we walk with Jesus in the
mundane than in the number
of religious meetings we
attend.”
Kenneth Boa
For Reflection & Discussion
• Have you had moments of “clarity” in your life?
What were they like? Were you able to trust and
obey?
• In what ways do you need to face into the foggy,
mundane realities of your journey?