Greetings from Floridia!
Thanks to those of you who are sharing some of your thoughts about Courage and Calling. For the next two weeks we will be looking at Chapter 2. I think this chapter is one of the most incredible chapters in any book I have read regarding finding one's place in the world. The part that just blew me away was the idea that my vocational identity is aligned in some way with how I uniquely see the pain and brokenness of the world.

I would love you all to share if and how you identify with this idea. Does one of the way Smith describes connect with how you see the world's borkenness?

Let the Discussion Begin

Hello all. During these first two weeks we will be looking at the Introduction to our book and the first chapter (this longer span of time allows folks to get their books).

Introduction: In the Introduction Smith sets out a three-part understanding of "calling." He writes, "First there is the call to be a Christian...To be a Christian is to respond to the call to know and love God and to know and love ourselves." Smith continues, "Second, for each individual there is a specific call - a defining purpose or mission, a reason for being. Every individual is called of God to respond uniquely through service in the world." Finally, he concludes, "...there is the calling we face each day in response to the multiple demands on our lives - our immediate duties and responsibilities."

As part of the third understanding of call, Smith says, "But not all the immediate and legitimate needs that I face are necessarily my responsibility. I may be 'overhearing' God's call to another. The danger is always that these daily and immediate needs would crowd out our capacity to respond to our unique vocation."

As we begin our discussion, let's look at this three-part understanding:

• 1) How do you respond to this division? Does Smith's description of our "Christian calling" (To be a Christian is to respond to the call to know and love God and to know and love ourselves) surprise you? In what way?


• 2) What are your current "immediate duties and responsibilities?" Do you identify with his warning about these duties crowding out our capacity to respond to our unique vocation? How has this happened in your life? Did you notice that tricky little word respond? Does this imply that figuring out our "calling" is not so much about our action as it is about our response? ummm....


• 3) As a back door way to begin our discussion about our "unique calling," I would like you to remember a time when you were involved in some activity during which (and after which) you reflected upon that experience and said "I loved doing that!"
  
  So what do you think? Try to keep each response to 2 to 3 paragraphs.
  

God bless each of you - Becce

Online Meet & Greet

Hi everyone out there. Thursday evening a group of us met at FHPC. We all left excited about what this summer will be for us as we read this book together. We are going to start slow in order to let folks get their books. If you have your book, go ahead and read the Introduction and Chapter 1.

As we are getting organized, let's also get acquainted. If you would like, please give us a quick introduction to yourself (what you want us to know :)), and a short bit on why this whole topic interests you.

I'll go first. My name is Becce Bettridge. I live here in Friday Harbor and have for almost 3 years. I love it and love the people here who have become very dear to me. I read this book for the first time as part of a Spiritual Formation program I am participating in as part of my study to become a Spiritual Director. I have always been very "busy" for God, but in this new season of my life, I want to move into what I do through the doorway of who I am. This idea of "vocation" helps me do that.

I am Charlene Amsden. I have only lived in Friday Harbor since January. I moved here from Honolulu, Hawaii, but I am originally from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I spent most of my growing up years in the PNW and its inland empire. It is good to be home again where the air is fresh and crisp. I come to this study seeking direction from God in this new season of my life. I am looking forward to the coming weeks as we study and grow together.

So enough from us . . . anyone else? Introduce yourself in the comments. (If you don't know how to do that, please see the previous post.)

How to Comment on This Blog

Hi, I am Charlene. Welcome to the Summer Reading Group. As we gear up to get started, everyone will need an identity in order to comment on this blog. There are any number of ways to get an identity, some more invasive and time consuming than others.

Several of us got together last night (Thursday, May 27th) and discussed the idea of having one, whole-group login I.D. so I looked into that this morning and it just isn't feasible. It would actually require more work and more explaining then what I am about to share.

First, if you already have ANY of the following accounts: Google (gmail); Live Journal; TypePad; AIM; OpenID; or WordPress, the user name and password for that account will work on this blog.



On the webpage below the comment box you will see a drop-down menu beside the words, "Comment as". Simply pick the ID you want to use and sign in as you would normally sign into your account. If you do not yet have one of those accounts, keep reading.

Of the five choices available, the fastest, easiest, least personally invasive way to get an account is to visit WordPress.com and create an account. The steps are quite simple:

1. Go to WordPress.com
2. Near the top, right-hand side of the page click the orange "sign-up now" tab.
3. Type in your "user name". This is the name we will see when you comment. My user name is Quilly.
4. Type in your password and confirm it. Make it easy to remember, you will have to use it often.
5. Type in your email address. WordPress will never send you spam. I have worked with them for years and use them on my professional website.
6. Check that you've read their fascinating terms of service.
7. Choose "just a user name please"
   
8. Click on the "next" button.

At this point, if you have a very common name, WordPress is going to tell you that it has already been taken. There is no way I could just sign in as Charlene. You may have to be creative. (For instance, I could be Char1ene -- using the number 1 in place of the L in my name.)

Once your name has been accepted you'll be taken to a screen that asks you to update your profile. Feel free to write as much or as little here as you wish. You may supply only your first and last initials if you wish, and fill-in the "about yourself" with the comment "Book study participant". You will be able to edit this section if you ever change your mind about what is written there.

Before you can save your profile, you will have to check your email and confirm your email address. After confirming your email and saving your profile, you will be lead to the log-in page. Go ahead and log in but you will just be taken back to the front page of WordPress. Don't worry about that. Just pop on over here and post your comment.

In the future when you wish to login, just come directly to the blog, choose the WordPress option and type in your user name. You will be prompted for your password.

If you can't seem to find the comment box, don't feel bad. It is a common problem. On this particular blog template the comment box is near the bottom of the post. In the screen shot below I have underlined the comment box in purple.


If you are having problems and need to talk to me personally, just click on my name -- Quilly -- it will take you to my profile where you will find my email address. Drop me a note. I check my email several times each day.

Relax and enjoy. It is easy once you get past the learning curve, and I'm here to help.

Charlene

Summer Reading Group Meets on May 27th

The Summer Reading Group (Courage & Calling) will meet for a study introduction on Thursday, May 27th at 6:30 p.m. in the Presbyterian Church Library. If you would like help with the "technology" part of this online group, please come and we will be happy to help you. Details of this group are posted on the Christian Women's Network web site as well as this blog.

Welcome to the Summer Reading Group

Courage and Calling
An On-line Summer Reading Project

Introduction

As Christians we are called to be part of what God is doing in the world here and now. But as we participate in God’s purposes in our time, we automatically become part of something much bigger than ourselves which spans all time and space – we become part of God’s plan for all humankind. “Yeah, right,” you say. “So how does that work on a daily basis for me?” The answer lies in an understanding of your life as VOCATION.

God has called you – first to Himself, to know and follow Him, but also to a specific purpose, a particular reason for being. According to Gordon Smith, the author of the book we will be reading together, this “Second Call,” defines our purpose or mission in life and is often termed vocation, from the Latin root meaning “calling” and it has implications for our work and occupation, but its ramifications reach far wider to include our giftedness and our weaknesses, who we are, and how we live with other people.

“Do I have a calling? And if I do, how do I live it out in the midst of all the challenges of my real life?”

These and other questions will be the focus of our on-line reading group for the summer. Come join us…who knows…it may change your life.

Procedures

Book. Each participant will be responsible to getting a copy of Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential by Gordon T. Smith. This book is in print and available from on-line book sellers or by ordering locally.

On-Line Connection: Each week June 6 through August 29 Becce or Charlene will post thoughts about what we are reading and some questions for participants to think about, on our blog http://christianwomensnetworksji.blogspot.com (graciously loaned to us for the summer by Christian Women’s Network – San Juan). Participants will be invited to share their own insights and questions, respond to other’s posts and generally enjoy a simulating conversation around this amazing idea of being “called” by God and what it means for you.

Reading Schedule:

May 27 – 6:30 p.m. Face-to-Face meeting for study introduction and for anyone one wanting help with the “technology” part of participation in an on-line class.

June 7 – 19 (2 weeks) Introduction and Chapter 1 The Content of Our Lives & Work

June 21 – July 3 (2 weeks): Chapter 2 Seeking Congruence

July 5-10 (1 week): Chapter 3
Chapters in Our Lives

July 12-17 (1 week): Chapter 4
As Unto the Lord

July 19-24 (1 week): Chapter 5
Thinking Vocationally

July 26-31 (1 week): Chapter 6
Courage and Character

August 2-7 (1 week): Chapter 7
The Capacity to Learn

August 9-14 (1 week) Chapter 8
The Cross We Bear

August 16-21 (1 week) Chapter 9
Working With and Within Organizations

August 23-28 (1 week) Chapter 10
The Ordered Life

Sometime the last week of August or first week of September we will have another Face-to-face meeting to process our summer’s journey together.

How to Join and Maintain Contact with the Group

You can connect with the group through our blog either by clicking on the blog address here, bookmarking it as a favorite or subscribing to an RSS feed. You can subscribe to the RSS Feed for the blog and receive e-mail whenever a new post is made. You can do this by adding an RSS feed to your incoming mail. The RSS feed address is:

http://www.christianwomensnetworksji.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss.

Instructions for adding an RSS Feed to Outlook 2007 or Internet Explorer, click here. Other e-mail software may also enable you to subscribe to an RSS Feed both on PC's and Macs.

If the RSS Feed does not work for you, you can simply bookmark the blog and visit it regularly.

Facilitators

Becce Bettridge - I love to read, garden, and hike…I am not so fond of church committee meetings, gossips, and liver. My greatest joy is sharing God’s Word with those who desire a closer and deeper walk with God, and I am very much looking forward to the conversations we will have this summer. My most recent adventure is taking me on a very old path…the path of spiritual formation. I am learning what it means to lay my entire life down before the Lord…challenging territory for all of us!


Charlene Amsden – I am a writer, a teacher, a talker, a story-teller. Like Becce I am not fond of church committee meetings or gossip, but do like liver and onions if it is cooked just so … yum. Right now I am in transition in my life and trying to come to terms with who I was and who I am now supposed to be. Wherever my prayer and study takes me I am certain there will be teaching as well as learning involved because both are my passions.

Oasis Africa Institute and Drs Gershon and Gladys Mwiti

Meet them in person Wednesday night, the 31st, at the Mullis Center at 7PM.

Gladys and Gershon are natives of Nairobi, Kenya. They received their advanced education in clinical psychology and leadership from Fuller Seminary here in the United States. They returned to Kenya and spent the last five years working in their fields of expertise.

Gladys operates a counseling and training center in Nairobi with outreach to neighboring countries. She has been responsible for the training of all high school teachers in Nairobi in how to deal with the trauma in students as the result of the post election violence in 2008. She has been retained by companies to work with their employees to deal with inflamed tribal issues as a result of the same violence. She is the head of the Psychology Association of Nairobi and on numerous committees worldwide that deal with trauma. Gladys brings an uncompromising Christian perspective to all her appearances. She appears frequently on Nairobi television dealing with trauma, abuse, and family issues.

We partnered with Oasis Africa last summer in the quilting project in the district of Mashaka. Gladys and Gershon had identified this desperately poor community without hope to be the focus of an empowerment project, beginning with the establishment of a school for the youngest children of this rural slum. Our own Kitty Sorgen and Jill Urbach took their skills and talents to Kenya to work with Oasis to teach 24 women caregivers how to quilt. The results of their training hang in many of our homes today. It is a project just entering the marketing stage of production with much work still to be done. A glimmer of hope is starting to burn in this dark area because of the expertise and obedience that Gladys and her staff and our volunteers have brought to bear in Jesus’ name. It has been exciting for our community to be a part of this wonderful effort.

Gershon meanwhile has been involved in leadership issues and training across Kenya. Gershon has a passionate love of his country. He has been appointed to be the chairman of the National Values Committee, a group charged with identifying the core values of the nation and bringing them forth into national awareness and influence. They will present their “Moral Vision for Kenya” at an all day conference on April 10th headed by the President of Kenya. Gershon is positioned in a powerful place of influence to fight corruption, crime, and injustice. Gershon’s life of integrity, dedication, and sacrifice uniquely qualify him to be used “for such a time as this”. Even with these responsibilities he has a heart for even the lowliest man in his nation. Gershon is dreaming of equipping poor rural men with basic hand tools to be used by small teams in construction projects to create jobs and build esteem.