Some thoughts on spirituality. I thi=
\nnk most of my readers are well aware that Divine Word University is a Ro=
\nman Catholic institution, operated by the Society of the Divine Word (an=
\n order of priests that is dedicated to missions work). Also, most of yo=
\nu know that we recently came from Indiana Wesleyan University, an instit=
\nution within the Wesleyan Church. … <\/p>\n
Make no doubt about=
\n it. These two denominations and spiritually speaking, these institions=
\n, are quite different in oh so many ways. Yet, in their own ways, each =
\nis devoted to the person of Jesus Christ and to developing better and mo=
\nre followers of Jesus on earth.<\/p>\n
During our staff resumption wee=
\nk — that's when everyone returns from summer break, in anticipation=
\n of the students arriving next week — we had the usual daily sessions o=
\nf planning, listening to strategies, hearing the deans' plans for th=
\neir faculties and so on. Each morning was started with a devotional, of=
\nfered by one of the clergy among the staff.<\/p>\n
Our opening session= My point here is no= One of my favori= Some thoughts on spirituality. I thi= nk most of my readers are well aware that Divine Word University is a Ro= man Catholic institution, operated by the Society of the Divine Word (an= order of priests that is dedicated to missions work). Also, most of yo= u know that we recently came from Indiana Wesleyan … Continue reading <\/span>
\n was built around the scripture Mark 9:33-37<\/a>, which=
\n is particularly appropriate when thinking of starting a new school year=
\n. (Look it up.) \ud83d\ude09 We have read scripture, sung, prayed, and partici=
\npated in responsive liturgy during these start of the day devotionals.
Discussing this among ourselves, we think a good summary can be =
\nput this way. The Wesleyan point of view seems to be to explicitly stat=
\ne Jesus Christ is first in all we do. The Catholic point of view seems =
\nto assume that everything we do is founded on Jesus Christ, and sometime=
\ns this results in the explicit statement maybe sounding a little muted. =
\n Our previous institution's Vision statement opened with the words &=
\nquot;Indiana Wesleyan University is a Christ-centered academic instituti=
\non…" whereas here the Vision statement concludes with the phrase=
\n "…in a Christian environment."<\/p>\n
\nt to get anyone from any one side to say which is better. The reason I =
\nwrite is in hopes of getting all to see that, across the denominations t=
\nhere are many facets to Christianity. A friend and sister in Christ sai=
\nd once, Christians of all denominations as they get more mature tend to =
\nlook a lot like one another. Also, someone has said we have so many den=
\nominations because God is such a big God many of His followers see thing=
\ns from different points of view of each other. And the best way for the=
\n many people of the Church to get along with each other is to organize a=
\nmongst groups of like-minded fellow believers.<\/p>\n
\nte scripture passages is what I call "Paul's discourse on denom=
\ninations," found in 1 Corinthians 1:10-13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"