Kia ora e te whanau
Only 23 shopping days to go as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Saviour…..
Leadership and Personal Development
1. The Surprising Benefits of Talking Out Loud to Yourself
I loved this one! This article outlines some of the real benefits of talking to ourselves out loud. I’m aware, for example, that I often don’t know what I think until I articulate it. I’ve been known to change my mind half-way through a sentence, as I realise what a bad idea I’m putting forth. I’ve also had a practise of sermon preparation (not so much for the on-line world) by speaking out loud and seeing what comes. Crazy, I know, but it’s worked for me. This article lays out some of the real benefits of thinking out loud. I hope you find it as beneficial (and affirming) as I have. It can be accessed here: https://time.com/7177294/talking-out-loud-to-yourself-benefits
2. The Transformative Power of Gratitude: A Path To Personal Resilience
As I started on this one, I thought, I’ll know all this. Yet there were some new learnings. I was particularly struck by a different spin on AI (Appreciative Inquiry), where it was cast in terms of what was working, not what was failing. As someone who tends to polarise toward the negative – often to my cost (and the cost of those around me), this was put in such a compelling way it was somewhat of a revelation. Even if it’s only for me, the article can be accessed here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2024/11/28/the-transformative-power-of-gratitude-a-path-to-personal-resilience
3. Reaching ‘halftime’ and how leaders can shift from success to significance
Another article from the business world, yet the principles remain the same. There comes a point for many of us where legacy becomes more important than success. One of the exercises that Stephen Covey offers in ‘First Things First’ is to imagine a funeral. Your own. What is it you would want to hear said about you? This article invites us to move toward a mode where making a difference becomes central. It can be accessed here: https://www.fastcompany.com/91222274/reaching-halftime-and-how-leaders-can-shift-from-success-to-significance
Homilies & Preaching Resources
Trevor Hoggard’s sermon, includes the lectionary readings of Malachi 3:1-4; and Luke 3:1-6. Trevor picks up the theme from both texts of dissatisfaction – with both church and politics – followed by judgement, cleansing, and replacing the old with the new. Trevor concludes recognising that the darkness will pass, and wishes all well as we move deeper into advent. His sermon can be experienced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yd8rSSH3A0
My response to the Gospel text for December 8th of Luke 3:1-6 is titled ‘Repentance? Seriously?’ It can be experienced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry8gQoPsa8g
Michael Godfrey (out of the Dunedin Anglican Diocese) hosts a conversation of 4 Theologians and Practitioners at the beginning of each week around the Gospel lectionary text for the coming Sunday. They examine four issues – one gives background to the text, then they consider their challenges, Good News, and application (the ‘so what?’). The site with all its options can be accessed here: https://www.calledsouth.org.nz/gospel-conversations/ . The conversation this week continues Advent with the same text – Luke 3:1-6. It can be engaged with here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmyXU2WaWQg
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Once again, use the videos as you will.
Groan
I must be getting old. As we’re about to rush headlong into the shopping frenzy that is Christmas, is anyone else bemused by the Americanisation of our commerce? Black Friday? Seriously? Although it totally lacks any meaning or context in Aotearoa, we seem to have embraced it enthusiastically as another opportunity for a good deal – in reality another opportunity for retailers to dip into our meagre finances. I suppose it’s no worse than Guy Fawkes. And we’ve already embraced ‘trick-or-treating’. Maybe it indicates a shift in our acknowledgement of global power. What next? Thanksgiving – where we celebrate the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ landing on hallowed American soil? Perhaps we might invite The Donald to be our President also. He wanted to buy Greenland – are we open to offers? If David Seymour’s ‘Treaty Principles Bill’ ever gets enacted, it may be an option. Enough already!