Lent - an antidote to "functional atheism"

Hat - tip goes to Parker Palmer in his book, "Let your life speak" for the term "functional atheism" and Hat - tip to Irenic Thoughts blog, where I nabbed this image...

"Our calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood," Parker Palmer

"Our calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks - we will also find our path of authentic service in the world. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need."

Buechner's definition starts with the self and moves toward the needs of the world: it begins, wisely, where vocation begins - not in what the world needs (which is everything), but in the nature of the human self, in what brings the self joy, the deep joy of nowing that we are here on earth to be the gifts that God created."

~ Parker Palmer in "Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation," page 17

Grow into our own authentic selfhood

from the "Inward/Outward" blog, a daily source of wisdom for me.

Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks—we will also find our path of authentic service in the world. True vocation joins self and service, as Frederick Buechner asserts when he defines vocation as ‘the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.’ Buechner’s definition starts with the self and moves toward the needs of the world: it begins, wisely, where vocation begins—not in what the world needs (which is everything), but in the nature of the human self, in what brings the self joy, the deep joy of knowing that we are here on earth to be the gifts that God created.

By Parker Palmer