A Brief Reflection
This week I have described what I do as a PhD at work, or perhaps better yet how I put my PhD to work. As you can tell, it has so far been an enjoyable journey on that “long and winding road.” But I must admit, if I am to be honest, it hasn’t all been easy traveling. Especially with the economic woes of the last few years, which hit the churches hard and in turn hit organizations, like mine, that depend on the churches for a significant portion of their funding, there have been many trying days interspersed among the rewarding days.
Nevertheless, to paraphrase something that was said recently by one of our board members, we cannot let financial constraints put constraints on our imagination. This goes for what we can do, and how we can do it. The restructure has brought us to a new starting point. Having played a key role in that process, I know that my role will be to help free up the imagination required to get the new work done in the new way we’ve envisioned.
When I think back to when I was doing my doctorate – the classes, the languages, the comps, the dissertation, the defense – I couldn’t have imagined that I would have this kind of role. In some ways, I have been lucky, in that all of my academic and professional interests have coalesced in such a way, and that I could have a small part – a very small part – in demonstrating the rightful place of religion in the public square, and an equally small part in helping the churches live out the call to pursue unity.
Let’s now see where the road leads…
Questions? Share your thoughts!