{"id":46180,"date":"2024-06-03T16:51:56","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T20:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.presbyterianfoundation.org\/?p=46180"},"modified":"2024-06-11T13:32:31","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T17:32:31","slug":"an-absolute-delight-of-a-human-being-takes-to-the-airwaves-of-leading-theologically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/resources\/news\/an-absolute-delight-of-a-human-being-takes-to-the-airwaves-of-leading-theologically\/","title":{"rendered":"'\uc778\uac04\uc758 \uc808\ub300 \uae30\uc068', '\uc120\ub3c4\uc2e0\ud559' \uc804\ud30c\ub97c \ud0c4\ub2e4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduced as a \u201cscholar, teacher, mother, ruling elder and an absolute delight of a human being,\u201d a \u201cRenaissance woman\u201d who\u2019s \u201cwise and witty and grounded and visionary,\u201d Dr. Jacqueline E. Lapsley,\u00a0inaugurated earlier this month as the eighth president of Union Presbyterian Seminary<\/a>, was the guest Wednesday on \u201cLeading Theologically.\u201d<\/p>\n

The host was the Rev. Dr. Katherine Smith, a teaching elder in the\u00a0Presbytery of New Hope<\/a>, the\u00a0associate dean for strategic initiatives at the Duke Divinity School<\/a>\u00a0and the chair of the\u00a0Committee on Theological Education<\/a>. Listen to their rich 30-minute conversation on \u201cPainful Grace\u201d\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Jacqueline E. Lapsley<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Smith opened with the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon\u2019s question normally posed by the podcast\u2019s departing host, the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty: What is the work your soul must have?<\/p>\n

We\u2019re called to this time and place for a particular reason, Lapsley responded. \u201cAs we know, the walls between churches and society are getting lower and lower. There\u2019s more porousness between community and church,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is a huge opportunity for churches \u2026 to witness in the world to what Jesus and the Spirit are about. That\u2019s work I think about all the time: How do we form leaders for this moment in the church\u2019s life and the life of our world?\u201d<\/p>\n

Say more about \u201cthose spaces when the walls come down and cracks open,\u201d Smith suggested.<\/p>\n

More and more churches \u201care using their property in a different way\u201d as they determine \u201chow do they serve the needs more directly of the people who are right around them in their community,\u201d including the construction of affordable housing units, Lapsley said. Others are selling their buildings or looking at different ways to serve the community with part of their property they\u2019re not using. Some are creating community gardens.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, faith communities are \u201clistening to their neighbors, finding out what their needs are and figuring out a way to be in partnership with them to serve those needs,\u201d Lapsley said. \u201cI just feel like that\u2019s different from an older model of the church which saw itself as having some separation from the people who were not church members. This feels very different now, and in a wonderful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring back to Lapsley\u2019s inaugural address, which can be viewed\u00a0here<\/a>, Smith asked Lapsley, \u201cHow do we recover and excavate our past without jettisoning it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapsley said she sometimes hears that a faith community\u2019s or institution\u2019s past \u201cseems unusable, because there\u2019s so much that\u2019s harmful. On the other side, I hear sometimes from folks who say, \u2018We just need to hold on to our traditions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think God is calling us to a kind of middle way \u2014 looking at the past carefully, and attending to, nurturing and stewarding what is good there \u2026 We are stewards of that, especially now in our time when a kind of progressive Christianity is a bit on the ropes. This is the time when we need to lean into those traditions, because they are a rich resource \u2014 not just for us Christians in the world, but for the world itself. There\u2019s so much good there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of baggage \u2026 there\u2019s a lot of really terrible stuff in there related to racism and sexism and various other forms of discrimination \u2014 and the ecological crisis. We have to take some ownership for the way the church is complicit in the ecological crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see that as a throughline in the work we are called to do, and that includes listening to lots of other voices outside of our traditions. As I said in my inaugural address, all truth is God\u2019s truth. That means that we listen,\u201d Lapsley said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of our theological heritage in the Reformed tradition: to listen everywhere to hear how God might be speaking to us in this moment from all different quarters. I do find this an energizing, exciting time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Rev. Dr. Katherine Smith<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Smith said a friend and colleague talks about \u201chope as an anchor God has dropped in the future.\u201d She asked Lapsley about \u201cthe lessons learned about how to do this work well. What are the qualities and attributes that help us reckon with a painful grace?\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to have \u201chonest conversations about one\u2019s own history, broad and honest conversations,\u201d Lapsley replied. \u201cIt can be painful, but it can also be a time of great growth and of leaning into a different future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cpainful grace\u201d theme came as Lapsley was thinking about \u201cWildcat<\/a>,\u201d Ethan Hawke\u2019s new film about Flannery O\u2019Connor. \u201cThe grace in Flannery O\u2019Connor\u2019s stories comes through in those painful moments,\u201d Lapsley said.<\/p>\n

For O\u2019Connor, God is acting in us when we are at our lowest. \u201cIt\u2019s not a sentimental understanding of grace at all. I find that resonant with my own thinking about the place of the church and seminaries in our own moment.\u201d It\u2019s a hard moment, \u201cand maybe it\u2019s a hard moment for a reason. Maybe this is a time when God is working in us in a way that will help us grow into a future that maybe resonates more fully with who we are to be and are called to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith wondered: What does it mean to commit to leading an institution in such a time as this? \u201cYou\u2019re choosing to lean into it,\u201d Smith said, \u201cand I really love that and affirm it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost daily, Lapsley said, she has this thought about leading a seminary: \u201cOh, my gosh. What have I done?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has increased and intensified my prayer life,\u201d she said. \u201cI take [the demands of the job] and lift it up to God,\u201d acknowledging, \u201cI\u2019m not Jesus. It is not my responsibility to save anyone or anything. My job is to be faithful in this particular moment in this place on this day, and that\u2019s what I seek to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe that God\u2019s grace can flow through institutions. Of course, sin can also flow through institutions. We have abundant evidence of that,\u201d Lapsley said. \u201cOur job is to try to minimize the sin and maximize the channels of grace \u2026 flowing through institutions. When that happens, people will feel the benefits of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked where she finds delight in her work, Lapsley said the joke used to be that her spiritual gift was fun. \u201cIf we have more fun, we will be about the work of the church in a joyful, more faithful and successful way,\u201d she said. \u201cWe ignore joy and play and sometimes silliness to our peril.\u201d<\/p>\n

Union Presbyterian Seminary has a small fund that helps incorporate play into coursework. \u201cWhat a wonderful resource!\u201d Lapsley said, adding she\u2019s enjoyed \u201ctalking about using that in ways that will bring more joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen there\u2019s more joy,\u201d she said, \u201cwe\u2019re all going to be better off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduced as a \u201cscholar, teacher, mother, ruling elder and an absolute delight of a human being,\u201d a \u201cRenaissance woman\u201d who\u2019s \u201cwise and witty and grounded and visionary,\u201d Dr. Jacqueline E. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46182,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46180\/revisions\/46182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/presbyterianfoundation.louderstaging.com\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}