Rob Voyle's Appreciative Way Blog
Additional Articles By Year: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
Good Samaritans and What Is Love Calling Us To Do
Posted: July 8, 2016 by Rob Voyle
The Good Samaritan story was Jesus response to someone who wanted to "justify himself."
I often hear or see people claiming God is on their side as they seek to justify their perspectives and actions. Our political processes are rife with such justification in ways that were very rare when I arrived in this country 34 years ago. And the actions taken in the name of these justifications leaves me wanting to have nothing to do with the God these people proclaim to honor.
I also hear people in churches, and I have said it myself, "what is God calling us to do?"
Which rather than creating a clarity of thinking and action has often lead to rationalization and a lack of action. I have also seen and recoil when God and a perception of God's will is used as a huge club to coerce people into action.
The use of God language as a stamp of divine authority to justify a pursuit of unjust actions leaves me thinking we would be better off as atheists. So much of our country's God language leads to hate and fuels the bigotry, hypocrisy, and violence of our times.
My friend Ron English, who was raised in Ebenezer Baptist church and ordained by Martin Luther King Jr., asks the question differently. Rather than asking, what is God calling us to do he asks: What is love calling us to do?
I have found asking "What is love calling us to do?" leads to a very different response both within me and the people that I am working with.
And I wonder what would happen if our politicians began asking: "What is love calling us to do as a nation?" rather than justifying their actions of hate-filled power mongering with mindless god talk.
By love I am not meaning a sentimentality nor a tolerance for evil. In my teaching on love I use Stephen Gilligan's understanding of compassion: tenderness, fierceness, and mischievousness. Fierceness is a single minded pursuit of a just future.
I distinguish fierceness from anger. Anger is what we experience when we look back on a past injustice. Fierceness is what happens when we transform that anger into a fierce pursuit of a just future. Without that transformation anger, focused on the past, will lead to hatred and a desire for revenge and retribution. We cannot fix the past but we can create a new future.
One of my role models for fierceness is Martin Luther King Jr. His "I have a dream speech..." is a fierce proclamation and desire for a just future. It is not an angry rail against an oppressive and evil past but a fierce vision of a better future. Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela are other role models of the fierce rather than the angry way.
There is no place for hate.
And as Jesus reveals in the story of the good Samaritan.
There is no place for indifference.
There is no place for self-justification.
There is only a place for love.
Praying for us all to have the courage to love tenderly, fiercely, and mischievously, in this time of darkness.
Rob Voyle
Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
P.S. Please let me know if you are interested in sharing in my act of cultural sedition and hosting a Forgiveness Training program in your church.
Additional Articles By Year: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
Previous Posts By Category
Coaching
- I Saw Satan Fall From Heaven
- Church Growth Makes Absolutely no Sense
- Agents of Change or Agents of God, and What's Christmas Got to Do With It?
- Are You Using the Right Map?
- Coaching: Paul's Conundrum Explained
- Goals Must Be Imaginable
- Coaching Next Steps to Achieving Goals
- Shaman 101: Change the Question
- Changing the Paradigm of Blame
- The Sermon I Need to Hear this Christmas
- Blue Christmas Meditation
- What's the Purpose, What's My Purpose?
- Church Growth and Making Disciples
- Thinking about Language: Are People Assets or Treasures?
- Transfiguration and Agents of Transformation
- Managing Resistance to Change
- Ensuring Change is a Blessing
- Growing Leaders Through Intentional Coaching
- Forget Balance, Get Integrated!
- Get Feed-Forward not Feed-Back
- The Power of Great Questions
Forgiveness
- No Reconciliation Without Repentance
- Moving Mountains of Resentment and Uprooting Mulberry Trees of Misery
- Teach Your Congregation to Forgive: Five Week Lenten program
- Forgiveness and Standing Silent Before the Pilates of this World
- Transforming Anger Into Practical Compassion
- Teaching Forgiveness and Staying in Love
- Stick with Love if You Want Others to Change
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part II
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part I
- The Power to Resolve the Past Is Within You?
- Teach Them How to Forgive this Sunday
- Transforming Victim Narratives: Mark 7:24-30
- 9/11: Resentment, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation
Leadership
- Parishioners and Staff are Treasures not Assets
- Anglican Primates: My Appreciative Way Perspective on the Conflict
- Leadership is About Empowering not Controlling
- Who is the Greatest: Calling Forth the Best
- Discovering the Power of an Ennobling Dream
- Incarnational Leadership
- Core Leadership Competencies: Three Ways of Being a Leader.
- Core Leadership Competencies: The Art of Wise Pruning.
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief: Asking Powerful Questions.
- Core Leadership Competencies: Empowering Others
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief
- Creating Sustainable Change through Incarnational Leadership
- The Challenge of Growing the Church
- All Sustainable Change is an Inside Job
- The Importance of Understanding Your Purpose
- Thinking and Acting Like a Leader
Performance Review
Sermon
- Those Damn Foreigners!
- No, You Don't Want to Take Your Ministry to the Next Level
- Why Be Good
- Teach Us to Pray
- We Are God's Chosen People Not God's Protected People
- Easter and Three Stories When Bad Stuff Happens
- An Appreciative Lent
- Remembering Dr. King
- Find Resurrection this Easter not Reincarnation
- Lent, Coaching, Change and Transformation
- Doing the Unexpected this Christmas
- Appreciatively Thinking about Lent and the Ten commandments
- Thinking about Lent, Sin, and Grace
- Lent and an Appreciative Approach to Repentance
Teaching Love
Tigers
Previous Posts By Date
2016
- The Amur Tigers Need You!
- No Reconciliation Without Repentance
- Confessions and Repentance for Election Failure!
- Those Damn Foreigners!
- Moving Mountains of Resentment and Uprooting Mulberry Trees of Misery
- Teach Your Congregation to Forgive: Five Week Lenten program
- No, You Don't Want to Take Your Ministry to the Next Level
- Parishioners and Staff are Treasures not Assets
- Why Be Good
- Teach Us to Pray
- Good Samaritans and What Is Love Calling Us To Do
- I Saw Satan Fall From Heaven
- We Are God's Chosen People Not God's Protected People
- Forgiveness and Standing Silent Before the Pilates of this World
- Transforming Anger Into Practical Compassion
- Teaching Forgiveness and Staying in Love
- Church Growth Makes Absolutely no Sense
- Anglican Primates: My Appreciative Way Perspective on the Conflict
- Stick with Love if You Want Others to Change
2015
- Agents of Change or Agents of God, and What's Christmas Got to Do With It?
- Teaching People How to Say Yes to Sex
- Leadership is About Empowering not Controlling
- Who is the Greatest: Calling Forth the Best
- What in God's name is Going On Here?
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part II
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part I
- The Power to Resolve the Past Is Within You?
- Are You Using the Right Map?
2014
- Christmas: God the slow learner, but thank Jesus, God learns!
- People in the Church Love Change!
- Teach Them How to Forgive this Sunday
- Coaching: Paul's Conundrum Explained
- Goals Must Be Imaginable
- Coaching Next Steps to Achieving Goals
- Mutual Ministry Valuation
- I Hate Performance Reviews: Creating Cultures of Excellence
- Why did Christianity Flourish: The Power of Your Easter Story
- Easter and Three Stories When Bad Stuff Happens
- Shaman 101: Change the Question
- The Search Process: It is not Dating
- Discovering the Power of an Ennobling Dream
2013
- Incarnational Leadership
- Changing the Paradigm of Blame
- Core Leadership Competencies: Three Ways of Being a Leader.
- Core Leadership Competencies: The Art of Wise Pruning.
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief: Asking Powerful Questions.
- Core Leadership Competencies: Empowering Others
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief
- An Appreciative Lent
2012
- The Sermon I Need to Hear this Christmas
- Blue Christmas Meditation
- Remembering Dr. King
- What's the Purpose, What's My Purpose?
- The Language of Growing in Love
- Church Growth and Making Disciples
- Transforming Victim Narratives: Mark 7:24-30
- Creating Sustainable Change through Incarnational Leadership
- Find Resurrection this Easter not Reincarnation
- Lent, Coaching, Change and Transformation
- Thinking about Language: Are People Assets or Treasures?
- From Transfiguration to Tempting Job Offers
- Transfiguration and Agents of Transformation
- Managing Resistance to Change
2011
2010
- The Importance of Understanding Your Purpose
- Thinking about Lent, Sin, and Grace
- Ensuring Change is a Blessing
- Thinking and Acting Like a Leader
- Growing Leaders Through Intentional Coaching
- Forget Balance, Get Integrated!
- Get Feed-Forward not Feed-Back
- Lent and an Appreciative Approach to Repentance
- The Power of Great Questions
The Appreciative Way
Discover the essentials of the
Appreciative Way in this fast
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About the Author
Rob Voyle
The Rev. Dr. Rob Voyle is a leader in the development and use of appreciative inquiry in church and coaching settings.
Rob's Approach to Training
- Helpful: Training must provide practical, sustainable solutions for today's challenges.
- Humorous: Creativity and humor go together as people enjoy new insights.
- Healing: I create opportunities for people to experience transformational insights that lead to new ways of living, working, and being in the world.
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Helpful, Humorous, Healing
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