This is tangential; but what are your thoughts then about honor and self-promotion, especially when it comes to our modern employment landscape?
For example, we are constantly making claims about 'how good we are' to highlight our special skills, abilities and achievements. In some ways, this seems to be linked to defending honor, though from a different perspective. Even when hiring a pastor, teams often make initial measures on their experience and qualifications, they look at whether they have grown churches and succeeded in shepherding communities. We look at measures of 'honor' or claims of the same.
Even when we have a speaker in our church, just like any speaker at a secular conference, someone comes up before and makes claims about that speaker, to define and highlight why they even have the right to speak to this congregation. These are always overly positive and focused on creating a sense of respect between the congregation and the speaker - so that the speaker has authority to speak. I see this also linked to creating honor - in part, because if I were to introduce a speaker by listing their failures, it would take away from the honor of the speaker (with the obvious exclusion of where churches love a salacious conversion story.... Welcome Tom, ex criminal, drug dealer and pimp who is now a Christian!). Even in these cases, we create honor through that redemption story - the conversion from the previous failure is the honor claim.
I know it is different, but it is definitely related; how do we consider this kind of honor seeking and giving, especially in the church?
Very much appreciated. Thank you.
This is tangential; but what are your thoughts then about honor and self-promotion, especially when it comes to our modern employment landscape?
For example, we are constantly making claims about 'how good we are' to highlight our special skills, abilities and achievements. In some ways, this seems to be linked to defending honor, though from a different perspective. Even when hiring a pastor, teams often make initial measures on their experience and qualifications, they look at whether they have grown churches and succeeded in shepherding communities. We look at measures of 'honor' or claims of the same.
Even when we have a speaker in our church, just like any speaker at a secular conference, someone comes up before and makes claims about that speaker, to define and highlight why they even have the right to speak to this congregation. These are always overly positive and focused on creating a sense of respect between the congregation and the speaker - so that the speaker has authority to speak. I see this also linked to creating honor - in part, because if I were to introduce a speaker by listing their failures, it would take away from the honor of the speaker (with the obvious exclusion of where churches love a salacious conversion story.... Welcome Tom, ex criminal, drug dealer and pimp who is now a Christian!). Even in these cases, we create honor through that redemption story - the conversion from the previous failure is the honor claim.
I know it is different, but it is definitely related; how do we consider this kind of honor seeking and giving, especially in the church?