Not a religious blog today. Just a few random thoughts about the Army and the High Council.
As an aside, I get frustrated with the really poor standard of the Army's official web pages. They are old, slow and lacking information. Trying to find out the appointments of the relative High Council members has been almost impossible, as it has been to find their ages, let alone a bio of the members. Pictures - easy, but information - not so. Surely we can do better...
Anyway, Ten nominees for General with Comm. Knaggs declining leaving nine candidates. All of them white. All of them either male or single female, i.e. no married women nominated ahead of their husbands. All of them relatively old - but so are most of the high council members as it's almost impossible to reach Commissioner rank until retirement is looming large.
Why, if the Army is growing in Africa and the Sub Continent whilst declining in Europe, USA & Oceania, are there never any Africans or Asians nominated for General? And what does that say about the Army, its structure and priorities? Is the Army so fixated now on programmes that only Europeans have the nous to run the organisation?
The age of people reaching senior leadership positions is a real problem. Not that it is wrong for someone in their sixties to be in a senior leadership role, more that it is wrong that someone in their mid forties or early fifties (if not younger) cannot, it seems, under our current structure reach a senior position at those ages. Secondly, the military structure almost means that any entrepreneurial thinking has either been beaten out of a person by the time they make it to Commissioner rank, or they will not make it there in the first place either by reason of being overlooked or having resigned in frustration.
Get the feeling that I don't like the Army's structure?! I'm sure that the person elected to be the next General of The Salvation Army will be a fine candidate and will lead well. But, despite the fact that I have been following the High Council proceedings daily, I almost feel the appointment of the next General will be largely irrelevant to me. It will be more of the same. Will there be a General who makes me feel that Army is inspiring again? Or is the problem mine and my attitude, not the Army's and it's structure?
One final thought. Bear in mind that I am almost 50 years of age and I think the structure is outdated. What do teenagers and people in their 20's and 30's think?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
O Happy Day!
19,16,15,14,7,2,0 It looks a bit like one of the questions from an I.Q. test where you have to select the next number in the sequence. What it actually is is the number of blogs that I have written from month to month, starting with July and ending this month. As the initial enthusiasm for the blog waned so did the number of entries. And then we arrived in December when every Salvo's blog entries dropped as we grappled with Christmas caroling. After today the zero will become one.
In life we often start on new things with enthusiasm and gradually drop off. And a drop off in intensity and enthusiasm is something that happens to us as Christians too.
This morning I have been watching/listening to a bit of the Welcome to The 2011 High Council. The advances in technology that allow us in Australia to be a part of the High Council welcome in London are quite remarkable. Apparently the programme is about 3 hours long - even longer than our Divisional meeting last night! Speaking of which....we sang that great song 'O Happy Day' and were asked whether the day on which we were 'saved' was the happiest day of our life, or words to that effect. I'm not sure that it was my happiest day as such. Most momentous and important, yes but I don't recall leaving church that night as happy as I was when I left the MCG on grand final day 2008! But it was certainly the day that my life changed in a way that has eternal consequences.
I often think of 2 Thess 3:13 which says "And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good." I do tire of doing good sometimes. I tire of doing a blog, I tire of being in a band (is that doing good?!), I tire of being in a leadership position and so on. I guess it is important to understand what 'doing good' really means. Being a disciple of Jesus, learning from him and doing what he did is really about 'doing good' I suppose.
So, in a new year, already 24 days old, celebrating the 'happy day when Jesus washed my sins away' and 'never tiring of doing good' are two challenges for me this year.
In life we often start on new things with enthusiasm and gradually drop off. And a drop off in intensity and enthusiasm is something that happens to us as Christians too.
This morning I have been watching/listening to a bit of the Welcome to The 2011 High Council. The advances in technology that allow us in Australia to be a part of the High Council welcome in London are quite remarkable. Apparently the programme is about 3 hours long - even longer than our Divisional meeting last night! Speaking of which....we sang that great song 'O Happy Day' and were asked whether the day on which we were 'saved' was the happiest day of our life, or words to that effect. I'm not sure that it was my happiest day as such. Most momentous and important, yes but I don't recall leaving church that night as happy as I was when I left the MCG on grand final day 2008! But it was certainly the day that my life changed in a way that has eternal consequences.
I often think of 2 Thess 3:13 which says "And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good." I do tire of doing good sometimes. I tire of doing a blog, I tire of being in a band (is that doing good?!), I tire of being in a leadership position and so on. I guess it is important to understand what 'doing good' really means. Being a disciple of Jesus, learning from him and doing what he did is really about 'doing good' I suppose.
So, in a new year, already 24 days old, celebrating the 'happy day when Jesus washed my sins away' and 'never tiring of doing good' are two challenges for me this year.
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