Living Letters of Recommendation - August 5
Today’s Readings: Psalm 84; 1 Kings 19:1-12; 2 Corinthians 3:1-9,18; John 12:27-36a
Today’s Reflection
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 2 Corinthians 3: 1-3
In my first vocation as university professor, I was often asked to write letters of recommendation for students applying both for further study and for their first professional jobs. I also used to receive lists of references when I was involved in running national searches for new tenure-track professors in our department. In our cultural context, as in many others, it is important to have people who are willing to stand up with you, allow their name and reputation to be attached to yours, and who want to help you as you work to realize your hopes and dreams. Letters of recommendation and reference lists are all about credibility, specifically about reflected credibility: the way in which someone else’s good reputation has the power to enhance someone else’s credibility by association.
In today’s reading from 2 Corinthians 3 (one of the readings appointed for the Eve of the Transfiguration), the Apostle Paul writes to his friends in Corinth about not needing letters of recommendation, whether to you or from you. This is puzzling, in a way, as Paul’s work as an evangelist depends much on being part of a social network. Paul needs people to speak well of him and his colleagues. Paul needs the reflected credibility of people who have already seen their lives changed by the Gospel he has shared with them, especially by well-connected people in the many different Mediterranean cities in which he was planting churches.
So, why, then does Paul see such recommendations as unnecessary? Because Paul knows that there is something better than a stellar letter of recommendation: the very lives of the people who have been transformed “with the Spirit of the living God.”
In the world of Episcopal churches and clergy, part of the process of discerning a call to ministry and communicating who you are and what gifts you bring is composing and updating something called your OTM (Office of Transition Ministry) Portfolio. This portfolio (a detailed online application that can be accessed through a national database) includes not only the details of your education and past jobs, but also eleven narratives on various aspects on ministry and a section in which you are to list people who can speak to their experiences of you in ministry and other contexts. So, it is funny, in a way, that while the Apostle Paul doesn’t see much need for letters of recommendation per se, the Office of Transition Ministry, bishops, canons to the ordinary, rectors, and search committees really want to see a compelling list of credible references whom they can call to learn more about who we are and whether we might be a good fit for a particular ‘call’ or professional position within the Episcopal Church. (Saint Stephens required this when we were discerning whether I would be called to be an associate rector here two years ago.)
But at the very top of the Ministry Portfolio, just under your name and even before your order of ministry and the name of the Diocese with which you are affiliated, is a very open-ended item called the “personal ministry statement.” In this box, you have the opportunity in 250 characters or less (including punctuation and spaces), “to express your call to ministry in God’s mission in the world.” That’s a lot of ground to cover in 250 pages or 250 words, let alone 250 characters!
As someone who tends to go longer rather than shorter in my writing (as you readers of these reflections know), to craft such an important yet concise statement seemed like a real challenge. But then it occurred to me, I don’t have to use my own words—I could just decide on a piece of scripture that captures my sense of call. And these are the words I chose: “You yourselves are our letter… to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 2: 2-3).
Becky+
Questions for Reflection
In what ways is your very life a letter of recommendation for the difference the saving love of Christ can make in a person’s life?
Daily Challenge
Read what organizational psychologist Adam Grant suggests would be better than asking prospective high school students to submit personal essays, standardized test scores, and letters of recommendation in this column he penned for The New York Times, “Throw Out the College Application System.” Or take a peek at his list of bullet points on “How Not to Ask for a Recommendation Letter: 13 Mistakes to Avoid” in Psychology Today.