Eight Billion
Happiness and Age: In his Harvard Business School classes – where the average age of an MBA student is 27 – Arthur Brooks asks, “On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you today?” He then asks, “How happy do you think you will be in five years? And five years after that? And five years after that?” He then informs his class – all of whom gained admission by seldom failing a test – that they have gotten virtually every answer wrong. You can read From Strength to Strength for more details, or you can glance at this Life Satisfaction and Age graph and be surprised.
Work is a Get To, Not a Have To: In this Atlantic article – A World Without Work – Derek Thompson notes something most pastors are well aware of: Work adds meaning to life, and most people (especially men) with no work responsibility do not hang out with friends, take up new hobbies, or learn to speak a foreign language. They sleep in, watch a lot of TV, and occasionally drink too much. Work – for pay or as a volunteer – is a blessing. Yes, since Genesis 3 it is cursed and often frustratingly hard, but work is a good thing.
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Eight Billion: The UN believes the global population hit 8 billion this week, which is three times the population of 1950 and eight times that of the early 1800s. If you have read about this you may have heard that the climb has been fueled by a massive decline in child mortality and a dramatic increase in life expectancy. I have little to add other than to note that of the 120 billion people who have walked on this planet, no one has had a bigger impact than Jesus.
Signature Sins: In this podcast, I talk with Bob Merritt – the recently retired pastor of Eaglebrook Church, which grew from 300 to 25,000 during his thirty-year tenure. Our discussion is about “signature sins” – i.e., those issues we can’t seem to move past. Bob is very transparent in both his book – Done with That – and this interview.
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Underestimating Millennials: You may need to adjust your view of Millennials. Not only are they the largest cohort in the U.S. workforce, but the oldest among them is approaching forty. BTW, by 35, Jefferson had drafted the Declaration of Independence; by 32, Alexander the Great had conquered the known world; and by 26, Einstein had developed the Theory of Relativity. Oh, and more than a dozen of those who signed the Declaration of Independence were less than 25. Alexander Hamilton was 21, Aaron Burr was 20, and James Monroe was 18.
Already: In last week’s update I suggested that companies would soon shut down their servers on weekends to shield employees from the deleterious effects of 24×7 tech. Well… apparently French companies have been doing so for four years, and this WSJ article reports on boarding schools that are doing similar things.
We Can Get Better: Better is possible. In fact, spiritual growth is expected. In the NT, those who stall get reprimanded. (On a couple of occasions, they are derided as “babies.” On other occasions questions are raised about whether or not they are actually a child of God.) I am not suggesting we can become perfect. But we should be maturing. And if we are not, something is wrong.
Closing Prayer: Lord, because you have made me, I owe you the whole of my love; because you have redeemed me, I owe you the whole of myself; because you have promised so much, I owe you my whole being. I pray you, Lord, make me taste by love what I taste by knowledge; let me know by love what I know by understanding. I owe you more than my whole self, but I have no more, and by myself I cannot render the whole of it to you. Draw me to you, Lord, in the fullness of your love. I am wholly yours by creation; make me all yours, too, in love. Amen. (Anselm – 1033-1109)
Paying Attention
Paying Attention: Two weeks ago, I heard Dr. Peter Tse, a professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth, speak on today’s “Attention Economy.” Tse, whose research focuses on the neural basis of attention– i.e., how our brain focuses on specific things rather than being constantly distracted by everything else – became interested in this topic after noting a sudden, marked decline in the resilience and well-being of his undergrad students in 2013. In his comments, Tse made several interesting observations on the interplay between technology, addiction, attention and boredom. But I was most taken by one thing: He got rid of his cell phone a few years ago.
Speaking of Ivy League Students: I learned that even though one of the Ivies has expanded its undergraduate mental health support staff by 650 percent, it still can take students more than two months to get an appointment with a mental health professional.
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WOTW: This week I received nominations for Grievance Olympics and TIV – the second being an abbreviation for Tendency for Interpersonal Victimhood, a term some are suggesting as a new mental health diagnosis. But I am going with Motive Attribution Asymmetry (MAA) instead. MAA is a social psychology term used to describe “our inclination to assume the best about ourselves and the worst about others.” I’d like you to think I selected this term while reflecting on the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9f), but it came to me while watching election coverage.
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Courage is knowing it might hurt and doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that is why life is hard. Jeremy Goldberg; 2) The worst thing a jerk can do is turn you into a jerk. Frank Oppenheimer
A Week Late: Because you’ve already received all the political news you can handle – and perhaps a fair bit more – I did not mention psephology in the WOTW entry. (Psephology is the study of elections.) Nevertheless, I am passing along two videos. The first is a Lakelight discussion I participated in with Dr. Vincent Bacote (Professor of Theology at Wheaton College and the author of The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life). The second is Ronald Reagan’s farewell address. A saner time.
Without Comment: 1) Excessive drinking – which spiked during COVID – now accounts for one in five deaths among Americans aged 20 to 49; 2) This article tells us – again – that more tech = less teen happiness, especially among young people; 3) FWIW, Congress’s approval rating hasn’t cracked 30% in ten years; 4) This report notes that while 70% of American women say that it is “always” wrong when a man has an extramarital affair, only 56% say the same when it is a woman who has an affair. It also notes that the moral double standard is particularly large among liberal women; 5) 96% of political donations from Ivy League faculty go to the Ds.
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A Graph is Worth 1,000 Words: This graph makes a point I keep trying to make: Yes, there is a lot going wrong, but in a lot of important ways, things are getting better. On a related note, last week I celebrated the 31stanniversary of my 31st birthday, which means I now qualify for Social Security. I share this because, during the ‘80s I used to repeat a statistic announcing that more people my age believed in UFOs than believed they would ever receive a nickel from SS. I’m not suggesting our SS system is healthy, but on this point, the Bad News Bears were wrong.
Closing Prayer: Come, true light. Come, life eternal. Come, hidden mystery… Come, reality beyond all words. Come, person beyond all understanding. Come, rejoicing without end. Come, light that knows no evening. Come, unfailing expectation of the saved. Come, raised of the fallen. Come, resurrection of the dead. Come, all-powerful, for unceasingly you create… Come, for your name fills our hearts with longing and is ever on our lips… Come, for you are yourself the desire that is within me. Come, the consolation of my humble soul. Come, my joy, my endless delight. Amen.
Bono on Capitalism
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Psalm 46
The Psalmist’s description of “mountains falling and oceans surging” could be mistaken for the front page of current newspapers. Which should provide us with hope and calm. Come what may, we need not fear. Instead, we are to trust, pray and let God worry. Of course, He will not.
Bono on Capitalism: Long time readers have heard me argue that capitalism shaped by Christian convictions and compassion is as good as we can hope for on this side of Genesis 3. In this NR piece, we learn that Bono now agrees.
Vocational Prayers: As part of There is Work to Be Done – the new sermon series at Christ Church – we are running a series of prayers for workers. Here are the prayers for those in financial services and justice.
Envy: Envy has no upsides, so I’m conflicted about recommending this piece by Arthur Brooks – the HBS professor of Leadership and Happiness. It’s on envy and I really wish I’d written it.
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Without Comment: 1) One out of every five polling places in the U.S. is a church; 2) The best predictor for how you voted in the last election is how close you live to an urban center; 3) 20% of the undergrads attending WashU in St. Louis come from families where their parents earn more than $650K per year; 4) Britain now has a Christian king, a Hindu prime minister, a Muslim mayor (of London), and a leader of the opposition who married into a Jewish family. And while we are on this, it’s worth noting that Rishi Sunak, the Hindu prime minister, is responsible for appointing bishops in the Church of England; 5) The number of recorded threats against members of Congress has increased more than tenfold since 2016; 6) As this chart shows, China’s birth rate has continued to plummet since it lifted the “one child” policy; and 7) For the first time on record, all five of the top “dead celebrities” each earned more than $100M in 2022: JRR Tolkien ($500M), Kobe ($400M), David Bowie ($250M), Elvis ($110M) and James Brown ($100M).
Note: As you vote, consider how important it is that we have leaders that aspire to bring out the best in their followers, not the worst. It is harder to inspire hope and sacrifice than it is fear and anger, but it is hope and sacrifice that we need.
The Podcast: I had a chance to interview Harold and Judy Smith on the loss of their son, Andrew, who died by suicide eighteen months ago at the age of forty. Our discussion ranges from grief and mental illness to parenting and how to help friends in a crisis.
Oops: A number commented on my comments on Tom Brady. About half pointed out that #12 already has seven Super Bowl rings, not six as I suggested. One observed that was SEVEN more rings than Justin Fields and I have together. Tough crowd.
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Sotomayor on Thomas: Justice Sonia Sotomayor was recently asked how she maintains relationships with judges she disagrees with – Clarence Thomas, in particular. Here’s what she said: “I try to find the good in everybody. Because if I do they’re more willing to talk to me…and do it in a respectful way, where we can value each other. I have disagreed more with him than with any other justice. Which means we don’t come together on many cases. And yet I can tell you that I spend time with him, and in doing so I’ve learned that he is one of the few justices who knows practically everybody in our building. He knows their name, he knows the things about their life, what their family is suffering. He’ll tell me, ‘You know that that person’s wife is sick right now, or that person’s child is having difficulty.’ There’s no other justice who does that. I try, but he does it better. He cares about people. Now, he cares on legal issues differently. And he sees those legal issues much differently than I do. I tell people, you know, Clarence believes that, because he grew up very, very poor, that everyone is capable of picking themselves up by their bootstraps. I understand that some people can’t reach their bootstraps. That’s a fundamental difference in how we view what the law can or should or does do for people. But I can appreciate him.”
Word of the Week: This week’s nominations were all of a certain theme: 1) Triple-demic – a feared COVID, flu, RSV trifecta; 2 ) Polycrisis – historian Adam Tooze’s term to describe multiple, simultaneous systemic crises that intensify as they collide; 3) Pandemic-amnesty – Emily Oster’s suggestion that we all forgive and forget about what we said and did to one another during the pandemic; 4) Covid-Learning-Loss – a summary of many student’s experiences during school shutdowns; and 5) Permacrisis – Collins English Dictionary’s just revealed 2022 word of the year. It refers to “an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.” I am opting for a term that points to a different challenge: The Attention Economy – anything trying to capture our scarce attention. By the way, since others will be announcing their Word of the Year for 2022, it’s time to send in your guesses. And in a preemptive move, I am guessing that next week’s WOTW will be election related. Ticket-splitting? Under-voting? Landslide?
Closing Prayer: O Lord, please accept my distractions, my fatigue, my irritations, and my faithless wanderings. You know me more deeply and fully than I know myself. You love me with a greater love than I can love myself. You even offer me more than I can desire. Look at me, see me in all my misery and inner confusions, and let me sense your presence in the midst of my turmoil…Take my tired body, my confused mind, and my restless soul into your arms and let me rest, simple quiet rest. Amen. (Henri Nouwen (1932 – 1996)
First and Last
Happy Friday
Many who are first will be last and the last first.
Jesus, Mark 10:31
Jesus made this statement in several settings, which has led to a bit of confusion. Does “first” and “last” refer to time – as in the sequence of things? Or, is he using these terms to speak about status. Thankfully, there is consensus on one thing. Whatever else he may have meant with this statement, it is clear that in the gospels God’s Kingdom flips the world’s values upside down. What the world prioritizes, God’s Kingdom diminishes. And what the world diminishes, God’s Kingdom prioritizes. Which hierarchy will you be dialed into today?
Without Comment: 1) In 2008, 71% of Americans talked with their neighbors; in 2017, 54% do; 2) Half of Gen Z has graduated from college and is in the work force; 3) According to Psychology Today, the average high school kid now has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s; 4) 87% of employees say they’re more productive when they work remotely, but 85% of employers say it’s difficult to have confidence in workers’ productivity when they’re not in-person; 5) For the first time on record, Gallup reports that those who have “no trust” in the media (38%) is greater than those who have a “great deal” of trust in the media; 6) Last year, 10,000 Canadians were euthanized; 7) 1 in 4 Gen Zers plan to become Social Media influencers when they grow up; 8) Liz Truss resigned yesterday after a short and tumultuous tenure as U.K. PM. How short? Six weeks, or as one Tweet noted, 4.1 Scaramuccis.
News Rules 201: Those who read my last few Friday Updates, know that I’ve been crafting some basic rules about the news. Those who heard last week’s sermon know that it included a rant in which I said that if you start your day with the news – i.e. if you view the world through the lens of the news rather than starting your day with the Bible – and viewing the news through the lens of the Gospel – you deserve your bad mood. I am not going to add any new rules, but I will expand on Rule Two: Less is More. One of the things we should do is limit the number of topics we focus on. We are most likely to be led astray when we know little about the topic or the reporter.
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WOTW: Nominations included stagflation (high inflation during a recession), booster-fatigue (the response of 2/3 of U.S. adults who are not going to comply with the CDC’s recommendation to get boosted) and the one-two combo of perspicacious and fructify, as used by Bank of America’s CEO, Brian Moynihan, in last week’s earnings call. “A perspicacious analyst might wonder whether the talk of inflation and recession and other factors would fructify in slower spending growth.” Those nominations aside, I am going with tipping point. I saw it several places, mostly with people hoping that something (the war in Ukraine, the protests in Iran, the U.S. economy) are at a tipping point. FWIW, I am hoping that we are approaching a religious tipping point – otherwise known as a revival.
College Admission Shifts: Town and Country recently noted that Southern colleges are now attracting Northern students for reasons others than weather and football. The key line reads, “College applicants – including those from liberal Northern enclaves – are flocking to traditional Southern schools, where the vibe is more rah-rah than radical reckoning.”
A New Competitor: Churches who have struggled with how to handle Oct. 31 – celebrate All Saints Day; host a Trunk or Treat extravaganza; warn children about Satanism; offer hay rides in the parking lot – must now factor in a new option: staging a “Punkin Launchin” competition.
Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) “To thrive, democracies require grown up conversations.” Tracy McKenzie; 2) “I’ve regretted my speech; never my silence.” Xenocrates; and 3) “Six of the seven deadly sins are now medical conditions and the seventh is a virtue.” Richard Topping
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Rethinking the Nones: Much has been written about the growth of those who do not believe in anything – i.e., the Nones. As more data emerges, it appears as though it’s not just God they do not believe in. Many do not believe in organizations or friends. I am sure that not all Nones are lonely, but the data reminds me of the suggestion that among Jesus’s greatest miracles was having three close friends in his thirties.
Tell Me: I am a fan of membership in the local church. Of course, membership in the local church needs to be limited to those who are members of the universal church – i.e., to those who have placed their trust in Christ and Christ alone. This belief sets up the key three membership questions: 1) Tell me when you believed; 2) Tell me what you believed then; and 3) Tell me what you believe now.
Closing Prayer: May God the Father, and the eternal High Priest Jesus Christ, build us up in faith and truth and love, and grant us our portion among the saints with all those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for all believers, for kings and rulers, for the enemies of the cross of Christ, and for ourselves we pray that our fruit may abound and we be made perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. (Polycarp – 69-155)
A Bad Sign
Happy Friday:
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
The Apostle Paul
Ephesians 1:18-19
Most people’s inner world is shaped by their outer world. Paul prays that the opposite will be true for his friends.
News Rules – #5: So far, I’ve laid out four News Rules (NR): 1) The Bible First; 2) Less is More; 3) Be Skeptical; and 4) Pay for Your News. Five is: Think Local. Most of us focus on national and international news, which provide updates about events we cannot shape. We need to focus more on things we can impact. I’m not saying, “no national or international news.” What I am saying is that if you can name more European leaders than you can next door neighbors, you’re doing life wrong.
A Bad Sign: After years of trying to get people to attend the church’s annual meeting, I realized the only time you get a big crowd is if they want to “throw the bum out.” In other words, low attendance is a vote of confidence. I doubt there’s a one-to-one comparison between annual meetings and national elections, but I’ve been told we will have record voter turnout for midterm elections this November.
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WOTW: This was a busy week. I’m ignoring two nominees – recession and Armageddon – and giving honorable mention to four others: 1) Reality-challenged – a term describing those who “enjoy a robust on-line life but are not fairing as well in the real world;” 2) Quiet Quitting – a previous nominee which returns after Gallup claimed that “half of the U.S. population now fits the definition;” 3) Sleep-tourism – the industry that recently formed to make money off of the forty percent of people reporting “a reduction in the quality of their sleep since COVID;” and 5) Pathological optimism – the term used to describe anyone who expects the UN Human Rights Council to deal with human rights. The winner is (insert drum roll here……….) Justice-involved.This is the term being used in California to describe the people they would like to receive a license to sell marijuana. Justice-involved is the new way of saying they have a criminal record. (I am tempted to make fun of this term, but this is California and so I am not sure that they would get the joke. Plus, I am sin-involved so I am not going to pick any fights.)
Podcast: This past week I interviewed Dr. Dana Harris, the chair of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s New Testament department, following her Lakelight lecture on the formation of the New Testament. BTW, the Lakelight Institute is up and running with talks, classes, and a Fellows program. To learn more, click here.
The Rings of Power: Though some will accuse me of being pathologically optimistic, I think there are signs that Rings will rally.
Without Comment: 1) More Millennials are attending church now than before the Pandemic; 2) YouGov’s latest study shows that liberal women (ages 18-55) are significantly less likely to be happy with their lives and “mental health” than their conservative peers; and 3) After the age of 19, the odds of someone accepting Christ drop to six percent.
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Quotes Worth Requoting: I have two quotes from Drew Dyck’s new book, Your Future Self Will Thank You: 1) A loss of self-control always results in a loss of freedom; and 2) Satan always gives you the best stuff upfront, and makes you pay for everything down the road. God, on the other hand, is more interested in your future self. He’s more concerned about you than your current level of comfort. He cares more about who you’re becoming than how you feel right now.
Faith is a Given: As Immanuel Kant noted three hundred years ago in Critique of Pure Reason, every worldview rests on assumptions that must be accepted by faith. This includes science. We are free to believe that “what we see is all there is,” but we cannot prove it using the scientific method. Or to state this more forcefully, it is fine to affirm Carl Sagan’s claim that “the Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be,” but we must recognize it for what it is, a naturalist’s statement of faith.
Fat Bears: I saw a lot about Fat Bear Week this week. You can catch up on the craze here.
Closing Prayer: O gracious God, I am fully aware that I am unworthy. I deserve to be a brother of Satan and not of Christ. But Christ, your dear Son, died and rose for me. I am his brother. He earnestly desires that I should believe in him, without doubt and fear. I need no longer regard myself as unworthy and full of sin. For this I love and thank him from my heart. Praise be to the faithful Savior, for he is so gracious and merciful as are you and the Holy Spirit in eternity. Amen. (Martin Luther – 1483-1546)
Name Five
Happy Friday,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Proverbs 1:7
According to the Bible, evil is more vexing, ugly, pernicious, disruptive and insidious than we think. Consequently, those who ignore it do so at their peril. But that is not the big story. The Bible spends far less time telling us to fear evil and far more time telling us to love God and others. As Augustine explained, we need to be shaped by his majesty and might. Right living follows right thinking, and right thinking follows rightly ordering our loves and fears.
Name Five: Can you name five ways the world is better today than it was ten years ago?
Rise: Since I’ve been talking down Rings of Power, let me suggest an alternative. Sheri and I enjoyed Rise, the story of the Antetokounmpo brothers, who overcome enormous challenges on their way to the NBA. I suspect producers took some liberties with the facts, but even if they did it’s a great story. As an aside, I am still watching Rings of Power and will have more to say about it after the last episode.
Problems Hiding in Plain Sight: Over the last few years, I’ve been rehearsing the plight of men – e.g., deaths of despair, falling graduation rates, chronic unemployment, escalating addictions, spiking incarceration rates, friendlessness and loneliness, etc. In the last few months, the topic is getting more attention. Former National Review editor Jonah Goldberg has two podcasts on this recently. You can click here to listen to his interview with Richard Reeves about Reeve’s new book, Of Boys and Men, or here to listen to his interview with Nicholas Eberstadt on his updated book Men Without Work. Finally, you can click here for the SNL skit about men and their lack of friends.
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Without Comment: 1) Sales of religious books rose 21.9% last year to $1.42 billion; 2) One-third of childless adults report that climate change is the reason they are not having children; 3) There is currently $1.6T in U.S. student debt, which is the size of Canada’s economy; 4) 1,833 people died in Hurricane Katrina. As of Wednesday, 109 people had died in Hurricane Ian; 5) Had Apple’s new iPhone 14 been built in 1991, it would have cost $101,000,000; 6) America’s national debt has exceeded $31T for the first time.
It Seems to Me That: Many of our problems could be solved by a Third Great Awakening. I say this not only because the Awakenings were followed by stronger economies, increased savings, fewer addictions and greater acts of charity, but also because I’m anxious for people to fill up their lives with more God, family and friends so there is less room for politics.
News Rule #4: NR4 = Pay for your news. 1) Over the last thirty years, newspapers and news stations have lost eighty percent of their ad revenue; 2) To cut costs they offer less reporting (which is expensive) and more opinion; 3) They also sell access to readers; and 4) The easiest ways to drive up readers is by: Telling people what they want to hear and/or by making them mad. If you want news that is not designed to make you mad, you have to pay for it.
What Things are Better? Most people can name ways the world is worse but struggle to list any in which it is getting better. It’s important to have an accurate assessment. In Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know: And Many Others You Will Find Interesting, Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy use data from the UN, WHO and World Bank to show that many things are improving. For a summary of their argument, click here.
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Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Ideas are everywhere, but knowledge is rare. Thomas Sowell; 2) We live in an era of weakly-reasoned but strongly held beliefs. Carey Nieuwhof; 3) Jesus is not one option among many – a way to find meaning and direction alongside other equally valid options. What Jesus gives us in himself is definitive – the truth, the life. There is (literally) an eternity of difference between Jesus saying ‘the’ and ‘a.’ Tim Keller
T → t → pt → ?: After moving from Truth to truth – i.e., from capital “T” objective, universal Truth to small “t” “you have your truth and I have my truth” truth – we have been sliding into post-truth, where “anything is ‘thinkable,’ but nothing is decidable.” This is unsustainable. We can only hold reality at bay for so long. It eventually punches back.
From the Corner Office: This week’s podcast features last week’s Forum, in which I interviewed three CEOs about what they’ve learned about life, themselves and faith. You can listen here.
Closing Prayer: May God the Father, and the eternal High Priest Jesus Christ, build us up in faith and truth and love, and grant us our portion among the saints with all those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for all believers, for kings and rulers, for the enemies of the cross of Christ, and for ourselves we pray that our fruit may abound and we be made perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Polycarp – 69 – 155)
New Rules (NR)
Happy Friday,
May they be one as we are one…. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus, John 17
In the hours before his death, Jesus was uniquely concerned about two matters: The unity of his followers and their commitment to the truth. It is worth noting that he did not pray, “Thy word is A truth” – as if we can all have our own. He prayed “Thy word is THE truth. It is also worth noting that claims to THE truth promote divisions not unity. And yet, a loving unity around THE truth is what he prayed for. May we find ways to balance a tireless commitment to “the faith once proclaimed” (Jude 1:3) with a gracious and joyful humility – so that we may be one.
Why Such Authoritarianism? A few weeks ago, a reader suggested I choose authoritarianism as the Word of the Week (WOTW). I did not, but I might have. In this four minute video – which I highly recommend – David Brooks has a few things to say about authoritarianism and his journey to faith in Christ.
Without Comment: The U.S. recently surpassed one million organ transplants; 2) Samaritan’s Purse is now a billion dollar per year charity; 3) COVID is losing its pandemic status; 4) Though it has less than one tenth of one percent of the world’s population, Israel ranks second in the world in high tech research and development; 5) A federally appointed medical panel now recommends that doctors screen all U.S. adults under the age of sixty-five for anxiety; 6) U.S. Census data suggests that the three cities in which spouses are “the most unfaithful” are all in Texas – Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston; 7) A study released by Ligonier Ministry claims that 43% of self-described evangelicals believe that Jesus was “a great teacher, but not God,” up 13% in two years; and 8) This study suggests there are 20 quadrillion ants in the world.
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Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) We find time for the things that are important to us. Period. Scott Douglas, Running Times; 2) Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome
Question: When did you last change your mind about something significant?
A Sane Word About the Insanity of the Moment: I had a chance to interview Bonnie Kristian about her new book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. I am thankful not only for her clear thinking about what is going on, but also about the solutions she is advocating. You can listen here.
It Seems to Me That: The Abraham Accords were a more significant accomplishment than initially reported.
It was a Joke: Several weeks ago, I made a passing comment about my commitment to use the Christ Church jet less often. It was a joke. I am tempted to say something snarky like, “Sheri and I own the G-4 we fly around in.” But I fear that may also be misunderstood. There is no jet. There is not even a church van. And FWIW, I drive an eight-year-old Hyundai.
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News Rules (NR): Last week I shared NR #1 – it was: Bible Before Headlines. By this I meant, have your quiet time and align your heart before you glance at the news. We need to do this to be sure we are seeing the world through the lens of the Gospel, not the Gospel through the lens of the news. This week’s rule is: No alerts. For a while my phone chirped with “pressing”updates that were of no importance whatsoever. I turned them all off, believing that if something really important is happening I’ll hear about it soon enough. In the meantime, I am better off with silence.
Insights from Bob Newhart: I wonder if the team of experts calling for an anxiety screening remembers Bob Newhart’s simple advice, which you can find here.
Missing the Point: I recently heard someone lament that “In this post-truth world, anything is ‘thinkable,’ but nothing is decidable.” I get his point, but I think the more relevant observation is that “While many things are thinkable, not everything is doable. And some of what is doable is not sustainable.” Just as it is possible to hold a beach ball underwater for a while, it is possible to keep reality at bay. But only for so long. Eventually reality wins.
Closing Prayer: I am communing with fire. Of myself, I am but straw but, O miracle, I feel myself suddenly blazing like Moses’ burning bush of old…. You have given me your flesh as food. You who are a fire which consumes the unworthy, do not burn me, O my Creator, but rather slip into my members, into all my joints, into my loins and into my heart. Consume the thorns of all my sins, purify my soul, sanctify my heart, strengthen the tendons of my knees and my bones, illumine my five senses, and establish me wholly in your love. Amen. (Symeon Metaphrastes – 900 – 987)
Fill in the blank
Happy Friday
In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.
Psalm 25:1
One of life’s most valuable skills involves learning who and what to trust and who and what to doubt. May we learn to lean into Christ more fully and to thoughtfully doubt our doubts.
Question of the Week: What makes me mad and why? Should it? Am I able to be angry and yet not sin?
NR1: I used to love the news. In fact, my dream job was to be the political cartoonist for the Chicago Tribune. Alas, Jeff McNally had the job, I can’t draw, and not everyone appreciates how consistently funny I am. (OK, very few people do.) I’m now glad I let McNally keep his job (and win his Pulitzers) because I think thinking about the news all day long is a bad thing. In fact, I’ve started establishing “News Rules” (NR). Here is my first: I read the Bible before I read the headlines. With the exception of Sunday AM, when I allow myself a quick peek at the lead story just to be sure something so game-changing hasn’t happened that I need to start writing a new sermon, I read the Bible before I read the news. I’ll share more NRs next week. Let me encourage you to try it, and let me know if you have any “news rules” of your own.
Without Comment: 1) The average person has 1,602 unread emails sitting in their inbox; 2) This past year, over 4 million miles were driven by autonomous test vehicles; 3) Reading and math scores of U.S. grade-school students are down significantly after COVID interrupted schooling patterns; 4) Over seventy percent of Starbuck’s sales are for cold drinks; 5) Unhappiness continues to rise worldwide, with the people of Afghanistan and Lebanon leading the way; 6) The gasses at the center of the Milky Way mean it likely smells like raspberries; 7) Cleopatra lived in a time nearer to the iPhone launch than the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza; 8) According to a 2018 MIT study, lies “diffuse significantly farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information and in many cases by an order of magnitude”; 9) The death of a company’s founding entrepreneur typically wipes out – on average – 60 percent of sales and 17 percent of jobs within four years.
Fill in the Blank: Christ’s “own joy, comfort, happiness and glory are increased and enlarged by _______________.”
An Update on The Rings of Power: I thought the third episode of Rings was better than the first two, but it’s still too early to know what to think about the show. BTW, I heard that while the budget for the series was twice as expensive as all three Peter Jackson movies combined, the cost for the first 8 episodes was “only” $467M, not the $800M first reported. Speaking of Tolkien: 1) In this podcast – which I recorded last week – I put the Lord of the Rings in context; and 2) You’re better off reading the books, especially if there are some kids around that you could read to.
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The Radical Act of Forgiveness: One hundred years before Cancel Culture became a thing, G.K. Chesterton employed the protagonist of his Father Brown novels to prod Christ-followers to forgive others. One example has the priest-turned-crime-detective telling people, “It seems to me that you only pardon the sins that you don’t really think sinful. You only forgive criminals when they commit what you don’t regard as crimes… you forgive because there isn’t anything to be forgiven.”
Word of the Week: Authoritarianism and Civil Unrest were nominated, as was eucatastrophe (a Tolkien creation describing a helpful catastrophe) and deaditors. (I thought it might be fun to honor the 300 Wikipedia volunteers who updated the Queen’s Wiki entry immediately following her death.) Who even knew that there is a special fraternity of Wiki-writers who sit around waiting to be the first to update the Wikipedia entry of a celebrity. But I am going with Cosmic Vertigo, which describes the dizzy feeling we get when we try to grasp the incomprehensible scale of space.
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Clean Up on Aisle Five: Many wrote in to say that Princess Di died on Aug. 31 and Mother Teresa died on September 5th– thus they did not die on the same day as I claimed last week. All I can say is you have a lot of company – including the deaditors. No wonder no one has written a book about this.
The Answer: The answer to the question asked above, at least according to Thomas Goodwin – 17th century Puritan divine – is that: “Christ’s own joy, comfort, happiness and glory are increased and enlarged by his showing grace and mercy, in pardoning, relieving, and comforting his members here on earth.” Ponder that stunning thought. It’s a game-changer.
Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, you said that you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Help us not to stray from you, for you are the Way; Nor to distrust you, for you are the Truth; Nor to rest on any other than you, as you are the Life. You have taught us what to believe, what to do, what to hope, and where to take our rest. Give us grace to follow you, the Way, to learn from you, the Truth, and live in you, the Life. Amen (Desiderius Erasmus – 1467 – 1536)
RIP
Happy Friday,
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Saint Paul, Ephesians 2:8
One of the most counterintuitive aspects of the Christian faith is that God does not wait for us to clean up our act before he embraces us. Indeed, we are only reconciled to him when we realize we will never be able to clean up our act on our own. This should not stop us from trying to “be better” – i.e. to be more like Christ. But we do it from a platform of joy and acceptance, not a desperate need to prove and earn. Alas, many Christ-followers slip back into effort. We appear hopelessly religious.
Statements of Faith: Christians are not alone in getting the basics wrong. The belief that there are truths that we cannot prove but that we should trust – indeed that we should bet our life on – is anathema to most secular moderns, who believe their views are grounded in reason alone. And yet, their views start with faith. Carl Sagan’s famous claim that “The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be,” is a great example. It sounds like a statement of science, but it is not. Indeed, you cannot prove this statement using science. Sagan’s famous statement – upon which he based his life – was a statement of faith.
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The RR Fantasy Face off: Rings of Power – the JRR Tolkien supplement fueled by a nearly $1B investment from Amazon – won the rating’s battle against George RR Martin’s HBO–hosted Game of Thrones prequel. But all is not well in the Shire. Amazon suspended online reviews after Rings collected too many one star ratings. There are lots of theories about Rings’ poor start. I was underwhelmed by the first two episodes but am suspending judgment a bit longer. I am planning a podcast on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings (LOTR) in which I will say more about Tolkien and the LOTR world. For now, let me suggest you turn off Rings and pick up the books. I plan to watch the series. If it proves worth your time I’ll tell you later. What I know is that the books are definitely worth your time. If you have kids over the age of five, create a memory by reading the books to them out loud. You can thank me later.
Twenty-Five Years Ago this Week: In 1982, Boston College philosophy professor Peter Kreeft wrote Between Heaven and Hell, an imagined dialogue between President John F. Kennedy (a humanist), Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World (a mystic), and C.S. Lewis. Kreeft brought these men together because all three died on Nov. 22, 1963. For twenty-five years I’ve been waiting for someone to imagine a similar conversation taking place between two very prominent – and very different – women who both died on Sept. 5, 1997: Lady Diana Spencer (Princess Di) and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. If such a book exists, let me know. I missed it.
It Seems to Me: 1) We should pay more attention to what people do than what they say; 2) I should pay even more attention to what I do and say rather than worry about what others are doing and saying; 3) About 99% of the time, the right time is now; 4) When you lead, most of your job is creating more leaders; and 5) Cries against overpopulation are being replaced by attacks directed against elites with a big carbon footprint. (Readers of this Friday Update will be glad to know that though we have a corporate jet, I seldom take it out.)
RIP: Isaiah 6 came to mind when I heard of HM’s death. That passage opens, “In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” The passing of Uzziah is mentioned by Isaiah because it was a destabilizing event. Her death is as well. I am praying for the new King and praying that we have more leaders that match her quiet grace and stabilizing influence.
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Perspective: This three minute video from Ratatouille – the wonderful 2007 Pixar animated film – makes a great point. Oh that we could all order a bit of perspective from a menu.
Without Comment: 1) This report claims that the percentage of Latinos who identify as Protestant will grow from 25% today to 50% by 2030; 2) life expectancy in the U.S. fell for the second year in a row, down from 78.8 in 2019 to 76.1; 3) persecution against Christians living in Nigeria – which was already bad – got 21% worse this year; 4) according to Gallup, only 32 percent of the US work force is “actively engaged.”
Social Media Policy: I doubt the Apostle Paul had your company’s social media policy in mind when he wrote 2 Timothy, but the second chapter has some helpful coaching to that end. I’m not suggesting you ask your VP of HR to incorporate it into the Employee Handbook, but you could do worse than to scribble it in the margin of your copy. I’m particularly thinking about the parts that say: “avoid godless chatter” and “don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.”
Word of the Week: I have received some encouragement to select Civil War as this week’s WOTW. I am not doing so. I do see the term popping up quite a bit. And yes, polls now show a growing number of Americans think we are heading that way. But, I do not want to stoke those flames. We have problems, but I do not think they are Civil-War-level. Besides, while I know a few people full of bluster and bravado, I can’t imagine even they would fight. If you have a word that captures the trajectory of our polarization I am open to hear it. But I am not selecting Civil War. So, what is the WOTW? I thought about quiet quitting but what I am going with is epistemology. Our current knowledge crisis – which I will be talking a bit about in this week’s sermon – has brought this geeky philosophical term to light.
Closing Prayer: Most gracious Father, we most humbly beseech you for your holy church. Fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in need, furnish it; where it is divided and torn apart, make up its breaches, O holy One of Israel. Amen. (William Laud – 1573 – 1645)
Lakelight
Happy Friday
Set your mind on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Saint Paul, Colossians 3
If we are alert to what is going on – both around us and in our own heart – we will find much to be unsettled by. In light of this, I end up telling some people that their melancholy is a sign their heart is working. But we must not stop there – at least not for long. Despair is a sin. We must heed Paul’s advice to “set our mind on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” May we never forget: God wins. Jesus prevails. Setbacks are temporary. Eternity changes everything.
BTW: Without dismissing the idea that much is going wrong, I want to remind you that much is going right. The situation is complicated, but we are wise to remind ourselves that a lot of good news goes unreported, while at least some bad news is made up.
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To the Train Station: It’s time to repeat my friend’s annual autumn line. Every September he announces that he likes to visit the local train station this time of year in order to “watch something that starts moving without me pushing it.” Those who do what I do – and many others (e.g., teachers, coaches, parents, etc.) – are pushing right now.
Lakelight Institute: One of the things I am helping push is Lakelight Institute (LLI) – our new effort to provide “timeless wisdom for modern life.” We begin a series of initiatives this Fall, including: website resources, classes, fellows program, and a series of talks with experts in their field. Save the date for one of the early Lakelight Talks on September 18th. It is with D.A. Carson, a renowned author, biblical scholar, and co-founder with Tim Keller of the Gospel Coalition. Following his presentation, I will interview him. If you have questions for Dr. Carson, send them my way. You can get more information here.
A Preview of Coming Headaches: The Communications Officer at Binance – a crypto company – issued a press release claiming that a deep fake video of him was being used to dupe investors. Some are now claiming that the officer’s charge of being the subject of a deep fake was the real fake. I’ve not yet heard if claims of the faked fake were true or also faked. I’m sure this will all be cleared up soon. If there is one thing that you can be sure of these days, it’s that all confusing items get cleared up and we all eventually agree on everything.
Without Comment: 1) Approximately 333.2 billion emails are sent every day, 85% of which are spam. (To my surprise, apparently only 63% of them are being sent directly to me.); 2) Those who read the news “most of the time” are nearly three times more likely to have a distorted view of their political opponents than those who only watch the news “now and then;” 3) Jimmy Donaldson – AKA, MrBeast – is an American YouTube personality with over 100 million followers. He first went viral in 2017 when, at the age of 19, he recorded himself counting to 100,000. Having apparently “cracked the algorithm,” MrBeast’s new videos occasionally get more hits than the Super Bowl; 4) In 2021, two books sold over 1 million copies each – Dav Pilkey’s children’s book and Mark Levin’s political commentary. During the same twelve months, eighty million copies of the Bible were printed.
The Streitsüchtig Index? I’m not sure the Ambient Anger Index is a helpful measurement, because our “collective anger” does not seem at all collective. The Dodd decision infuriated some but pleased others. The same can be said about: The raid on Mar-a-Lago, Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and about five hundred other things. I’ve started shopping around for a new term. Polarization Index? FWIW, the German word streitsüchtig translates “dispute-addicted.” That is closer, but not perfect.
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Free Speech: One of the reasons we’re having trouble talking things out is because some conflate their thinking and their value. Consequently, those who suggest their thinking is flawed are perceived to be saying that they have no value. This is not the way conversations worked in the past. We need to advance the idea that while every person has value, not every idea does. Some ideas are wrong. BTW, if no one can say an idea is wrong, we not only lose free speech, we lose free thought.
Old Books: If you’ve not read C.S. Lewis’s short article on reading old books – or if it’s been a while since you last did – do yourself a favor and read it this weekend. It’s here.
Quote Worth Requoting: Sorry to double up on Lewis, but I am struck again by his insight. This time it’s part of his critique of modernism found in the Abolition of Man. “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
More on Prayer: As part of Christ Church’s 21 Days of Prayer campaign, I interviewed Jed Coppenger – the book’s author – on this week’s podcast. You can access it here.
Prayer Request: In addition to asking for prayer for the launch of both the new ministry year and LLI, please pray for Renew Communities. We’ve had a good summer and now head into a busy Fall. In addition to the Surber Golf Tournament – which has raised well over $1M in the last six years – we have an important funding presentation on September 13th, and the Race to Renew on October 1st.
The Lord’s Prayer – Extended Edition: In last weekend’s sermon I included an expanded version of the Lord’s prayer. You can find it here.
Closing Prayer: Let your love dissolve my hard heart. Let your love raise me above myself. Let your love reveal to me joy beyond imagination. Let my soul exhaust itself in singing the praises of your love. Let me love you more than I love myself, and let me love myself only for your sake. And let me see your love shining in the hearts of all people, that I may love them as I love you. Amen. (Thomas à Kempis – 1379 – 1471)