Happy Friday

Teach us to pray.

Luke 11:1

It’s worth noting that the disciples did not ask Jesus to teach them how to lead a group, multiply food or walk on water. They asked to be taught how to pray, which suggests they saw his prayer life lying at the center of his wisdom and power.

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Speaking of Prayer: Do yourself a favor and listen to this sermon, which was preached this past weekend at Christ Church by Jed Coppenger, the author of 21 Days to Childlike Prayer.

Speaking of Prayer 2: In 2005, Warren Buffett started raising money for his charity by auctioning a lunch with him to the highest bidder. The first year’s winning bid was $351K. A few months ago, it was $19M. Consider it the price of access. Consider also that in Christ we have free access to the Creator of the universe. (Actually, I should not say free. It costs us nothing, but it cost him his son.)

Your Move: You can wake up and immediately turn to Twitter or a radio or TV program to start mainlining the latest horrors about murder and war, or the crazy-making of school board fights and Dennis Rodman’s trip to Russia on behalf of Brittney Griner. Or, you can open God’s word and reflect on timeless truths about his love, grace and plan. It’s your call. Just don’t do the first and then wonder why your heart is unsettled.

C.S. Lewis 3.0: Twice in the past week I heard Lewis celebrated for his work as a Medieval scholar. One person argued that Lewis’s most significant contribution was not as a children’s author or Christian apologist, but as a Medievalist critiquing modernity. The second went so far as to suggest that his work as a Medievalist made him the most important intellectual in the 20^thcentury. I’m twice the fan of Lewis as the next guy, and I have no trouble believing that his contributions in his academic field were significant. But I’m not buying that his work as an academic is more important than his work as an author. I suspect someone is about to roll out a new book on Lewis that celebrates his work in Medieval literature. When I learn the title I’ll buy it and read it. Perhaps I will be persuaded, but I doubt it.

Combating Conspiracies: Speaking of 20^th century spiritually influential Brits – in this case not CS, JI, JRR, or JRWS – GKC had this to say about engaging someone embracing a falsehood.  “It is extremely probable that you will get the worst of it, for in many ways his mind moves all the quicker for not being delayed by the things that go with good judgment. If this person believes that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it.” What to do? “We should be chiefly concerned not to give arguments so much as to give air – to convince them that there is something cleaner and cooler outside the suffocating single argument.” In her soon to be released book, Untrustworthy, Bonnie Kristian suggests that, “instead of fact checking their conspiracy, invite them to a party, to church or on a walk.”

It Seems to Me: 1) Our growth as people is most dependent on how many uncomfortable conversations we are willing to have; 2) We focus way too much on what is going wrong and way too little on what is going right; 3) A growing number of the pastoral challenges I face involve dealing with people with mental illness.

Without Comment: 1) China’s recent heat wave has now broken all previous high-temperature records dating back as far as their records go; 2) The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives reports that the production of guns in the U.S. nearly tripled between 2000 to 2020; 3) When Ronald Reagan became President, 40% of the world lived in abject poverty. Today the number is below 10%; 4) The U.S. now has 7 million prime age men (25-54) who are neither working nor looking for work.

Demography = Destiny: This chart is a novel way for me to make my bi-monthly PSA about the global population decline.

WOTW: Russia recently re-named and re-opened the 130 Starbucks stores the company abandoned after Bad Vlad made his move on Ukraine. Had they selected the obvious choice – Tsarbucks – I might have picked it as this week’s Word of the Week. (The new name, Star’s Coffee, isn’t even as much fun as Stars and Bucks, the name of a café near the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.) I’m going to select epistemology instead, for although I do not see it in the popular press, I see the need for it everywhere. We have a knowledge crisis. As David French writes in the foreword of Kristian’s upcoming book, “We not only don’t know what’s real, we don’t even know how to discover what reality is.”

Lunch?: Earlier I noted that Buffet sold lunch with him for $19M. I am not vain enough to think that my advice is worth even one-quarter as much as time with “The Oracle from Omaha.” But since 2022 was the last time he was making this offer, I will make myself available at one-tenth of the price. I am open most Tuesdays at noon.

Closing Prayer: Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he will come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)

Happy Friday,

In this world you will have trouble.

Jesus

If this verse was good news, we’d claim it as a promise. Because it’s not, we ignore it when possible. That is unfortunate. For starters, understanding that this broken world is, well, broken, reminds us to set our hearts on things above – i.e., to look not to the things that are seen but to “the eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison.” Secondly, Scott Peck was right. Life is difficult and as soon as we accept this it becomes less so. It is those counting on easy who face the biggest challenges.

BTW, You Can’t Hide: This week I read about a retired couple who decided to flee the threat of nuclear war by retreating to the safest place they could find on the planet. The year was 1982. The place they selected was the Falkland Islands.

A Final McCullough Insight: Sheri and I are among the fans of historian David McCullough, who passed away this week at the age of 89. Among the tributes I recently read was a reference to comments he made in a 1992 NYT interview. “People often ask me if I’m working on a book,” he said. “But that’s not how I feel. I feel like I work in a book.” In a related sense, when people ask me what book of the Bible I am reading what I want to say is, “That’s not how it feels. I do not read the book. The Book reads me.”

Happy Birthyear. According to Wikipedia, George Jetson was born in 2022.  Given that “his boy Elroy” appears to be about 10 when the show was airing – I’m not about to guess the age of either Jane or Judy – I’m thinking the show was filmed around 2060. That means Elon Musk has less than forty years to build a car that folds up into a briefcase and someone needs to get busy turning the Roomba into a Rosey.  BTW, I always thought Barney Rubble was a better actor than either George Jetson or Fred Flintstone and was disappointed that he never got the Oscar he deserved.

Without Comment:  1) Top Gun: Maverick surpassed Titanic to become the highest-grossing domestic film in Paramount’s 110-year history; 2) According to a WAPO piece about America’s teacher shortage, when students return to school this month it might be to a classroom with twice as many kids or with a college student as the instructor; 3) Following the pandemic, single, non-religious young adults are reporting the highest levels of unhappiness since 1972 (among those who attend religious services at least two times a month, unhappiness during the pandemic rose only 4 percent compared to 15 percent for others); 4) More data was collected for social science research in 2015 than all previous years of human history combined; 5) According to Pew, in the 1960s, about 80% of Americans trusted the government to do the right thing “just about always” or “most of the time.” By the 2000s that number was cut in half. By 2017 it was cut in half again. In 2019 it was just 17%. As this graph shows, the tend has not been straight down, but it has been down.

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Advice I’m Willing to Pass On: I get a fair bit of advice about how I might do my job better. Not all of it is worth passing along, but some is. This week I heard two things that bear repeating: 1) Expect less affirmation.  It turns out, lots of people are too tired to think about how tired you might be;  2) Be what you hope to see. If you are hoping for grace, kindness and compassion, extend that to others.

WOTW: Given the events of the last couple years, I am tempted to cop an attitude and select banana republic as this week’s word, but I am going with moral injury instead. I first wrote about moral injury several years ago. It’s a term I hear from military chaplains caring for those suffering from PTSD. It pops up in my reading from time and time and when it does it always jumps off the page. I’m selecting it again because I think it is underused.

It Seems to Me That:  It seems to me that someone should tell the staff at Colossal – the bioscience and genetic engineering company working to use CRISPR technology to implant woolly mammoth DNA in an Asian Elephant – that they should watch Jurassic Park.

Quotes Requoted:  “I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her fertile fields and boundless forests – and it was not there. I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there. I sought  for the greatness and genius of America in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”  Alexis de Tocqueville

Fake News:  The entry above was a set up. I often run a Quotes Worth Requoting section in the Update. What I listed there was a Quote Requoted. You have likely seen it. After all, it has been cited by many – including Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. But, Tocqueville did not say it. Indeed, he did not come close to believing it. For that matter, neither did any of the founders. They waxed most theological in their writings on humanity, who they understood to be profoundly broken. To be clear, they did not see mankind as evil or consistently bad. They just understood that “the mass of men are neither wise nor good.”

Closing Prayer:  O Lord God, Never leave me nor forsake me, but have mercy upon me for your great name’s sake. And not for myself alone do I ask these blessings, but for all the poor and needy, all widows and fatherless children, and for the stranger in distress; and may they call upon you in such manner as to be convinced that you are a prayer-hearer and prayer-answering God; and yours shall be the praise, forever. Amen.  (Maria W. Stewart – 1803 – 1879)

Happy Friday

I buffet my body and make it my slave.

I Corinthians 9

After being a Christ-follower for ten years, many have relived year one ten times rather than mature. Why? Because spiritual growth requires discipline and sacrifice, and many are not very interested in either. What they may not realize is, our options are limited. We either face the pain of the spiritual disciplines we choose, or we face the pain that flows out of spiritual immaturity and sin. The first is preferable.

Read Revelation 22 Lately? Watching the rerun of our team coming from behind to win an exciting game does not change the ending of the game, but it does change us.

It Seems to Me: 1) Our ever-alert egos might allow us to see our own blind spots more readily if we called them character defenses rather than character defects; 2) Labor unions have been enjoying a good year; 3) We are headed for more contested elections and political chaos;  4) A lot of people are expending a lot of energy to avoid reality, but reality will win in the end; 5) Politics is an increasingly common but always unsatisfying substitute for religion.

FWIW: I am thankful that Ayman al-Zawahiri’s influence has ended, but I am unsettled by our ability to use a limited drone strike to remove a leader in a country in which we are not operating. Technology almost always: 1) Spreads; 2) Becomes cheaper; and 3) Becomes more powerful. I am trying to imagine the world circa 2040.

Without Comment: 1) A comprehensive study of 21 billion social connections on Facebook suggests that a primary driver of economic mobility is childhood friendships between different economic classes; 2) In 2007 there was one gender clinic in the U.S. today there are 300; 3) When Nicky Gumbel took over Alpha, 500K people were participating in Alpha courses every year. Before retiring, the count had grown to 30 million; 4) The Dallas Cowboys – who are valued at 7.6B – are again the most valuable franchise in all of sports; 5) 22% of U.S. workers say they are very or somewhat likely to look for a new job in the next six months.

Saints: The word saint does not appear in the New Testament in the singular. We really are in this together.

WOTW: I thought about deflation (which I suspect is a bigger – and longer-term – concern than inflation) but I’m going with cultural velocity instead. In Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, the author has his protagonist famously describe how he went bankrupt by stating, “Gradually and then suddenly.” I have toyed with naming suddenly the WOTW. But it never quite felt right. Cultural Velocity is a clearer way of saying there is a lot of suddenly happening out there.

Speaking of Velocity:  The earth is picking up speed. On June 29^th our day was a full 1.59 milliseconds shorter than an average day. I fell behind on that day and I have yet to catch up.

Cultivating an Eternal Perspective: A tourist meeting a well-known rabbi was surprised by the austerity of the famous scholar’s home. A table, a chair, and a bed comprised the entirety of his furnishings. “Is that all you have?” he asked. The rabbi smiled and pointed out the fact that the tourist had only a few belongings with him. “But I’m just passing through” the man explained. “So am I,” said the rabbi. (BTW, so are you.)

Worth Your Time: 1) This WSJ piece challenges the view that religion is in decline; 2) In honor of the 110^th anniversary of Milton Friedman’s birthday, I am including this classic 3 minute video of the legendary economist’s interview with Donahue.

Closing Prayer: Lord, I can see plainly that you are the only and the true source of wisdom, since you alone can restore faith and hope to a doubting and despairing soul. In your Son, Jesus, you have shown me that even the most terrible suffering can be beautiful, if it is in obedience to your will. And so, the knowledge of your Son has enabled me to find joy in my own suffering. Lord, my dear Father, I kneel before you this day, and praise you fervently for my present sufferings, and give thanks for the measureless sufferings of the past. I now realize that all these sufferings are part of your paternal love, in which you chastise and purify me. And through that discipline I now look at you without shame and terror because I know that you are preparing me for your eternal kingdom. Amen. Henry Suso (1295–1366)

Happy Friday,

If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

For Better or Worse, I’m Back: I spent the last month working on a book, outlining sermons for ’23 and wrestling with a few other projects. While I was out I discovered that I enjoy reading The Friday Update more than I enjoy writing it, so expect me to tap guest writers from time-to-time. Speaking of guest writers, those of you asking who identified last week’s Jason Woodruff as “Mike’s youngest (and best-looking) son” – that was Jason. His brothers admit to calling him “the Princess,” but insist it has nothing to do with his appearance.

Chart of the Century: I’m a sucker for Mark Perry’s charts. Marketwatch hailed this one as “one of his most important.”

Without Comment: 1) Ten years ago 3% of US citizens consumed no news in a given week; today the number is 15%; 2) In 2021, 56% of Republicans agreed that “the traditional way of American life was disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to stop it;” 3) Prager University – “the world’s leading conservative nonprofit that is focused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media” – now has a $28M annual budget and has downloaded 5B lectures; 4) In 2009, a quarter of American high school students said they had “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness.” Last year the number was 44 percent, “the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded;” 5) Rihanna’s net worth now exceeds $1.4B, making her America’s youngest self-made female billionaire; 6) The UN believes the global population will hit 8B by the end of 2022, and that India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world; 7) During the Reagan administration a study on hunger in the US revealed that while there was not any hunger, there was malnutrition and obesity; 8) More than 1 million people picked up pickleball during the Pandemic, bringing the “total number of pickleheads in the United States” to 5 million; 9) Tonight’s Mega Millions drawing is expected to top $1B. Your odds of winning with a single ticket are one in 300M, which are about the same as everyone paying off their student loans.

A First World Problem: I’m as guilty as most of complaining about the speed of life, but it’s worth noting that it’s a rich person’s complaint. Our perception of the pace of life increases largely (not exclusively, but largely) as our standard of living climbs. The more money we have, the more options we have, and the more options we have, the more we feel the pinch of time. The woman who lives in abject poverty doesn’t fret because she can’t fit a pickleball game between her Zoom meeting and her need to pick her kids up after soccer practice. She has only one objective for the day: feed her children. Time doesn’t race for her, it crawls.

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Quotes Worth Requoting: Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit ’round it and pluck blackberries.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning; 2) Christianity is not the sacrifice we make, but the sacrifice we trust; not the victory we win, but the victory we inherit. P.T. Forsyth

Word of the Week: Several years ago the word None was coined to describe those with no religious faith. I considered it for this week’s WOTW after seeing it used to describe the growing number of those who are not married, do not attend church and do not consume any news. I am going with failed joiner instead. This is the term David Brooks used when describing the young men who commit horror such as the July 4^th shooting in Highland Park. Brooks argues that it’s wrong to think of them as “loners.” They are “failed joiners.”

Marriage Advice: Here’s a 2-1/2 minute clip of the findings of the National Marriage Project. Though many contend that 21–25year-olds are not mature enough for lifetime commitments – and that living together first is a good test run of whether the relationship will endure – those who marry young without living together first have the lowest odds of divorce in America today.

Closing Prayer: O God the Holy Spirit, most loving Comforter of the fainthearted, I pray that you will always turn what is evil in me into good and what is good into what is better; turn my mourning into joy, my wandering feet into the right path, my ignorance into knowledge of your truth, my lukewarmness into zeal, my fear into love, all my material good into a spiritual gift, all my earthly desires into heavenly desires, all that is transient into what lasts forever, everything human into what is divine, everything created and finite into that sovereign and immeasurable good, which you yourself are, O my God and Savior. Amen. (Thomas à Kempis – 1380 – 1471)

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 

(Or as Mike would say…Press On.)
Galatians 6:9

Jason Woodruff is filling in for The Friday Update this week. Jason is Mike’s youngest (and best-looking) son. He lives in Iowa, is a new father, and runs The Pour Over, a newsletter that summarizes the day’s biggest news and pairs it with brief Christian reminders.

Without Comment:  1) A recent poll showed that American families’ top concerns are: inflation, gas prices, the economy, and everyday bills; 2) In the United States, there are 329.5 million people and 148.6 million Amazon Prime accounts; 3) The population of the planet is aging; since 2018, more grandparents have been added than grandchildren born.

Fatherhood: My daughter is 29 days old, so it’s about time I start unloading all the wisdom I’ve acquired: 1) I had never changed a diaper before Brynn was born and do not regret practicing. About 35 minutes into fatherhood, I’d changed 14 diapers, and after 4 weeks I think I could out-diaper anyone on the planet. The combination of frequent repetition and a desire to improve is extremely powerful; 2) The first few days home with Brynn were a blur; I was constantly busy and yet accomplished nothing other than keeping her alive. After a few weeks, my capacity has grown and life with her feels pretty much… normal. The feeling of risk and the unease of change rarely last long; 3) Days after Brynn was born a friend asked me “How is dad??” quickly followed by “Hahaha jk no one cares.” It’s true, and I’ve never cared less about not being cared about.

Reader Feedback: The Pour Over has a Feedback Form included in the footer of every email, and reviewing it always feels like opening Forest Gump’s box of chocolates. There are questions, encouragements, story suggestions, job requests, and criticisms, not to mention the highly variable use of emojis, caps lock, and spellcheck. Despite all the uniqueness, responses can generally be divided in three ways: 1) Kind/unkind; 2) Thoughtful/flippant or poorly reasoned; 3) Actionable/unactionable. I’m not sure if this is unique to our Feedback Form, but the number of people who provide us kind, thoughtful, and actionable feedback is remarkably low…3%.

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Unloving Action to Prove Loving Beliefs: People are increasingly fearful that proximity to someone who holds different social or political views will be perceived as a full-fledged endorsement. Not wanting anyone to confuse them for someone with those rude and unloving views… they will condemn the person often using rude and unloving language. For what it’s worth, Jesus hung out with sinners and was unworried about being associated with their sin. He proved his love by being loving, which seems like a solid strategy.

Book Recommendations: There are two books I’ve read recently that, after finishing, I thought, “I should probably re-read this every year.”

1. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, which helped me view rest and the Sabbath as deeply desirable, despite my natural inclination towards overwork. (And yes, I’ve recommended it to my dad, but he keeps saying he’s too busy to read it.)
2. Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund, which totally reset my view of God’s character and how He views me.

Reeder Feedback (Examples): If you were interested in some of the unkind, flippant, and/or unactionable feedback The Pour Over has gotten: 1) “I hope this newsletter is legit? If not and you’re using the Lord for ill-gotten gain or in deceit, I pray you’ll be destroyed by your own wickedness.” 2) “Every news source you’ve cited is corrupt, you’ve clearly been paid off by the global elite. Be better.”

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) If you’re not confident in the authority of the Scripture, you will be a slave to what sounds right. – Matt Chandler; 2) It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid. – Albert Einstein.

Closing Prayer: Father of all, may Your name be praised. Help me to work towards accomplishing Your goals, not my own. Give me the strength needed today, not worrying about tomorrow. Forgive me for all the ways I fall short and help me forgive others quickly. Let me always desire You above all else, and not be tempted by fleeting things. You are, and always will be, powerful and glorious. Amen. (Paraphrased Lord’s Prayer)

Happy Friday,

I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Ephesians 3:16-17

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This week, Rebecca Hacker – who has an MA in Bioethics – is the guest writer for The Friday Update. Rebecca, who previously served on the Christ Church staff for three years, and is married to Dustin (who leads worship at the Lake Forest campus) – is Mom to two young girls.

As you may have heard, Highland Park was the location for a tragic July 4^th shooting this week – an horrific event that impacted several dozen people who attend the Christ Church Highland Park campus.  In future weeks, Mike will comment on the tragedy.

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My life is currently filled with rocking a baby, changing diapers, and Baby Shark (doo doo doo doo.) Whether we are doing the mundane or the exciting, the necessary or the trivial, the only way to thrive is to be strengthened in our inner being through God’s Spirit.

Without Comment: 1) An FCC Commissioner requested that Apple and Google remove TikTok from their app stores for “its pattern of surreptitious data practices;” 2) Americans consume roughly 150 million hot dogs on the 4th of July; 3) Canada is on track to allow assisted suicide (called medical assistance in dying– “MAiD” in Canada) for mental illness; 4) Wimbledon Finals are later this week and the total prize money is $49.55 million.

The Red, the Blue, and the Tired: In this recent newsletter, David French points out that the “exhausted majority” (borrowing language from this Hidden Tribes report from 2017) makes up two-thirds of Americans who have less animosity towards the “other side” and are more willing for compromise. He argues that the radicalized American might be the loudest, but the exhausted American is looking for friendship and understanding. French calls for the exhausted to be energized. I would call for us to remember where our salvation lies.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) It all comes to this: The simplest way to be happy is to do good. – Helen Keller; 2) May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right. – Peter Marshall; 3) I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.  – Mark Twain. After driving to my home state of Georgia this past week with kids in tow, I have to agree with Twain.

What’re You Selling?: You don’t have to look far to see that social media addiction has become a crisis. Paul Poteat, Midwest Network Director of Campus Outreach, reminds college students that “[social media] is selling you. You are the product. And they’re selling you to companies that will solicit your interest and your consumption.” An important reminder to all of us who are engaged with social media. And for the record, I see an alarming number of friends and fellow parents looking to Instagram influencers and “experts” as their primary source for parenting advice.

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WOTW: Sittervise– To supervise your children from a seated position without intervening. Speaking of influencers, the parenting influencer @busytoddler with 1.8 million followers coined the term and it’s one I try to do as often as possible with my two-year-old.

John Marshall Harlan: My parents are reading a biography of John Marshall Harlan who was the only Justice of the Supreme Court who dissented in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. (They would recommend it, The Great Dissenter.) Harlan argued that separate but equal was not equal. In his dissent, he stated that in the eyes of the law, “the humblest is the peer of the most powerful.”

Power: It’s worth noting that the “powerful” Chief Justice Harlan mentions is a power of self-promotion. The power that Paul prays for in Ephesians 3 is a power that gives us strength to submit to Christ and understand his love.

Prayer/Hymn: Maybe it’s that my husband is a worship pastor or maybe it’s my Baptist upbringing, but this hymn has brought me great comfort in recent days. He doesn’t change and his compassions never fail.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Happy Friday,

gegraptai

Jesus, Luke 4:4

Jesus framed his response to temptation around the word: gegraptai – i.e., it is written. When tempted in the wilderness, he cited passages out of Deuteronomy,  “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone’”; “It is written: ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God’”; and  “It is written: ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’” It is worth noting that Jesus was not citing these passages for Satan’s benefit, but for his own. He was reminding himself of the path he was to follow. The term gegraptai settled it for him. Jesus chose to live in obedience to the Scriptures.

Spin: Those who doubt the power of spin are invited to guess what classic movie this 1998 movie guide was referencing: “Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets, and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.”

Without Comment: 1) We currently use five trillion plastic bags per year – that is 700 per person; 2) New York schools spent $200K last year on drag queens; 3) In addition to holding us back, fear saves us from making stupid decisions; 4) Children are now being born to parents who were not alive when Shrek first aired; 5) In 1958, nearly 75% of Americans trusted the federal government “to do the right thing most of the time.” Today only 21% do; 6) In 2020 the number of abortions inched up for the first time in thirty years.

WOTW: My reading on higher education led me to consider self-censorship and reputational consequences as this week’s Word of the Week, but I am going with tarmac misery instead. It seems appropriate given the spike in ticket prices and flight delays.

Spin Answer: The movie being referenced was: The Wizard of Oz.

Perspective: After fearing that he sounded like his grandparents – who were always complaining about how bad the world was getting – a friend said to me, “Of course you do think things are getting worse, don’t you?” Well… it’s complicated. Some things are getting worse, but some are getting better. What strikes me is how often the news is focused on the wrong issues, and how challenging it currently is to remain biblically faithful and radically loving.

It seems to me that: 1) Twitter is filled with people willing to exchange self-respect for publicity; 2) Reasonable is the new radical; 3) A lot of people are paying $100 per month to store things they do not need, do not miss and will never look at again; 4) The 41-year-old actor – who has secular views but no children –  should rethink his statement that, “People who do not share my worldview will go extinct;” 5) Recent attacks on pro-life centers and other faith-based organizations are being under-reported in the news; 6) Just about everything is being politicized today.

Take-Aways: Two weeks ago, I asked what you had learned from the “COVID-racial-strife-mask-mandate-election-results-etc.-cocktail” we’ve been living through. In addition to noting that it’s never a bad idea to store extra toilet paper – and although Jesus will return, “normal” will not – three themes emerged: 1) We are in worse shape than we thought; 2) We need each other more than we thought; and 3) We have less control than we thought.

Comments on Your Take-Aways: After rereading most of your emails, I was struck by a few things: 1) The three most common learnings are all Biblical themes; 2) Some of you are angrier than I realized (and more than I recommend); and 3) Government and science took some big hits.

Self Awareness:  It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared a movie scene. This one – which is from the 1999 film, The Big Kahuna – captures the efforts of a senior salesman (Danny DeVito) to help a younger man (Peter Facinelli) be a bit less self-righteous. I do not agree with everything DeVito shares – and it’s painful to watch – but it highlights an important point: We often do not see ourselves very accurately.

Quote Worth Requoting: I spent a long time trying to come to grips with my doubts. And suddenly I realized that I had better come to grips with what I believed. I have since moved away from the agony of the questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of the answers that I cannot escape… and it’s a great relief. Thomas Skinner

Two Personal Updates: Brynn Leigh Woodruff was born yesterday, and she is perfect! I am stepping back during July to enjoy becoming a grandfather, to finish writing a book and to attend to several other things. The Friday Update will be written by others.

Closing Prayer: Lord, we pray this day mindful of the sorry confusion of our world. Look with mercy upon this generation of your children so steeped in misery of their own contriving, so far strayed from your ways and so blinded by passions. We pray for the victims of tyranny, that they may resist oppression with courage. We pray for wicked and cruel men, whose arrogance reveals to us what the sin of our own hearts is like when it has conceived and brought forth its final fruit. We pray for ourselves who live in peace and quietness, that we may not regard our good fortune as proof of our virtue, or rest content to have our ease at the price of other’s sorrow and tribulation. Amen. (Reinhold Niebuhr – 1892 – 1971)

Happy Friday,

Do not let the sun go down on your anger.

The Apostle Paul
Letter to the Ephesians

It’s important to know how to handle anger. It’s also important to note what makes people mad – especially you. In Matthew 2, Herod grew angry when he heard about the birth of a new king. The Pharisees got mad whenever Jesus helped someone on the Sabbath. The disciples got mad when a woman spent money caring for Jesus’ feet. What makes you mad and why?

Be Happy: In Defense of Food, Michael Pollen summarizes a lot of diet information in seven words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants. Here is my effort to channel Pollen while summarizing HBS professor Arthur Brooks’ many writings on happiness: Embrace faith and family. Serve others. Cultivate friendships. Avoid Screens. Be thankful.

Father’s Day: Dads, if you look past the golf, this 2-minute video makes two points: You matter, and they are watching.

It Seems to Me: 1) We’d be wise to raise the age of “internet adulthood” in an effort to stop social media from further undermining our democracy; 2) Princeton’s recent decision to dismiss a tenured professor puts academics everywhere on notice: Speak against the spirit of the age at your own risk; 3) Jonathan Haidt’s Atlantic piece – “Why the Past Ten Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” – is worth rereading; 4) The first thing to say about politics is that politics should never be the first thing.

Without Comment: 1) After ten years in development, Amazon is set to launch its drone delivery program; 2) To the surprise of many, email keeps growing. There are 3.7B users today and 4.5B expected in 2024; 3) When you hear a 7^th grade band play Beethoven, don’t judge Beethoven.

Addictions: I asked for your take on addictions and you replied. In third place was “self” – self-image, personal pleasure, etc. In second place was porn. And the number one spot went to (drum roll please) “our phones and other social media devices.” Let the record show: 1) I deleted the subscriptions of those who suggested coffee was an addiction; 2) I am against all addictions to digital content, unless said content is something I am sending out digitally; and 3) I was surprised by how few mentioned the classics:alcohol, drugs, gambling. (Other nominees included: nicotine, dopamine, sugar, consumerism and “belief in nonsensical falsehoods.”

WOTW: David French’s article on hate almost got me to select stochastic terrorism, but I opted for shrinkflation instead. It turns out I’m not crazy. Gatorade bottles, restaurant portions, toilet paper rolls and other portions have been shrinking. If inflation remains at record highs, perhaps our waistlines will shrink as well. (Look for this if you see pigs flying or cows walking home.)

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Brothers: I’m late in noticing the “troubled brothers” theme in Genesis. Think: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and the other 11. In his essay on Creative Minorities, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks comments on this highlighting the moral progression of the last scenes: First, Abel lying dead at Cain’s feet; then Isaac and Ishmael standing together at their father’s grave; then Jacob and Esau embracing; and finally, Joseph extending forgiveness and reconciliation to the very ones who had sold him into slavery.

Is Religion Poison? Many believe religion makes society worse. In this book, sociologist Rodney Stark draws on 247 studies to list 101 ways religion makes things better. Among his points, religious people: 1) Are the primary source of secular charitable funds; 2) Engage in more prosocial behavior (e.g., blood drives); 3) Are less likely to commit crimes; 4) Live an average of seven years longer; 5) Read more; and 6) Are less likely to divorce. To be clear, bad versions (and bad applications) of religion are everywhere. But it’s worth looking at the data. There is a reason why – in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail – Dr. Martin Luther King cites the prophets of the Bible and not an atheist manifesto. BTW, I recently discovered King’s sermon on loving our enemies. It is worth reading.

Are You Prepared: In this piece, Jennifer Bryson – a Catholic Scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center who previously worked as an interrogator at Guantanamo – reflects on the development of our conscience. Having failed to prepare her conscience in advance, she writes: “The time to deliberate, seek advice, and reflect for long periods of time in prayer so that we can have a conscience that can stand on solid footing ‘just when it matters’ exists only ahead of time, when one can’t foresee the curveballs.” She goes on to note that “conscience is not a rabbit we can suddenly pull out of a magic hat. It is something that must be cultivated and developed over time so that it is available and ready to go when one of those ‘just when it matters’ moments comes our way.”  It makes me wonder, am I ready for what I will face tomorrow?

Closing Prayer: Lord, in union with your love, unite my work with your great work, and perfect it. As a drop of water, poured into a river, is taken up into the activity of the river, so may my labor become part of your work. So, may those among whom I live and work be drawn into your love. Amen. (St. Gertrude the Great – 1256-1302)

Happy Friday:

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton
and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

Luke 7:34

Jesus did not deserve the scorn he received from the Pharisees, but one of their accusations was spot on: He was a friend to sinners. Time and again he gravitated toward “the least, the last and the lost.” Think: the awkward, needy, socially reviled and morally reprobate. Do you gravitate towards the least?

Forty Years: Last weekend I made the trek to Greencastle, Indiana to hang out with a bunch of old people at our their fortieth college reunion. I’ll spare you the cliches – e.g., “time flies,” “there are no friends like old friends,” etc. – pausing only long enough to remind you that clichés are often true. Instead, I will note: 1) Though some people are doing better or much worse than expected, most people’s lives make sense; 2) Addictions are devastating and defining; 3) More people own their struggles at their 40^th reunion than do at their 10^th; 4) The most consistent concerns of sixty-somethings are their children.

In His Timing: As I’ve shared before, one of the encouraging things about reunions with my fraternity brothers is seeing how many now embrace faith and are serving in interesting and thoughtful ways. During our student days, I often joined a group that was praying that our friends would come to faith. When we graduated, there was little to suggest our prayers had been heard. Oh we of little faith.

Without Comment: 1) The US is tracking toward 2.5M weddings in 2022, up from 1.25M in 2020; 2) During the six-week Johnny Depp / Amber Heard trial, The Law & Crime Network’s YouTube feed garnered nearly one billion views; 3) Several polls suggest the percentage of Hispanics who will vote for R’s in the next election will be higher than the percentage of Whites who do so; 4) Last week inflation in Turkey measured 73.5%.

Burnout Clarified: A friend recently noted that burnout is not just what happens when you work too much, it’s what happens when your emotional investment does not garner the expected return.

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Marijuana: A few years ago, Illinois legalized recreational marijuana. The info in this WSJ piece– which undermines both the “THC is just like alcohol” and the “societal costs will be more than paid for by the free money brought in by taxing it” claims – suggest that was a bad move. For my thoughts on legalizing marijuana, click here.

Speaking of Addictions: The famous 1970s “Rat Park” experiment – discussed here – makes two important points: 1) We not only need to avoid addictive substances, we need to build healthy lives; 2) We need each other. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is connection.

Speaking of Addictions #2: Last week I asked for your input on lessons learned over the last few years. Thanks to the many of you who wrote back. I’ll be summarizing your comments and reporting back soon. Forgive my indulgence, but given last week’s success, I am asking for your input on a different question this week: What do you think is the most common addiction in the U.S. today?

But is it Safe?: Many put off a trip to the Holy Land because they do not believe Israel is safe. As info: Israel’s homicide rate is 1.5 cases per 100,000 people; Chicago’s is 29.5. If Chicago were a country, it would not only be listed as more dangerous than Israel, but more dangerous than Iraq, Russia and Afghanistan.

Worth Noting: The number of those worried about the economy – Jamie Dimon, Larry Summers, Elon Musk, et. al., – and those worried about a global famine – the editors of The Economist, the directors of the World Bank, global commodity markets – appear to be growing.

Word of the Week: Social Media has elevated the ability of the L and R to raise money and momentum by highlighting the most ridiculous comments of the other side. The word for this is: nutpicking. We need to learn that while there are a lot of NUTS out there, some days there are more nutpickers.
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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)

Happy Friday,

Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you.

The Apostle Paul

This passage washes over me in waves. Having just returned from Israel, I start with awe of the Temple. This was a structure that physically, culturally, emotionally and spiritually dominated Jerusalem in ways no building or institution dominates the United States. I then move into awe of Jesus, who made the stunning claim that he was the real Temple. (Remember, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will rebuild it.”) I then marvel at Paul’s suggestion that the Spirit of God has come to live in me. But the real punch comes with this: I have only recently realized that the “you” found here (“you” are God’s temple) is plural not singular. I have long understood this statement with my American ears – i.e., God’s Spirit lives in me. In fact, Paul was writing about the church.

The Correct Answer is B: The mother of a college freshman at a state university forwarded me a screen shot of this question on his midterm exam. Which of the following is NOT true about gender? A) Gender is learned; B) Gender is a biological trait; C) Gender is ambiguous; D) Gender is self-identifying; or E) Gender influences our communication with others. The only answer that would receive credit was B.

Maverick: Count me among those contributing to the $175M opening take for Top Gun: Maverick. As you may know, the film – which rolls out 35 years after the initial one – features Tom Cruise as our nation’s top “stick jockey.” Given that Tom and I are essentially the same age – and given that I’m increasingly worried about keeping my driver’s license – I found the premise of a sixty-year-old fighter pilot a bit forced. That said, it won me over. Though predictable, the movie’s action-scenes, hint of patriotism and celebration of hard work made for a fun film. It also gave me hope. If the NFL doesn’t call me up in the next few years, I still have time to land a seat in an F-18. And if, after twenty years of trying that, I really do age out, I’ll still have time to run for U.S. President. BTW, “a friend” wants you to know that envy is the worst of the Seven Deadly Sins, because unlike the other six, it provides no upside. Also, just to be clear, after hearing that every TC frame was digitally “enhanced,” my “friend” is not envious of his looks. It’s his ability to sprint that I (uh, he) is after.

It Seems to Me That: 1) There is a lot of misdirected hype over Monkeypox; 2) Putin is starting to grind out a win; 3) I should be tracking levels of Ambient Weariness, not Ambient Anger; 4) The Supreme Court really needs to find the leaker; 5) Not much is being made of Disney’s 30% decline after their dust up with DeSantis; 6) Whenever someone says, “It’s past time for us to have an honest conversation” about XYZ, what they really mean is, it’s time for everyone to embrace their position on XYZ.

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Be a One: As the Book of Proverbs makes clear, there are three kinds of people in the world: 1) The Wise, who learn to conform to the Truth; 2) The Foolish, who do not; and 3) The Evil, who want to harm others. I do not think there are many “threes.” Unfortunately, I do not think there are many “ones” either.

Recent Learnings: In an effort to be a “one,” let me suggest you reflect on the last two years. What have you learned from: COVID, racial tension, the controversies surrounding masks, vaccines, the WHO, election results, work from home, global developments in Ukraine, North Korea and China, etc., etc. I’m collecting responses. So far I’ve heard: 1) I need less stuff than I think; 2) I need more community than I thought; 3) I control practically nothing; 4) I married him for better or worse, but not for lunch; 5) Time to reflect can be positively or negatively catastrophic; 6) Our trust in each other is very fragile; and 7) I need to be less offendable.

Failure to Act: Let me suggest another opportunity for reflection. Given that the unthinkable horror of Uvalde has been made worse by the police’s delay, ask yourself this: In what arenas am I failing others by not acting in a timely manner?

The Most Memorable Thing About Israel: I appreciated many predictable aspects of our recent pilgrimage to Israel – the city of Jerusalem, the insights from Nazareth Village, the Garden Tomb, the Via Dolorosa, the Wailing Wall, the baptisms in the Jordan River, the Holocaust Museum, conversations with fellow travelers, floating in the Dead Sea, etc., etc. The part of the trip that surprised me was the accomplishments of Herod the Great (HTG). Given what a bad guy HTG was – not only did he have his own wife and two of his sons killed, he is the one who ordered the Slaughter of the Innocents – admiring his building chops is a bit like admiring Hitler’s ability to mobilize a nation. That said, Herod’s building skills are stunning, and a tour of Israel brings that home. Not only is his talent on display with the Temple – where a reported 10,000 workers labored for over forty years – but also at Masada, Herodium and Caesarea.

Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth; 2) We are in a wrong state of mind if we are not in a thankful state of mind. Charles Spurgeon.

Conspiracy Theories: Remember, small and simple conspiracies might be true, but big and complicated ones never are. The people accused of engineering them are not smart enough to pull them off, and not many people can keep a secret.

Our Fractured Republic: One of our national challenges is a lack of a common culture. In the late 50s, I Love Lucy had a 68% weekly share and a 91% monthly share. Other than a few one-offs (such as the Super Bowl) – the most watched TV show in the last twenty years was a three-week run of Sunday Night Football in 2014, and it was only watched by 12 percent of the public.

Closing Prayer: Look on us, O Lord, and let all the darkness of our souls disappear before the beams of your brightness. Fill us with your holy love, and open to us the treasures of your wisdom. You know all our desires, so bring to perfection what you have started, and what your Spirit has awakened us to ask in prayer. We seek your face, turn your face to us and show us your glory. Then our longing will be satisfied and our peace will be perfect. Amen (Augustine – 354-430).