For God so loved the world that He sent His Son.
John 3

A friend saw a bumper sticker the other day. It read: “JESUS LOVES YOU. Then again, he loves everybody”. While intended to be humorous, the sticker uncovers a dilemma we face in our relationship with God. We want to be overwhelmed by His love for us. It should inspire and provoke our worship.  But if every player gets a trophy is mine still special? If God loves everyone, am I still special? Yes, but we need to stop thinking that God’s love elevates us over others. Throughout the Bible we are told that God does not select people because they are worthy but precisely because they are not. His love should humble us not inflate us. And it should also lead to worship. God does not love us under compulsion or duty. He chooses to love you. As Skye Jethani notes,  “If God loves everyone are you still special? No, but He is.” Reflecting on God’s love should lead us to see His unequaled value, not ours.

Questioning Questions: In a lecture on Public Faith, Michael Ramsden suggested that we follow Jesus’s example of asking questions of those who disagree with us. He noted that Jesus seldom directly answered questions, instead he questioned both the questions and the questioners. Ramsden went on to note that Jesus was not asking questions because he lacked information. He was asking questions to help others see things more clearly.

The Gini Coefficient:  Back in the second half of the 20^th century, an Italian statistician established a metric to measure the distribution of wealth. The coefficient varies between 0 (where income – or net worth – is evenly distributed), and 1 (where all value is held by one person). The Gini Coefficient in the US was .43 in 1990 and is .48 today, which means income inequality is growing. At the moment, the wealthiest 10% of the US own 84% of the assets. It is worth keeping an eye on this number.

To Be Read (AGAIN): For years I’ve asked others what they are reading. That may be the wrong question. What I should be asking is, “What books have you read more than once?”

Two Reading Surprises: In advance of asking others what they have read two or more times, I jotted down my list. Mere Christianity, Les Miserables, The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, Letters from a Birmingham Jail, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Frankenstein, The Great Divorce, The Weight of Glory, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Two things seem noteworthy about my list: first, I reread the same authors (Lewis, Tolkien, Dostoevsky); and second, only one nonfiction book made the list, Letters from a Birmingham Jail.

The Decline of Sex:  A new report  suggests that Americans are having sex less than ever before. There are some obvious reasons for this – e.g., the population is getting older and more people are single.  But what surprised researchers is the growing number of 18-29 year old males not having sex. Speculation abounds. After all, we live in a time of “plenary affirmation of sexual experimentation of almost any sort.” Many factors are being pointed to – i.e., a decline of “couplehood,” the loss of courtship, etc. I wonder if/when anyone might think – as the Bible suggests – that sex is a powerful but somewhat fragile gift that can be broken, and that a decline in sexual intimacy is one of the downsides of the sexual revolution.

Not the Same: If you read much of the “all religions are the same” literature, you see the same arguments repeated. For example, “Confucius said ‘do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.’  Jesus said, ‘Do unto others what you want them to do for you.’ Those are essentially the same.”  Sorry, but no. Both the Silver Rule (Confucius) and the Golden (Jesus) are laudable. But one says, do not harm your enemy. The other says, serve them. John Dickson writes, “The difference is between choosing not to punch my enemy in the nose and deciding to build my enemy a hospital.”

The Idol of Politics: Chicago has a new mayor, Lori Lightfoot. We need to pray for her (I Tim. 2:2).  And we need to hold realistic expectations. Like all idols, politics overpromises and under-delivers. It’s a given that Lightfoot will disappoint everyone who holds outsized expectations.

Quotes Worth Requoting:

• God designed the “human machine” to run on Himself. He is the fuel our spirits are designed to burn, the food on which we are designed to feed. There is no other.  C.S. Lewis
• I recently contacted my bank to announce that I now identify as a billionaire and expect to have my account adjusted accordingly. R.R. Reno

The Pour Over:  About six months ago, our youngest son and some of his friends started a thrice-weekly email designed to offer a summary of current events from a Christian perspective. It’s clever, free and growing. (I tell him I enjoy it but find the tone a bit snarky. He tells me I miss their target demographic by about thirty years). If you want to pretend to be a millennial, or just see what some of them are reading, you can see it and/or sign up by clicking here.

Closing Prayer:  O Lord, from whom all good things do come; grant to us, your humble servants, that by your holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by your merciful guiding may perform the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. –The Gelasian Sacramentary

Happy Friday

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the  waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11

I’ve been reading ahead. To be more specific, I’ve been looking at God’s promises for the future. They are bigger than I remember. Tim Keller’s comments about them are worth passing along. “When we look at the whole scope of this story line, we see clearly that Christianity is not only about getting one’s individual sins forgiven so we can go to heaven. That is an important means of God’s salvation, but not the final end or purpose of it. The purpose of Jesus’s coming is to put the whole world right, to renew and restore the creation, not to escape it. It is not just to bring personal forgiveness and peace, but also justice and shalom to the world. God created both the body and soul, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both body and soul. The work of the Spirit of God is not only to save souls but also to care and cultivate the face of the earth, the material world.”

In Pursuit of Intrinsic Good: T.S. Elliot argued that there are two questions Christians should ask themselves: 1) What do I like? And 2) What ought I to like? He went on to claim that Western moral education hinges on this discussion. In a sobering interview with Ken Myers, James Matthew Wilson notes that modern culture has moved away from this view in virtually every way possible. It used to be we educated children by training them to reform their desires so that they seek good itself. But today we have lost the ability to see good in anything that is not pleasurable.  He also notes that higher education used to articulate three goals: 1) Introducing students to an atmosphere that refined sensibilities; 2) helping them learn to instinctively recognize things that are good; and 3) helping them rightly order their life. Wilson argues that the contemporary university is now stridently opposed to these three aims.

Several New Studies About the Church:  News about the big C church in the West has been mostly bad lately, but a new Harvard study challenges those findings. You can read that here. And as I have done before, I want to remind you that the Secularization Theory (as education spreads, religion will fade) many of us grew up with has been jettisoned by nearly everyone.  In fact, the church outside of the West is growing like a brush fire. It tends to grow wide more quickly than it grows deep, but it is spreading quickly.

Quotes Worth Requoting:  The dominant culture in which we live is that of expressive individualism. Since the Enlightenment, people like to say, “Well, what the church says might be ok for some, but I think you have to determine right and wrong for yourself.” But they’re not thinking for themselves. They’re doing exactly what the culture tells them. In reality they’re espousing the very way of knowing that’s been imposed on them by their culture…and a very white, Western, individualistic one it is. The question, “Do you think we ought to convert people to Christ?” assumes there are already untouched, unformed people out there and there are pushy Christians trying to convert them to their way of thinking. No, everyone has been deeply formed into some point of view that is not innate. The real question you must face is “which externally imposed formation will have its way with me?” William Willimon

Generosity:  From time to time I return to this article by Nicholas Kristof in which he notes trends in giving. The topic is more complicated than he is able to develop in this small article, but the evidence does suggest that those who follow Christ are more generous with their money and time.  Of course that is as it should be. We serve a God of amazing generosity.

Springtime:  It’s spring here on Earth’s northern hemisphere, which led one person to ask, “Do other planets have seasons?” The answer: “Yes”, according to David Grinspoon, a scientist at the  Planetary Science Institute. “It’s springtime on Pluto right now, at least in the northern hemisphere!…And it has been since 1990.”

Real estate Trends:  I was told by a realtor friend that one of the trends in new home construction is to replace the dining room with a larger media center. People are opting for a short bar in the kitchen where they can sit and eat.

Psychics as Wellness Coaches:  This past Sunday’s New York Times had a piece exploring the expanding role of psychic mediums as wellness coaches. The pyschics who were interviewed noted that people were less inclined to ask for their fortune to be told and more interested in how to live well.  I am reminded of Chesterton’s quote, “When people choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”

Closing Prayer:  Into your hands, O Lord, we commit ourselves this day. Grant to each one of us so to pass the waves of this troublous world, that finally we lose not the world eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. –Anonymous

“And God said….” These three words pop up a lot in Genesis 1, always to be followed by new realities. Why? Because there is power in God’s voice. Recognizing the creative force of God’s voice, Dietrich Bonhoeffer advised us to be “silent at the beginning of the day because God should have the first word.”

Cuba: A staff member who has seen much of the world, recently returned from Cuba. Her assessment was that – other than the places Cuba opens to tourists – things are as bad as anything she has seen anywhere. In fact, she said they are worse than the slums of the Majority World.

Three Musts:  Over the last year I have become aware that I am not very aware. It’s a horrible feeling. If you have NOT been struck with it, I’ve got bad news. This isn’t just my problem.  To see ourselves clearly requires three things many of us lack: 1) an amazement with the Gospel, because the only way we feel safe dropping our guard and seeing ourselves honestly is if we feel safe in God’s love; 2) great friends – i.e., insightful friends who not only see us, but know how to help us see ourselves; 3) Time.

New Words:  It’s hard to know whether a word is new or if I’ve just been overlooking it. So I hesitated to list these three as new until I conducted a survey (of two other people) and confirmed my findings. They are: 1) Post-email. My three sons have been post-email for years. I am going to send them this email to let them know there is now a word to describe them!; 2) Snow Plow Parents. First there were “helicopter parents” and then “lawnmower parents”. The new term de jour is “snow plow”.  Apparently the path snow-plowers plow is wider than those pushing a lawnmower. BTW, I do think Lythcott-Haims is right when she says they have it wrong.  “The point is to prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid.” 3) Post-vision. Over dinner with some pastors I heard that Millennials are “post-vision”.  They do not respond to any calls to “take the hill”. What they rally to is a cause.

On the Night Stand: It’s been a while since I have enjoyed a book as much as I am enjoying two books right now:

• Bird by Bird:  Two weeks ago I ran across a blog by J.D. Greear, the new Southern Baptist Conference president, endorsing Steven King’s book on writing. I had read it ten years ago and loved it, but was surprised to see Greear endorse it. When he later put in a good word for Anne Lamott’s book on writing, Bird by Bird, I decided to pick it up. FYI: I know little about Lamott other than a quote I have cited several times — see Quotes Worth Requoting – and the fact that she is a sixty-year old white woman with dreadlocks. I can now add a third thing: I know I love her comments about writing. If you are a writer, I suspect you will as well. (If you are not, no promises).

• Love Your Enemies: Two weeks ago I mentioned a WSJ article on contempt that was written by Arthur Brooks. His new book came out last week. I’m half-way through it.  I hope hundreds of thousands read it. BTW, he cites a study claiming that the levels of animosity and contempt between this country’s left and right now equals that found between Palestinians and Jews in the Middle East.

Quotes Worth Requoting:

• Now all my teachers are dead except silence. W.S. Merwin (Pulitzer Prize winning poet who died last week)
• You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. Anne Lamott

Thankful: I’m happy to report: 1) an easy re-entry post-sabbatical; 2) that ExploreGod Chicago went well, and reached the goal of involving over 1,000 churches; 3) Christ Church is making progress towards launching site four.

Higher Education:  Most weeks I drop updates about higher ed because they seem so alarmist.  But, I am including one this week because I find much of what is happening in “the ivy jungle” to be alarming.  I do not think you will enjoy this Youtube video about free speech – or lack thereof. But it is probably good to at least know about it.  (By the way, I suspect it has been “selectively edited,” But even if that is true it makes a point).

Closing Prayer:  O God, the enlightener of all nations, grant your people to enjoy perpetual peace; and pour into our hearts that radiant light which you did shed into the minds of the wise men; through Jesus Christ our Lord. –Trium Magorum, Gelasian

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Nehemiah 4:9

I saw a recent survey about prayer, and virtually everyone says they need, want and intend to pray more. I was going to comment on that, but I was drawn to Nehemiah’s comments instead. When trying to get the walls around Jerusalem rebuilt, he posted a guard and prayed day and night. I have never been a huge fan of the statement, “pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you,” which is attributed to several different people (I think most think Ignatius).  But I can’t argue with Nehemiah.

Confidence and/or Comprehension:  In John 10 – right after Jesus noted that sheep know the voice of their shepherd – we are told that his disciples, “did not understand what he was saying to them.” Ouch. Once again they come off as the Keystone Kops. But before you feel better about yourself, note this about them: they tend to obey even when they do not understand. The disciples get a lot wrong, but they have confidence in Jesus even when they do not comprehend what he is saying. Do you?  By the way, the opposite can also be true. It is possible to comprehend what Jesus is saying and still not put your confidence in him.

The Community of Faith: I have heard the term “community of faith” for at least twenty years, but it struck me differently this week. It happened after reading the last paragraphs of Yandall Woodfin’s book, With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy, which reads as follows: “It can be for any of us who trusts in Christ as it was for Christian and Hopeful in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. As they approach the river of death, which has no way around nor bridge across, they ask about the depth of the water and are told, ‘You shall find it deeper or shallower, as you believe in the King of the place.’ Upon entering the water Christian begins to sink and cries to his companion that the billows and waves are going over his head. To this Hopeful responds, ‘Be of good cheer, my Brother, I feel the bottom and it is good.’ Christian soon finds solid ground to stand on and ‘the rest of the River was but shallow.’ ” When our faith grows weak it is imperative to keep walking the path with our friends – to stay in our small group, to show up at church, etc. We may go through a season where we do not have faith to believe. But others can believe for us and carry us forward.

Our Last Freedom:  In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl wrote that “the last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” While suffering in a Nazi prison camp he discovered that, “the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.”

Self-Obsessed:  One of my daily routines is to file news stories. It’s a habit I developed before the founders of Google were in third grade. Back then,  illustrations were hard to come by. So as I read a paper, a magazine or the back of the milk carton, I was always alert for something to help bring a sermon to life.  (I started The Friday Update in part because I realized I had 25,000 more illustrations and insights than will make it into a sermon).  I share all of this to say, I noticed something today as I was filing a story. I have files for self-awareness, self-control, self-denial, self-esteem, self-help, self-image, self-righteous and selfish. We appear to be pretty self-obsessed. At least my files appear to be pretty self-obsessed. Not me. And surely not you.

Thankful: Christ Church participated in a baptism service with eight other churches last weekend. It was a great time. Wonderful music. Thirty something people were baptized. My batteries were further recharged.

The Sphinx’s Nose:  If you’ve been to Egypt – or looked at pictures – you have noticed that many of the statues are missing noses. There are many theories. A new one recently rolled out claiming that if the deity behind the statue failed to deliver the protection he was worshipped to provide, the people would knock it’s nose off so that the statue-spirit was unable to breathe and would die. In this scenario, the vandal is killing the deity. Perhaps, but years ago I heard that a new king would routinely knock the nose off the statue of their predecessor as part of their effort to downplay their accomplishments. In some circles people have a reputation for knocking the nose off of Sphinx.  So, how about it. Have you ever engaged in such vandalism?

Quotes Worth Requoting:  All three of these are from Tim Keller.

• Secular culture often says the meaning of life is to gain happiness. If that’s true then suffering destroys meaning.
• People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic.
• Everyone says they want community and friendship, but when that means accountability or commitment people run the other way.

The Gospel: One of the harder parts of my job is to get people to keep looking at the Gospel.  Many have no idea. The truth is – it’s scandalous in so many ways. It is unfair, it depends upon the blame being placed on an innocent party and it attacks religion.

Closing Prayer:  Merciful Lord, the comforter and teacher of your faithful people, increase in your church the desires which you have given, and confirm the hearts of those who hope in you by enabling them to understand the depth of your promises, that all your adopted children may even now behold, with the eyes of faith, and patiently wait for, the light which as yet we do not openly manifest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Ambrose

From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

In Psalm 61, David cries out for help. If you’ve spent any time in the Psalms you know that’s not unusual. To read the celebrated leader’s prayers is to know that he spent a lot of time begging God for aid. What stands out for me here is his request to be placed “on a rock that is higher than I”.  This is code for perspective – which we all desperately need. In fact, often times all we need to weather a storm is a perspective a few degrees elevated from the one we have. You can call this “God’s view” or an “eternal perspective”. Both work.  Lord, let me stand on a rock higher than I.

Reformation > Revival: Many pray for revival – as we should. But what we really want is reformation. It’s not just people making an initial decision for Christ. It’s lots of people acting more and more like Jesus.

Remember You are Dust: About 1,000 years ago, the church set up Lent, a 40-day period for reflection leading up to Christ’s crucifixion. The hope is that during this time we might personalize our role in Christ’s suffering – i.e., to realize that he did not die for the sins of the world, but he died for my greed, my pride, my lust, my anger and my smallness.  Some people give something up. Others take something on. No one should think that in doing so they are earning God’s favor or seriously identifying with Christ’s suffering.  The goal is to be reminded of His suffering. At Christ Church we held a handful of Ash Wednesday services and a couple hundred people got in line to receive ashes in the sign of the cross. It is one of the most counter-cultural moments of the year. In an era where we people are used to being told that they are wonderful, special, gifted, precious, beautiful and above average, I say, “remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.”

Avoid Contempt:  Arthur C. Brooks, who is stepping down from the American Enterprise Institute to teach at Harvard, recently wrote a piece for the New York Times about contempt. In it he argues: 1) things are worse than at any time since the Civil War; 2) the problem is not incivility or intolerance, but contempt; and 3) that we can and should move through this time of polarization. Brooks observes that each side believes that it is driven by benevolence, while the other side is evil and motivated by hatred. He then claims that the answer is not to disagree less – since disagreements and competition are essential to excellence in democracy and economics – but to disagree better. He advises us to “make a commitment never to treat others with contempt, even if we believe they deserve it.” When people treat us with contempt, Brooks encourages us to “respond with warm-heartedness and good humor.”  After all, “No one has ever been hated into agreement.” BTW, I suspect – but do not know – that Brooks is a Christ-follower.

We Become Like What We Worship: A while back, philosopher James K.A. Smith wrote a book called You Are What You Love. Both John Piper and G.K. Beale have books out with a similar title, We Become What We Worship. I’ve skimmed two of the three, but can’t imagine anyone does a better job of making this point than C.S. Lewis, when, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (a book in The Chronicles of Narnia series)  he has Eustace Scrubb turn into a dragon.

What Do Bill Maher, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the Apostle Paul Have in Common?  They all hate religion. Each realizes that religion can turn you into a bad person. Worse yet, a bad, yet self-righteous person. Religion caters to the worst parts of us – e.g., pride, self-centeredness, bigotry, etc. In short, it turns us into Pharisees. The Gospel teaches the opposite of religion.

Workaholism:  If you missed Workism is Making Americans Miserable, which ran in last month’s Atlantic, you should read it. It is always interesting to see the business and cultural elites jump on a biblical bandwagon. It’s available here.

The Emptiness of Getting What You Want: As long as you think you might achieve your dreams it’s possible to experience your emptiness as drive, thereby remaining oblivious to your deep thirst for God. Those who reach their goals – and those who quickly realize that they never will – are fortunate in that they have a better chance of realizing that only Christ will satisfy. Michael Keller is among those who note that it’s possible to chase the wrong answer to the right question.

The Center of the World: Five centuries before Christ, Greek philosopher Anaximander constructed the first map. He made Miletus – a city in western Turkey where he lived – the center of the world. Perhaps his decision was less ego than experience. What’s your excuse? BTW, I think all educated people know deep down that Chicago is the real center of the world.

Closing Prayer: O God, the light of the hearts that see you, the life of the souls that love you, the strength of the minds that seek you; from whom to turn is to fall, to whom to turn is to rise and in whom to abide is to stand fast forever: grant us your blessings as we offer up our confessions and supplications, and though we are unworthy to approach you or to ask anything of you at all, hear and forgive us, for the sake of our great High Priest and only Mediator, Jesus Christ your Son. Amen. Augustine (354-430)

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. The Apostle Paul, Col. 2:6f

I spent some time this week with a cranberry farmer from Massachusetts. In addition to learning a lot about cranberry bogs, I also learned about roots. I knew they were key. What I did not appreciate is that roots are always seeking more nutrients and water. If it’s true that you are rooted in Christ, are your roots desperately seeking more nutrients and water?

YALF:  If you’ve been paying attention you’ve seen the acronym YOLO on bumper stickers, T-shirts and coffee mugs. It stands for, You Only Live Once. The statement is true, but misleading. YOLO advocates are promoting hedonism. The four letters suggest it’s time to live fast and party hard. I ran across a better phrase this week, YALF – You Actually Live Forever. If you want to see Jesus make this point in a shocking way, read the parable of the the dishonest manager Jesus tells in Luke 16. Christ’s point is: Life is short. Eternity is Not. Opportunity is Now. YALF.

Speaking of Bumper Stickers:  A friend saw a new one on the car ahead of him: Are you Following Jesus this close?

PPP:  Millennials are motivated by the triple P bottom line: people, profits and the planet.

The Resurrection: In the past, my study of the resurrection has mostly focused on Paul’s argument in 1 Cor. 15 – i.e., the resurrection proves that Jesus is God. This past week I have been pondering other things: the resurrection not only sets Jesus apart (no other religious leader rose from the dead) and supports the idea that Christianity is true, it also proves that death has been defeated and points to our future bodies. Jesus is the “first born from the dead,” but we will follow, receiving new, perfect and eternal bodies. Anyone interested in that?

Jesus > Jamie:  If you want to be reminded how amazing Jesus is, the Book of Hebrews is the place to turn. The opening chapter unfurls “seven glories” about Jesus that make it clear that he is better than Abraham, Moses, the angels, etc.  But that is not all. We need to be reminded that Jesus is better – and smarter – than everyone.  It’s not just that He is Savior and Lord, nor that He is better than Moses and the angels. The fact is, Jesus knows more about banking than Jamie Dimon, more about football than Bill Belichick and more about electric cars than Elon Musk. Jesus is the smartest person ever.

The Imago Dei: One of the things that makes us different from every other part of creation is that God made us in his image. There are lots of ideas about that. I am wrapping up my sabbatical by attending a men’s retreat in CO. During a snow-shoeing jaunt in the woods I was reminded that dogs, cats, bears and eagles do not marvel at the mountains. But we do. Surely our amazement at beauty – and our innate response to celebrate great things – is part of what it means to be made in His image.

Quotes Worth Requoting:

• To say doctrine doesn’t matter, only how you live matters, is itself a doctrine. It’s the doctrine of salvation by works. Tim Keller
• Freud said religiosity is pent up sexual desire. Close. Sexual desire is pent up religiosity. The need to be fulfilled. Tim Keller
• Winners always quit. Jason Brown (Jason, an executive with Marketplace Chaplains, makes this play on words to note that most of us are too busy, and that the things that matter most are crowded out of our life).

Prayer Request: 1)  I go through re-entry this week.  During my sabbatical in 2011, re-entry was rough. I’m praying for a smoother landing; 2) the Supreme Court heard a significant religious liberties case this week. It involves a call to remove crosses from a World War I Memorial, but the implications are much bigger. They are expected to issue a ruling in June, which means they are likely debating it amongst themselves right now.

Closing Prayer:  Almighty and merciful God, who wills the faults of sinners to perish, and not their souls; withhold from us the anger which we deserve, and pour out on us the mercy we implore, that through your mercy we may pass from sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. -The Gelasian Sacramentary, adapted

Happy Friday,

For I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. Jesus, John 5:30.  If only we could get to that spot and stay there – amazed at the Gospel, empowered by the Spirit and free of all selfishness. One day!

The 925 Window: For some time, mission strategists have made much of the 10/40 Window – the term coined in 1990 to refer to those who live between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator. As it turns out, this is the area with the greatest poverty and least access to the Christian message. A new term is now emerging – the 925 (as in 9:00 – 5:00) Window. It refers to those at work who do not hear about Christ.

Character > Competence:  Several years ago, then Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson offered the following summary of church history: “In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centered on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.” Some no longer say “enterprise,” they speak of the “Christian Industrial Complex,” parroting Eisenhower’s reference to the “military industrial complex.” I share all of this to note that, while I was traveling,another prominent Chicago pastor fell. I am sad, frustrated and sympathetic. I do not know what happened, but I know the evangelical industrial complex demands competence, performance and results. Those leading very-large churches often get pushed on those fronts. Character is not always in such high demand.

Speaking of Character:  Not long ago, Notre Dame sociologists Christian Smith, asked college students to name “their most recent moral dilemma.” Seventy percent of them could not come up with one.

Pondering: One of the joys of this sabbatical has been extended morning times with the Lord. What has made them longer is a bit more reading and a bit more prayer, but mostly it’s been pondering. Perhaps a better word would be meditating. Psalm 1 – a meditation on meditation – has been a focus, but I have also become aware of the term “pondering” showing up in the Gospels. For instance, Mary ponders: when the angel shows up; when the shepherds show up to see the newborn and when Jesus is amazing everyone at the Temple. For what it’s worth, she “ponders in her heart,” not in her head. Are you making time to ponder? It’s a very non iPhone era thing to do. But we need time to ponder.

Ponder 2.0.  At the moment, my take-away from pondering has been my need to start my day by regaining a vision of God as big, loving, gracious and in charge.  When I see Him as that, it right-sizes everything else.

Still More About Loneliness:  David Brooks had a piece this week about the “silent Pearl Harbor” going on in this country because of “our  60 year experiment with hyper-individualism.” He notes 47,000 suicides last year and 72,000 deaths by overdoses. He laments, “there is a lot of emphasis in our culture on personal freedom, self-interest, self-expression, the idea that life is an individual journey toward self-fulfillment. You do you.” But it’s not working. He notes that what we need is “radical mutuality.”  This is not exactly the Gospel on the pages of the New York Times, but it does point to one of the many take-aways from Jesus.

More Power for Good and Ill: Most of my sabbatical time has been spent writing a book for new Christians.  One of the sections is the importance of knowing God (versus knowing about him). Another is the need to align my views of the God who says, “I Am who I Am” – and not who you try to make me – with who He is. It has occurred to me that when God seems comfortable, I am likely simply projecting again.

Thankful for the US: Two weeks ago I was in London – where I got to watch the slow train-crash known as Brexit. Last week I spent a few days in India visiting some work Christ Church is participating in there. Recent elections in that country have been good news for non-Hindu groups. But the overall effect of visiting both the UK and India is to make me appreciate the US.  Things can seem pretty chaotic here right now – indeed they are. But compared to the rest of the world, we are very fortunate.

Closing Prayer:  Make us glad, O God, in recounting your mercies and adoring your holiness, and let it be our chief joy to glorify your holy name. Almighty and everlasting God, the brightness of faithful souls, who brought the Gentiles to your light and made known to them him who is the true Light, and the bright morning Star: fill, we ask you, the world with your glory, and show yourself by the radiance of your light to all nations. –The Gregorian Sacramentary

Happy Friday

When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. (Ps. 56)

God is nothing like the Unmoved Mover or passionless First Cause envisioned by the Greeks. He reveals himself as a loving Father who knows the number of hairs on our head, hears our prayers and sings lullabies over us as we sleep. Psalm 56 (above) tells us that he knows the number of tears you have cried.

Brexit:  I’ve been at Oxford and Cambridge this week.  The level of political turmoil here is no less chaotic than on our side of the pond.  I’ve not paid enough attention to have an opinion on what will happen as they march towards the deadline. I generally find myself feeling sorry for Brits on both sides. But then, they keep serving me freeze-dried coffee. Maybe they deserve this.

Leaning Left? Right? Affluent? Other:  I found this piece by David Leonhardt a helpful addition to the conversation about media bias, although I think I see his biases as he writes about biases. Why am I the only one who is able to be objective?

From Self-Sacrifice to Self-Centered: In spite of how often it occurs throughout the Old Testament, and as a reoccurring theme in the New, a growing number of Christians oppose the “substitutionary view of the atonement.” Some because they are put off by the blood. But some, perhaps, because they are put off by sacrifice. Prior to the 1950s, sacrifice was almost always celebrated as a virtue in American society. But around then we became a predominately consumer society and personal satisfaction came to replace personal sacrifice as the universal virtue. Rather than surrendering our desires for the good of others, our society was reoriented with another message: Surrendering your desires is a form of self-betrayal, and anyone expecting you to sacrifice is oppressing your rights. Today this exaltation of the self is seen equally on the political Left and Right in America.

It’s Official: I’ve spent the last six weeks reading and writing on the fundamentals of the faith, and I can now say that it’s true. On every topic you can think of, the best quotes come from C.S. Lewis.

A Day Late:  I realize, Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but I couldn’t pass on this: according to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend 20 billion dollars on Valentine’s Day this year, which is over $160 a person. Valentine’s pet spending is expected to be 886 Million.

Quoted Worth Requoting: Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment.  Richard Foster (not C.S. Lewis, but a pretty good quote!)

Surprised by Good:  One of the topics I have been reading up on while in Oxford is evil. It can be depressing fare, but has not been. It’s limited. Just think how unprepared the forces of darkness were for Jesus. They could not understand self-sacrifice of any kind, especially His. By the way, J.R.R. Tolkien was making this point in Lord of the Rings when he had Frodo – a small, weak Hobbit – successfully destroy the ring by marching right into Mordor and throwing it away. Sauron was unprepared for that.

Closing Prayer: Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in ourselves but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says, “He is my glory, the one who lifts up my head.” For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the Son of man, so that human beings might in their turn become children and heirs of God? Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.

Augustine (354-430)

Happy Friday

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3)

A Pill Against Evil:  A friend went to a lecture by Sam Harris, one of the four prominent and vocal atheists (along with Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett). During the evening, Harris claimed that in twenty years, there will be a pill to prevent evil. Wow. I’m not sure where to start. I do not think he means better meds to help with mental illness, because I do not know of anyone equating mental illness with evil. Does he mean we might be able to take a pill and stop pride, greed, envy? Will there be pills for each one? And if I take too much of the anti-greed, do I give all my money away? Today’s society has a very hard time even defining evil, let alone curing it. This claim reminds me of those being made by Kurzweil and company, who suggest that soon we’ll be able to download our soul onto a computer and achieve immortality. Setting the science aside, it represents a profound misunderstanding of what it means to be a person.

Super Bowl: Commercials > The Half Time Show > The actual game.  And as favorite commercials, I liked the Elevator (Hyundai) and Harrison Ford’s dog (Amazon). BTW, I promised a life-long Pats fan that I wouldn’t pray against his team, but enough already. BTW, I got an email on Monday morning promoting “Five Things Pastors Can Learn from Tom Brady.”  Go Bears (and anyone the Pats are playing).

The Basics: I have been working on a book for those new to faith or those stalled and needing a re-start.  That has me thinking about “the basics”, which – of course – are basic, but not simple. The introduction to most topics is simple. With reading you learn the ABCs and then move on to words like cat and dog. With math, you learn to count to ten and then progress to equations like 2 + 2 = 4. Christianity is different. The “basics” of the Christian life are bold and disruptive ideas that challenge and upend just about everything. God became a man; it’s not about us; the way up is down; the first are last; we are going to live forever.

Too Earthly Minded to be of Any Good: One of the more effective ploys of our enemy has been the pitch that Christians are “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good”.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  The way to be of value on earth is not to be more earthly minded.  As C.S. Lewis wrote:

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.

The Gospel: The operating principle of religion is, “I obey, therefore I am accepted.”  The operating principle of the Gospel is, “I am accepted, therefore I obey.”

Most Shoplifted Items: According to a retail magazine, the most shoplifted item in the world is: a pack of cigarettes, followed by home pregnancy tests. Number four is: hair extensions. And the most shoplifted book?  You guessed it, the Bible.

Quotes Worth ReQuoting:

• I am the tadpole of an archangel. (Victor Hugo, who’s theology was off but his sentiment was right)

Closing Prayer:  We ask you, almighty God, let our souls enjoy this their desire, to be enkindled by your Spirit, that being filled as lamps by your divine gift, we may shine like burning lights before the presence of your Son Christ at his coming; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Gelasian Sacramentary

Happy Friday

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24f

Growing: How do we grow closer to God? How do we mature in our faith? Some ask. Few like the answer. The New Testament suggests we mature by suffering – either the pain we do not choose (trials) or the pain we do (discipline). As many know, while we do not seek trials, we often come to see God’s grace in sending them. Does that lead us into discipline? Not often. But it should. The disciplines take us forward, and when they become habits they cease being unpleasant.

Open Letter to Pastors in Illinois. Thanks to all of you who forwarded the letter I wrote to pastors in Illinois. This week one of the major blogs for pastors picked up on it and wrote this piece about the situation. By the way, if you didn’t get around to forwarding it, you still can. Here it is.

Bigger and Closer: One of the commitments I made during my sabbatical was to extend my morning devotional times. Whatever I might have thought that would have led to, what has happened has been a bit surprising. Even as I work on a book about knowing and following God, I find God strangely quiet. That said, I am thankful to report that His silence has been less discouraging than motivating. I do not find myself desperate (at least not yet), just hungry.

Mind the Gap: One of my sabbatical projects is to think about how we can do a better job reaching out with the Gospel. It is obvious to me – as it has been obvious to many others – that it is increasingly unlikely that people will accept an invitation to church. At Christ Church we have addressed this by holding outreach events outside the church. But it’s clear to me we need other efforts. Last night, four of us invited four others to a discussion (over a nice meal) of Clayton Christtensen’s  book, How Will I Measure My Life?  Christensen – a popular Harvard Business School professor – writes as a business school professor. The questions he raises are questions everyone needs to be asking and they naturally led into some spiritual conversations. We will try it again. Meanwhile, I do recommend the book.

The Polar Vortex: You are likely sick of hearing about the weather. Let me say that I assume that if you live in one of the many areas where temps are currently lower than those in Antarctica, that you have found a way to stay warm. And I hope you at least occasionally marvel at how cold it can get and at how accurate weather forecasting is becoming. But the real reason I am commenting on the weather is to alert you to this growing concern. The temps are so cold in some parts of the US that beer cannot be delivered because it freezes before arriving. And this on Super Bowl weekend!

Not Religion or Politics: As a friend recently reminded me, Miss Manners suggests avoiding controversial topics — most especially, religion and politics. Why? These areas reflect our core beliefs.  Thus, probing them in social settings can be fraught with peril.  Ergo, it is safer to discuss hobbies, sports teams and the weather. For the record, our founding fathers took a gutsier approach. They knew that for self -government to succeed, citizens needed positive internal character to govern our own lives.  They also knew that this happened best in vibrant communities of faith. This was not a call for a single “state church”.  Instead, they wanted a free market of religious exercise, believing it would best serve the common good. I could fill pages with quotes about this. Two will have to suffice:

• “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” George Washington
• “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams

Eternity:  The most famous speech ever given was Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In Luke’s account it shows up right after he selected the twelve disciples, suggesting it was part of their orientation session. I have been pondering the sermon again, marveling at the radical challenges he sets before us. I am also reminded that the call he sets before us makes no sense unless He has plans for us on the other side. Would you sign on to follow a guy who says that if you do, you’ll not only be poor, hungry and thirsty but you’ll cry a lot and be ostracized? There are challenges and sacrifices to make now, but eternity changes everything.

Prayer Request:  I have three requests: 1) For world leaders as they navigate big challenges; 2) for a bigger view of God and a greater sense of intimacy/connection; 3) for progress on writing projects as I move through the half-way mark of my sabbatical.

Quotes Worth Requoting

• “It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of the ages, while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress. But it will pay in the long run, and the true Christian is not much interested in anything short of that.” A. W. Tozer
• “The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of a doubt, what is laid before him.” Leo Tolstoy

Closing Prayer:  Lord, when I think that my heart is overflowing with love and realize in a moment’s honesty that it is only myself that I love in the loved one, Deliver me from myself. Lord, when I think that I have given all that I have to give and realize in a moment’s honesty that it is I who am the recipient, Deliver me from myself. Lord, when I have convinced myself that I am poor and realize in a moment’s honesty that I am rich in pride and envy, Deliver me from myself. And, Lord, when the Kingdom of Heaven merges deceptively with the kingdoms of this world, Let nothing satisfy me but God.  Amen. Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997)