Happy Friday:
Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high priest whose name is Love who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands no tongue can bid me thence depart.
Quotes worth Requoting
- There have been as many as five times in church history in which it looked as if the church was going to the dogs. In each case it was the dogs who died. G.K. Chesterton
- Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams. Fyodor Dostovsky
Change? If you want to be reminded of just how hard it is to change – and why it often takes a crisis to get people to do so – you can read this article on the scandal of…the fork. Apparently it was introduced in America on June 25, 1633 by then Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor, John Winthrop. To his dismay, the “split spoon” was dubbed “evil” by the local clergy, who declared that the only thing worthy of touching God’s food was our fingers.
Pastoral Advice: At the risk of being written off as a windbag – or of being deemed even more of a windbag than previously thought – I am going to offer unsolicited pastoral advice for the third week in a row: if you are thinking about having an affair, don’t. I’m standing in the downstream carnage of two couples within which one of the partners strayed. The words ugly, messy, furry and regret do not do justice to either situation.
The Time Log: Peter Drucker instructed people like me (with unstructured jobs) to keep a time log for a few weeks every six months. I had heeded this counsel once every ten years, most recently this month. If you’ve never kept a time log, be prepared to be depressed. In the 80s I was shocked by how much TV I watched – especially since I didn’t think I watched any; in the 90s I was sobered by how little time I really spent in prayer and personal Bible Study; and in “the zips” it was how many hours a week I worked. What did I learn this time? I am depressed over how much time I spend on email.
REACH Videos: Since I suspect that if you keep a time log you will also be sobered by the things you are spending your life on, let me offer some encouragement. We played this two minute video at church last week. It chronicles a local man’s journey towards greater faith and service.
Without Comment: In The Fractured Republic, Yuval Levin reports that: in 1955, roughly 4.5 percent of children born in the US were born to unmarried mothers; in 1965, this figure had risen to 7.7 percent; by 1975, it was 14.3 percent; in 1985, it was 22 percent; in 1995, it was 32 percent; in 2005, it was 37 percent; in 2015, it was 41 percent. He then notes that nearly half of children raised by single mothers live in poverty, while only a tenth of children raised by their married parents are poor. While celebrating the “extraordinary and often heroic efforts” of single mothers to raise their children as best they can, he emphasizes the importance of marriage for children and for society.
Prayer Requests: I have asked for this before, but given the levels of distrust and acrimony in place even before Justice Rehnquist retired, I am asking you to pray for unity and civility – both in society and in the Big C church. One hundred years ago, Yeats suggested that the center would not hold. At the moment it seems as though the left is moving left and the right is moving right and Yeats was right. “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7
Closing Prayer: I no longer want just to hear about you, beloved Lord, through messengers. I no longer want to hear doctrines about you, nor to have my emotions stirred by people speaking of you. I yearn for your presence. These messengers simply frustrate and grieve me, because they remind me of how distant I am from you. They reopen wounds in my heart, and they seem to delay your coming to me. From this day onward please send me no more messengers, no more doctrines, because they cannot satisfy my overwhelming desire for you. I want to give myself completely to you. And I want you to give yourself completely to me. The love which you show in glimpses, reveal to me fully. The love which you convey through messengers, speak it to me directly. I sometimes think you are mocking me by hiding yourself from me. Come to me with the priceless jewel of your love.
Amen. St. John of the Cross (1542 – 1591)