July 13, 2018

Happy Friday.

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. King David, Psalm 143:8

What Matters:  Trade war with China. Thai rescue. Germany’s deal with Russia. How many of the today’s news stories will matter tomorrow? How many will even be remembered in 48 hours. Martin Marty claims he made his mark as a scholar by ignoring earthquakes (i.e., events that gain everyone’s attention but seldom change anything) and focusing on glaciers (i.e., slow moving trends that everyone sees but largely ignores). Micah Mattix – who sends out a literary email called Profrock, laments that the stories reported “by beautiful people with flawless skin” grab our attention but seldom matter for long. We need to focus much more on the eternal and less on the trendy and fashionable.

Go Croatia: The Cubs sap any emotional energy I have available for sports, so I’m as late to World Cup fever as the typical American. But now that it’s down to Croatia versus France, I’m all in for Croatia. Why? I’m not sure. If you handed me a map, I couldn’t tell Croatia from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, or Montenegro. (That whole region is a blur to me). Perhaps it’s that they are the underdogs and – according to those in the know – have cooler uniforms. Perhaps I just can’t bring myself to root for France. As Donald Rumsfeld famously quipped after France declined to join other nations in combating Saddam Hussein, “Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion.”

Renewal: One of the highlights of my week was officiating at a renewal ceremony for a couple celebrating 47 years of marriage. Forty-seven is an odd milestone, but he is battling ALS, so this is an early 50th. It’s one thing to watch one healthy, vibrant and beautiful twenty-something pledge their undying love to another healthy, vibrant and beautiful twenty-something. It’s something else when those who have been broken by life say to another who has been broken by life, “I’m more in love with you now than ever before, and I will stand by your side come what may.”

The Radical Nature of Wedding Vows: One of the things I now include in my comments to the bride and groom is, “No competent attorney would willingly let their client agree to the vows you are about to repeat. For better or worse? For richer and for poorer? In sickness and in health? No, no and no. You should only agree to keep your end of the deal if they keep theirs.” Tim and Kathy Keller expand on the counter-cultural nature of marriage in their thoughtful book, The Meaning of Marriage. “Sociologists argue that in contemporary Western society, the marketplace has become so dominant that the ‘consumer model’ increasingly characterizes most relationships that historically were covenantal — including marriage. Today we stay connected to people only as long as they are meeting our particular needs at an acceptable cost to us. When we cease to “make a profit” — that is, when the relationship appears to require more love and affirmation from us than we are getting back — then we ‘cut our losses’ and drop the relationship. This has also been called ‘commodification’, a process by which social relationships are reduced to economic exchange relationships, and so the very idea of ‘covenant’ is disappearing in our culture. Covenant is therefore a concept increasingly foreign to us, and yet the Bible says it is the essence of marriage.”

Change: Most people want to “get better” and help transform everything around us. At least, we want this in theory. Of course we’re assuming such efforts will be fun and fit neatly into our busy schedules. The Book of Acts suggests otherwise. Over its twenty-eight chapters, everything between Jerusalem and Rome is rocked by the Gospel: cultures are upended, churches are launched, people are born-again and social segregation is dismantled. But wow is it costly. Riots, persecutions, and imprisonments . Stephen is killed. Paul says, “five times I received forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). Lord I want to grow in your image and help make the world a better place. I have Tuesday’s from 4 – 5 available.

Quotes Worth Re-quoting.

Worth Reading: I am helping teach a doctor of ministry seminar next week. In preparing for the class – which is on self-leadership – I have been rereading lots of things. Not surprisingly, Drucker’s stuff stands out. If you’ve not read Managing Oneself, it’s worth doing so.

Prayer Requests: Two years ago, Christ Church updated its vision to: fuel a movement that Reaches People and Renews Communities. As part of this, we want to help other churches grow and thrive, which includes helping their pastors. Given that the average church in the US has 75 members, and the average pastor is bi-vocational, underpaid and overworked, one of my goals when I teach a class like the one I am leading next week, is that the pastors leave feeling encouraged. Please pray to that end. Also, we have several important hires to make.

Closing Prayer: I kiss your feet, dear Jesus, I press my lips to them, because despite my many sins, despite the burden of guilt upon me, despite my lack of discernment, I know that I have nothing to fear from you. I embrace your feet, Lord Jesus; I anoint them with the oil of my repentance. And as I crouch at your feet, I know that I am safe, because you despise no one, reject no one, repel no one, welcome everyone, admit everyone. Amen. Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 – 1167)