Happy Friday
During a sabbatical ten years ago, I spent three months focused on Jesus. It was remarkable. Going into the time, I was a bit worried that my focus on Jesus might prove limiting. I even wondered if I’d learn much. I ended up feeling like I’d done little more than splash my toe in a deep ocean. The more I looked, the more wonderful, majestic, amazing and unique He became. I was reminded of that time this week when I ran across this quote: “Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of our infinite God for eternity. If we are bored with Jesus, it is blindness to who He is.”
Unity: Between the time Judas betrayed him and his crucifixion, Jesus prayed for unity among his followers.Think about that for a moment. Even though he had already been betrayed once, and would be betrayed again, he still believed in the possibility of unity among his followers. His prayer was, “protect them … so they can be one.”(John 17:11). It was not, “protect them so they can preach the Gospel or defeat evil or build the kingdom.” As worthy as those endeavors might have been, Jesus prayed, “protect them so that they may be one.” Perhaps it is only in unity that we can see any of those things happen.
The Latest Fad: More than 125 million people now play the online video game, Fortnite. And according to the Wall Street Journal, parents are less concerned about the game’s violence – or it’s addictive nature – than they are with the possibility that their kids might not be any good at it. As a result, a new industry is emerging. It is made up of Fortnite coaches.
The Bix: Last Saturday, Austin (our oldest son) and I went to Davenport, Iowa to run in the 44th Bix 7. About eighteen thousand others joined us. I ran in one of the earliest Bix races forty years ago, and have run in 24 since then. I now finish way back in the pack – somewhere just behind the Elvises and moms pushing strollers and just ahead of the guys on stilts – which means The Bix is more an event than a race. But it’s a blast. The course is lined with bands, choirs and fans and the out-and-back design means you get to see the leaders race by. I plan to run my 25th Bix on Saturday, July 27, 2019. If you plan to run it, let me know. If we get enough people from Christ Church, I’ll have t-shirts made up.
Every Church Needs a Cemetery. Zoning laws make it impossible for most churches to have a cemetery. But I wish they could. There is something grounding about walking to church past the graves of your ancestors. It forces you to face your mortality and helps keep other things in perspective. I was involved in two funerals last week. One for a Fortune 500 CEO. The other for a 95 year old affectionately known as “Aunt Boo”. Thoughts of heaven featured prominently in both. After the second, I went back to reread the end of The Last Battle, in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. As the story draws to a conclusion, with (spoiler alert!) the tragic deaths of the children who have been in Narnia, Lewis reflects on heaven. “All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
On this Day in History: 526 years ago, Columbus set out from Spain with the Santa María, Pinta and Niña. 84 years ago, Adolph Hitler declared himself “Führer”. For better or worse, some people make things happen.
Eight Big Questions: Over the last few weeks, I’ve been assembling a list of “big questions”. These are not the “ultimate questions” such as, What ultimately matters? Who am I? What is expected of me? What happens when I die? But they are big questions all the same. I believe that if we could answer these eight, we’d know quite a lot about how the next ten years will unfold.
- Will the US embrace a principled pluralism – i.e., will we find ways to peacefully co-exist or will the culture wars escalate? At the moment, the left is moving further left and the right is moving further right, and both sides are acting as if this is a winner take all contest. Can the center hold, and if it doesn’t, what happens next?
- Will moderate Muslims regain control of Islam, or will the world’s second largest religion be controlled by the radicals? And if it’s the latter, how do we avoid the “clash of civilizations” Samuel Huntington forecasted?
- What is the future of the church? The mainline church in the West has been in decline for decades. In recent years, evangelicals have lost favor and momentum. But the church in Africa, Asia and Latin America is exploding. How does what is happening over there affect here? How does the church here navigate the present moment? Who emerges to shape the next ten years?
- How real is climate change? I’ve avoided reading much about climate change because the answers are shaped more by politics than science, and because I do not understand the science. But there can be little doubt that changes in our weather are having consequences, and some think devastating consequences are coming. How much of this is man-made and what should be done?
- How will local, state, national and international governments deal with growing debt levels? To make this more personal, how will Illinois deal with the dark storm clouds of unfunded pension commitments?
- What happens to those whose jobs are eliminated by Artificial Intelligence? I’ve read Utopian and Dystopian scenarios about my life once machines are smarter than I am. Which is it?
- Where does the sexual revolution lead? Where does sex go next? What happens to marriage? The family? To what extent will sexual expression drive identity? How much will gender fluidity become mainstream?
- Can everyone keep their hands off the button? Nine countries have nukes. Will more join the list? Will those who have them be able to avoid using them, or will our planet be visited by colossal destruction?
There are other questions that deserve honorable mention – i.e., Are we entering a new cold war with Russia? Will block chain live up to its hype? What is the future of higher ed?, etc. – but these are my eight. If you have questions you think deserve to be listed, send them my way. Thanks.
Closing Prayer: Lord, strengthen me with heavenly courage, that I may fight against pleasures and vanities that harm the soul. I do not expect or ask that trials and sorrows should cease. I ask only that, in your strength, I resist the temptation to seek consolation in sin. For I know that only by clinging to the gospel of righteousness, and by grasping at your eternal grace, can I ever experience true and lasting joy. Amen. Thomas a Kempis (1380–1471)