Happy Friday
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Paul, I Thes. 5:18
Gratitude: Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In spite of the encroachment of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber-Monday and other new “holy days,” – Thanksgiving keeps most commercialization at bay. It also elevates gratitude. I’ll trust that you got enough to eat and yet were able to find some clothes that still fit. I’ll also trust that you’ve: 1) rehearsed your blessings; 2) reminded yourself that gratitude leads to happiness (not the other way around); and 3) marveled a bit about the first T-day (if not, click here).
The Puritans: In the event that you do not know, the Pilgrims were Puritans, and the Puritans were not dour stooges as currently imagined. Instead, they were people so full of joy – and so given to “ribbons, lace, costly apparel, sporting and feasting” – that they were criticized for their earthly enjoyments. In his role as a Medieval and Renaissance scholar at Oxford, C.S. Lewis wrote, “We must picture these Puritans as the very opposite of those who bear that name today: as young, fierce, progressive intellectuals, very fashionable and up-to-date. They were not teetotalers; bishops, not beer, were their special aversion.”
Civility: This week I had a chance to hear Gil Hoffman, the chief political correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, talk about politics in the Middle East. Hoffman (a Chicago native who gets up at 3 AM to watch Cubs games) focused his remarks on the events of the last two weeks. His fascinating insights reminded me of something I have thought both times I’ve visited Israel: that our news media (both FOX & CNN) gets much about the region wrong. BTW, I was especially taken by Hoffman’s observation that politics in Israel has become “less contentious and more civil over the last twenty years.” The reason? The people there realize that “elections do not matter”. Given our declining civility and increasing rancor, I asked if there were any lessons there for us. Sadly, he thinks not.
Three Books by Three Friends: Recently I’ve been reading books written by friends:
- Praying Through the Psalms, Yohanna Katanacho (Langham Global Library, 2018). Sheri and I became friends with Yohanna and Dina when they attended Christ Church during his PhD studies at Trinity. I’ve also been able to visit him twice in Israel, where he serves as the Academic Dean at Bethlehem Bible College and she is Director of the Arab Israeli Bible Society of Israel. In his book, Yohanna publishes prayers he has written for each Psalm. Perhaps I’m biased, but I value these prayers because of his unique perspective. There are not many Palestinian Christians who live in Nazareth and have a PhD in the Old Testament. For an example of a prayer, click here.
- The Furnace Girl: The Mysterious Case of Elfrieda Knaak, Kraig Moreland and Toby Jones: (Across the Lake Press, 2018). Toby-my fraternity pledge son – brings Kraig Moreland’s interest in a Lake Bluff cold case to life. I will not give anything away other than to say, Moreland believes he solved this nearly one hundred year-old murder and Toby sets Kraig’s theory in a work of historical fiction.
- Persistence of Light, by John Hotye. Twenty years ago, John Hoyte (and his wife, poet Luci Shaw) were our neighbors. We knew they were special, but we didn’t know the half of it. One of six children born to British medical missionaries in China, John spent four years in a Japanese prison camp, where he became friends with Eric Liddell (of Chariots of Fire fame). John also picked up a degree from Oxford, walked an elephant across the Alps (to prove Hannibal could do it), started a high tech company in Silicon Valley and had many other adventures. (Click here to read his brief comments about Eric Lidell).
Love, Sex and Marriage In Decline: I was struck by the following three surprisingly predictable news stories: 1) according to this report, the number of new marriages in Americans dropped 16% over the last 16 years, from 8.2 (per 1,000) in 2000, to 6.9 in 2016; 2) according to this report, fewer U.S. women are having abortions than at any time since Roe v. Wade; and 3) according to this Atlantic piece, young Americans are in a “sex recession”. The second bullet point is good news, but taken together they point to a decline in marital intimacy, especially among the young. (Which is something I have noted as a pastor). What is up? I am reminded of a comment made by an “environmental psychologist” twenty years ago. When I asked him what an environmental psychologist did, he told me about how he’d halted the spread of an invasive beetle by identifying, isolating and then manufacturing the pheromone that attracted male beetles to females. I then dumped gallons of it in the middle of a field. The males were drawn to the smell but it was so many times stronger than that produced by a real female, the two could never find each other.
Millennials: Speaking of young people, there’s a new Monopoly game for Millennials. In this version you do not buy real estate because – as the box jokes – “you can’t afford it.”
Go Bears: I cannot not note that Da Bears are 8 and 3!
Challenged: I’m challenged and encouraged by this three minute video of the work one business man is spearheading in North Chicago.
Closing Prayer: The following is a version of the prayer believed to be prayed by Reverend Hunt at the first Thanksgiving.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all men.
We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.