New Hampshire: Every four years, New Hampshire is in the spot light. Lest you think this momentary fame – and spectacular fall colors – is all New Hampshirites have going for them, think again. Their state motto is Live Free or Die. Surely no other state has a motto so cool. I like Land of Lincoln, but I’d rather have Live Free or Die on my license plate any day.
Love Your Enemies: A few years ago, I was moved by a talk Anthony Brooks gave about contempt. His thinking later became a book, Love Your Enemies. Last week it was the substance of his address at the National Prayer Breakfast. If you have not heard these remarks, you need to. They are here.
U2 Meets Gospel Choir: This pleasant surprise was recently sent my way. Click here to jump back twenty years and hear Bono and the Harlem Gospel Choir join their voices on, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.
Bonus Time: This past week, Alec Hill – the past president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship – spoke at Christ Church. His topic was living in bonus time, which is the title of his new book on surviving cancer. I recommend listening to the sermon here. BTW, you can order the book here. And you should. Forty percent of people will have cancer, and 100 percent of people will deal with someone they love who has cancer.
An Existential Slap: Alec described his cancer as an Existential Slap – a term coined by Nessa Coyle (a palliative care leader) that is every bit as cool as New Hampshire’s motto. Life ends up divided by Existential Slaps. Have you had one lately? Are you ready if you do?
Without Comment:
- Women have received .01 percent of Best Director nominations in Oscar History.
- There are now more American homes with pets than kids.
- In spite of claims that “religion poisons everything,” Christians give 3.5 times more to charity than their secular peers, volunteer twice as much and are half as likely to engage in domestic violence and 43 other crimes.
- According to a Dartmouth study reported in Psychology Today, the “happiness maximizing number of sexual partners in the past year” was… one.
- Forty-two percent of the 2.06 million jobs created nationally during 2019 were in just 3 states: Texas (343,000), California (310,000) and Florida (212,000).
Keller on the Last Ten Years: During his first thirty years of ministry, Christians “understood the need to share their faith, but they had to be told to care for the needy (i.e., not just talk about it).” Today, Keller observes that Christians are very involved in helping the poor, but do not often explain that they are doing so because they are following the example of their savior.
Prayer Requests: For various – and obvious – reasons, I have been thinking about the sermons I will preach on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 – i.e., the Sunday immediately before and immediately after the upcoming Presidential Election. I am trying to write them now, so I can assure people I am not making any partisan comments. Prayers for insight appreciated.
Matthew Homes: Over the last few years, ReNew Communities – a nonprofit group started by Christ Church – has been mobilizing volunteers to serve in North Chicago. Last week a Chicago TV station reported on the progress growing out of one of the programs. Not everything reported here links directly back to ReNew, but much of it does.
Closing Prayer: O Lord, I do not know what to ask of you. You alone know what are my true needs. You love me more than I myself know how to love. Help me to see my real needs, which are concealed from me. I dare not ask for either a cross or a consolation; I can only wait on you. My heart is open to you. Come to me and help me, for your great mercy’s sake… I put all my trust in you. I have no other desire than to fulfill your will. Teach me how to pray; pray yourself in me. Amen. (The Metropolitan Theodore Philaret of Moscow, 1553 – 1633)