Singing Take Two: For more on our need to sing, you can access a Christianity Today article on this topic. It’s called, “Science and Scripture Agree: Singing Lifts Our Spirits.” You can access this sermon I preached a few years back.
Singing Take Three: Finally, here is a video to help align your heart. It’s an international version of “Behold our God.”
Campus Neutrality?: Thirty years ago—back when I was a college pastor—I had a few dustups with an Associate Dean. She kept insisting that our on campus meetings be “neutral.” I kept conceding that as a Christ-follower I was not “neutral” and then arguing that neither was she. My point—which I never got across—was that her “neutrality” was actually a specific worldview (secular humanism) and that there was no such thing as neutrality. I found myself thinking about her recently as a growing number of college faculty and staff are declaring that: 1) their previous views were wrongly skewed, and 2) promising that they will now teach from a more “enlightened perspective.” Alas, as this article from the Boston Globe suggests, they appear to have moved from bad to worse. Maybe neutrality wasn’t so bad!
Punishment: In the past, we have faced some combination of three simultaneous challenges: economic turmoil, a pandemic, civil unrest, or a contentious election. It is being suggested that we are now (for the first time) facing all four at once. Some are suggesting that we are doing so as punishment from God. Perhaps. However, while recognizing that some are facing real tragedy, it does not feel to me as though we should equate this moment with Europe during the Dark Ages or the U.S. during the Great Depression. Also, I am always nervous when people announce that God has sent something (a plague, tsunami, etc.) as punishment. How do they know? And punishment for what, exactly?
Can’t Sleep?: I seldom have difficulty sleeping, but a few nights ago I did. And so, after a bit of tossing and turning, I grabbed a book and headed down the hall. However, before I could crack the book I absentmindedly picked up my phone and skimmed the headlines and checked my Twitter feed. As decisions go, that ranks alongside Kennedy’s decision to invade Cuba. I was quickly wide awake and agitated. Fifty years ago when people couldn’t sleep, they assumed God wanted them to pray. When we can’t sleep, we check the Cubs score and start answering emails.
Everyday Miracles: Have you ever considered how amazing rain is? Imagine the cost of transporting water from the Pacific to the wheat fields of Kansas. God does it for free. He scoops up water from West of California, lifts it into the sky, blows it over Kansas, and drops it there for all to enjoy.
Without Comment: The law of unintended consequences never sleeps.
News: I am probably late with this complaint, but I’m not only miffed that the news is increasingly skewed by an agenda or that it assaults us 24×7, I am also frustrated that few reporters seem to do their own work. In the recent coverage of the death of Congressman John Lewis (the civil rights leader), no one I heard found reason to mention his faith. This is not a small miss. Lewis was mentored by MLK and trained to be a pastor. I did not line up with all of his theological convictions, but I found the coverage surprising. My guess is that many reporting the news are just parroting what they hear from other reports, or perhaps there is a deliberate decision to not mention such things.
This Link Works: Last week I launched 100 Points of Inflection, a weekly five-minute Saturday devotional based on the one hundred most important people, events and ideas in Church History. Unfortunately, I offered a sign up link that did not work. This one does. (BTW, here was the introductory video).
Closing Prayer: “Be a bright flame before me, O God, a guiding star above me. Be a smooth path below me, a kindly shepherd behind me today, tonight, and forever. Alone with none but you, my God I journey on my way; what need I fear when you are near, O Lord of night and day? More secure am I within your hand than if a multitude did round me stand. Amen.” Columba (521-597)