Cancer and Death: We give power to these words by avoiding them. Here are two helpful correctives. The first is an interview with Tim Keller, who is battling pancreatic cancer. The second is a discussion hosted by a Wheaton professor, who interviews Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a practicing physician and the author of The Lost Art of Dying, and Dr. Todd Billings, a cancer patient, theologian and the author of The End of the Christian Life. (BTW, unless you are interested in the history of the “Young, Reformed and Restless Movement,” you can skip the second half of the Keller interview.)
Love, Sex and Marriage: This National Review piece leveraged Valentine’s Day to argue that Cupid needs help. Dating, marriage, sex and babies are down. Loneliness and suicide are up. It appears we are as fragile as God suggests. It also suggests His Law leads to life.
We Need Real Boards: Though it’s not just ministries imploding – nor is it only ministry boards falling short (Theranos comes to mind) – revelations about Hybels, MacDonald, Driscoll, Falwell, Ravi, Lentz, et al. suggest NFP governance must do a better job. Boards should not be populated by family members and fan-club devotees. Sadly, I expect sinners to sin. Because they will, donors must be able to trust trustees to police their leadership.
How’s the Church? After being asked this question a thousand times over three decades, I’ve developed a somewhat standard reply. “If you’re asking about The Community, the answer is ‘mixed.’ Some people are doing well and others are struggling. If you are asking about The Cause, there are things to celebrate, but we fall so short of our calling. Finally, if you are asking about The Corporation (i.e., about finances and attendance) the answer is XYZ.” For what it’s worth, the Corporation is the easiest to manage and measure – and a great blessing when well attended to – but the least exciting thing to talk about.
Shane and Shane: This song is a favorite, especially this arrangement. It’s part of a collection of older works recorded by Shane Barnard and Shane Everett during COVID sheltering-in-place.
Its Been Cold Out There: Friends and family who migrate South tend to forget about snow. Several thought this was funny. (OK, maybe it is.)
Student Debt: The $1.3T owed in student loans now exceeds total consumer credit card debt, and the average graduate currently faces a decade plus of $300 monthly loan payments. However, as troubling as that may be, given what is being taught (and absorbed) at today’s universities, the financial burden may be the least of a graduate’s liabilities.
Quote Worth Requoting: Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because He said, “DO IT,” or once abstained because He said, “DO NOT DO IT.” It is simply absurd to say you believe in Him, if you do not do anything he tells you. George MacDonald.
The Source of the Problem: We are right to lament the incivility facilitated by today’s tech platforms. From a safe distance just about anyone can launch hurtful, acerbic – and often untrue – attacks on others. Perhaps something should be done, but let’s be honest when we assign blame. The genesis of the problem is not the technology, it is our heart.
Saint Francis of Assisi: Tomorrow’s history podcast (100+, which you can subscribe to here) is on Saint Francis of Assisi. Like other Catholic saints of renown – e.g., Saint Nicholas, Saint Valentine, Saint Patrick – he did not do or say much of what was attributed to him. Indeed, though the prayer below captures much of what he championed, it was written in Chicago in 1925. Nevertheless, it is worth praying!
Closing Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.