Happy Friday,
If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24:15
Like Clockwork: Shortly after COVID hit the US, Tim Keller warned pastors that – based on NYC’s 9/11 experience – pastors, social workers and others in the “helping professions” would start to burn out in about a year. He was right. I am doing well, but it seems like spiking levels of fatigue and frustration are taking a toll.
Isn’t it Odd?: It does not surprise me that if I know how someone voted I know their news sources. But it does seem odd that if I know what they think about, say Meghan Markle, I can guess which charities they support, what kind of car they drive and what they think about Whole Foods.
Case Sensitive: In case you missed the memo, Social Justice and social justice do not mean the same thing (nor do either necessarily mean the same as justice). At least not to everyone. For that matter, some who used to identify as Evangelicals now identify only as evangelicals, mostly so they are not confused with EVANGELICALS. It used to be only my passwords that were case sensitive.
A Second Wave of Postmodernity: In my laughable attempt to understand what is going on, I have been reading a book in which two liberal sociologists (a tautology?) explain “second wave postmodern activism.” Their work includes chapters on post-colonialism, Queer Theory, Gender Studies, Research Justice and the like. It is fascinating, alarming, enlightening and depressing. It’s also evidence that Chesterton was right, “When people choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”
On Believing Anything: A pastor friend noted that his congregants’ response to COVID is based entirely on their news source. “I have some members who are elderly, obese and fighting congestive heart disease who will not wear a mask, and young married couples who triple mask at home and are abstaining from sex.”
Our Public Face: How do we respond in this new day? With humility, hope, patience and love. Peter says, Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. Christians cannot be one with those who think constant angry indignation is a virtue.
Fearing God 2.0: Last week I noted that fearing God had to mean more than respect. This week I ran across a related quote from Andrew Warnock. In his book on the resurrection, Warnock suggests that because God’s “nuclear-hot holiness” will burn up every trace of sin, we are right to fear him. He goes on to write, “When the Bible tells us to fear him, it means simply that – fear him. Sometimes people say they are afraid of God. We might need to tell some of them that they are not frightened enough.”
The Half-Life of a Career: In the Middle Ages you did what your parents had done, which is what their parents had done before them. Progress meant your kids did the same thing, but in a slightly different way. The Industrial Revolution and Higher Education changed that by giving people options. Your choices were still limited, but you had choices and – and here is my point – stability. When I was in High School I heard that I might live so long that I would need to have two different careers. Two? I wish. It now seems like two-hundred. If I take a long lunch I feel the need to retrain because my job has changed. And COVID has not just been a disruptor, it’s been an accelerator of change. I hate to sound like such an old guy, but would someone please Stop the Train!
Lawsuits: Hundreds of colleges are being sued for tuition refunds. On the one hand, I get it. College is expensive and Zooming-in is not what people agreed to pay for. On the other hand, what exactly do people think they are paying for when they pay for college?
Without Comment: 1) According to one study, we’ve been gaining about 2 lbs / month during the lockdown; 2) In light of the 31st anniversary of the release of Pretty Woman, Jim Dennison ran the following stats: a) The homicide rate among active female prostitutes is seventeen times higher than that of the age-matched general female population; b) The average prostitute is physically attacked once a month; and c) 89% of prostitutes want to escape but are trapped; 3) Cambridge, MA became the second US city to officially recognized polyamory; 4) A Canadian father was jailed for contempt after publicly objecting to his 11 year-old daughter taking testosterone; 5) The number of times the word inflation was searched on Google has doubled from a year ago.
End of Life: In last week’s update I suggested we recognize the difference between prolonging life and postponing death. This week, Justin Taylor published a piece that fleshed out what I was thinking. You can read his piece here.
Babies: It’s been three months since I said something about demographics – so let me note: 1) There was no COVID baby bump; 2) As this article suggest, we needed one. On a related note, here is a piece on the family that is worth noting because its claims would have elicited yawns ten years ago, but now seems brazenly controversial.
Saint Patrick’s Day Late. Below is the prayer I should have run last week. But I do not want to wait all year. Also, HERE is a lecture I recently gave on Saint Patrick. And here is a musical version of the prayer by The Brilliance.
Closing Prayer: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise. Amen. (Saint Patrick)