Happy Friday
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.
Proverbs 4
Solomon’s words are those of a father pleading with his sons. He knew how easily they could be misled. Consequently, he desperately wanted them to seek wisdom and understanding, regardless of the cost.
What Will 2022 Bring? I’m not a prophet, but I expect a lot of “discussion” about abortion in the year ahead. I also suspect that the Ambient Anger Index – which remains quite high – will climb a bit higher.
True and Better: A few years ago, I ran across a “Jesus is the true and better” riff that I’d not heard before. I have yet to figure out where it came from, but I’ve shared it in sermons and Daily Devotions. Here it is in a three minute You Tube video. I like it because it is a quick and powerful way to show that Jesus not only stands at the center of the New Testament, but of the Old Testament as well.
The Sokal Hoax Redux: In 1996, Alan Sokal – a physics professor at New York University – submitted a nonsensical article to Social Text to see if the respected academic journal would publish an article “liberally salted with nonsense, provided it sounded good and flattered the editors’ ideological preconceptions.” He was not disappointed. In Social Text’s summer issue of that year they published, “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity,” which essentially claimed gravity was a social construct. In recent months, several anonymous academics have been channeling Sokal and are now reporting more success than they expected – e.g., the editorial board of Higher Education Quarterly recently retracted an article that claimed to show that, “right-wing funding was pressuring university faculty to promote right-wing causes in hiring and academics at the expense of ‘people and ideas they regard as superior.’” The authors – who claim a dozen other fake studies that have been published – promise to reveal the full extent of their hoax later. For more on this story, click here.
Without Comment: 1) 1 in 6 Americans are not talking to a family member because of politics; 2) Industry insiders expected the recently released movie about C.S. Lewis – The Most Reluctant Convert – to sell 20,000 tickets. Close to 300,000 were sold; 3) Studies of churches during COVID report that baptisms have declined 49% but small group participation has increased; 4) 47% of adults in the U.S. spend more money than they earn each month; 5) Tel Aviv is now the world’s most expensive place to live, followed by Paris and Singapore (tied), Zurich, Hong Kong and then New York; 6) 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in September, 4.2 quit their jobs in November, and according to this study, 73% of those currently employed are thinking of quitting or changing jobs.
Word of the Week: This week’s WOTW is “Trust Recession.” I selected it after reading articles about trust (or the lack thereof) in Forbes, The Atlantic, HBR and The Guardian. Some blame our “trust recession” on the fact that more people are working from home. Others think it is caused by political polarization. Silly me, I’m surprised people are surprised. Did anyone expect trust to hold its own as we moved further into a “Post Truth” society? BTW, nominations for the 2021 Word of the Year remain open. Suggestions to date include: NFT, metaverse, surveillance capitalism, the Great Resignation, omicron and crypto.
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What Should We be “Concerned” About? Given our Lord’s sovereign control, worry is unnecessary. Given how unpleasant it is, you would think we’d work harder to grow past it. And yet… there are threats that should keep us on “alert.” What are they? Our national debt? Our declining birth rates? China’s intentions re: Taiwan? Russia’s on Ukraine? AI? Climate Change? Many problems get fixed before they arrive, but not all. A head start on problem solving always helps. I’d be curious to know what threats keep you alert?
Mission at Nuremberg: I mentioned a few weeks back that I was reading the account of the Army Chaplain assigned to provide spiritual care to the top 21 Nazis on trial for war crimes. It was not an enjoyable book, in part because it reminds you that evil is small, petty and ordinary. The Nazi leaders (Hess, Goering, Speer, et. al.) are not interesting people. What kept me reading was watching Chaplain Gerecke work through his role in extending grace and forgiveness to those responsible for the deaths of tens of millions. I also appreciated – and was challenged by – his tireless commitment to share the Gospel with them, leaving judgment to God.
Hit Pause: For some of us, Christmas will be a super spreader event. I am not talking about COVID, but an attitude, be it hope or despair. I mention this now, because unless you take steps soon you are unlikely to be the Spirit-filled, winsome, non-anxious presence your friends and family needs. Slow down. Reflect on the gift of the incarnation. God has everything under control. Hearken back to the themes of our Christmas series past: Love God, Spend Less, Give More.
The Split: I recently heard Arthur Brooks give a talk on happiness. As you may know, Brooks – who is a best-selling author and a popular professor at Harvard Business School – has been cranking out articles on happiness in The Atlantic (and elsewhere) for the last few years. He made several points that need to be shared: 1) In almost every person in the world, happiness declines between the ages of 25 – 50, at which point it climbs until age 65. Brooks says he has data from thousands of studies controlling for all of the variables: country, ethnicity, income, marital status, health and more. “The data is overwhelming. It happens to almost everyone.”; 2) As we move into our 70s, half of the population grows happier and half the population sees their mood sink; 3) The surest way to be in the group that grows happier as they age? Go to church.
Pondering: In advance of the 2022 launch of our Institute, Christ Church gathered a dozen people for an extended discussion of Os Guinness’ latest book, The Magna Carta of Humanity. Guinness, who joined us by Zoom, gave us much to think about. I keep coming back to a point he made quite casually: freedom and equality live in tension. Perhaps I am late to the party, but I had not heard that point made quite that clearly before.
After Further Review: In college I heard – and believed – that in the 3rd century, Constantine turned Saturnalia (a pagan holiday) into Christmas in an effort to unify his sprawling kingdom. Dr. Timothy Larsen, the scholar on Christmas and the editor of The Oxford Handbook on Christmas, says that is not true. In this article, he argues that Christmas is more Christian than many Christians think.
Closing Prayer: My God and my All! What greater blessing can I receive than your love? What greater wealth can I possess than your grace? What greater pleasure can I enjoy than your presence? What greater sweetness can I taste than your body and blood? What greater wisdom can I know than your Gospel? Your wisdom is so simple that even fools like myself can understand it. Your holy communion is so generously given that even sinners like me are allowed to receive it. Your presence is everywhere so that even someone with such a dull mind as I have can find you. Your grace is such a constant source of reassurance that I can trust you completely for all my spiritual and material needs. And your love is so warm and so forgiving that even a cold, hard heart like my own is melted. Amen. (Thomas a Kempis – 1380-1471)