Happy Christmas Eve,
He made himself nothing by taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
The Apostle Paul, Phil. 2:7
The incarnation tends to be overshadowed by the crucifixion and resurrection. That’s unfortunate. As miracles go, it’s just as stunning. In some ways, more so. I’m not talking about God’s ability to restrict Himself. Nor am I referencing the mysterious nature of Christ (who became fully God and fully man, without confusion, without change, without division and without separation). Those are awe-inspiring, but what I am marveling at is His scandalous humility. I’m not sure we can begin to process it. Buechner is clearly on to something when he says: The incarnation is a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers. Until we too have taken the idea of the God-man seriously enough to be scandalized by it, we have not taken it as seriously as it demands to be taken.
I Wish Them Well: When we get education wrong, the downstream effects are severe, and at the moment, many once fine institutions are getting it wrong. Among those looking to chart a new path, the University of Austin (UATX) is garnering the most press, principally because of those signing on to help – e.g., Jonathan Haidt, Lawrence Summers, Arthur Brooks, Steven Pinker, Leon Kass, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bari Weiss, Pano Kanelos, et al. I do not have an educated opinion about this new venture, but I’m intrigued by their requirement that faculty and students: 1) Model intellectual humility; 2) Affirm the absolute and equal dignity of all human beings; and 3) Passionately pursue truth. Universities generally start with high minded ideals and then drift. (Harvard was founded to train pastors for Christ’s glory.) But the fact that 3,500 faculty from other institutions have asked how they can apply suggests there is a market for a university that understands that you cannot have an illiberal liberal arts college.
Yes, but…: In the last month, there have been more reports detailing how lonely Americans are, and how frayed our society has become. Many of these reports make note that people who attend church have more friends, better mental health, and greater social capital. The implication is everyone should go to church. Well, I’m all for it, but…we need to keep things in order. Christianity is not true because it works – i.e., we should not follow Jesus because doing so leads to better mental health. Christianity works because it’s true. More to the point, the reason to go to church is not because it might lower your anxiety. The reason to go to church is because Jesus is God.
Apologies: BTW, I am pretty sure I’m not supposed to make observations like this, but the American Enterprise Institute Survey Center’s data makes it clear that the loneliness divide is not just a religious divide. It is also a class divide, a friendship divide, and a fellowship divide. We are splitting apart in more than one way.
God-Shaped Vacuum: In this French Press piece, David French mentions the loneliness epidemic before noting that some are turning to politics for hope and meaning. Yes. For some time, I’ve suspected the State is the biggest idol around. People expect it to do for them things only God can do. This is part of the reason people are bringing religious zeal to political matters. GKC was right when he noted, “When a person ceases to worship God, he does not worship nothing. He worships everything.”
The News on the News: I took a break from my history podcast last week to whine – first about how broken the news is, and second about how profoundly the broken news is breaking us. You can listen here. Or you can get the five second version, which is – unless you are actively guarding against it, you are being discipled by the news.
Reindeer Tribe! A few weeks ago, I noted that Brad Coleman (a pastor at Christ Church) was huddling with old friends to make a new Christmas album. This group – which calls themselves “Reindeer Tribe” – occasionally garners national attention. You can find this year’s album here.
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Omicron: Last week’s Update had a line about me “cheering on Omicron” that I pulled at the last moment. It looked like this new strain was just the right blend of “mild yet contagious” to vaccinate the whole world. But I just wasn’t sure, so I stopped short of cheering. As I write this, there are more reasons to think Omicron may do us a big favor, but there are still questions, so I will leave the medical news to others. Instead, I will restate two things: 1) God > COVID; and 2) We will get through this. Indeed, we are getting through this. (Thanks again to all of you who’ve sacrificed to keep things going, especially medical providers.) And be encouraged, we’re better off today than we were 21 months ago.Crime’s Spike: The FBI’s recently released 2020 crime data shows property crime down but violent crime way up – e.g., murder spiked an unprecedented 29.4 percent. Here’s the bad news: these are the numbers comparing 2019 to 2020, not the numbers comparing 2020 with 2021 – which are expected to be much worse. Commenting about this spike, one politician admitted, “There is an attitude of lawlessness in our country that springs from I don’t know where.” Hmm, I know where. The human heart, it is “deceitful above all things and beyond cure.” (Jeremiah 17:9) There are still people who think we are good and getting better, and that with just a bit more time and education, we will all hold hands and sing Kumbaya. Apparently, they cannot be dissuaded by inconvenient things such as crime statistics.
Without Comment: 1) TikTok – the app known for its silly dancing videos – was the world’s most visited internet site in ‘21, with over one billion users every month; 2) In the ‘70s, more than forty percent of American households consisted of a married couple and children under the age of 18, today it is 18.7%. On a related note, the average age at which a US woman marries for the first time is now 28.6; 3) Also related, the Census Bureau reported that the U.S. population grew just 0.1 percent in 2021, the lowest rate in the country’s history; 4) Spiderman’s No Way Home managed to squeeze the third biggest movie opening of all time between the Delta and Omicron variants. Sales were over 600M for the weekend.
No Update Next Week: There will be no 100+ Podcast released on Christmas or New Year’s Day, and no Friday Update next week. Lord willing, everything will be back up and running on January 7, 2022. Merry Christmas.
Closing Prayer: Let the just rejoice, for their Justifier is born. Let the sick and infirm rejoice, for their Savior is born. Let the captives rejoice, for their Redeemer is born. Let slaves rejoice, for their Master is born. Let free people rejoice, for their Liberator is born. Let all Christians rejoice, for Jesus Christ is born. Amen. (Augustine of Hippo – 345 – 430)