Happy Friday,
Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.
Moses, Psalm 39:4
If we believe that what we see is all we get, we should “eat, drink and be merry” (hedonism), resign ourselves to a life without meaning (nihilism), or feel free to make up our own meaning (existentialism). But if we believe we are going to live forever – and that what we do now will echo for eternity – then to do anything other than live today in light of forever is to be a fool. This isn’t just what Moses said in Psalm 39, it’s what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. His message was clear, store up your treasure in Heaven. Men and women, we must not forget: Life is short. Eternity is not. And the opportunity to make a difference is now.
Word of the Week: Speaking of existentialism, I was tempted to make it this week’s WotW. After all, in the last few days: a NASA administrator called climate change “the existential threat of our time,” Scientific American said wildfires were posing “an existential threat” to giant sequoias, Barron’s announced that Bitcoin was facing “an existential crisis,” and Bloomberg reported that some Wall Street brass were filled with “existential angst.” But I am going in a different direction this week. The word I am choosing is ratchet. I am nominating it in advance, because I expect it to be used quite a bit in the weeks ahead. In various ways, we have “ratcheted” up different responses to COVID. I expect a lot of debates about ratcheting down.
Banned: While we are here, please allow me this brief rant about words. Builders have hammers and surgeons have scalpels, but those of us who write and speak are limited to whatever we can conjure up from 26 letters. Imagine our frustration then, when our precious words are misused. Take “banned.” This week it popped up several times. In one case, Group A was furious because Group B wanted to ban Book C. In another setting, Group D – which, btw, was the ideological opposite of Group A – was furious because Group E was banning Book F. FWIW, banned is not the right word. There are governments that hold bonfires to burn certain works – or place you in jail if you possess a copy – but with very limited exceptions (e.g., child pornography, recipes for dirty bombs, plagiarized works) the First Amendment assures that the U.S. is not one of those places. What is most often happening today is that groups are trying to remove certain titles from a children’s library or an assigned reading list. In no case is the book banned. You can still buy and read it. In most situations, those using the word banned are trying to make someone else look foolish. I will not go so far as to ban the word banned, but you might want to.
One Final Comment on Words: I regret being introduced to Wordle. (If future Friday Updates arrive on Saturday, you’ll know why.)
The good news: As a pastor, I talk about the Good News. As the curator of this newsletter, I reflect on bad news. I’ve decided I need to work harder to pass along good news. Please note two things: 1) I am making a distinction between the Good News and good news; and 2) This does not mean I will avoid the bad news. I am simply noting that because most news sources give so much more attention to bad news – even spinning good news in bad ways – I want to shine light on things that are going well. Here are a few items from this week: 1) COVID cases have fallen 60% since last month’s highs; 2) The 9th circuit court recently voted 9 – 0 in defense of religious liberty; 3) The U.S. economy added 467,000 jobs in January. In addition to that, I saw neighbors caring for each other, parents sacrificing for children and the amazing handiwork of God every time I opened my eyes. Anyone can talk about spikes in inflation, drug overdoses and crime – and occasionally we should. Let’s be sure we see the good in the world as well.
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Speaking of Hedonism: After our basic needs are met, we spend a lot of time pursuing things we think will make us happy – e.g., money, power, love, sex, fame, etc. As I write about here, most of what we think we want, we only want because we think it will make us happy. We do not want the thing per se, and would not want it at all if we thought it would make us unhappy. As it turns out, the Bible is full of insights about what leads to happiness and what does not. (Hedonism, famously, does not.) There are other books that do a good job as well, and I already have an order in for HBS professor Arthur Brooks’ upcoming book on happiness, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. But we do not have to wait. The Bible is full of insight about joy if we’d only take it. Or we can look to those who summarize it well, such as C.S. Lewis, who wrote: “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn – or the food our spirits were designed to feed on… God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”
Psalm 19 in Picture Form: As I did last year, I am including a link to the best astronomy photos of 2021. Consider it show and tell for King David’s majestic words in Psalm 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.” BTW, if you want help marveling at the wonders of God, in this article Philip Yancey talks about how the universe leads him to worship. And be encouraged, the recently launched Webb telescope should provide us with some entries next year.
Without Comment: 1) This WSJ article challenges the idea that young couples should postpone marriage until they are thirty; 2) According to Ryan Burge, roughly forty percent of the people who called themselves an evangelical in the 2020 election attended church once a year or less; 3) 43.4M Americans have federal student loan debt.
Hypocrisy Award: Those of us who can no longer claim to be middled-aged – unless we actually expect to live well past 100 – may remember William Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Award. Proxmire, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, routinely “honored” groups egregiously wasting tax payers’ money. (As you can imagine, no one who won a Golden Fleece Award put it on their resume.) I am toying with channeling Proxmire by starting a hypocrisy award. The problem is, I need a name. (Please note: I do not intend to name it after myself, even though I often qualify.) If you have a suggestion that is clever, not mean, send it along. Also, I am accepting nominations.
Two Corrections: In last week’s report about the death of NYPD Officer, Jason Rivera, I mentioned that he died in the “line-of-fire.” I meant “line-of-duty.” Also, in my reflections on courage, I conflated courage and recklessness. My bad. (And yes, I am aware that I just complained about others misusing the word banned. Perhaps next week I will start an Irony Award.)
The $ Value of Churches: I cited some earlier studies about the economic value of a local church, but in my prep for this week’s sermon, I revisited this one. Those who appreciate the church will find it worth skimming.
Closing Prayer: Father, make us more like Jesus. Help us to bear difficulty, pain, disappointment and sorrows, knowing that in your perfect working and design you can use such bitter experiences to shape our characters and make us more like our Lord. We look with hope for that day when we shall be wholly like Christ, because we shall see him as he is. Amen. (Ignatius of Antioch – c.107)