Happy Friday, March 25, 2022
Faith, hope and love.
Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Peter, his second letter
In 2 Peter we find yet another list admonishing us to be faithful, good, holy, resilient, loving and thoughtful people. I mention this because I have yet to find the passages urging us to be angry, loud, self-righteous and defensive. As recipients of the grace of Jesus we are positioned to be hopeful, winsome, loving and courageous. There is no reason for fear. You can be the non-anxious presence your neighbor is looking for.
Social Media Rules: By the way, the list of things Peter calls us to are not the rules Zuckerburg, Jack Dorsey, Congress or Elon Musk endorse for Social Media. However, if you are a Christ-follower, they are the rules governing your social media behavior.
It Seems to Me: It seems to me that: 1) Books are getting shorter while podcasts are getting longer; 2) Many of those who want to cancel the luminaries of the past (e.g., Washington and Lincoln) would have a hard time matching the character of many of those they are cancelling; 3) We should reflect on what it says about us that the White House now offers special briefings to Tik Tok influencers; 4) While we are besting the COVID pandemic, we are not doing so well with the pandemics of mental illness, distrust and polarization; 5) Two of the biggest COVID casualties are our trust in our healthcare system and our trust in the media; 6) Few understand that freedom and equality live in tension.
Word of the Week: There were several nominees – including bespoke and atomize. But I am going with Web3 – which is also called The Fourth Industrial Revolution – and which refers to the impact of advanced robotics, cryptocurrencies, the “Internet of Things,” artificial intelligence, cloud and quantum computing, 3D printing, augmented reality and space travel.
Perspective: Those who say America’s never had it so bad clearly slept through their high school history class. I will leave the Civil War, Great Depression, Dust Bowl and Spanish Flu alone and simply note that between the end of 1963 and the middle of 1975, America: assassinated her president, assassinated his brother, assassinated the leader of the Civil Rights movement, endured riots in more than 100 cities, endured the consequences of an ill-defined war in East Asia, and faced enough corruption at high levels that the US president and the vice president were forced to resign in disgrace over separate scandals.
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Another SNL Skit. After learning that the Cat in the Hat was being cancelled, I decided to check out the SNL links you sent me last week. I did this because I needed a good laugh, and because I suspect many of the earlier SNL skits will soon be cancelled themselves. BTW, for what it’s worth, I could only pass along one of the skits sent to me. Between the fact that humor often offends and the fact that I am a pastor, most did not make the cut. You can find the one that did here.
Without Comment: 1) A recent survey showed that while 53% of Americans are optimistic about the country’s future, Black, Hispanic and Asians are more optimistic than Whites; 2) The parents of 39% of voting-age Gen Zers and 12% of millennials still pay at least part of their children’s phone bills; 3) Before the quarantine, the median worship attendance for US churches was 65. Today it is 55; 4) US unemployment claims hit a 52-year low last week with ten states reporting their lowest unemployment rates ever.
Sorry for Being Obtuse: In last week’s Update I made a passing reference to “a guy I knew who whined a lot.” I also noted that he was hard to get away from. To those of you who wrote asking if I was referring to you – and to the wife who asked if I was referring to her husband – I want to assure you, I was referring to myself.
How to Pray for Ukraine: When asked about how to pray for Ukraine, I have directed people to Psalm 35, in which the Psalmist prays that his enemies fall into their own nets. Of course, there is much more that could be / should be prayed. I think Phil Yancy does a good job answering the question in this piece, called, “We Have No More Tears Left: Ukraine’s history has been marked by tragedy and bravery. What can we learn and how can we pray?
Dadvertisements: The ads being shown during sporting events are focusing less on products (e.g., trucks and beer) and more on relationships. These “dadvertisements,” are either emphasizing the joys, sorrows and struggles of being a father, or are focusing on the longing grown men feel for fathers long gone.
Closing Prayer: Father of heaven, whose goodness has brought us in safety to the close of this day, another day is now gone, and added to those, for which we were before accountable. Give us grace to endeavor after a truly Christian spirit to seek to attain that temper of forbearance and patience of which our blessed Savior has set us the highest example; and which, while it prepares us for the spiritual happiness of the life to come, will secure to us the best enjoyment of what this world can give. Incline us, O God, to think humbly of ourselves, to be severe only in the examination of our own conduct, to consider our fellow-creatures with kindness, and to judge of all they say and do with that charity which we would desire from them ourselves. Amen. (Jane Austen, 1787-1817)