May the Party Continue

Happy Friday

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Jesus, John 17:17

My grandparents held views that embarrass me. Yours likely did as well. There is a lot of that going around. Indeed, the views expressed on the editorial pages of the NYT fifty years ago – and in some cases five years ago – are anathema to those writing editorials today. Have you thought about what this means? Unless society suddenly freezes in place – and this cultural moment is recognized as the be-all and end-all always and forever – your views today may embarrass the you of five years from now. We need a perspective from above and outside our culture. “Thy word is truth.”

May the Party Continue: Anglican Bishop and prolific author, N.T. Wright, thinks we get Easter wrong. He argues that if Lent is “40 days of fasting and gloom” Easter should be at least a week-long festival, “including champagne after morning prayer as well as lots of alleluias and extra hymns.” I’m not sure my idea of a party lines up with Wright’s, but if we are going to be Easter people the resurrection of Jesus needs to be celebrated 24x7x365. He is Risen!

Freedom: It’s now common to think that more choices equals more freedom, and that more freedom is both a human right and a greater good. Reality disagrees. It appears that we can only entertain a certain number of variables before we grow anxious. Sometimes less really is more.

Five Apologies: Last year Gary Chapman – whose book The Five Love Languages has become an industry – rolled out The Five Apology Languages: The Secret to Healthy Relationships. Because I think some authors overwork an idea (Did you enjoy Chicken Soup for Left Handed Junior Varsity Wrestlers?), I was not predisposed to like the book. But I do. It turns out that we say – and hear – apologies very differently. Some want the guilty party to Express Regret, others want them to: Accept Responsibility, Make Restitution, Plan Change, or Request Forgiveness.

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Quotes Worth Requoting: 1) Never miss a good opportunity to shut up. Will Rogers; 2) In order to change the sex culture, we need a technology that discourages short-termism in male sexual behavior, protects the economic interests of mothers and creates a stable environment for the raising of children. We already have such a technology, even if it is old, clunky and prone to periodic failure. It’s called monogamous marriage. Louise Perry¹ 3) He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. John Stuart Mill.

Resources: Resources: 1) Here is a link to last Sunday’s Easter message (from John 20); 2) Here is a link to this week’s podcast interview with Gordon MacDonald (GMAC as he signs his emails, is a past president of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the author of many books, including Ordering Your Private World); and 3) Here is a link to sign up for the morning devotions – which are about five minutes long. On Monday I start a new series on Hebrews that will last several months.

The Questions of the Decade: In my interview with MacDonald, he listed the question we should ask in each decade of life. 1) In our 20s: What will I do with my life and who will I do it with? 2) In our 30s: How do I get organized to be effective? 3) In our 40s: How do I deal with the challenges I’m facing from growing children, aging parents and a demanding career? 4) In my 50s: How do I reorganize my life to make sense of the 20-30 years I have left? 5) In my 60s: How much longer can I keep doing what I am doing? 6) In my 70s: How do I live with the loss I’m experiencing? and 7) In my 80s: What will heaven be like and am I ready to go there?

Without Comment: 1) The U.S. (population 331M) has 800K law enforcement officers and 80K IRS agents. That is 0.24% and 0.024% respectively. 2) Undergraduate enrollment – which dropped 8% between 2019 and 2022 – is not rebounding as expected, suggesting that some who dropped out due to COVID are opting out for good; 3) As this piece explains, the number of part-time employees in the U.S. is growing. There are now 22M Americans choosing to work less than full-time.

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