Happy Friday,
But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”
Jesus, Luke 15
The father didn’t demand an exhaustive or embarrassing confession from his prodigal son. He didn’t even wait for his son to finish speaking. As soon as he started, he said, “Enough, bring me a robe and a ring. Put them on my son.” We are not only not forced to get our act together before God embraces us; all we need do is turn from pride and approach as a child. May we never make it hard for anyone to repent.
The Glory of Work: Sheri and I both enjoyed reading and then watching A Gentleman from Moscow. I’m particularly struck by the protagonist’s embrace of working as a waiter. Having enjoyed the perks afforded Russian nobility before Lenin’s takeover, he found true delight in serving, not being served.
The Quiz: 1) In which country is the church growing the fastest? 2) Give or take a trillion, how much money will change hands during the Great Wealth Transfer over the next twenty years? 3) Which cable news station has the oldest viewing audience: CNN, FOX, or MSNBC? 4) Which is higher, the number of people who use marijuana daily or the number of people who drink alcohol daily? 5) Is the average US college student older or younger than 25?
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to tsundoku (the act of acquiring books and letting them pile up without reading them), energy vampire (someone who sucks your energy, not your blood), negative partisanship (hating the other side more than loving your own), and like-o-meter (which is, like, when you, like, keep track of, like, how often someone uses the word “like”). Full honors go to pagan, which Louise Perry—one of the legions of elites moving closer to Jesus and the author of this First Things piece on paganism—wrote about. (BTW, that is, like, not my picture next to tsundoku in the dictionary. And suggesting as much is, like, not even funny.)
Radical Demands: Jesus does not expect us to act against our own best interests. It may occasionally seem like it, but that’s only because we misunderstand what’s best for us. For instance, we think the first will be first. He knows otherwise.
Are you a Christian? The great British preacher Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones would often ask, “Are you ready to say that you are a Christian?” He did this to flush out those who would reply, “I do not feel that I’m yet good enough to say that I’m a Christian.” Their response showed Llyod-Jones that they did not understand the Gospel. “Their answer sounds modest, but it is the lie of the devil. It is a denial of faith… We will never be good enough. Nobody has ever been good enough. The essence of the Christian salvation is to say that Jesus is good enough— and I am in Him!”
Patios > Porches: I was aware that newer home designs now often include media rooms, ginormous refrigerators, and closets the size of Montana. What I had not appreciated was that a previous generation home evolution had traded in front porches for back decks. Nor had I thought about what that has done to neighborhoods. I am seeing it now. I expect it was a Faustian bargain.
Quote Worth Requoting: “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.” Calvin Coolidge
Resources: Last weekend, I touched the third rail by preaching on patriotism and politics. Should you care to listen, the message—which was from Mark 12—is here. BTW, speaking of patriotism, I very much appreciated Peggy Noonan’s piece on it in Monday’s WSJ. It’s here but behind a paywall.
Answers to the Quiz: 1) The church is growing fastest in Iran. 2) The amount of money transferring hands in the next twenty years is $84T. 3) Per this report, the median age for a viewer of MSNBC is 70, for Fox is 69, and for CNN is 67. 4) Per this AP report, daily pot use surpassed daily alcohol use in 2023. 5) Per this study from the Education Report of New America, the average age of a US college student is 26.4.
Closing Prayer: O you who are everywhere present, filling yet transcending all things; ever acting, ever at rest; you who teach the hearts of the faithful without noise of words: teach us, we pray you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Augustine – 354-430)