Happy Friday,
Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me and teach me your law.
Psalm 119:29
Some highlight parts of the Bible they cannot accept. That’s backwards. As Christ-followers, we should allow the Bible to highlight the parts of our lives it finds unacceptable.
Speaking of Backwards: I have a friend “on death’s door.” He is past “ready to go” – anxious to leave this broken world of sin, heartache, and cancer and move more fully into God’s presence. Make no mistake: heaven is not an ethereal, mystical, vaporous never-never land. It is a real place. Indeed, it’s more real than Chicago, Nepal, or Peoria, in part because those places are unlikely to be around in 1,000 years, but heaven will be. My friend is not leaving the land of the living for the land of the dying. He’s doing the exact opposite.
2025: There are four things to be noted about 2025: 1) It will mark the 1,700 anniversary of the Nicene Creed. (If 30th is diamond, 40th is ruby, 50th is gold, and 70th is platinum, what is 1,700th?); 2) It’s the year NASA plans to put a human back on the moon; 3) It’s the year the Cubs will win the World Series and the Bears will win the Super Bowl (OK, maybe not); and 4) It’s the year after which each U.S. high school graduating class is projected to be smaller than the one before it.
Quote Worth Requoting: Given that I’m hanging out with the Royals (the King says “Hi”) on a C.S. Lewis tour, it would be wrong to not cite Lewis. Today’s quote comes from Mere Christianity. It reads: “I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth – only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”
WOTW: Given last week’s debate, I considered giving honorable mention to halting, brokered, and 25th. Given that I’m in the UK – not to play in Wimbledon but for Lakelight Institute’s C.S. Lewis tour – I considered gormless (which is British for stupid). Other nominees include sadfishing (a 2019 term used to describe those who “exaggerate their emotional state online in order to generate sympathy”) and NEETs (young people Not in Employment, Education, or Training because they are discouraged by their economic standing). I have decided to give full honors to listen, which is hardly new, but I decided to elevate it after learning that the Traditional Chinese character for the word listen is comprised of four symbols: one for ears (to hear); one for eyes (to see); one for the mind (to think); and one for the heart (to feel). It would seem we live in a society where everyone keeps turning up the volume but few listen. May we model less talking and more ear-eyes-mind-and-heart-level listening. (Note: you can see the Traditional Chinese character for listen here).
July 5th: It was odd to be in the U.K. on July 4th – getting their election news, not our parades – but it made me appreciate the U.S.A. all the more. Here is Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful, and here is a reflection on our stuttering, fragile dance with freedom.
Misc: 1) Hanlon’s razor states that we should not attribute to malice or conspiracy that which is adequately explained by stupidity (gormlessness?); 2) Just when you thought the world couldn’t make less sense, North Korea’s propaganda song about Kim Jong Un has gone viral; and 3) If you have more books on your shelves by living authors than by dead ones, you’re doing it wrong. (By the way, if you don’t have any books on your shelves, you’re really doing it wrong.)
Resources: Here is last week’s sermon, which was a fly-over of Exodus that focused on how much of it is a big arrow pointing to Jesus. Closing Prayer: Lift up our hearts, O Christ, above the false shows of things, above laziness and fear, above selfishness and covetousness, above whim and fashion, up to the everlasting Truth that you are; that we may live joyfully and freely, in the faith that you are our King and Savior, our Example and our Judge, and that, so long as we are loyal to you, all will ultimately be well. Amen. (Charles Kingsley – 1819 – 1875).