Happy Friday,
Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.
Jesus, Luke 17
Many assume that No Suffering + Maximum Pleasure = The Good Life. Jesus says, Resting in His Grace + Serving Others = The Good Life. His claim that suffering is an opportunity and that the way up is down is very counterintuitive.
MLK: It’s not January 15th (MLK Day), but while I’ve got you thinking about serving, I want to provide you with 90 seconds of inspiration.
How Would We Know? I’m hearing “this is not an age of change” but a “change of age”–that is, we’re living through “a once-every-500-years geopolitical inflection point.” Those saying as much are claiming this moment will stand alongside the fall of Rome, the collapse of Constantinople, and Luther’s Diet of Worms. Count me skeptical. I’m not saying the ground isn’t moving. I’m simply noting we’re in no position to make such a call. I also want to note that even if we are, in an important sense, it does not matter. We are to trust God and serve others. Be ready today to gently and respectfully offer an account of the hope that is within you (1 Peter 3:15).
WOTW: Honorable mention goes to founder mode (which I think is just this moment’s trendy way to refer to entrepreneurial leadership) and flamping (from this WSJ piece. It’s an important word should you ever pitch a tent under the wings of your private plane). Full honors go to sublime madness, a term Reinhold Niebuhr coined to describe the disruptive but necessary qualities of those leaders who find a way to get the impossible done.
Without Comment: 1) In 2024, golfer Scottie Scheffler earned $12,039.32 per shot; 2) 48% of bus riders in NYC do not pay the fare; 3) Teen vaping has hit a ten-year low; 4) Only 19% of Rs and 59% of Ds retain “much confidence” in higher education; 5) The median “early career” salary for a graduate of MIT is just over $133K; 6) Girls who grow up in homes without fathers enter puberty earlier than girls whose fathers live in the home; 7) The hero of the story is always the one who takes on maximum responsibility for others; and 8) The iPhone turned 17 years old this week.
Latin: Most of us know some Latin. Semper Fi, e pluribus unum and quid pro quo come to mind. Forty years of reading theology has made me familiar with imago Dei (the image of God), finitum non capax infinitum (the finite cannot comprehend the infinite), and incurvatus in se (the way sin has curved us inward on ourselves rather than outward towards God and others). I’m adding non semper sicut erit to that list. It means it will not always be this way. Because, well, it will not. God’s kingdom will come. Remembering as much is imperative. I recently heard someone say, “I don’t have any tattoos, but if I get one, it will be non semper sicut erit.” I agree.
Misc: 1) There are debates as to whether Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, or resurrection is the most important. My consistent vote is for whichever one I studied last; 2) Those who helped JB off the world stage might want to turn their attention to Mick Jagger; 3) Discipline in holiness leads to faith and freedom; 4) Tesla’s futuristic truck belongs on Mars not in the drive-thru line at Sbux; 5) The narrative passages of Scripture suggest that even those who have the truth will only listen to it in times of pain; 6) We don’t break the Ten Commandments. We break ourselves against them; and 7) For way too many people, politics is no longer an ideology; it is an identity.
Overheard (but I Can’t Remember Where): 1) When we face a problem, we need to ask, “What is Jesus’s invitation to me in this?”; and 2) The Bible exposes me to myself, which is seldom fun but can be helpful.
Musk: Walter Isaacson’s bio of Elon Musk (Musk) makes it clear that the CEO of Tesla, X (Twitter), SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company––and the father of twelve children—is more than a little crazy. I’m both attracted to and scandalized by his urgency. I want sublime madness to be more of the first and much less of the second.
Quote Worth Requoting: Eric Liddell is famous for saying, “When I run, I feel his pleasure.” FWIW, he also said, “It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.”
Resources: 1) Renew Communities is having a great year. This colorful, short, and compelling update is worth 2 minutes. 2) I’ve been surprised (and heartened) by the response to Afterlife, our current sermon series, which is focused on a number of breezy topics––e.g., eternity, death, the resurrection, judgment, heaven, and hell. Here is last week’s sermon on judgment. (BTW, some think me brave to take on these topics. Not true. I’m scared not to.)
Closing Prayer: I am communing with fire. Of myself, I am but straw but, O miracle, I feel myself suddenly blazing like Moses’ burning bush of old…. You have given me your flesh as food. You who are a fire which consumes the unworthy, do not burn me, O my Creator, but rather slip into my members, into all my joints, into my loins and into my heart. Consume the thorns of all my sins, purify my soul, sanctify my heart, strengthen the tendons of my knees and my bones, illumine my five senses, and establish me wholly in your love. Amen (Symeon Metaphrastes, 900-987).