HOMILETICS

Things That Are Not Extinct

It’s been heart-warming to read lately online accounts that tell us that some animals, thought at one time to be extinct, are not. For example, a giant tortoise subspecies, thought to have been extinct for more than 150 years, is actually alive and well on the Galápagos island of Isabela.

Then there’s Miller’s Grizzled Langurs, presumed to be extinct, found deep in the jungles of Indonesia. The Laotian rat was "rediscovered" in 2005 — on the chopping block at a food market along the Mekong River. The Mountain-Pygmy possum till it was found in the remote alpine regions of Australia. Thought to be extinct for more than 70 years, two nature lovers from upstate New York rediscovered the Woolly Flying Squirrel somewhere in Pakistan, I think. The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby wasn’t seen after 1937 until it was re-found in 1973.

Things that are extinct. I’ve heard many complaints about the absence of civility in public discourse. Good manners, it would seem are extinct. Yet, then, something happens that belies the argument. The apostle Paul argues that we should demonstrate such traits as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Do you get the feeling sometimes that these qualities are in short supply? Oh, sure, we might find them in the church — not a guarantee, of course! — but in the work place or the neighborhood, do we encounter love, gentleness and self control?

Actually, it happens more than we might realize. I know people who:

• Bake pies for their elderly neighbors
• volunteer at the hospital
• keep financial records for the elderly
• mop the floors
• mow a neighbor’s church lawn
• Shovel the snow for an elderly neighbor
• organize a blood drive
• tutor disadvantaged kids
• give free piano lessons
• organize campus ministries
• and visit felons on death row.

Think about it today, and be grateful when you see evidence that these qualities, sometimes so rarely in evidence in public life, are alive and well. Resolve to bring these qualities back to life, yourself! Help bring faithfulness from the brink of extinction! Are we all doing what we can to ensure that joy, peace and patience do not land on the endangered species list?

Does Jesus Care Who Wins This Game?

I am referring of course to Super Bowl XLVI to be played this Sunday in Indianapolis, in which one of the quarterbacks will be a Manning—but not Peyton. The New England Patriots and the New York Giants will have at it in a game in which the Patriots are heavily favored over the 9-7 (regular season) Giants.

For those of you who are keeping track, my own prognostication in the January-February 2012 issue of Homiletics now in your hands and online was for the Green Bay Packers to meet the New England Patriots and to be victorious 24-17. At least I got one team right. But now, I pick the Patriots to win 33-17. You read it here.

But does Jesus care who wins this game? Given the “tebowing” hoopla of the last part of the NFL season, it’s a pertinent question (BTW, did you notice Novak Djokovic, who won his third Australian Open title at Melbourne Park today (it was Monday a.m. before the match was over) beating Spain’s Rafa Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 7-5 in the longest grand slam final ever—did you notice Djokovic kissing his crucifix that hung around his neck all the time? Wonder if there will be a fuss???).

“Does Jesus Care Who Wins This Game?” This is also the title of a Homiletics piece we did back in 1998. It ran on January 25, relative to a game in which QB John Elway won his first Super Bowl in four tries for the Denver Broncos, beating Green Bay Packers, 31-24.

Two years later, we ran another “Super Bowl” piece called “Holiness in the Huddle” (January 30, 2000). That game featured the St Louis Rams v. Tennessee Titans in which the Rams won 23-16.

Since then, Homiletics has stayed away from Super Bowl pieces. I don’t know why really. But if you’re a preacher in Massachusetts or the New York area and want to use the Super Bowl as a starting point for your sermon this Sunday, both of these are still available on the fabulous Homiletics web site (www.HomileticsOnline.com).

Personally—I’d love to see the Giants win. But I think the Brady Bunch will prevail.

 

The Outlier Church

President Obama delivered his State of the Union address the other night, an annual political rite which we expect our Head of State to do. And it was followed by applause and critique—as usual—and along party lines.

Obama’s speech reminded me of the “Report of the Pastor” or something equivalent that we pastors and preachers usually have to write for inclusion in the Annual Report which is distributed at that well-loved and well-attended Annual Business Meeting of the church (Annual Meeting of the Congregation, Annual Congregational Meeting, Annual Meeting—it goes by many different names).

The Pastor’s Report is a sort of a State of the Church report. It could be a good sermon approach—if you’re looking for an angle for this coming Sunday. What is the “state” of your church? How do you make that assessment? What categories or rubrics will you use to measure progress or regress, success or failure, hope or despair? Certainly, finances and taxes will be mentioned (tithes, pledges, the annual fees, or per capita dues to the district denominational entity). Health care? Education? What about the troops? Does the church have “troops” out there in the community providing services? Will they be recalled and brought home? What sort of presence does the church have in the community? Etc. etc. I am sure your report will be quite interesting.

While I was thinking about this, serendipitously I picked up—at long last— a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. I’d read Tipping Point and Blink, but had not got around to this latest offering about measuring success. I only last week finished Salmon Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (Best of the Booker winner), a 650-page tome. Outliers is an easy read, and the first chapter on the Roseto Mystery is relevant to this matter of making assessment of the health, or let us say, the “success” of the church.

The little Pennsylvania town of Roseto is a small town where people under 65 do not have heart attacks. Long story short, the town is an “outlier,” i.e., something that appears to deviate markedly from other members of the sample in which it occurs.

In 2012, perhaps your church can be an outlier church, i.e. a church that falls outside of—and beyond—traditional, conventional, and expected norms.

At the very least, this Sunday is an opportunity to challenge the church to aspire to “outlier-liness.”

 

The Trees Of Ta Prohm

I’ve been on the road for the past week. See my post a few days

ago about Notre Dame in Ho Chi Minh city.

Prominent on my itinerary, however, was Angkor Wat northwest of

Phnom Penh a good six hours by local bus and near the town

of Siem Reap. I and a few other tourists (mostly backpackers) and

locals arrived at 10 p.m. It wasn’t hard to find a guesthouse for

cheap.

The next day I rented a bicycle and headed up to Angkor Wat,

a vast area full of ancient temples, city buildings and the like.

The word Angkor means capital and this area was for a long time the capital of a kingdom that

flourished during what Europeans would call the early to mid-middle ages.

Angkor Wat, the iconic image of the modern country of the Kingdom of Cambodia, was impressive

enough. When I cycled to Ta Prohm, another “must-see” temple of the area, I was struck by one

impressive features: the trees. The temple squats in a jungle. Monkeys screech hidden in the jungle

greenery. Ta Prohm, like all the ruins of Angkor Wat, was overrun

by the jungle and now, although much restoration

has taken place, some of these enormous trees still stand

above the ruins with finger-like roots that grasp the walls

and foundations of the temple, in some cases, causes

 damage to the walls themselves.

The metaphor here is easy for the homiletician to grasp: These trees

at some point were mere twigs growing in a crack in the rock,

surviving on the merest of nutrients. But they grew unchecked.

Now of course they could be cut down. But to remove them entirely would require surgery. The area of the wall

itself would need to be removed and this could amount to a significant portion of the temple. In short, if we

are ourselves, the temples of the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Paul suggests, we must be vigilant in making

sure that nothing insinuates itself into the temple which, if left untended, could bring the whole temple down.

 

Jesus in Ho Chi Minh City

Jesus just left Chicago and he's bound for New Orleans.

Well now, Jesus just left Chicago and he's bound for New Orleans.

Yeah, yeah.

Workin' from one end to the other and all points in between.

--Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill & Frank Beard

In Ho Chi Minh City now for a day before leaving for Cambodia by bus and the Angkok Wat temples near Siemreap.

This past Sunday I went to two church, both Catholic—didn’t spot any Methodists or otherwise Protestant

churches on my tourist map.
 
Notre Dame Cathedral was packed. An English mass was in progress. The preacher was a white guy, did not catch

his name. He was preaching from the gospel text and inviting people to follow Jesus.
 
Later that night, I passed by the Cho Guan church, also a large church. Mass in Vietnamese in progress.

It too was packed.
 
Last year I was in Hanoi . Same story at St. Joseph ’s Cathedral. Jesus is alive and well in Vietnam.

We know, however, that Jesus is not just about churches and cathedrals. In fact, most of the time when JEsus

was in a religious establishment in his day, the results were not pleasant.

I think the best place for Jesus to be these days is us. Too much I,and not enought U, Lord. Not enough people

being Jesus these days. We're pretty busy being ourselves. And again, the results are pretty.

 

When Ye Grieve, Let It Be With Sincerity

There are reports out of North Korea that the NK authorities are punishing people who failed to

express public grief after the death of Kim Jong Il on December 17, or who did so but without

apparent enthusiasm or sincerity. The offenders have been sent, according to the Daily NK, an

online North Korean newspaper, to “Revolutionary Zones,” or “re-education” camps where they

will be taught the error of their ways, aided by some forced labor to reinforce their education.

Reports say that similar punishments took place following the death of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il’s

father and the founder of North Korea, in 1994. According to Amnesty International, there are an

estimated 200,000 offenders and families held in North Korean prison camps.

It’s a good thing to be sincere in everything we do. Even the Bible teaches us this. In our country,

a president can die and all manner of things can be said about him, as happened upon the deaths

of Nixon, Ford and Reagan. Unfortunately, the tactless comments were probably as sincere as

the heartfelt expressions of loss. But it’s no crime in the U.S. as it is in North Korea, to be tactless,

or else we’d be sending Bill Maher to a Revolutionary Camp as the first in line of any number of

graceless people who seems to flutter about in cyberspace these days.

Here are some pertinent verses in Scripture that remind us to be sincere:

• Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
• 1 Timothy 1:5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.
• Romans 12:9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
• 1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.
• 1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
• Philippians 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

The word “sincere” in this last text is interesting. The Greek root suggests sunlight. A sincere person

is one who can stand up to the light, or when the light is cast on her or him.

This recalls an ancient practice regarding pottery. In the ancient world the best pottery was thin

and fragile—as it is today, I guess. It was fragile when it went into the kiln and when it came

out. Sometimes it would crack.

My wife is a potter and had a kiln for a time. I recall many times she’d fire a piece of pottery

and it would crack at high temperatures. Usually, the pot would crack so bad it was literally in

pieces. Other times, however, the pot was intact, but marred by a crack.

This happened in the ancient world too. But unethical pottery people would fill in the cracks

with a hard pearly wax that would blend in with the color of the pottery. This made the cracks

practically undetectable on the shelf, especially when the piece was painted or glazed. This wax

ruse however was immediately uncovered if the pottery was held up to bright light, especially

sunlight, for the cracks would show up as darker lines. It was said that the artificial element was

detected by “sun-testing.” Such a vase was known as "sun-judged".

Honest pottery dealers would mark their product with the words "sine cera" which means

“without wax”. Our English "sincere" comes from the Latin words "sine cera"!

So out of North Korean comes this reminder to live as people who can stand in the sun and be

seen as pure and honest without cracks filled with the wax of hypocrisy or phony, flattering speech.

It’s good advice, because Lord knows there are too many people these days who appear to be a

fine piece of delicate pottery, but who are, in fact, crack pots.

Today’s Blessing

I get notes from Homiletics subscribers. Here’s one from Jim Berger, a pastor in Fort Myers, Florida (I think).

He is on the editorial board of a sister publication of Homiletics, The Wired Word (www.TheWiredWord.com).

He writes: I was working on a blessing from the Carmina Gadelica this morning. I have been studying the

writings of the Celtic church from the 5th through 7th centuries, and find a significant parallel to the

descriptions of the emerging church of today. Presence, poetry, pilgrimage, prayer, community and

wholistic are the common themes of the church of that period. In the latest issue of Outreach magazine,

I heard them expressed by young believers in an interview. Ancient is modern.

Anyway, here is today's blessing.

Now to the Father who created each creature,

Now to the Son who ransomed His people,

Now to the Holy Spirit, Comforter of might:

Shield and save us from all harm;

Be our companion from beginning to end,

Be our song to sing in glory,

In peace, in rest, in reconciliation,

Where no tear shall be shed, where death comes no more.

Where no tear shall be shed, where death comes no more. Amen

 

March-April 2012 Issue of Homiletics Is Now Online!

What happens to your digital life (social networking, etc.) when you die? If your house were on fire, what one thing would you grab on your way out? When people who have never heard of Jesus die, what happens to them (re Acts 4:12). Do those John 3:16 guerrilla ads work? Those “great” companies business guru Jim Collins talked about 10 years ago—how come they’re not so great now? How are Jesus and Perseus the same and how are they different (see the movie Wrath of the Titans). In Texas, why won’t the prison system honor “last meal” requests?

These and other questions and topics are addressed in the March-April 2012 issue of Homiletics now online at www.HomileticsOnline.com. This issue also offers material for a Maundy Thursday service, as well as two options for Easter Sunday, April 8. You’ll also find an interesting piece on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a commemoration that’s certain to be in the news the week leading up to April 15.

God bless you in your preaching ministry!

100,000 Whys

Kids can say the darndest things. This is something the oldsters reading this post will know that thanks to Art Linkletter.

But parents know this too. And the very interesting things kids say are not limited to embarrassing utterances about what Mommy thinks about Daddy, but to the questions that just pop out of their mouths, like Pop-Tarts out of a toaster.

To most parents, teachers and pastors, the questions are familiar: Why is the sky blue? Why don’t the sun and moon fall down? How does a washing machine wash clothes? You get the idea.

Publishers in China years ago seized on this curiosity and produced 100,000 Whys, a book that has gone through five editions. The book didn’t really answer 100,000 questions, but got around to more than 2,000!

Now the Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House in Shanghai is set to produce a sixth version, and what makes this interesting is the publisher’s observation that since the last edition (1999), kids are asking a different set of questions. Although they still wonder why the sky is blue, they’re also asking why scientists still pursue nuclear energy after the disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushiima. They are also wondering if they might be able to travel back in time someday in the near future. “Why do I feel sad,” wrote one kid. Another asked, “Why do they put melamine in milk powder?”

They also wonder if 2012 will see the world come to an end.

Save this idea for a text that comes up which has some interesting questions, and ask rhetorically (or not) what questions we adults are asking these days? What’s on our minds? To what questions would we really want an answer.

Then unveil the question Scripture raises, and let the discussion begin.

Does Preaching Make You Want to Vomit?

Here's a note from a D.Min. student who would like to hear from you: Does Preaching Make You Want to Vomit? If you've struggled with anxiety while preaching, you're not alone! (Consider Paul, Moses, and Jeremiah, just for starters.) A DMin student doing research on pulpit anxiety really wants to talk to you-especially if you've seen improvement in your anxiety levels. Please contact Matt Herndon at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis, at matt@rooftop.org.

Words We Love To Hate

The English Poindexters at Lake Superior State University in Upper Michigan see themselves as the über (2005)-grammarians and guardians of the English language (1983). Right! (1979) As if! (1997) Actually—they’re so close to the border they may as well call themselves Canadians, and we know Canadians are much more protective of the Queen’s English than we Yanks, right? The LSSU folks have once again produced their annual list of words that should be banished from use in 2012, and probably, like (1997) forever. They’ve been doing this now for over 35 years.

In fact, the list refers to the Queen in its very title: “List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness” Click here to go to the website for the 2012 list as well as previous years.

I think that LSSU should ban the word “Queen” because we haven’t been speaking the Queen’s English since we fled from mad King George III a couple hundred years ago. I’m just sayin’ (2011).

But actually, this is a list I love. I don’t mind that the words come into usage, it’s over usage that bugs me. Language (1983) is so fluid and dynamic; it’s fun to play with. So words or phrases that LSSU banned for 2012 like ginormous, blowback, trickeration, man cave, baby bump, occupy, the new normal—well, that’s just fun stuff. But after a while, you get tired of hearing goofy words all the time. You want to move on. LSSU is telling us to move on.

But, at the end of the day (1999) banning a word doesn’t stop us from using the words. People still Facebook me, or Google me, even though in 2011, LSSU asked us to stop using those words as verbs. I still hear a-ha-moment, the wow factor, backstory, man up, and BFF. So, there you go (1987).

I went back on the LSSU website to see what they were banning ten years ago. By and large (1987) they took umbrage with words/phrases like faith-based, synergy, frigging, 9/11, ramp up, edgy, killer app, no brainer et al. All of these words continue to enjoy widespread usage, do they not? For sure (1981).

That's why we still see or hear LOL (2004), awesome (1984), basically (84, 86, 93), begs the question (2001), bling (2004), bonding (1993), scenario (1976), revisit (1996)—do we not? Perhaps a list such as this one serves to iron the word like a linguistic patch on to the social, media and cultural fabric in which we live and communicate. More importantly (1992), we should perhaps just chill out (1980) a bit on this whole “Save the Queen’s English” crusade, knowing that, although well-intentioned, it just ain’t do-able (1980). It's not going to be a linguistic or lexical game-changer (2009). It is what it is (2008).

Whatever (1997).

So, what’s your most hated word or expression?

The one that drives me nuts? Actually two words: Misuse of verb “to go,” and the word “like” as a substitute for “says” or “said” or other appropriate expressions that would actually require a working English vocabulary of at least 500 words. These words were on the LSSU list in 1997. The explanation at the time came from an editor of a religious publishing house. Here it is:

Used with the hated ‘he goes/she goes.’ For example: “My son dashes into the room and he goes, ‘Dad! Dad!’ and I’m like, ‘What? What?’ The perpetrators of such babble should be locked together in a room, with their baseball caps riveted bill forward.” Allen C. Myers, senior editor, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing C., Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The word “like” used in this fashion drives me nuts, especially when spoken by adults. You just want to go up to the speaker and slap him/her silly.

Yet—the banned word list notwithstanding—the force and flow of language is a powerful thing. We’re going to say what we’re going to say until we’re tired of saying it and we really don’t care what the language police think about it.

Yet, I know where they’re coming from (1978). And as far as I’m concerned, that’s just swell (1953), groovy (1967), right on (1971).

Finally—as people in the “communication business,” we could ask ourselves at the beginning of this new year whether there are some words we should stop using, and words that we should start using. This is another discussion, I know, but the preaching lexicon is getting light, or shallow, and words with rich theological meaning are disappearing from our homiletical discourse. And that’s a shame. But, more on that later.

Happy New Year!

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The Top Ten Best Lists of the Bible

I don’t know if God got this whole “list” thing going with the Ten Commandments, but I suppose it’s possible. It’s an annual rite of passage—from year to year—seeing more than 200 lists that summarize in one way or another, what’s happened in the past 365 days.

I like what John Roderick of the Seattle Weekly said about these lists, i.e that “Ranking things in order of how much you like them is a coping strategy of 9-year-old girls. I know people like to make top-10 lists because they're fun and easy, and people like to read them for the same reason, but that's Entertainment Tonight reasoning. Year-end top-10 lists are the unicorn stickers and glitter pens of music writing.”

Still, we write them, and we read them. Like:

The Top Ten News Stories
The Top Ten Actresses
The Top Ten Albums
The Top Ten Religious News Stories
The Top Ten Political Gaffes
The Top Ten Books
The Top Ten Worst Movies
The Top Ten Movies
The Top Ten New Inventions
The Top Ten Quotes
The Top Ten Top Ten Lists of 2011

And this is just a beginning, not to speak of a list of celebrities who have died in 2011, and a list of celebrities who are predicted to die in 2012.

All of this made me wonder about Biblical lists. Here are some that came to mind.

10: The Best Genealogical List
09. The Best To Don’t List
08. The Best List of Virtues
07. The Best List of Vices
06. The Best List of Bible Heroes
05. The Best List of Best Skills
04. The Best List of Wifely Characteristics
03. The Best List of Apocalyptic Disasters
02. The Best List of Hallmark Quotations
01. The Best To Do List

Your vote may be different than mind, but for 10, I’d go with Matthew 1; for 9, the Ten Commandments, hands down; for 8, see Galatians 5:22-23; for 7, see Colossians 3:5-10; for 6, see Hebrews 11; for 5, see 1 Corinthians 12-14; for 4, see Proverbs 31; for 3, see Revelation 6, the opening of the Seals, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse; for 2, see Matthew 5:1-13; and for one, see Matthew 22:37-40.

Happy New Year everyone!

To subscribe to Homiletics, go to: http://www.homileticsonline.com/ and try Homiletics risk-free for 30 days!

 

A Chance for Renewal

It is always surprising how refreshing it is to come upon New Year, how vital the idea of starting over always is. Of course there is no starting over, not really. But the promise of the new year is not merely a metaphor or a delusion. We are creatures bound by our habitation on this planet to live by the inevitable circularities of light and season, no matter how abstracted or urbane our lives have become. And we are no less habituated to the cycles of promise and renewal. To live without a sense of promise is barely to live at all.

There is some strange genius in New Year. The turning of the calendar does nothing to cauterize the past. But here in the dead of winter — with most of winter well in front of us — New Year comes as a reminder of how much regeneration lies ahead. The sun will roll northward again, and the soil will warm, and whether we care to know it or not, the earth will do its best to rejuvenate itself.
— From an editorial, “The House of Time,” New York Times, January 1, 2006

 

Do We Have Eyes to See?

Think of all the people who in recent years have read (or seen) The Da Vinci Code — not just as a popular page turner but as an experience in shared frustration with the status-quo, male-dominated, power orientated, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. Why is the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown’s book more interesting, more attractive, and more intriguing to these people than the standard version of Jesus they hear about from churches? Why would they be largely disappointed to find that Brown’s version of Jesus has largely been discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church’s conventional version? It is possible that, even though Dan Brown’s fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the churches conventional versions of Jesus may not do him justice?

Think about all of the people who have explored the Gnostic Gospels in recent years, hoping to get a better, more radical vision of Jesus and his message. What if the problem isn’t with our accepted stories of Jesus (the stories given us by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John rather than these alternate accounts) — but rather with our success at domesticating them and with our failure to see them in their native wildness and original vigor? What if, properly understood, the canonical (or accepted) Gospel of Matthew is far more radical and robust than the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, or the canonical Gospel of John is far more visionary and transformative than the apocryphal Gospel of Peter — if we “had eyes to see,” as Jesus says?

— Brian McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus (Nelson, 2006), Introduction, vi-vii.

 

"Oh, Dimly, Dimly Glows the Star"

Taking his inspiration from the carol, “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen,” Ogden Nash wrote a darkly satirical poem that contains these lines...

Oh, dimly, dimly glows the star
Through the electric throng;
The bidding in temple and bazaar
Drowns out the silver song.

The ancient altars smoke afresh,
The ancient idols stir;
Sink in the reek of burning flesh
Sink frankincense and myrrh....

Two ultimate laws alone we know
The ledger and the sword –
So far away, so long ago,
We lost the infant Lord.

Only the children clasp His hand;
His voice speaks low to them,
And still for them the shining band
Wings over Bethlehem.

God rest you, merry Innocents,
While innocence endures.
A sweeter Christmas than we to ours
May you bequeath to yours.

— Ogden Nash, “A Carol for Children.” The full poem may be found here.

 

Vaclav Havel, 1936-2011

“The law is only one of several imperfect and more or less external ways of defending what is better in life against what is worse. By itself, the law can never create anything better. Establishing respect for the law does not automatically ensure a better life for that, after all, is a job for people and not for laws and institutions.”

“Modern man must descend the spiral of his own absurdity to the lowest point; only then can he look beyond it. It is obviously impossible to get around it, jump over it, or simply avoid it.”

“A human action becomes genuinely important when it springs from the soil of a clear-sighted awareness of the temporality and the ephemerally of everything human. It is only this awareness that can breathe any greatness into an action.”

“Without free, self-respecting, and autonomous citizens there can be no free and independent nations. Without internal peace, that is, peace among citizens and between the citizens and the state, there can be no guarantee of external peace.”

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

“A state that denies its citizens their basic rights becomes a danger to its neighbors as well: internal arbitrary rule will be reflected in arbitrary external relations. The suppression of public opinion, the abolition of public competition for power and its public exercise opens the way for the state power to arm itself in any way it sees fit. A state that does not hesitate to lie to its own people will not hesitate to lie to other states.”

“You do not become a ”dissident” just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

“If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become President.”

“As soon as man began considering himself the source of the highest meaning in the world and the measure of everything, the world began to lose its human dimension, and man began to lose control of it.”

“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.”

“Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.”

 

Atheists and the PR Problem

Christopher Hitchens, cultural critic, pundit, windbag and author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007) died this past week, during the third week of Advent—about which of course he had no interest. Although he was an atheist, one of the so-called “new” atheists, many of the targets of his criticism, including Believers, both Jew and Christian, liked the fellow. Perhaps it was the affection you feel toward someone acting the buffoon. News reports following his death, including NPR which often turned to Hitchens for commentary, virtually agreed that he was often obnoxious and condescending, always provocative, usually vitriolic, and that he was every bit the fundamentalist—with a different viewpoint—as the fundamentalists he despised. He wrote a book which purported to expose Mother Teresa as a fraud. Nothing was sacred to him. You had to love the guy: One moment he's talking nonsense; the next he's channeling Bertrand Russell. You thinks he's a brilliant player on the stage, then you realize he's a two-bit actor in the Theater of the Absurd.

Last week he died at age 62 of complications due to throat cancer.

As his personal crisis was coming to a conclusion, atheists across the country were keeping a close watch from Grinch headquarters in Wisconsin, on possible church-state issues related to Christmas nativity scenes and the like. Those Christians! They’re always looking to find a way for the State to support their religion! One action took place in New Jersey where the Knights of Columbus had strung across a road a banner about Christmas (I forget what it said). The banner hung from two street lamps on either side of the road—street lamps that were government property! Aha! (Chortle, chortle.)They said that someone complained about being offended, having to drive beneath that sign every day on the way to work. Evidently that person, unnamed, had missed the lesson on tolerance and multiculturalism in high school. So down came the banner.

It’s this sort of thing that creates a public relations nightmare for atheists, although it’s possible they’re not too concerned about it. A new study reveals that “atheists are among society's most distrusted group, comparable even to rapists in certain circumstances.” The report describes the work of psychologists at the University of British Columbia and the University of Oregon. The cultural distrust of atheists, they say, stems not from a dislike of nonbelievers, but from a sense of moral distrust.

The moral distrust of atheists must run deep. As far as the public is concerned, even Lindsay Lohan has a stronger moral compass than atheists. The public, according to this study, is even more ready in some circumstances, to trust a rapist than an atheist!—given a choice between the two. But hey, how can you trust someone who tears down your Christmas banner?

The study appears in the current issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and was a “part of an attempt to understand what needs religion fulfills in people.” One of the needs that religion fulfills in people is a “sense of trust in others.” And when it comes to trusting someone, if you’re a confessing atheist, well, people are going to have a hard time giving you the time of day.

One of the co-authors of the study said: "People find atheists very suspect. They don't fear God so we should distrust them; they do not have the same moral obligations of others. This is a common refrain against atheists. People fear them as a group."

I’m not sure how the study makes a leap from distrusting atheists to “fearing” them. But one thing seems clear: public perception is shaped, right or wrong, by the faith or belief positions we embrace. We slap labels on people as soon as the certain elements of our world-view, philosophy, politics, religion comes to the surface. Hollywood liberals, Hollywood conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, Tea Partiers, Occupy Wall Streeters, Baptist, Episcopalian, Unitarian, Atheist, Evangelical, Fundamentalist—we hear these labels and we think we know these people. We hear these labels, like atheist, and we make decisions as to whether we want a person “like this” to be a dinner guest, to be a friend, to be a mentor, to teach our children, to be our financial planner. The implications of this study is clear. Don’t play golf with an atheist.

It’s probably helpful for us to be aware of how the public looks at us, based on the belief system to which we subscribe.

In any event, now, thanks to this study, atheists do. They have some work to do, and tearing down a Christmas banner hung from some city-owned lampposts is probably not the place to start.

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Going to Church on Christmas Day?

This year, Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. It will happen again 2016 and 2022. I remember when Christmas Day fell on a Sunday back in 2005. Many large churches (some smaller ones, too) decided to cancel worship services so that families could enjoy the day with their loved ones.

This feel-good decision raised quite a stink, as well it should have. In 1994, when Christmas Day also fell on a Sunday, few churches opted to cancel services, even though attendance was sparse. But between 1994 and 2005 the culture changed. Somehow “family” got elevated as a more important consideration than worshiping as the gathered church on the second most holy day of the Christian calendar.

What’s particularly irritating is that many churches who consider cancelling Christmas Day services are among the loudest in proclaiming the need to “keep Christ in Christmas.” How can we spend the Advent season as Christian railing against the secularism of the season when we shutter the church on the Feast Day of the Incarnation itself? Isn’t it bad enough the Mary and Joseph found the doors of the Inn closed—are we going to close the doors of the church, too?

I got an e-mail yesterday from a Homiletics subscriber wondering if Homiletics had any ideas about what to do when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday. I gave him a few ideas that I found in Homiletics. I also pointed him to an article by Cionna Rouse which has some excellent suggestions and which you can read here.

But then I wrote that if I were the pastor I’d be laying a ton of guilt on the parishoners—mostly along the lines I have mentioned. I would say to the congregation: “Don’t be complaining that Christmas has been commercialized and secularized and then say ‘I need to stay home on Christmas Day to play with toys and have dinner with my family.’ Don’t send me cute e-mails about ‘Jesus is the Reason for the Season,’ and then complain about crawling out of bed Christmas morning to get to worship service.”

In 2005, a staffer at one large church said that the church had made a special DVD for their congregation to use on Christmas Day Sunday in lieu of going to church. “"What we're encouraging people to do is take that DVD and in the comfort of their living room, with friends and family, pop it into the player and hopefully hear a different and more personal and maybe more intimate Christmas message, that God is with us wherever we are.”

Sorry, that doesn’t pass the smell test. It doesn’t matter if the church is only half full. It matters only that if the Son of God became flesh and took on our humanity we should take on some humility, not to speak of gratitude, and find a way to justify calling ourselves observant Christians. The very least we can do on this holy day of religious observance is to put aside what we’re doing and worship and get to church. Doesn’t matter if we do it out of a sense of religious obligation or a sense of religious piety: it needs to be done.

"In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!' or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!' "

—Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping: A Survivor's Guide"

The Mile High Messiah

The Denver Broncos won their sixth consecutive game Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Bears. Behind 10-0 with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Tim Tebow, the Mile High Messiah, hit a receiver in the end zone like it was fore-ordained. Shortly after that, with three seconds to go, Matt Prayer (yes, I know his name is Prater) connected on a 59-yard field goal. In overtime, the Broncos take advantage of a fumble and Prayer kicks a 51 field goal to ice the game and send the Bears back into hibernation.

The Broncos, after starting the season 1-4, they are 7-1 since putting former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow under center. Frankly, the kid can’t do anything for three quarters, but in the fourth quarter—even doubters are beginning to believe there’s an angel in the end zone. Half of the six consecutive victories have been decided in overtime. Winning margins in all six games have been slight. At the five minute mark in the fourth quarter, Broncos fans now expect the skies to part, a Deus ex machina to appear--the only question is the manner in which the miracle will be accomplished.

These wins have been so improable--read miraculous--that not even Christopher Hutchins can deny there's a God. Broncomania is so crazy in Denver right now, look for local chapters of Planned Parenthood and N.O.W. to buy up blocks of season tickets in the South Stands.

The Broncos have attracted national media interest. Former NBA great, Charles Barkeley, asked the Bears to “please” win on Sunday to end this streak and mute, at least a little, the tintinnabulation of Tebow Tebow Tebow tumult. Tebow attracts national attention not because he’s such a great football player—but because he’s an outspoken pro-lifer, evangelical Christian and in the journalistic halls of Vahalla, there’s weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. The animosity sometimes is palpable, although to be fair, he does have some supporters in the mainstream media. Truth is (actually I am guessing here, but tell me I’m wrong), Tebow says “Jesus Christ” far less than a great many, if not most, of his colleagues in the National Football League, not to speak of many of the clueless jocks-turned-sports “analysts” bloviating on ESPN or the network news—although, again to be fair—the latter do not do so on air.

This guy was complaining to me a couple days ago about Tebow’s references to Jesus. Jake Plummer, former Broncos QB also whined, saying he wished Tebow would just shut up about Jesus Christ already. So I asked this guy to tell me about the last he objected when a person in his presence said “Jesus” or "Jesus Christ" profanely rather than respectfully. Okay then, stop yapping about Tebow and Jesus.

The Broncos will lose again (New England, 10-3, is on the schedule), and perhaps the Tebow Turmoil will settle down. But in the meantime, the national media debate continues as to why the mainstream media hates Tim Tebow—even as the national media deny that they do so. I will say that Kornheiser and Wilbon on PTI do not seem to have this anti-Tebow animus as do others (like Chris Carter, for example).

This discussion is also fodder for the argument that we live in a post-Christian culture. And as Rick Lowry observed recently in the New York Post, it's crazy but in it now cutting edge to be a clean cut guy, and counter-cultural to be an outspoken Christian. Want to be revolutionary and radical in today's culture? Just sign up to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

We look for role models among our athletes, and I know there’s a ton of parents out there who are glad Tebow’s come along. What’s not to like about the kid? He treats his mom right; he works hard, he acknowledges he needs improvement, he shows respect, he loves to compete, and he’s humble. So if Tebow is not a hero for your kid, then who is?

I hope Tebow stays clean, avoids temptation, clings to his conviction. It’s a tough world out there.

I read somewhere that Kurt Warner, also a confessing Christian, advised Tebow to let his actions speak louder than his words—a variation of St. Francis’ theme. Good advice.

 

Draw Joy, Please

If someone set a piece of paper and some art supplies before you and asked you to draw a picture of joy, what would you draw?

Not a very easy assignment, is it?

Most of us would end up, sooner or later, drawing an image of person – very likely, a person smiling or laughing.

It’s hard to come up with an abstract image of joy because our awareness of joy is very much tied up in human beings. We can’t very well depict joy without first creating the image of a human being experiencing the emotion of joy.

In a similar way, the human race was not able to discover true joy of the most lasting nature until Jesus came into the world. In the babe of Bethlehem – and, later, in the grown man who would die on the cross and rise again – our world sees joy as in no other place.

Joy is incarnational, that way.

Bah! Humbug!

Leaders of a Georgia-based ministry that provided discounted groceries to needy families across the U.S. have been indicted and face a wide range of charges, including using organization funds to buy jewelry, athletic equipment, clothes and to make a down payment on a jet.

A 49-count federal indictment filed Tuesday against Angel Food Ministries founders Linda and Joe Wingo, their son, Andrew Wingo, and an employee, Harry Michaels, includes charges of fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

This is how one story about Angel Food Ministries begins (click here). It goes on to detail how the Wingos allegedly tried to cover up the fraud they were perpetrating. Now, after 17 years, the “ministry” is shut down, and those who used private donations for personal gain may soon be paying the piper.

The ministry, by all accounts, filled a need and was on the up and up for a number of years. It was founded in 1994, but it wasn’t until 2003 that irregularities were noted. In any event, the federal indictment says that something went terribly wrong. And if they charges are proven in a court of law, well, the evil-doers should pay as steep a price as the law allows. And even that is not enough.

This is Old Testament injustice. What kind of people take money given to help the poor and needy and then spends it on themselves?

Giving. It’s a touchy business. Americans are known around the world for their incredibly generous spirit. Witness the outpouring of aid when natural disasters strike. We don’t mine giving to help others in their hour of need. That’s why when something like this happens, it must be dealt with severely. The spirit of giving is a spirit we do not want to lose.

That this indictment comes at Christmas, and that this organization is billed as a “ministry” is doubling troubling.

The theme of giving is important during Advent, because this is a time of the year when, culturally, even those who do not themselves Christians, get involved in the cultural holiday which has as it primary celebratory feature, the giving of gifts. We love giving.

But Christians look to Someone who loves giving even more than we do. God is the Great Giver, and it is only one reason why on the third Sunday of Advent, when we light the Advent Candle of JOY, that we are joyful. God as Giver is trustworthy. In God there is no shadow of deception, no equivocation. In Jesus, is someone willing to let go of being God and God-only, and taking on our humanness.

In spite of stories like this from the Georgia area, let us continue to give. God and the court system will deal with those who use donations for the wrong purposes. Let us give this season, and let us be thankful for the Giver and the Gift.

Merry Christmas!

The Advent of the Translator

Have you ever tried to learn a foreign language? No doubt you’ve had some exposure to Spanish, or French in high school, perhaps even college. Maybe you took a Latin class. Or Russian.

I have logged Spanish, Latin, Greek and French classes at points in my life journey. In the past few years I’ve taken on another one, and this year have been studying how to read and write the language.

Yesterday, I wrote my first story in this language. I am so proud of myself! Haha! It was a hoot, and I showed the story to my wife, along with the English translation and she got a kick out of it.

I think of the novelist Joseph Conrad who native tongue was Polish. But he learned French, too, as a young chap. However, he didn’t take up English until he was a young adult, and it was in this third language that he wrote and published the novels that would make him famous and cause him to be enshrined in the pantheon of the great twentieth century novelists.

I bring this up, because as I was thinking about the difficulty writing in another language, I thought about how hard it is for humans to understand God-language.

God had this problem. How does the Transcendent Deity communicate to mortal creation? God tried speaking through prophets, and God even attempted to limit himself to human language and written characters, giving mortals a moral and ethic code by which to live, revealing himself in the stories passed on from generation to generation. But, although very helpful and revealing—the revelation was somehow incomplete.

Then God sent the Word himself, perhaps we might say the Translator. In Jesus Christ, we have the Living Word of God, i.e. the one who perfectly translated every wise, desire, command of God to the human race. In fact, he “translated” the very nature of an ineffable God a watching world. In Jesus humanity was able to see for the first time who God was and is.

Jesus’ corporeal presence is no longer with us. But at Advent, we celebrate the coming of the Translator. But following Advent, the task of translation is left to us.

We must speak to humanity a God-language that mortals can understand.

Perhaps St. Francis of Assisi can be recalled at this point. “Preach the gospel always, and, if necessary, use words.”

 

It's Raining, Which Means I'm Reading!

It’s a raining day today, and cold, and that means a cup of coffee and a good book. And I just finished one, Lilian Pizzichini’s The Blue Hour: A Portrait of Jean Rhys. Rhys was a talented writer, but had a borderline personality, and although she published several novels in the ‘30s and ‘40s, her biggest success came when she was 76 years old with the publication of her book, Wide Sargasso Sea, a creative pre-quel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Some have suggested that Rhys did such a fabulous job with Bertha, Mr. Rochester’s first wife who went mad because Rhys saw in Bertha her alter ego.

Done a lot of reading this past month: Youth, by J.M. Coetzee; Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (which is now winning some awards as a movie); and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.

I love The Kite Runner! And I just saw the movie—which is excellent. What a great story of friendship, guilt, betrayal, forgiveness and redemption. It’s begins in pre-Soviet Afghanistan when the country still had a monarchy, and continues into the Taliban era and has a really snappy and sappy ending.

I mention all of this because I know some of you are looking for suggestions for your holiday reading. I know you may also be looking for something theological, and all four of these books, Youth, Moneyball, The Blue Hour and The Kite Runner have plenty of fodder for theological reflection. (Yes, Moneyball is a baseball movie, but have you never heard of the theology of baseball?).

Here are some quotes from The Kite Runner:
"Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."

"If America taught me anything, it's that quitting is right up there with [urinating] in the Girl Scouts' lemonade jar."

"Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it."

"War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace."

“I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty."

"That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. because the past claws its way out."

"I thought about something Rahim khan had said just before he hung up... There is a way to be good again."

BTW, click here to get a copy of my book Winkies, Toilets, and Holy Places: One’s Family’s Story of Life on a Sabbatical. People tell me—I’m not making this up—that it’s a pretty good read.

 

Black Eye Friday

If you weren’t seriously injured on Black Friday, how can you possibly call yourself a shopper! Reports of BF injuries are now so common, you got to start calling this day “Black Eye Friday.” Unless you’re willing to step into the apocalypse, to lay your life on the line, submit to the possibility of bodily injury, face the chance you may never had children again, and conversely be willing to step on or over a body, slap on some brass knuckles, arrive at the store in full metal jacket—you have no business even getting out of bed at 2 a.m. to get in line.

My question is: Why are big box retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Best Buy having Black Friday sales in the first place? Their prices are already low, the profit margins thin. They’re burying the competition as it is. WUWT?

One woman was injured while looking for some Good Samaritans to help out a fallen customer. Another shopper was maimed in a frenzy at Wal-Mart during pushing and shoving by the more than 1,500 people who had lined up for the 5 a.m. BF opening headed for the doors. (Subsequent lines at the 20 checkout counters stretched all the way to the back of the store.)

Incredibly, a Los Angeles woman, eager to improve her chances on getting dibs on an X-box, pulled a can of pepper spray out of her battle gear, and spewed a hapless and milling crowd of more than 20 shoppers who had gathered in the Electronics department. She has since surrendered to the police.
A couple of years ago, a mob of customers in Valley Green, New York, on Long Island broke down the doors of a Wal-Mart and trampled a 34-year-old employee to death. Four other people were injured in the incident including a pregnant woman. Witnesses stated that the doors were taken off the hinges and more than 200 people rushed the entrance. The doors were taken off the hinges! More than 2,000 people had been waiting outside the popular suburban Wal-Mart location.

Last year, a U.S. Marine reservist was sent to the hospital after he was stabbed by a suspected Black Friday shoplifter at Best Buy. Deputies say the shoplifter was trying to get away with electronics when the Marine reservist stepped in to prevent the theft.

Before we get too smug about the brainless people who are willing to stand, sit and shiver throughout the night to wait for the doors to open, remember that for some, not all, but for some, the bargains on Black Friday are very important. They’re not brainless people; they’re often breadless people. The poor want to have a Merry Christmas too. I remember a few years ago in Shanghai, that Carrefour, the French version of Wal-Mart, lowered the price by just a dollar or two, on cooking oil, and the stampede was incredible. People, eager to stock up and save some money, rushed the store and injuries were common. If they stocked up on 10 litres of cooking oil, and saved a total of $15, says, well--that's enough to feed a family of four for a week, or longer.

But that’s just part of the story. We who did not stand, sit and shiver in a long line, we who did not even walk through a store door on BF – we still can’t feel too smug, because chances are we’re going to be right out there competing in the shopping wars in the next 20 days, and come January, we are going to have a huge credit card hangover and ask ourselves, “When will I ever learn?”

According to one psychologist, this BF mania, not to speak of the materialistic nature of this holiday season, is "is a product of our materialistic consumer society. We have been told by TV, radio, Hollywood and others around us that we must buy the love of our family and the esteem of our friends in the form of tangible gifts each December, or we risk finding ourselves unloved and abandoned in January. We feel doubly obliged to recreate a storybook holiday for children that we think we remember from our childhood, but never really existed outside of movies. Add to that the notion that bargains can be had only on Black Friday, and you have a recipe for disaster. We also have a competitive every man for himself spirit in American society. Letting someone else have the last of something we have decided we need is not in our nature."

I would hope that Christians, of all people, would lead the way in showing others how to tone this down.

There’s really only one Extravagant Giver at Christmas. God.

No need to compete. So, people, let’s just ratchet the spending down a notch, and spend more time enjoying the traditions, rituals and meaning of the season.

We can do all of that, and lose the black eye too!

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Isn’t this a great time of year? Doesn’t it always feel good to be in a positive frame of mind? So let me be negative for a sec:

A. I’m not the richest person in the world, not even close to being a member of the One Percent Club.
B. I’m not the smartest person in the world. Haven’t even looked at a Mensa application.
C. I am not the most highly educated person in the world. Sure, I have a few degrees after my name, but lots of people have more.
D. I’m not the handsomest guy in the universe. Not ugly, but no Sean Connery, Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan—the guys my wife slathers over.
E. I’m not the most the scintillating personality in the room, but no wallflower either.

But, A—I’m plenty rich in many ways; B—I’m smart enough to know that wealth and brains is no recipe for happiness; C—I’d rather be wise than educated, better yet, both; D—My wife and kids and my friends love me just as I am; E—I am who I am and people accept me for that.

In other words, I am really blessed, which is to say I am really happy. And what’s great about that is that I know it. And that in itself is a blessing or a “happy-ness.”

Consider some of the “Happy” texts in Scripture:

From Matthew 5:

• Happy are the poor in spirit…
• Happy are those who mourn…
• Happy are the meek…
• Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
• Happy are the merciful…
• Happy are the pure in heart…
• Happy are the peacemakers…
• Happy are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake...
• Happy are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…

And elsewhere—

• Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked… (Psalm 1:1)
• Happy are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (Matthew 13:16)
• Happy are those who have not seen and yet have believed. (John 20:29)
• Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Romans 4:7)
• Happy are those whose sin the Lord will never count against them. (Romans 4:7-8)
• Happy are they who persevere under trial, because when they have stood the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)
• Happy is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. (Psalms 33:12)
• Happy are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD. (Psalms 119:1)
• Happy are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding. (Proverbs 3:13)
• Happy are those who are kind to the needy. (Proverbs 14:21)
• Happy rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. (Luke 11:28)
• Happy are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. (Proverbs 8:34)
• Happy are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. (Psalms 128:1)
• Happy are those who have regard for the weak; the LORD delivers them in times of trouble. (Psalms 41:1)
• Happy are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. (Psalms 112:1)
• Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God. (Psalms 146:5)
• Happy are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. (Psalms 119:2)
• Happy are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD. (Psalms 89:15)
• Happy are those who always tremble before God, but those who harden their hearts fall into trouble. (Proverbs 28:14)
• Happy are those who make the LORD their trust, who do not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods. (Psalms 40:4)
• Happy are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. (Psalms 84:4)
• Happy are those who act justly, who always do what is right. (Psalms 106:3)
  
  To which I would add: Happy are those who know they have been “happied” by the LORD.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING PEOPLE!

The Good Samaritan Model: Time, Not Faith, Is Critical Factor

The Penn State scandal is starting to drop to the bottom of online news sites and off the front pages of the newspapers. The lingering discussion now often centers on the roles of certain bystanders and whether more could have been done—as it seems—to have protected the victims, and indeed to prevent future victimization.

You’d think that if you’re a person of faith, this factor alone will radically alter the way you approach your responsibility in such situations. Yet a classic study done by C.D. Bateson and J.M. Darley ("From Jerusalem to Jericho: A study of Situational and Dispositional Variables in Helping Behavior," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973, 27, 100-108) suggests otherwise. When faced with a choice of helping or not helping another person in need, it is not that the hesitating and would-be helper is callous, but that he or she is conflicted, and the conflict has nothing to do with faith, but with some situational factors, such as time and personal commitments.

Bateson and Darley conducted a field experiment in which 40 students at Princeton Theological Seminary, my alma mater, were asked to participate in a study of religious education. In the first session a personality questionnaire concerning religiosity was administered. In a second session, the participant received instruction in one campus building and was then sent to a second building to give a presentation. Some were told to talk about jobs in which seminary students would be effective and others were asked to speak on the parable of the good Samaritan.

In addition, before they left to give the presentation, some were told that they did not have to hurry, some were told that they had sufficient time, but that they should go to the building directly, and others were told that they were already late and had to hurry.

While they were walking to the other building the participants passed a person who appeared to have passed out in an alleyway. The independent variable was whether they were told to hurry; the dependent variable was to what extent the seminarians stopped to help.

The results were that overall 16 (40%) helped; 63% of those in the low-hurry condition, 45% of those in the intermediate hurry condition and only 10% of those in the late condition.

Participants in a hurry were likely to offer less help than those who were not in a hurry. Whether the participant was going to give a speech on the parable of the good Samaritan or not did not significantly affect helping behavior. Neither did the researchers find any correlation between religiosity and likelihood to help. The decisive factor seemed to be where they had been told to hurry or not. In other words, it appears that situational rather than dispositional factors played the more significant role in this study.

So, when we’re preaching the story of the good Samaritan, we might want to address—not the dispositional aspects of the story, i.e. our faith, our natural sympathy for those who are in distress—but the situational component, i.e. those things that may, in the actual situation, arise that would cause us to be conflicted as to whether we should take the time to help.

The priest and the Levite no doubt understood what they should have done for one of their own countryman who lay in the gutter assaulted and robbed of his possessions. The problem was not what they were disposed to do, but what, in this moment, they felt themselves capable of doing. One may have been late to a conference with the high priest in Jericho, another may have been leading a Torah study and likewise could not spare the time. Ritual matters also came in to play in terms of cleanliness and the Sabbath and so on.

The people in our congregations will agree we have a duty to help. Probably all of those involved in the Penn State scandal likewise understood their duty. But, they were conflicted, not callous, and that tainted their response, and ultimately led to the victimization of other children, and a failure to stop the evildoer in this case. Our preaching must address how we might be prepared to overcome personal conflicts should we ever find ourselves in a position to help a person in distress. Will we be ready to allow another's person's distress to override matters of personal, and perhaps even urgent, inconvenience?

 

The Good Samaritan Story Without the Good Samaritan

You know the story. A man is robbed and abused, but although his plight is observed by several passersby—Pharisees, Levites, a high priest— he receives no help. Only when a kindly person of a different nation and ethnicity pauses long enough to be relieved of both his personal time and money, does the victim receive help.

The Penn State tragedy is similar. We have a crime. We have a victim, or victims. And we have bystanders who observe what happened or know what happened. We have the Pharisees, Levites, and the high priest, Joe Pa himself, who cannot be inconvenienced to help the victims and neutralize the attacker.

There are reasons for this behavior. David Brooks, in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “Penn State and the ‘Bystander Effect’: Would you have done more” refers to the Bystander Effect as one of those reasons. The more people who witness an abuse, the less likely are they to report it. Perhaps those who saw or knew what was happening in the showers of the athletic facilities were certain that someone else would deal with the problem. Certainly, someone will.

Another reason for our tendency to walk past the victim as though we cannot see, is “Motivated Blindness.” If we call attention to the problem, it could cost us in time, money, or even our careers. At the very least, the inconvenience, whatever its nature, produces moral blindness causing us not to really see what we thought we saw, or to recast the event in terms far less serious than they really were.

“In centuries past, people built moral systems that acknowledged this weakness. These systems emphasized our sinfulness,” Brooks writes. “They reminded people of the evil within themselves. Life was seen as an inner struggle against the selfish forces inside. These vocabularies made people aware of how their weaknesses manifested themselves and how to exercise discipline over them. These systems gave people categories with which to process savagery and scripts to follow when they confronted it. They helped people make moral judgments and hold people responsible amid our frailties.

"But we're not Puritans anymore. We live in a society oriented around our inner wonderfulness. So when something atrocious happens, people look for some artificial, outside force that must have caused it — like the culture of college football, or some other favorite bogey. People look for laws that can be changed so it never happens again.

"Commentators ruthlessly vilify all involved from the island of their own innocence. Everyone gets to proudly ask: 'How could they have let this happen?'"

"The proper question is: How can we ourselves overcome our natural tendency to evade and self-deceive?"

 

The Care and Protection of a Computer (Spouse)

I just relented and bought a new laptop. I perused the “Instruction Manual for Safety and Comfort.” I saw the following list of instructions regarding this computer. I repeat below the advice verbatim EXCEPT I have substituted the word “spouse” for the word “computer.” I’ve done this because the switch came to mind as I was reading the list. Don't ask me why. Medieval homileticians called doing this sort of thing “spiritualizing” the text. You might call it “having to much time on my hands.” Here goes:

1. Avoid placing your spouse on unstable surfaces.

2. Never place your spouse in locations with excess heat.

3. Never place your spouse in a location with extremely low temperatures.

4. Never subject your spouse to sudden temperature variations.

5. Never place your spouse in a dusty location.

6. Clean any dust accumulated on the spouse’s air vents.

7. Never operate your spouse during a thunderstorm.

8. Never place your spouse near magnets.

9. Never place or drop heavy objects on to your spouse.

10. Never use benzene, thinner or other chemicals to clean your spouse.

11. Turn your spouse off when not in use.

12. Do not alter or disassemble your spouse.

Finally, DISPOSAL OF A SPOUSE

Discard your spouse in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. For further information, contact your local government.

Touched: The Real Story Revealed

The Jerry Sandusky story has shocked not only the Penn State community, but the nation and the world. It’s not the story the Penn State coach wanted any one to know about. He wrote a book in the late 90s called Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story. Now we now that Sandusky was not only “touched” but was touching—and in a most violent and horrific way. And that it could happen was only possible because of a serious breakdown, systemic some might say, of all the laws of human decency.

A conspiracy of silence. People knew about this, including the revered head coach, Joe Paterno, but they failed to do the right thing. They said nothing when they should have said something. No Nathan appeared to say, “Thou art the man.”

Lies and deceit. Some who knew actually lied about what was happening and are now under a criminal indictment.

Misplaced loyalty. Some, perhaps Joe Pa himself, placed friendship above integrity, a perverted sense of loyalty above decency.

Arrogance run amok. Only someone who felt he was above the rules, beyond the touch of accountability, could attack these children with the impunity that, by all accounts, Sandusky did.
The lack of moral compass, spiritual commitment. No one can seriously argue that Sandusky was unaware of appropriate boundaries, appropriate behavior, ethical and moral guidelines. He knew his actions were evil, but persisted in his wicked deeds without regard for the laws of decency, our common moral code, or his own inner conscience—so eviscerated by lust and desire, as to be non-existent. Boundary training, education, religious teaching, the well-publicized downfall of others caught in the snare of similar sins—were all of no account here.

I do not know—I have not read his book—if Sandusky professed to be a Christian. But clearly he was not “transformed” by the power of Christ, there is no “new creation” here, no death of the flesh, no sanctifying impulse, no commitment to serve God or one fellows in a nurturing and edifying manner. He was and is a man in bondage, a slave to his most basest instincts, and he was the most obedient of slaves and it resulted in one of the most disturbing accounts of moral indecency.

It is a sad story for everyone. The victims, of course. The legendary coach. The staff. The university. Lawsuits are being constructed at this very moment. It is a story of ruin and destruction. It’s a cautionary tale.

But—more will follow. Somewhere right now, others are persisting in similar behaviors. We’ll hear about them next year, and the year after. Such stories have become familiar tabloid events since Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Gary Hart, Ted Haggard, Anthony Weiner, et al. The list truly is too long to enumerate here. And it will continue to grow.

It recalls the Bible verse my mother used to remind me—for some reason—time and again: Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Certainly, there are strong reasons why we should abhor wicked behavior beyond the threat that our behavior will inevitably be exposed. But it is a place to start. You sin, and your sin will see the light of day. And then you pay.

 

The Book Is My Shepherd

In a recent New York Times piece, Nicholas D. Kristof tells the story of John Wood who has put more than 10 million books into the hands of children around the world who otherwise would not have books to read – in their own language. Wood’s program, called Room to Read has opened 12,000 libraries, making it one of America’s fastest growing charities. About six new libraries are added every day.

That’s a pace that out does McDonald’s or Starbucks.

These libraries are not necessarily the grand edifices that we see in some of our cities in America. They may only be a one room of stacks. But they fill a huge need in some developing parts of the world. In some cases, Room to Read has had to serve as a publisher, as very few children’s books exist in some languages. According to Kristof, Wood said to him, “We’re trying to find the Dr. Seuss in Cambodia.” Room to Read has published books in such languages as Khmer, Nepalese, Zulu, Lao, Xhosa, and many others.

It began in 1998 when Wood came upon a remote Nepalese school that served 450 children. But the school had no books. So Wood offered to help and was able to pack in a boatload of books via a caravan of donkeys. The children were ecstatic! It was an AHA! moment for Wood, and Room to Read was born.
Wood left Microsoft where he was a marketing director, and wrote a book called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. Room to Read has fundraising chapters in 53 cities around the world.

These books are changing the lives of children (you can read about one girl’s experience in Kirstof’s article). As I read Kristof’s account of Wood’s program, I recalled a conversation I had had only 24 hours earlier with my Turkish friend – let’s called him Haram – over a couple glasses of Palm beer in a Utrecht tavern late at night. He told me about his early life in which he was beaten by his father during drunken rages, and by an older brother. He seldom saw his mother as she was working to support the family. He was raised by an older sister.

He survived, he said, thanks to the books of Turkish writer, Yasir Kemal. He read everything he could of Kemal. “His books were like my shepherd,” he said. “They raised me, helped me understand what was going on around me—I could not have survived without his books.”

We need only recall the Harry Potter publishing phenomenon to understand the power a book can have in the life of a child—indeed all of us. As “People of the Book” we of all human beings should have no problem lending our support to those people and enterprises that are dedicated to getting books into the hands of children.

Many churches have libraries. But my experience is that many of them are museums for books no one ever reads. What if we developed reading programs that involved a monthly field trip with children to the local library, or designated a room in the church as a reading room and stocked it full of books with strong moral and ethical content, Christian values, and biblical stories?

“Your word is like a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” –Psalm 119.

For more information about Room to Read, go to www.roomtoread.org. To read the Kristof article, click here.