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Vol. 16 – No. 0914 March 01, 2014
Thought for the week: "A good way to have the last word is to apologize." – Barbara Johnson
"Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the
moment." – Sidney Poitier
"Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." – E. H. Chapin
"You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." – Golda Meir
"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." – Robert Frost
"I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn't fall down." – Allen H. Neuharth
"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within." – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Several days ago as I left a meeting at a hotel; I desperately gave myself a personal TSA pat down.
I was looking for my keys. They were not in my pockets.
A quick search in the meeting room revealed nothing. Suddenly I realized I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot.
My husband has scolded me many times for leaving the keys in the ignition. My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them. His theory is that the car will be stolen.
As I burst through the door, I came to a terrifying conclusion. His theory was right. The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed that I had left my keys in the car, and that it had been stolen.
Then I made the most difficult call of all, "Honey," I stammered; [I always call him "honey" in times like these.] "I left my keys in the car and it's been stolen."
There was a period of silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard his voice. "Are you kidding' me", he barked, "I dropped you off!"
Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, "Well, come and get me."
He retorted, "I will, as soon as I convince this cop I didn't steal your car."
One cold evening during the holiday season a little boy about six or seven years old was standing out in front of a store window. The little child had no shoes and his clothes were mere rags. A young woman passing by saw the little boy and could read the longing in his pale blue eyes. She took the child by the hand and led him into the store. There she bought him some new shoes and a complete suit of warm clothing.
They came back outside into the street and the woman said to the child, "Now you can go back home and have a very happy holiday."
The little boy looked up at her and asked, "Are you God, Ma'am?"
She smiled down at him and replied, "No son, I am just one of His children."
The little boy then said, "I KNEW you had to be of some relation."
4. The Exodus of Millennials* and Mainlines [from the Church]
"When 'Relevant' Christianity Is Irrelevant," by John Stonestreet in BreakPoint, August 8, 2013
If we want Christianity to stay relevant with young people, they say, we've got to rewrite the way we do church, including our songs.
Recently, the Presbyterian Church (USA) dropped the hugely popular hymn, "In Christ Alone," from its hymnal after its authors, Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, refused to omit a reference to Jesus satisfying the wrath of God.
In a powerful response over at First Things, which we'll link to at BreakPoint.org, Colson Center chairman, Timothy George, quotes Richard Niebuhr who, back in the 1930s, described this kind of revisionist Protestantism as a religion in which "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross."
The response from the PCUSA, that their problem was not with God's wrath but with the idea that Christ's death satisfied God's wrath, doesn't change the fundamental problem of what George calls "squishy" theology. Theology is supposed to be true, not palatable.
Along these lines, maybe you've seen the recent viral opinion piece on CNN by my friend, Christian blogger and author Rachel Held Evans. In it, Evans offers her answers to the truly important question, "Why are millennials leaving the Church?"
To counter the exodus of young people from American churches, Evans says it's time to own up to our shortcomings and give millennials what they really want—not a change in style but a change in substance. The answer to attracting millennials, she writes, is NOT "hipper worship bands" or handing out "lattés," but actually helping them find Jesus.
Amen. I couldn't agree more.
Then she goes on, "[the Church is] too political, old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to [LGBT] people." Well, okay—anytime political programs co-opt our faith, or we ignore the needy and fail to love those with whom we disagree, we do the Gospel of Christ great harm.
But when she writes that attracting millennials to Jesus involves "an end to the culture wars," "a truce between science and faith," being less "exclusive" with less emphasis on sex, without "predetermined answers" to life's questions, now I want to ask—are we still talking about the Jesus of biblical Christianity?
The attempt to re-make Jesus to be more palatable to modern scientific and especially sexual sensibilities has been tried before. In fact, it's the reason Niebuhr said that brilliant line that I quoted earlier.
He watched as the redefining "Jesus Project" gave us mainline Protestantism, which promotes virtually everything on Evans' list for millennials. The acceptance of homosexuality, a passion for the environment, prioritizing so-called "social justice" over transformational truth are all embodied in denominations like the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
But religious millennials aren't flocking to mainline Protestant congregations. Mainline churches as a whole have suffered withering declines in the last few decades—especially among the young. What gives?
Well, in an another essay which appeared in First Things over twenty years ago, a trio of Christian researchers offered their theory on what's behind the long, slow hemorrhage of mainline Protestant churches:
"In our study," they wrote, "the single best predictor of church participation turned out to be belief—orthodox Christian belief, and especially the teaching that a person can be saved only through Jesus Christ." This, said the researchers, was not (and I add, is still not) a teaching of mainline Protestantism. As a dwindling denomination rejects a hymn which proclaims salvation "in Christ alone," this research sounds prophetic.
Evans is right that evangelical Christianity is responsible in many ways for the exodus of millennials. But ditching the Church's unpalatable "old-fashioned" beliefs to become more "relevant" to the young won't bring them back.
– BreakPoint, http://tinyurl.com/q25kd5y *millennials = a person reaching young adulthood around the year 2000.
There is a story told about one-time heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Ali was flying to one of his engagements and, during the flight, the aircraft ran into foul weather. Moderate turbulence began to toss the plane about. Of course, all nervous fliers well know that when a pilot signals "moderate turbulence," he is implying, "If you have any religious beliefs, it is time to start expressing them."
The passengers were instructed to fasten their seatbelts immediately, and all complied but Ali. So the flight attendant approached him and requested that he observe the captain's order, only to hear Ali audaciously respond, "Superman don't need no seatbelt." The flight attendant, however, did not miss a beat but quickly fired in reply, "Superman don't need no airplane either!"
If you had the choice of winning $1 million in the lottery or saving a stranger's life, which would you choose? I suspect many of you think you should say, "saving a life," but what you are really thinking is how much better your life would be if you were rich.
If the test was which act improves the world most, sets an example most worth following, or is most noble, then the "save a life" option wins hands down. But what if the test was more self-centered: which is most likely to meaningfully improve your life? I think the answer is still: save the life.
Sure, you can do a lot with a million dollars, but for most people, doing something that is worthy has a greater and more lasting value than anything you can buy with money. In earlier times they would say a good name is the most valuable asset you can have. Is it really any different today?
Strangers may envy, but they don't admire, a lottery winner. Friends and family may rejoice, but they aren't proud of, the lottery winner. And no feeling of worthiness comes to the person who was lucky to hold a winning number.
Saving a life. That's something special. That's a form of immortality. And that's what a dozen bystanders in Utah experienced when they engaged in a spontaneous act of spectacular humanity and courage as they lifted a blazing car to save a stranger.
There was a collision between a motorcycle and a car. Both vehicles caught fire and the cyclist slid under the car. Dozens of bystanders, mainly college students and construction workers, watched in horror. One man tried futilely to lift the car then five others ran to join him. Unable to budge the car, they retreated and the flames grew. A woman looked under the car and reported the cyclist was still alive. The six rushed back, soon joined by six others. Together a dozen strangers easily lifted the car, and 21-year-old Brandon Wright was dragged to safety. The diversity of the daring dozen—grad students in math from Lebanon and Ghana, construction workers and businessmen—adds to the symbolic significance of this act of unity and humanity.
The rescuers won the undying gratitude of Brandon and his family and, best of all, a lifelong title: heroes.
What's a million dollars compared to that?
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."1
"When Leonardo da Vinci was still a pupil, his elderly, well-known teacher asked him to finish a painting that he, the teacher, had begun.
"Young da Vinci stood in such awe of his master's skill that at first he respectfully declined. But his teacher would accept no excuse. He simply said, 'Do your best.' Trembling, da Vinci took his brush and began. With each stroke, his hand grew steadier as the genius within him awoke. Soon he was so caught up in his work that he forgot his timidity. When the painting was finished, the frail and weak master was carried into the studio to see it. Embracing his student, he exclaimed, 'My son, I paint no more!'"2
Not everyone has the kind of talent and genius that Leonardo da Vinci had, but every one of us has God-given talents that He wants us to develop and use for His glory. He never expects from us what He hasn't gifted us to do. And He has already equipped us to do what He wants us to do. So use what talents you possess. Do your best and leave the rest to God. As Henry van Dyke said, "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the talents you have given to me. Please help me to see what they are, develop them fully, and use them to the best of my ability for your glory. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
1. Ecclesiastes 9:10 (NIV).
2. Richard W. De Haan, Radio Bible Class,www.rbc.org
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