Tooling around the internet  this week…

 

 + The California Supreme court overruled the state’s ban on gay “marriage”, joining with Massachusetts as the only two states to legalize such unions.  Of course, usually what happens in California spreads to other states rather quickly.  There’s commentary here and here, and some analysis on the impact of this decision on the presidential election.

 

            + No wise cracks here, but it is now official that Kentucky is a weird state. There are the Melungeons, some blue people, a Herrington Lake monster, a lost civilization under Lexington, a building that looks like a UFO and people who claim to have been abducted by one.  Yikes!

 

            + High school gradations are coming over the next week or so.  It is a well-known fact that increasing numbers of evangelical teenagers, active in their churches until graduation, will walk away from the faith in their college years.  We used to console ourselves with some idea that they would go through a “sowing wild oats” phase in the 20’s and come back in their thirties. That is often not the case anymore. In this sobering post, Michael Patton notes, “We are facing an epidemic in Christianity—an epidemic of unbelief among our own. Crowding our churches are those who are somewhere in the process of leaving. No, I am not talking about leaving a denomination. I am not talking about abandoning some institutionalized expression of Christianity. I am not talking about leaving the church (though related). And I am not even talking about renouncing religion. I am talking about those who are leaving Christ. Over 31 million Americans are saying “check please” to the church, and are off to find answers elsewhere.” He makes the important observation that we must develop a more rigorous discipleship process for our young people (and adults) that will honestly deal with questions and secular ideas from a theological basis.

            + Next month, the Southern Baptist Convention will once again have an opportunity to pass resolutions on integrity in church membership. There are two resolutions being presented.  You can read them here and here.  They come from different perspectives, but address our desperate need to make sure our ecclesiology (doctrine and practice of the church) match our soteriology (doctrine of salvation).  The Southern Baptist Texan published an interesting survey of the issue. I would hope that finally one of these resolutions will be passed.  An encouragement in that direction will result in stronger churches that are more faithful to the New Testament and more effective to our Great Commission calling.

 

            + My Mamaw Zola turns 93 years old today! Happy day, Mamaw!

 

            + Last week, I wrote about the economic stimulus checks that will be issued in coming weeks. Humorist Dave Barry has his usual tilted viewpoint on them:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn’t that stimulating the economy of China?
A. Shut up.

promo video from Secret Church, an intensive teaching/missions ministry at Brook Hills Church, Birmingham, AL

            Time magazine recently released their 2008 list of the world’s 100 most influential people.  The list is divided into five categories:  leaders and revolutionaries, heroes and pioneers, scientists and thinkers, artists and entertainers, builders and titans.  There are both positive and negative influencers in all categories.

            Some names on the list are expected: Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, all three presidential hopefuls, Ben Bernanke, Muqtada Al-Sadr, Lance Armstrong, Tony Blair. Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft), filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen, Lorne Michaels, George Clooney, Tyler Perry, and Rupert Murdoch.

            Many are largely unknown, but have enormous impact on people and world affairs: Ashfaq Kayani (army chief in Pakistan), Oscar Pistorius (an Olympic hopeful who runs on prosthetic blades), Yoani Sanchez ( a twenty-something who clandestinely blogs from Cuba), Randy Pausch (the professor who gave his last lecture), Aung San Suu Kyi (Nobel Peace prize winner who has been imprisoned in Burma for the past 12 years),  Mark Zuckerberg (creator of Facebook), Radiohead (British band who made their latest album available online for whatever price people wanted to pay)

            Some names seem just plain silly (and very momentary): Miley Cyrus? Mariah Carey? Judd Apatow (raunchy movie writer)? Really?

            Once again, I am struck by the absence of people who are publicly identified as Christians and especially evangelical Christians. I’m also struck by the increasing number of publicly identified Muslims. It’s also interesting that a number on the list are publicly identified as atheist or agnostic to faith.

            I will never meet anybody on this list. But if these are the people influencing people in all sorts of ways, then doesn’t it make sense to pray that they might come to know and treasure Jesus? 

            So, I’m going to find a way to pray for the salvation of these influencers and look for others to add to the list, especially those who impact life in Lexington (Mayor Jim Newberry, Dudley Webb, UK President Lee Todd, the owners of The Dame, Coach Billy Gillispie, etc.) If I pray for 5 influencers a day, I can pray for all of these by name about 4 times this year.

            What do you think?  Who would you add as a cultural influencer?

            Around the web this week…

        + Within a few weeks, many of us will begin receiving our economic stimulus checks from the government.  What will you do with the money?  Maybe for Christ-followers, the question is larger: what is Jesus calling me to do with the money that will extend his Kingdom and “lead all people to know and treasure Jesus above all things.”?  How can I invest for eternity-and not just for the economy? Read a perspective on that question from a pastor friend of mine here.  

  + For the past twenty-five years or so, there has been an increased interest in evangelical Christians in our nation. Not so much as representatives who incarnate the life and message of Jesus Christ, but as a political voting block.  Since the Reagan years, this group has been largely identified with the Republican Party, committed to deal with important cultural /social issues like abortion.  While it is essential that Christians live as the best sort of informed and  involved citizens, this has often led to a dangerous theological confusion between the church / the gospel and the culture / politics.  It’s Augustine’s classic tension between the City of God and the City of Man.  My concern has been that we can become so consumed with the political processes (law-making, court cases, lobbying and elections) that we lose sight of (and trust in?) the power of the gospel to change a nation by transforming one life at a time-and that our primary calling is to be gospel people.

Some of those concerns are reflected in An Evangelical Manifesto that was released this week. Directed both to and for evangelical Christians, it gives helpful definitions of an evangelical  (”Evangelicals are Christians who define themselves, their faith, and their lives according to the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth….Contrary to widespread misunderstanding today, we Evangelicals should be defined theologically, and not politically, socially, or culturally.”) and provides a framework for gospel-flavored public involvement.  . It’s worth reading and pondering, even if, like me, you don’t agree with every single line.  It may provide an interesting way to turn a conversation about this election cycle into a conversation about Jesus. Read critiques / reviews/ debates here and here and here.

        + Al Hsu does some great work thinking through the nature of ministry in suburban context at The Suburban Christian. He also wrote a book called Grieving a Suicide. This week, he posted an extensive summary of the book, which might be helpful to file for future ministry to the hurting.

        + In our world, people are drawn to story, music and visuals.  That means that reaching people requires that Christians pay attention to artists and creatives like actors, musicians, painters, writers and more.  We need to recover a vision of the Christian artist as crucial to the local church and its mission.  Check out these well-thought values for artists.    Also, we need to think through how we will reach artists in our community-in Lexington– many of whom think that the church is simply not interested. My friends Charlie & Ruth Jones are involved with an intentional ministry to artists in Greensboro, NC and it is already a fascinating journey. As soon as his story is posted online, I’ll link it here.

     Sometimes life slows down and you notice things, like somebody pushed the pause button and you’re in a freeze-frame.

     I went to visit my dad in Western Kentucky over the past couple of days — both to check on him and mark Mother’s Day by visiting Mom’s gravesite with him.  There were a few of those moments for me along the way.

     There was the slow dance, maybe a waltz, of the leaves on the big oaks along the avenue.

     There was the nest full of baby robins and the gentle squawks and flutterings of the momma keeping other birds (and me) away.

     There was mist rising on the pond near the orchard…and kissing my cheek while walking.

     There was the eerie, rusting skeleton of the steel mill down by the river that used to hum with 24-hour shifts.

     There was the contented smile of my recently uprooted and soon-to-be 93-year-old grandmother.

     And there was silence - and Presence– in the car when I turned off the CD player for the drive home.

     I don’t know why I noticed those moments the way I did. They just snuck up on me.   It was like opening my senses to something just under the surface. Something that had been waiting to be noticed.

     Art Garfunkel (without Simon) wrote a song a few years ago.  I know he’s probably not a believer, but he captured this same idea:

Everything waits to be noticed
A tree falls with no one there
The full potential of a love affair
Everything waits to be noticed

Twenty-eight geese in sudden flight
The last star on the edge of the night
A single button come undone
The middle child, the prodigal son
Everything waits to be noticed
A trickle underneath a dam
The missing line from the telegram
Everything waits to be noticed

The whispering pains that say you’re living
The slow burn of not forgiving
The quiet room, the unlikely pair
The full potential of a love affair

Everything waits to be noticed

Longing for braver days
Cautiously turning a phrase
Going unnoticed

But everything waits to be noticed
The changing light in the upper air
The full potential of a love affair

Everything waits to be noticed

(Art Garfunkel, Buddy Mondlock & Maia Sharp, 2002-Manhattan Records)

             Jesus looked at 5 loves and a couple of sardines-and noticed a banquet.  He looked at a storm-tossed sea and noticed a pathway. He looked at a rough, impetuous fisherman and noticed a strong and singular leader. He looked at an outcast woman-and noticed a daughter of God who would change a city.  He looked at a tomb-and noticed life on the other side.

      Sometimes life is so fast and so full.  I think there may be more things like these going on-even eternal things-around me all the time.  I just need to pay better attention. So, like the blind man by the side of the road near Jericho, I cry out, ‘Lord, have mercy….let my eyes be opened.” (Matt.20:30,33). I want to notice moments.