The Cult Of Youth

It is a shame that our culture has chosen to adopt a cult of youth. In many cultures, past and present, the elderly were considered great resources. They were valued for their experience and knowledge. Our American culture has rejected this value in order to develop a cult of youth. This strange perversion of the natural order has led to a number of problems in our society.

We have abandoned the rite of passage that use to mark the move of boys and girls into adulthood. Now we have grown men standing in line to purchase the latest video games. As men grow older they abandon their responsibilities as husbands and fathers. They don’t want to grow up. As they reach their middle age they abandon their families for younger women.

When you are out shopping you will see grown women trying to dress and act like their teenage daughters. Instead of being mothers to their children they try to act like their buddies. Then the children have no direction and are left to find their own way. Rather than helping their children mature into adults parents are acting like kids.

Of course all of this assumes that people take enough time away from their narcissistic pursuit of personal gratification long enough to actually start a family.

Perhaps what our society needs is to grow up and take responsibility for ourselves, our families, and our society.


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The Joy of Reading

I love to read. I have loved to read as log as I can remember. Reading is the entry into new worlds, new knowledge. It is a loss to our society that we spend far more time watching television than we do reading. Late last year I realized that I had fallen into that trap myself. I determined to begin reading more. This year I have lived up to that challenge. Not always at the level I desired, but I am doing well so far.

I also include audiobooks in my books read this year. Counting my audiobooks I have finished 45 books so far. How have I accomplished this? Primarily by cutting back on television. Let me encourage you to do the same. Find a fun novel, pick up that classic book, study a period of history. Enrich yourself in a way that you never will be able to with a television show.


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Why I Oppose Term Limits

I have a real problem with term limits. Every electoral office has a term limit. It is called election day. If I want to keep electing the same person time after time that should be my right to do so. It is just laziness on the part of people to demand term limits. They don't want the responsibility of getting out to vote if they think things need to be changed. If you think your senator, representative, governor, etc. needs to be replaced then vote against them in the next election. That is the responsibility of living in a free society.


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Does Your Opinion Really Count?

One of the interesting things about the Internet is the ability for anyone to post an opinion about anything. I have come to the conclusion that this may not be a good thing.

Over the last few days I have examined a number of "reviews" on such popular sites as Amazon.com, iTunes, and the Barnes and Noble website. What I have found is a wealth of opinion. Unfortunately most of these opinions are worth less than a month old tuna salad. I suppose that everybody has a right to their own opinion. One could argue that, thanks to the First Amendment, that everyone has the right to state their opinion. It seems to me that all opinions are not create equal. Just because you have an opinion does not mean that it has any value.

For an opinion to have any use or value the person stating the opinion must have a good grasp on the subject matter. They must know how to use complete sentences and they must know how to complete a thought. I can't tell you how many reviews I looked at that contained some version of this: I don't really listen/read/watch this kind of thing, so here is my uninformed and completely worthless opinion.

The worst offenders are easily spotted as teenagers. Why people whose idea of reading is a Twilight or Sookie Stackhouse novel think that their opinion on a great work of literature should count for anything is beyond me. They are so often found on the pages of great works complaining that "this sucks.". They are not even able to formulate a complete thought as to why they do not like the work they just read.

Then you have people who "review" authors whose political philosophy they dislike. So they go to the books by Newt Gingrich or Barak Obama and click a one star rating and give a political rant. They have not read the book. Their entire review is useless.

None of this means that there should be no negative reviews. People who read the books of those with whom they disagree will have a certain insight to the book because they have read it. I work with many well read, educated, college professors who dislike certain "classics."

So, whose opinion matters? If you are well read then you may have the breadth of knowledge that allows you to comment in a way that actually contributes. Otherwise you are just posting your own useless opinion and cluttering up the landscape.

Whose opinion does not matter? People who only read teenage books unless forced to read something else by a teacher. People who have not actually read the book in question. Finally, anyone who uses a login name with a character from Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, or a celebrity. So if your login name is iluvbrittney, edwardforever, or any such nonsense you have no credibility. Please go away and keep your infantile opinion to yourself.



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The Death of A Man

For the last few years I have watched television show The Deadliest Catch. I have not been a rabid fan. I missed the entire last season. However, I have always enjoyed the show when I watched it.

This season has been different. Earlier this year I saw the Facebook message from the producer of Dirty Jobs that told us about the death of Captain Phil Harris. I did not want to watch the show. I missed most of this season. About two weeks ago I turned on the television and the show was on. It caught me. I went to iTunes purchased the season. Over the last week my wife and I have been catching up with the season.

Even though we knew that Captain Phil had died the show is no less emotional. In fact some of the scenes are even more powerful knowing what would come. There are this moments watching him mentoring his sons. Then there are the moments when he says how glad he is to have a little more time to teach them.

Perhaps most touching is the scene, shot shortly before his stroke. In that scene he is looking back over his family photos. You see all of the childhood pictures of his sons.

As a rule I am wary of this strange thing known as reality tv. Often is is not real. More often it portrays the worst sort of person. At other times the shows seem like a type of voyeurism. The show Dirty Jobs changed much of that. Mike Rowe honors the men and women he works with. It is a humorous program. Deadliest Catch intrigued me because it too showed honor and respect to the hard working men of the fishing fleet.

As the news of Phil's stroke spread to the other vessels of the fleet I saw something that moved me. These fishermen are tough men. They are men's men. They work a hard and brutal job. To see these men break down and begin to cry as they heard that their friend might die was one of the most moving things I have ever seen. Phil Harris may have been a hard living, tough man, but the measure of that man is shown by the reaction of those that knew him.

The scenes moving towards his final days are heartbreaking. The strength of character shown by Phil and his oldest son Josh is powerful. The battle between Phil's sons as they begin to feel the weight and the burden of their father's situation is hard. Phil's friend Jonathan Hilstrand, captain of the Time Bandit, sits with his friend and the boys. Seeing Jonathan in tears, sitting in the hospital chapel is truly moving.

Phil's final episode was hard. The episode started with good news. It looked to all involved like he would make it. His younger son Jake left to check himself into rehab. Josh and Phil were able to talk another how much they loved each other. Then, a short while later, he died.

I have never been this moved by television before. The editors and cameramen showed deep compassion and gentleness in showing this. There is no doubt in my mind that Emmy awards are deserved here. If you have not seen this show let me encourage you to do so.

We have been blessed to share a part of this man's life. We have wept at his death. Captain Phil, fair winds and following seas.

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Difference Between Charity and Ministry

Ever since I was a child I have been intrigued by the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in the Gospel of Matthew. Both refer to the Shepherd as Lord. The obvious difference between the two are their actions.

There is something about the sheep that I find wonderful. They did not recognize what they did as helping God. They were just doing the right thing. They did what they did from the overflow of their heart. Their hearts were so full of love for God that they served their fellow man without even thinking.

You see charity is when you step down and deign to help a person in need. Ministry is when you reach out in the love of the Holy Spirit to your fellow man. One demeans the receiver and exalts the giver. The other exalts the receiver and brings joy to the giver.

May the blessed Holy Spirit so overwhelm us that we become those sheep. May his love shine through us.


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The One About Iran

While this is funny, it is also a little closer to the truth. If you pay attention to the questions the "reporter" is asking. They are all valid questions that reporters should be asking.

What Kind of Faith Do You Have?

This is the text of the sermon I am preaching for my grandfather's church this morning:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe-and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called the friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. (James 2:14-26 NRSV)

I read this passage the other day and I found myself a little confused. I had always heard that we are justified by faith. So I looked it up. Sure enough I found Romans 3:28 "For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law." So what are we to do with this apparent contradiction? After all the Holy Spirit inspired the whole of scripture.

I believe that what we have here is not the opposition of faith and works, rather the combination of the two that shows us who actually has faith. Once that realization strikes you it is amazing how much of the sayings of Jesus come into focus.

Let's look at Matthew 7. As the Sermon on the Mount draws to a close Jesus says to beware of false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing. He says you will know them by their fruits. The very next thing that he says has always been for me one of the most terrifying parts of the Bible.

"Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' (Matthew 7:21-23 NRSV)

That verse always made one wonder. These people prophesied and cast out demons. Jesus doesn't even know who they are. Pretty chilling. Let's read the next verse.

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-and great was its fall!" (Matthew 7:24-27 NRSV)

Notice his words. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them. Jesus was not some guru. In his human form he walked the earth as a rabbi. Judaism is not a religion of navel gazers and good intentions. It is a faith that requires it followers to live the life that God has called all people to live.

So how does this connect with our text from James? Very simple. Before I go there I want to turn to another text in Matthew. In Matthew 25 we are nearing he end of another group of Jesus' teachings. After this parable he immediately launches into the parable of the sheep and the goats.

Now you know this parable. The sheep and the goats are separated. How does Jesus separate them? By what they did. Does this mean that we are justified by our works then. No! No! No! We are justified by our faith. Ephesians 2:8-10 says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life."

I like how the evangelical scholar Christopher J. H. Wright says it in his book The God I Don't Understand "Yes, of course. We are justified by faith. But we will be judged by our works."

This agrees with the words of Jesus we have already seen. In Matthew 7 we saw that Jesus was not interested in all of the spiritual claims and actions of the people. he wanted people who would listen to his words and act on them in the parable of the sheep and the goats we see that he knows his sheep by what they have done. This also falls in with what John saw in Revelation.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. (Revelation 20:12-13)

So what about Paul? Well he saw this as well. In his second letter to the Corinthian church he wrote: "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil."

The evangelical tradition is a proud one in the US and Great Britain. The evangelical leaders cared passionately about saving souls. It defined what they did. They were not just interested in that though. They wanted to change society. If you have see the movie Amazing Grace you know about one aspect of William Wilberforce's career. He, and other evangelicals, also reformed the penal system, abolished slavery, enlarged the vote, and completely changed society. They did this because they believed it was their job to create a society that lived out the commands of Christ. They were not content to wait for Christ to return to make their world a better place, they decided to do it. They didn't wait for the government to do it, they simply took the initiative. They took over prisons, they took over the poor houses, they opened hospitals.

You see, this is exactly what James was referring to. The whole point of the Law and the Prophets was not to bring salvation. Every Jew knew that God saved by His grace. After all, the law and the prophets are full of such stories. God called Abram, not because of what he had done. He saved the children of Israel through His mercy and grace. After they were saved from Egypt, then they were told how to live in order to show the goodness of God to the nations. The prophets called God’s people to come back to that life. Their exhortations are full of return, come back, change.

You see those were all previews of what we are called to do. We were saved from the bondage of sin by the passover lamb. We were called to go to a promised land. We were delivered from death and destruction by the waters of baptism. We have been called a holy people. We are called to be priests and kings. So now we need to live in accordance with that.

So when we think of how we are supposed to act. I ask you to see Jesus. He is there in the eyes of a malnourished child in Africa. He is there is the face of a mother in Haiti who has just lost her children. He is there in the woman who is being abused by her husband. He is there in the child being sold into the sex trade, or forced labor in the chocolate industry. He is there in the faces of the people at Providence House. Will you join me in a crazy, radical idea brought to us two thousand years ago. Will you take the time, make the time to change the world. It may take an occasional Saturday afternoon. We may miss a favorite TV show in the evening. I ask you. For the love of Him who came to earth and died an agonizing death on the cross. How could we do any less?






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