Influence: The Church or Hollywood?

This may come as a shock to you but Hollywood has far less influence on our culture than does religion. Yes they have prominence in what you see on TV, but then again Hollywood virtually controls the medium. But prominent visibility doesn’t necessarily equate influence. As a nation, 120 million of us attend Church on a regular basis which is far more than the number who attend movies in a given week. When you consider that less than 25% of Americans read one book a year, and only 1% of them are in college, it is a safe assumption that listening to the weekly sermon is still the most widely practiced form of intellectual activity in America. If one were to look just at expenditures, Americans give 25 times more money to their houses of worship than they do to their local movie houses. So if the Church is so influential in our culture, why is it so seemingly invisible? The late news anchor Peter Jennings, himself a Canadian, was baffled by this. He thought it was odd that America was so deeply religious and yet it was nearly invisible to the news media. I have a couple of theories as to why this is so. First of all, unless you do something exceptionally weird, good, or flashy at your church, it’s of no value to the media. Every Sunday the vast majority of us come together and pray, worship, hear God’s Word, and fellowship with one another. It’s a good thing, but doesn’t create the kind excitement that plays well on film or television. Secondly, Americans consider their freedom to worship almost as sacred as their actual religion. In the name of respecting the freedom of others that we enjoy ourselves, we don’t make this an overt part of our personal or national discourse. It doesn’t mean our faith has no influence on America, it simply comes in through the back door of personal relationships which once again is hardly a media event. Perhaps a better gauge of understanding the Church’s influence in America would be to imagine if it didn’t exist or were suddenly removed (which would be a dream-come-true for militant homosexuals and radical atheists). Not to be over celebratory here, but the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches of this country were huge partners in the building of our civilization and to this day provide countless hours of community services and emergency food and relief without any government help or incentive. The only real motivation is Christ’s great law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. If this great influence were removed from our society, America would be less like itself and more like the Hollywood Babylon that some think we should be.

There is a God by Anthony Flew

Several years ago Anthony Flew shook things up in the world of philosophy and religion by changing his mind about the non-existence of God. In other words Flew is a theist now and not an a-theist. This should not be taken to mean that Dr. Flew is now a Bible believing evangelical Christian though. He came from a Christian home and his father was a preacher and expert Biblicist, but Flew was unconvinced then and now as an octogenarian is still so. But as someone who has made his life’s work philosophy, he has done something quite daring; when confronted with additional information he changed his mind and did so publicly. Some of his fellow atheists have accused him of hedging his bets ala’ Pascal’s Wager, but in reality Flew is very clear he doesn’t even believe in an afterlife much less a final judgment. Flew merely believes there is a Creator, omnipotent and omniscient, who has made all that we see and know in the universe. So some philosopher changes his mind and is no longer an atheist but is not a Christian; why would this book be important to read? First of all Flew gives a relatively nuanced breakdown on his change of mind about atheism that is very enlightening. Much of it has to do further scientific discovery which makes the idea of evolution occurring without an incredible mind behind it fairly untenable. An example that is given is the breakthrough work in understanding DNA , the basic building block of all living things. The idea that its highly sophisticated unfolding program would develop spontaneously by some mechanistic force seems more likely explained by a Creator. Perhaps of greater value to the Christian is the fact that the so-called traditional arguments for the existence of God which were articulated by theologians and philosophers in the Medieval era are not as unsophisticated and discredited as we’ve been lead to believe (for more information “google” the arguments for the existence of God). As Flew looks back to the classical Greek philosophers idea of God, he concedes their idea seems to most closely parallel the God of the Judeo-Christian scriptures, but for Flew to connect with that fact is going to be more a matter of relationship than philosophy.

On Medford 97501

“The sad part of living in the same town so long is you start to resemble your (very dilapidated) neighborhood…”

---Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky Balboa”

Although I wasn’t born there, I have lived in Medford Oregon for 41 years. Statistically I am like 50% of Americans who live fairly close to where they grew up. I’ve often wondered about what it would be like to be like the other half who have lived more transitory lives. I suppose they know something I don’t, but I suspect that goes both ways. I have met many people through the years who have visited my hometown on their vacation and really liked the beauty of the area. I usually take it for granted until I go away for a few weeks and then fly home. When I see the blue mountains and tall trees again I just know I’m home and for some reason I’m strangely enchanted. I honestly can’t say whether Medford is a better or worse place to live than it was growing up. It has improved in many ways with size and worsened in some ways too. And it has certainly changed. If you would have told me when I was a teenager that Medco would be put out of business, that vineyards would be the chief source of agricultural income in the Applegate and the Britt Festival would largely feature nostalgic rock acts, I would have figured you had lost your mind. Time does move on and to quote the Bible, everything has its “time and season”. No matter where you find yourself living today may God give you the ability to see change with both grace and wonder!

I was thinking about the Medford I grew up in and 10 things I miss from the past in no particular order:

1. Jack’s Burger Haus, Dell’s Hamburgers, Stu’s Burger Bar

2. Sister Ray Records and The Tape Shoppe

3. The Starlite Drive-In

4. The smell of Flueher’s Bakery in the afternoon

5. Kim’s Restaurant

6. The Big “Y”

7. Bob Kennedy’s “House of Guns” and all the other cool stuff

8. Trowbridge’s Store

9. KYJC #1 Radio and KSHA with all the cool clocks saying what time it was around

the country.

10. Golf-o-Rama

Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants by Dennis Okholm

One of the bright spots in present-day evangelicalism is that the long impoverishment of it’s tradition of spiritual formation seems to be coming to an end. Witness the proliferation of books in the last two decades on the spiritual disciplines. When Richard Foster came out with Celebration of Discipline in the early eighties it was a bit of a radical book. Today, it is a classic of discipleship quoted by everyone else. Dennis Okholm has made an excellent offering in this field with his book which successfully makes the broadest principles of Benedictine spirituality accessible to Protestant laypersons. He makes a good point that St. Benedict actually preceded the existence of the Roman Catholic Church as we know it today and thus the tradition is actually more universally Christian belonging to neither Catholics or Protestants alone. That aside, Okholm invites the reader to consider the practices of listening, poverty, obedience, humility, hospitality, stability, and balance which are practiced to this day by those with a religious vocation. As an example, Okholm points out that the vow of poverty does not mean a monk has no resources. He actually has all he needs to do live his life and do his work. He or she just owns it communally instead of individually. A protestant can practice the same by generously sharing his possessions with others and creatively networking to pool things that are only used occasionally. Hospitality for Benedictines meant taking in and ministering to the needs of a stranger as if he were Christ in disguise. Protestants may not have a retreat house like a monastery does, but they might have a spare bedroom. Just treating the many strangers that cross our path in a given day as if they were Jesus Himself would be a form practicing Benedictine hospitality. The book does a good job explaining how all of these practices are directly connected with scripture and how they enable us to be more available to Christ that we might become more fully transformed. I would recommend this book to be read first and then follow it up with Henri Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart and Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines.

Keeping Up With the "Competition"

As a minister I frequently receive magazines which I would have to classify as “trade publications.” These are not about how to pray better or understand theology, but how to be a successful or more successful pastor. I guess this is good. Jesus was successful wasn’t he? Success is naturally tied in to buying this product or that which will make your church building and services really pop! And after all, with so many churches competing for souls, you have got to make your operation really stand out. With a better building or mailout campaign you might even be able to smash the competition. Another big issue I keep reading about in these magazines is how as an institution Churches have got to start being on the cutting edge of change. Apparently we are losing ground in the culture because we are not relevant enough or are out of touch with generational values. Perhaps I’m missing the obvious but our society is in a constant state of flux and to try to keep up with these changes seems like a fool’s errand. By the time you get in lock-step (or goose step) with the changed culture, it has already changed and you’re passe’ again. I guess going out of your way to be out of step with culture (like the Amish and other groups) is hardly a virtue either. Consider the great loss of life recently when an Amish Airlines jet crashed at the end of the runway when the horses pulling it didn’t get enough speed up! But I digress. It just seems to me that those within and without the Church really don’t know that much about what they really want in life which is why there is the constant tyranny of the latest and greatest fad always running in the background. Jesus Christ and the Gospel are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Maybe those of us who are clergy should take note of this once again and not be afraid that our story, our product really, is very old. But the surprising thing is that after 2000 years, the Gospel alone still has more power to save than any of the new and improved enhancements and techniques we employ to jazz things up a bit. There is just something about Jesus that is always so relevant!

On Saibarites and Gyrovagues Pt.1

“Saibarites” and “Gyrovagues” are words used by St. Benedict of Nursia to describe two kinds of Christians that are still alive and with us 1400 years after he wrote his famous Rule. A Saibarite, according to Benedict, is someone who determines right and wrong, spiritual or unspiritual according to their own personal taste. If they happen to like something or agree with it, it must be true and spiritual and worthy of pursuit. If they find something disagreeable or offensive to their sensibilities, then it must be wrong or unspiritual and be dismissed immediately. This is not to say that sometimes the very reason we dislike something is because it really is wrong and unspiritual. Many years ago I had a friend in Bible college that made racial slurs about black people. I find bigotry in bad taste but also quite sinful according to the teachings of Christ. But there are some people who tend to think that anything in conflict with their personal point of view is wrong and dismiss it quite uncritically. What is wrong with this line of thinking is that as Christians our truth comes from outside of ourselves. Man is a fallen creature in need of rescue not only from the flames of hell but also his own stupidity. Our minds and capacity to discern truth apart from the assistance God’s Holy Spirit, the Bible, and the community of the faithful is almost nil. We alone with unaided human reason as our guide consistently make the wrong choice (consider your investment history or how many unhappy married people there are). King Solomon wisely noted that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors (Prov. 15:22) precisely because we need perspective outside of ourselves in order to discern the truth. Sometimes there’s an even darker motivation behind a Saibarite: pure, unmitigated, intellectual laziness. It is astounding how many of us suffer from an insatiable lack of curiosity about why things are the way they are. It’s like the bumper sticker I saw on a car recently that read “God said it, I believe it, that settles it!”. Although I can appreciate the well meaning sentiment about loyalty to God’s Word, I have a nagging suspicion the reality is more like “don’t bother me with any hard questions, because I don’t want my faith or assumptions about life disturbed!” The prescription for the Saibarite is really quite simple: take time when you hear a point of view that you don’t readily agree with and explore the reasons others might hold it. You may come to the same conclusion anyway, but at least you will have an understanding and perhaps even a greater toleration of people different from yourself. In some cases you might even have your mind changed completely which I would contend is truly one of life’s little miracles.

Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict by Carmen Acevedo Butcher

Probably no man save Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul has done more to shape both Western Civilization and Western Spirituality than Benedict of Nursia. Benedict is the fountain head of the Benedictine order and developed his Rule which guided every aspect of monastic life at his monastery (Monte Cassino) but also became the blueprint for living which was adopted by many other religious orders at least in part. The genius, the very contribution of Benedict was a humane and ordered existence which sought to fuse worship, prayer, and the ordinary tasks of daily living into a whole where one was living every day to the glory of God and there was no separation of the sacred and secular spheres of life. Washing dishes, hoeing manure into the vegetable patch was as holy a task as was chanting the Psalms in Latin at the appointed times of worship. Even the western orientation of time/event can be traced back to the canonical hours which was a type of holy dayrunner where monks slept, ate, worshipped, read the scriptures, did their chores, and celebrated communion on a set daily and hourly schedule. That said, author Carmen Butcher has also made a wonderful contribution to this world with Man of Blessing. Unfortunately, the earliest biographies we have on Benedict are hagiographies or books about saints. They are wonderful devotional reading but frequently are a bit overdrawn for modern readers because of their emphasis on the saint’s other-worldliness and performance of miracles. They also tend to be quite formulaic as well which makes the reader wonder if the facts aren’t bent a wee bit to make the saint conform to a particular standard of sainthood. Butcher’s work sources many of the ancient and medieval sources for Benedict’s life and weaves other aspects of what we know from the period into the story. The result is a warmer, and frankly more believeable Life of Benedict that does emphasize spiritual example all along. This was a delightful book to page through and a potent reminder that what makes a true saint of God is not so much the miraculous, but the ordinary human life lived well.

On Fuel Economy and National Freedom

A colleague and dear friend of mine and I, let’s call her DC to conceal her real identity, were having a spirited discussion about whether the government has any right to dictate the size and mpg of our personal family cars. Her contention is that America is a free country with free citizens and that includes the right to drive any car of any size that tickles our fancy. And that right, though not in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, is so sacrosanct it ought to be. If this were 1969 instead of 2009, I think I would be compelled to agree with her. But in the intervening years the United States has gone through two oil embargos, two wars over oil security, and two crestings of peak oil. The first crest occurred in the 1960’s when domestic oil supplies no longer could keep pace with demand thus requiring imported oil and the second was in 2005 when world demand was pressurizing the supply and price environment of oil because of the rising prosperity of countries such as China and India. As the world economy has collapsed since 2005 that pressure has been released somewhat but don’t worry it WILL be back. The developing nations desire for cars and industrial wealth has slowed but will never stop. So what’s my contention? I maintain that American oil consumption is an issue of freedom and national security that is so great, the government (which is all of us represented by our lawfully elected officials) has a compelling interest to impinge on some of our freedom in this area. First of all, at current rates of consumption we must import 70% of our oil to maintain our standard of living. This is not just our cars, but our industry, infrastructure, really our whole fabric of life. To have such a dependence is the worst kind of vulnerability. Not only can our way of life be taken away by OPEC without warning, but our dependence compels and drives our national policy to be one of compromise for the sake of oil. There are some countries and world leaders for whom we should be giving a collective national bird (and I’m not talking about the American Eagle!) but when you need their resources to live you really can’t take too strong of a stand on anything. I harbor no fantasies that America is ever going to be a clean, green autotopia filled with all-electric or hydrogen cars zipping the kids to ball practice with zero tailpipe emissions. At current prices and with the current economy most of us can’t afford them anyway. On the other hand I think the freedom to buy the biggest gas guzzling car you can afford to drive pushes us as a nation in the wrong direction. Given the reality that oil is a finite resource, just because a person can afford to burn more of it than others can is not a compelling reason to let them do so especially in light of our national security. Once upon a time, gas rationing and conservation, were imposed from above for the same reason and people felt patriotic for cooperating. While such draconian measures are not yet necessary, required fuel economy, lowered vehicle weights, and lower speed limits are hardly impositions against our freedom. In fact, these and thousand other steps we could take to conserve and disengage from oil might actually return America to a greater form of freedom we haven’t experienced in a while: true independence.

God in the White House: A History by Randall Balmer

If you’ve read any of Randall Balmer’s other works you know he is a challenging author. He is very readable but he is often piercing in his observations. God in the White House is actually as disturbing as it is enlightening about the relationship of politics, Christian faith, and the men we have elected to the Presidency. Balmer only covers the presidency since JFK and so the work is not about all presidents, but certainly those of the television age and the ones of recent memory. It is an interesting characteristic of America that constitutionally we do not have a religious test for office nor are we uniformly Christian, but we have never yet elected a President who wasn’t a Christian even if their commitment was largely in name only. John F. Kennedy was a watershed president because he was the very first Catholic ever elected and because he asked Americans to set religious affiliation aside and make his platform and leadership the only criteria for their vote. Obviously this was taken to heart in 1960 and actually the religion of a president didn’t become an issue until 1976 when Jimmy Carter was elected and the phrase “Born-Again” became part of our national conversation. Although Carter’s term in high office has been widely considered a failure by many, Balmer considers him to be one of the few modern presidents whose faith really did guide his thinking and policies on a daily basis. Balmer is less generous with Reagan and Bush I who were quite adept at mobilizing the religious right for the purpose of winning elections but in reality did little to nothing to restore the declining morality in America that was the basis of their campaign. Our most recent president Balmer compared to Jimmy Carter as being quite outspoken about his commitment to Christ but felt many of his policies and viewpoints were very much out of step with the King of Kings. I tend to think Balmer is a bit harsh on Bush given that the examples he cites were related to the extraordinary decisions he was faced with in dealing with terrorism. We all look back with horror on the Japanese-American internment camps of WWII, but those too were extraordinary times and such periods are hardly the time to expect complete ethical consistency. This leaves Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford all three of which were church members but were extremely quiet about their faith. In each of their cases Balmer finds many instances where their decisions and policies were actually more reflective of Christ’s teaching than those who were vocal about their faith. Even Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam war was based on the principle that the strong must stand up for the weak if they are being oppressed. In the end, Balmer notes the pattern that our Presidents who have been the most vocal about faith, are the most unbiblical in their policies and are frequently questioned the least by the public for them. This according to Balmer is more a reflection of us and not them. We are more willing to give our vote to those who talk a good game and harder on those who don’t. The answer he proposes is that we go back to Kennedy’s idea that we don’t blindly make our choice based on the religious affiliations of our candidates but on their records and proposed policies and whether we see them as in line with our Christian faith. Another issue Balmer raises is Christian ministers being involved in politics. Many pastors have done a good job of speaking truth to power precisely because they were on the periphery but when they were brought into the counsels of power, they tended to become more political and less Christian. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are prime examples of this phenomena. This should remind and warn us again that the wall of separation between Church and State is a healthy ideal if for no other reason than it keeps the corrosive effects of power politics from corrupting the Church at large.

Stop the Madness of Self-Serv Gas

As a lifelong Oregonian, I am one of the few people in the United States today who daily lives with the privilege of having other people pump gasoline for them. In Oregon it is not an option to pump your own gas. By law I am required to sit in my car and let the professionals handle this important and hazardous job. To tell you the truth I don’t mind this one bit. People I know who have moved in from out of state despise this law. They feel they have lost their freedom and some have even said they feel socially castrated having to sit and let someone else do this job for them. Oregon is well-known for weeks of rain in the winter and if it’s not raining it’s either foggy and cold or sunny and cold. In either scenario I feel it’s nice to sit inside my car and stay warm and dry when I stop for fuel. Recently I took a road trip across the southwest and had to get out and pump my own gas. California is the most inane of all the states. You have this spring loaded cover over the nozzle that acts like some sort of technological foreskin that makes the whole process of insertion an absolute nightmare. By the time you’re done following all the steps of hitting this button and that and learning the delicate balance of not pumping too fast as to avoid shutting the system down you are pretty emotionally drained. Then you’ve got to hike in to the convenience store to pay someone of Asian or Persian descent who doesn’t even say thank-you. I felt so dirty afterwards. Arizona and New Mexico get mixed reviews in my book as well. The further east you move, the nozzles are at least circumcised and you don’t have to go inside to pay unless you are using cash. The best self-serve experience I had was in Oklahoma. It was in and out with a simple nozzle and the best part was the price was reflective of the fact I did all the work. It was like someone said “look little buddy, I know its cold outside, the wind is whipping in your face, you’re going to get gasoline all over your hands and have to wash your own windshield, but hey, we’re dropping the price by 50 cents a gallon to say a big hearty thank-you for all your hard work!” Well it’s been several weeks since I’ve been back from my trip and though I did develop a modicum of skill at the gas station, I don’t miss self-serve gasoline at all. I will admit that at times it was a lot quicker than having someone else in the equation, and in some cases it was significantly cheaper. But most of the time self-serve was the same price or even higher and you were totally alone in the process. Here in Oregon, a fill-up is more than getting gasoline. It’s about a relationship with a trained professional whose willing to get gasoline on his or her fingers so you don’t. It’s about someone you can talk to outside your car window and ask for directions or gripe about the weather and to my thinking that’s worth almost any price.

The Strange Tale of Oofty Goofty : A Heartwarming Reflection

I probably should never admit this publicly but I have always been delighted by the flamboyance and absurdity of freak shows. Although I’ve suffered the chronological misfortune of having been born long after their hey-day, they have long been in my field of awareness through history books and photo compilations on the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Who in their right mind could resist the opportunity to take a peak at a fully bearded lady or a cow with 5 legs? I’m pretty certain the inability to resist such spectacles is related to that same inner drive that makes us stare at car accidents. We know it’s rude and wrong to look, but hey, what do you do? My favorite freak show personality by a mile was a performer named Oofty Goofty, the wild man of Borneo. Oofty really wasn’t from East Malaysia but he did a great job of living up to people’s Darwinian expectations of what a man from Borneo would be like if he were caught and caged by sailors traveling to San Francisco. Oofty wore a bunch of fur stuck to his body by tar which made him black and hairy and he would just pace back and forth in his cage in front of viewers muttering loudly “oooffty goooofty…..ooofty gooofty”. To my thinking, old Oofty could go head to head with Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton as an entertainer any day. Sadly Oofty had to give up his gig because the tar and fur weren’t allowing him to perspire correctly and his health was being impaired. While one door closed in the entertainment industry another opened for Oofty. After getting thrown out of a bar, Oofty Goofty noticed that he felt no pain when he hit the ground. This he quickly parlayed into a new career. Oofty would allow people to hit him and kick the tar out of him for money (this is the definition par excellence of a good freak entertainer because they use their physical oddities to entertain not their talent per se). This actually lasted a bit longer than the wild man from Borneo phase, but eventually Oofty Goofty was hit so hard by someone that it broke two of his vertebrae and from that point forward he felt so much pain he couldn’t work again and so ended his illustrious career. I think there are great lessons we can all learn from Oofty’s tale: first and foremost, know your audience and deliver what they want. No matter what field of work you’re in, you do have an audience and they have certain expectations. The only time expectations should be shattered is if you plan to go above and beyond them with excellence. Oofty also offers us a lesson in flexibility and pliability in life. When your health requires you to make changes, that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to give up doing what you love, but rather you adjust to doing it differently. And finally beware of over confidence in what you do. St. Paul warns us “let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. 10:12).” Obviously a slightly different context than Oofty’s story, but still too much self-confidence in our own abilities and gifts is a set up for complacency and pride and that just invites being humbled in a painful way. Put another way, if you want living proofty about how not to be a goofty, consider the strange tale of Oofty!

Life Lessons from Vacations

For many years I have often wondered what is the ideal length for a vacation. When we took our first “real” vacation to Honolulu years ago we were young, new parents, and could only stay a week. It was a lot of fun but by the time we really got into the groove of relaxing, it was time to come home. Having ruled out the “one-weeker” long ago we have tried our level best to make our vacations 10 days or more. These were certainly more satisfying but Christean and I still had that nagging feeling we had not yet grasped the brass ring on the vacation carousel of life. This year we were able to take the trip of a lifetime to Italy and Malta which lasted nearly 3.5 weeks. By the end of the trip we had been gone so long that we both couldn’t remember what we did the first day of our vacation. After the long trans-atlantic flight home we were greeted at the house by our youngest daughter and her little rat terrier named Jersey. Jersey was so excited to see us back again that she ran around the living room in circles about four times and then jumped up on my favorite easy chair and proceeded to urinate all over it. I think the lesson we can all take away from this is as follows: You know your vacation was the ideal length when your daughter’s dog is so excited to see you that she pisses herself.

Healthy Holidays!?!

I think the question most Americans are reflecting on this time of year is “to what extent does the slimming effect of black clothing cease and you just start looking like a swollen black tick”? One can’t help but think about ugly weight gain around the holidays especially with all the parties, goodies, and cheese balls that seem to always be around this time of year. But what I find even more insidious, diabolical even, are the news stories on the network morning chat shows about how to eat sensibly during the holidays and how to cut-the-calories on Christmas dinner. I can see why network reporters and television personalities are concerned about this. After all, their appearance is their bread and butter (whole wheat and reduced fat of course!) and being only two-dimensional on the tube does make every pound appear bigger. But I think the real issue is that deep down they resent those of us who are going to enjoy ourselves during the holidays even if our pants(uits) are a little tight come January. To be sure, most of our holiday dinners are high-calorie, fat-loaded, sodium-saturated, sugar-infested, alcohol-laden nutritional disasters. But then again salads with raspberry vinaigrette topped with slices of lean chicken breast hardly sounds like a celebration feast (unless you live in the 3rd world!). I think the wisest course of action to take in a dangerous and fallen world is to enjoy yourself during the holidays, eat and drink with a grateful heart, and switch TV channels immediately when someone wishes you a “healthy and happy holiday”.

Jesus and Baby Atheists

Well, it’s that time of year again. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without an annual protest by someone or some group who objects to any religious display related to the holiday on public property. Actually, I should be a bit more precise here. In my adult life I can’t remember any protests about the Hannakuh menorah or Kwaanza displays which have also been allowed. It’s really the Nativity scene which is objectionable because it is about Jesus Christ. And God forbid we bring Jesus into the public square; especially the baby Jesus because that might beg the question why his birth is so important and why his life and teachings are literally the foundation of Western Civilization. Recently an Atheist group posted a sign on public property in Olympia Washington near a Nativity scene wishing everyone a merry winter solstice and denigrated religion as enslaving human minds. What I found laughable was not the fact that the sign was stolen and thrown into a ditch within 12 hours of its posting, but that the atheist group was immediately blaming the unknown thief(ves) as being Christians or Jews. A spokesman for the group queried to the press “why don’t they follow their own commandments?”. First of all the demographics of belief in God and adherence to religions of every kind are so vast, it could have been almost any American. But more than that if religion is nothing but nonsense, why take offense at all? Who are the atheists to declare that stealing is intrinsically wrong. Perhaps they and society are wrong and theft really is a sign of highly adaptive behavior in a continually evolving culture. Who took the sign, Christian, Scientologist, Wiccan, or good old-fashion’ Washington redneck with a belly full of beer out for a laugh, is not important. What is important is that America is a country that respects people’s faith or complete lack thereof. I actually respect the atheist’s right to put forth their message of unbelief 365 and ¼ days a year. That’s the price of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. What I can’t respect is when people feel they need to take offense at the symbols of another’s religion especially in relation to a religious holiday that they are not forced to celebrate. What’s worse I can’t stand atheists who act like they’re so poor, persecuted, and marginalized. After all, they dominate the calendar all year long since most days we celebrate nothing and nothing is what atheism celebrates most.

Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion by David Gerlernter

In the beginning God created the world and universe with His words. But can the Word of God as embodied in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures (The Holy Bible) continue to create worlds? In Americanism: The Fourth Great Western Religion, author David Gelernter (himself a Jewish-American) gives an emphatic yes to that question because America as a place and idea was itself built by the Bible. Gerlernter says you don’t have to believe in God or be a Christian to be a good American or to believe in Americanism, but you must respect the fact that historically, the core of America was completely founded on Christianity and to deny this is to deny reality. In the book, Gerlernter carefully traces most American values back to the Christianity practiced by the Puritans of New England. Besides the well-known Puritan work ethic, there is the American value of being able to pursue happiness under God. The Puritans were austere to some degree but they were happy and especially happy to be in America with all its possibilities. The view of American Exceptionalism or the idea that America is a nation with a unique mission in the world can be traced back to American Zionism, the puritan belief brought from England that the British Empire (and by connection the American Colonies) were ancient Israel reconstituted with a land and covenant with God. If we are true to the covenant, God will favor us and if not, we shall find judgment. Even the American preference of no-nonsense simplicity in all things finds its foundation in the mental furniture of the Puritan fathers. They were of the mind that the excision of traditions and embellishments of the Christian faith that had begun with the Reformation, should be continued in all of life. Thus the architecture, clothing, and furniture of America is not only simple, but democratic and virtuous. The reason “Americanism” is a fourth Western religion is that it is an offshoot of Judeo-Christian thought and its core values have spread around the world in the democratizing of other nations. Gerlernter does an effective job in his presentation and synthesis of history and in an age of secularism and growing anti-american sentiment, he reminds Americans of Christian and non-Christian persuasions that we come from noble roots and have nothing to be ashamed of.

Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America by Lyle W. Dorsett

Billy Sunday's story is the quintessential American story of rags-to-riches with a heavy dose of Christian redemption to boot. The basic contours of the William Sunday's life is that his father died in the Civil War and his mother was too poor to take care of him. He and his brother grew up in an Christian charity orphanage until they were old enough to be emancipated. Billy developed athletic prowess as a teenager and became well-known in Iowa for his local league baseball playing. He was discovered by the coach of the Chicago White Stockings (I'm thinking this was due for an abbreviation before too long!) and joined the pro's at a young age. During a period of great success athletically and professionally, Billy came into contact with the famed Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago and went through a conversion process. Soon he became a devoted student of the Bible and began to lead Bible classes with the YMCA. Eventually this led to an apprenticeship with an evangelist and soon Billy was leading tent revivals all over the Midwest. In the course of time he and his wife grew to national fame and he became a preacher with celebrity similar to that enjoyed by Billy Graham. Along with this came way too much adulation and way too much income which was to have a corrosive effect on his family and ministry. Eventually he is humbled by health problems, staff problems, kid problems, and the near nervous breakdown of his beloved wife. In the end his fame and popularity wane, but a humbler Billy emerges who faithfully preaches in smaller towns and venues until his dying day. Lyle Dorsett does a great job of telling the story neither seeking to deconstruct the life of this great man of God or make him a plaster saint. He does a good job explaining the context of Billy Sunday's life and how many of his foibles as a celebrity preacher were not tied to a lack of integrity but rather his formative years as an orphan. Readers will also learn how Sunday is in the spiritual lineage several other famous ministers including Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell. A good brief, but nuanced treatment of someone who used to be a household name in America but has been forgotten with the passage of time.

Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden

Jonathan Edwards is forever associated with his famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. To read this sermon today without understanding anything about Edwards and his historic context, is to imagine him a wild-eyed fanatic who rejoiced in preaching fire and brimstone judgment to the post puritan masses. In point of fact, Edwards was a studious theologian devoted to caring for his local congregation and his large family. His preaching was nothing spectacular and Sinners was hardly his best work. George Marsden does a wonderful job helping modern Americans understand Edwards and his influence on Christian practice and belief and American culture in general. Marsden helps us to understand the historic milieu of Edwards and the practices of New England society between the Puritan Era and the Revolutionary War. Edwards wasn't an American but a British Colonial who held that God largely governed the world and expanded His kingdom in tandem with established human authority. Edwards was part of that establishment and was well-placed by birth into a dynasty of preacher families who were also tied to governments as well as God. Despite being part of the Colonial establishment, Edwards was a reformer and revivalist who during his times sought to restore the morals, discipline, and Biblical authority of the Church which had grown lax over the years. He was a man often in conflict with authority and with his congregation because he held the Scriptures in greater regard than human ideals. Marsden also paints a warm portrait Edwards and his wife Sarah and how they sought to raise their 7 daughters and 2 sons to carry on the Christian faith and be at peace with God. I have read several other books on Jonathan Edwards and this by far is the best and most engaging. Marsden neither worships nor deconstructs his subject but respectfully and sympathetically tells the story of a truly great man in the Kingdom of God and the American landscape.

Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know and Doesn't by Stephen Prothero

This is a book for every American but it NEEDS to be read by more educators, members of the media, elected officials, and clergy. The central theme of the book is that it is absurd to think about America apart from its religious foundation and to deny it had a religious foundation is to lie about our true history as a nation. The central prescription of the book is that the excision of religious instruction from public schools does our nation a disservice because in reality religion factors huge in our society. Now Prothero is not advocating that we turn our public schools into a Sunday School but rather that in producing an informed and educated citizenry, there should at least be some teaching about the Holy Bible in particular and its central themes and stories which are so much a part of our cultural landscape. He also believes that because America is a melting pot in which people tend to not melt in the area of religion, it would be good for every American student to have a little bit of cultural literacy concerning the other religions of the world. I appreciated Prothero's historic analysis of how we went from teaching our children to read from the Bible in public schools to near hysteria by educators if the Bible is even brought up in class. It was not surprising to read that the removal of religious instruction was something that started with the Supreme Court's rulings of the 1960's but rather began as controversies between Protestants and Catholics during the antebellum period. Since neither side could be satisfied, religious instruction began moving towards morals devoid of any doctrinal belief. I think this book would be especially helpful to those in the news media who are unfamiliar with Christianity especially since it plays such an integral part in the lives of our government leaders and definitely in politics. As a clergyman, I maintain it is the job of parents primarily to inculcate faith in their children through religious instruction at home. I believe the house of worship a family attends should supplement and support parents in this task. Like Prothero, I agree that it is the role of public schools and colleges to foster education and citizenship and to totally ignore religion as a subject in the curriculum is to be out of touch with reality and history.

How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind by Thomas C. Oden

This book makes the assertion that not only did Western Christianity derive most of its leading theological ideas from Africa, but that European scholars have purposefully obscured this fact in the modern era. Why? Although Oden puts it in relatively generous terms, where I come from we call it good old-fashion racism. That said, this is not the central theme of the book. Oden takes the time to explain the geography of the early church on the African continent and the apostolic connections between Alexandria and the Nile Valley, Ethiopia, and the Maghreb (Tunisia, Libya, Algeria). These were hot-beds of Christianity and quite influential in the development of orthodoxy and theological inquiry prior to the Islamic conquests of the 8th Century. Oden builds an extremely good case that the Christianity that is exploding today on the continent of Africa needs to recognize that it didn't come from Europe as an import two centuries ago, but rather came from the Apostles to Africa which in turn went to Europe and then came back to them. The reader is also reminded that some of the great luminaries of the Church such as Augustine, Athanasius, and Origen, were not Hellenized Romans who just happened to live on the continent, but were actually of the indigenous peoples of Africa and retained viewpoints very much in keeping with their cultural identity. While the book may be provocative to some, it is a potent reminder that Christianity is not a European religion but a worldwide religion and always has been.

The Attentive Life:Discerning God's Presence in All Things by Leighton Ford

Leighton Ford, now in his sunset of life, offers us The Attentive Life. This book seems to be several things at once. First, it is a book outlining the significance of the canonical hours as they have been practiced in Benedictine monasteries for more than a millenia. Second, it is a book about life stages and the rites of passage most of us experience as we advance in age. And thirdly, it is spiritual memoir which in many ways confesses that the author has lived anything but an attentive life, but is now reflecting and learning to see God's providential workings in his life both past and present. Each chapter is finished with a short biographical sketch of someone Ford believes lived an attentive life in some way. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's candor and honesty about his relationship with God especially in some of the darker episodes of his life. I also see this book as a model for something more Christian leaders (and, dare I say luminaries) should do for future generations. Autobiographies tend to either 'set the record straight' or offer explanations or success models to follow. A spiritual memoir tends to celebrate God more and tell us how He was faithful through our lives. Its always great to hear how someone accomplished great things with their ministry, but in the end God is all that is really important and insights into how you did something like walk with him through a lifetime are a great service to those of us following in their wake. Just a sidebar--Ford treats Benedictine spirituality in a completely uncritical fashion. He speaks of going to retreats at a monastery as if this is something all Christians do or would do if they could. I have no problem with my Catholic brothers and sisters observing a religious life (monasticism) even though I am a committed evangelical. What I do see in this is that evangelicals have a lesser (or poorly developed) tradition of spirituality than do the Catholics. We are great activists, Biblicists, and ecclesiologists, but we need to develop a richer legacy with our spirituality. Perhaps The Attentive Life will help lead the way.

Water From a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries

Just like any gemstone is enhanced by a beautiful setting, author Gerald Sittser has taken 2000 years of the history of Christian spirituality and made it shine by helping us to understand its particular context in time and application in the present. Sittser points us to the saints of old and tells us what makes them extraordinary is they believed there was “more, much more” they could expect to receive from God and that is our spiritual birthright. In some cases the ancients have some very relevant lessons for today’s Church. For instance the strong community life and corporate disciplines of the early church stand in contrast to the individualistic emphasis of today’s Christians who readily change congregations based on ‘felt needs’ and personal aspirations. Another lesson comes from the emphasis on the sacraments from the Middle Ages. While they may have held beliefs that were not totally rooted in the scripture, they were keenly aware they had no self-sufficiency before God and in humbly receiving the sacraments, they were receiving nourishment for their souls. Perhaps the best part of the book is his chapter on missionaries called “Risk”. Here we read about the great missionaries of the 19^th century and are led to the realization that God doesn’t look for perfection but rather passion for Him in those He uses mightily. Sittser charges all of us to become saints today. Not the saints of ages past who lived in monasteries, the deserts of Egypt, or died in the arena. Instead he believes we should become secular saints. People who believe God cares about this world and this life and will endeavor to faithfully, gracefully, and in a million small ways, live in such a way as to bring the truth of God beyond the confines of the Church to a lost and hurting planet. This book is history at its best helping us to see not only our heritage, but the possibilities for living faithfully tomorrow.

Rewarding Long-term Marriage

I've been mulling over a statistic I read the other day in Family News from Dr. James Dobson that boggles my mind: the cost of divorce and it's aftermath to American taxpayers is nearly $112 billion dollars a year. Truth be told, I'm not totally shocked by this as I have a daughter who went through a particularly difficult divorce last year. She has received help from the state without which she couldn't begin to get back on her feet again even with child support from her ex-husband and help from her extended family. But this is not going to be a preachy piece on how we need to strengthen the institution of marriage in our country. We have tons of people (like Dr. Dobson) already doing that and doing it well on many levels. What I believe would be helpful would be a public policy that rewarded people for number of years married (to the same person of course!). Couples that succeed in their marriage over a lifetime often contribute far more to society than they ever receive and in some cases are the backbone of their communities. Why shouldn't their choice to stay together, work out their differences, and raise children from an unbroken home be recognized with an extra tax deduction or a one-year hiatus from property taxes. People always tend to do what is in their best interests especially when their behavior is recognized and rewarded. This is something every kindergarten teacher knows and something our congress ought to.

The Last Jihad by Joel C. Rosenberg

I am not a novel reader for many good reasons. A lot of it has to do with the old adage “truth is stranger than fiction” and I might add to that a lot more interesting. That said, I had two events come together recently that led me to read The Last Jihad by best-selling author Joel C. Rosenberg. Recently I had been watching Glenn Beck on CNN and he had Rosenberg on his program talking about the possibility that the current events in the Middle East are moving towards the end of days scenarios that are prominent in the Old Testament and the book of Revelation. This is not Beck’s usual fare and I was quite impressed that Rosenberg has actually been used in an advisory capacity to the Pentagon on this subject which itself is quite a surprise. The other event that led me to read Rosenberg’s book was that it was put on my desk by our Church librarian asking for my approval. Even though Rosenberg’s works are hot sellers in Christian bookstores across America, my librarian knows I feel books of the “fulfilled prophecy” genre are pretty much anathema (greek for “cursed of God”) to me (yes, I belong to that group of 12 or so who didn’t read any of the Left Behind series). So these two events happening in quick succession led me to at least a tentative conclusion that God wanted me to read this particular book and so I did. Here are my thoughts on The Last Jihad in no particular order of importance: 1.) It didn’t seem overly taut or riveting. I could put it down and I never sacrificed sleep so I could read just one more chapter. 2.) It did have a good tenable plot centered around nuclear intervention on Iraq in retaliation for an attempt to assassinate the POTUS, Queen of England, and Saudi Royal Family in a protracted terrorist strike. 3.) Even though the author is a Christian, he didn’t use the dialogue as a means of preaching to the reader. The references were certainly there and Christian faith was present but in a natural way. 4.) It sets forth an idea that would make Israel the center of world conflict: the discovery of the largest oil deposit in the world. With our current hunger for energy and other nations competing for crude oil, this could bring all the armies of the East and West if push came to shove. I probably won’t ready anymore of Rosenberg’s novels (unless God tells me to!) but I would recommend his work to anyone searching for novels concerning Biblical prophecy.

Generous and American

I’ve just finished Arthur C. Brooks article “A Nation of Givers” in The American (April/May 2008). The article gives hard statistics to some things I’ve known both intuitively and anecdotally for years namely that as a whole, Americans are far more generous with charitable giving than all other Western countries but also that the backbone of charitable giving is the poor and middle-class who tend to donate money and volunteer time in greater proportion to their income than their wealthy counterparts (low income families give 4.5% of annual income to charity while those making more than $100,000 per annum give just 3%). The religiously active and politically conservative person also tends to give more money both formally and informally than their secular and politically liberal counterpart as well. In other words, Churchgoers who believe the government needs to cut back on social programs will predictably support their house of worship, but will also give far more to charitable causes that help the poor and disadvantaged in their community. They also tend to be the people who will stop by a bank and leave a check for someone they don’t even know who needs a liver transplant that they read about in the newspaper. One surprising note that Brooks made in the article is that religious people are 25% more likely to support non-religious but worthy causes (health, safety, and common good of people) and 21% more likely to volunteer their time to these same causes than their secular counterparts. What is truly fascinating is the statistics Brooks supplies on “forced” giving to the disadvantaged through higher tax rates, versus volunteer giving. A 10% increase in the GDP per person would lead to basically a 9% increase in charitable giving the next year. Conversely a 10% increase in taxation (forced giving) to fund social programs for the disadvantaged would lead to only 3% increase in the GDP. When people are making more because of a robust economy, it spurs them on to greater generosity which in turn is much better for the economy. The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver but in light of this it would seem the American public ought to be grateful and our lawmakers should take notice that volunteered generosity is far greater force for the common good than coerced redistribution of wealth.

Supporting our Democracy

My father-in-law Ray Angel is one of those outgoing people who makes friends everywhere he goes. 10 years ago we went to Washington DC for a day of prayer on the Mall that attracted about 1 million men from all over the US. Before the day was over, I swear Ray knew at least half of them. Aside from being a man of God, my father-in-law is also a patriot. He is a veteran, worked in the carpenters union most of his life, and strongly believes in democracy and justice for all citizens. The other day he came up with a great idea which he felt would unite Americans of all political persuasions and show solidarity at a time when America really does need to come together. I think his idea has some merit and so I share it with you in its entirety:

" There are just over seven months until the election, an election that will decide the next President of the United States. The person elected will be the president of all Americans, not just the Democrats or the Republicans. To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all came together, Democrats and Republicans alike. If you support the policies and character of John McCain, please drive with your headlights on during the day. If you support Obama or Hillary, please drive with your headlights off at night. "

Now that's an idea I think many of us can embrace!

My Life by Bill Clinton

The only thing more baffling than people who write 1000 page autobiographies are the people who actually read them! I voted for Bush I in ’92 and Bob “ED” Dole in ’96 but was still curious about the wild popularity of Bill Clinton and hoping to hear his side of the story of what happened during his presidency. In my opinion, My Life is very illuminating when he describes his early years which included his father’s death before his birth, being raised by a young widow who left him with his grandparents while she attended nursing school, and then growing up with a step father whose alcoholism eventually broke up the family. Having known other men who have grown up in similar family systems, they learn to observe, negotiate, and survive. Unfortunately many who grow up in such homes have serious personal struggles we don’t always recognize, but in Bill Clinton’s life these skills were applied to the political life in such a way that the moniker “comeback kid” was quite apropo. There are times when Clinton waxes eloquent about race relations and civil rights for blacks and how these things were part of what he was taught and personally believed as a child. My untamed inner-cynic says this is true in much the same way a lot of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln stories are, but who knows? Maybe he really was socially aware in the south of the 1950’s. The run-down on his years as president were fairly engaging. As an evangelical Christian I was often appalled at his social policies regarding abortion and homosexuals, but I also deeply appreciated others such as family leave to take care of sick parents or to welcome the birth of a child. Clinton was also a strong promoter of religious liberty especially in the public schools which was virtually ignored by his detractors. With regards to Clinton’s economic policies I had no problems. He taxed more, but he cut our deficit down and compared to the idiotic mess we are in today, it sounds downright conservative to insist outgo be related to income in some way. You’ll hear nothing of the lurid details about Monica Lewinsky. Clinton assumes we either know the story all too well or wishes we wouldn’t. You will hear about what happened at his house when he finally confessed to Hillary and Chelsea and the whole nation his misdeeds. Ouch. Can you say “Ice Box”? To his credit, he makes no excuses for his behavior and did get marriage counseling and spiritual growth counseling from several well-known evangelical ministers. He also has some strong opinions about the Al Gore-George Bush election showdown which are compelling in light of setting bad legal precedents for the future. The other side of this is that Gore’s “victory” is at odds with reality. Time Magazine and other media paid Florida for their own recount after the court intervention in 2000 and by every measurement, Bush won the popular vote. While I do consider this book a very celebratory form of history, it did explain his side of policy that was frequently obscured by the many acrimonies that seem to freely float in Washington DC. My Life states quite directly that Bill Clinton truly enjoyed being the president even with its hardships and that comes off as the most believable part of the book.

Characters and Events of Roman History by Guglielmo Ferrero

As a long time student of Roman history I have burned up many hours of my life reading some very interesting and not-so-interesting books on this expansive topic. Ferrero was a Roman historian in the early twentieth century and a professor and author with much acclaim in his day. So much so, that he was invited by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1908 to come to the United States and deliver a series of lectures which forms the basis of this book. Each chapter is a lecture and retains the style and feel of a public presentation much as I have always imagined Chataqua Lectures must have been like. Kind of “edu-tainment on steroids”. What will certainly not be missed by today’s reader is his almost prophetic comparisons between modern Europe and the Roman Empire. He speaks of how Rome, once it had achieved a certain level of wealth and luxury, went into negative birth rates causing a “famine of men” which made possible the radical reordering and decline of the empire by the barbarian incursions. It isn’t rocket science to note that Europe has had a negative birth rate for decades and the result is a radical demographic, social, and religious shift caused by large numbers of non-European immigrants. Like the “barbarian invasions” of late antiquity, it was far from all bad and perhaps some of the new immigrants will revitalize and renew some aspects of Europe which have grown old and tired with time. Another prescient observation Ferrero made in his day was that Europe was built around the wedding of Christianity and the idea of Empire it inherited from Rome, but seems to be jettisoning its intellectual patrimony and moving more towards the political ideals of Rome. One certainly sees today a Europe which is almost embarrassed about its Christian past and yet unified economically and more and more politically. Ferrero makes an almost startling observation about the tyrannical emperor Nero and St. Paul that still has me scratching my chin. He makes a case that Nero set the stage for a wider and broader acceptance of Christianity because of his importation and popularizing of all things oriental in the arts and letters. As these things became more Roman, Christianity seemed less eastern. This synergy, he suggests, reached its zenith in the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages and Renaissance where art and Christian teaching ruled the hearts and minds of most Europeans. Obviously not a book for everyone, but an enjoyable synthesis for those who know even the rudiments of Roman history.

Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ by John G. Turner

Billy Graham will always be America's greatest preacher, but I have long maintained that his equal in terms of sheer influence was Bill Bright. John G. Turner does an excellent job in Bill Bright and Campus Crusade: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America giving us the context and history of this intriguing man and his ministry. Bill Bright was a young man from Oklahoma who moved out west to Los Angeles to seek his fortune in business. After some moderate successes, Bright was converted to faith in Jesus Christ and for the rest of his life he devoted his considerable energies towards evangelizing the world. But unlike Billy Graham, Bill Bright's greatest influence was not in his preaching, but in his entrepreneurial approach to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 1965 Bright wrote the famous Four Spiritual Laws which have been read and used 10's of millions of times in personal evangelism the world over. This was developed to make the gospel message easy to present, easy to understand, and start and end on its positives. Attesting to its effectiveness, it is available now in 150 languages. Another of Bright's accomplishments is the Jesus Film Project. He took a movie that was a painful flop in American theaters and turned it into a worldwide phenomena having resulted in 230 million commitments to follow Christ. Although these ideas clicked, Turner also points out that Bill Bright had many ideas fail and fail miserably. Bright had set the audacious goals of evangelizing the entire United States by 1976 and the rest of the world by 1980. He also had a vision to start a major university which nearly bankrupted the entire ministry before it failed. His Campus Ministry is still going strong and is regarded as one of the largest collegiate campus groups in America and yet has done little to change the tide of secularism in American students. But the larger point is Bill Bright was a man who was willing to dream big and take big risks for the sake of the Kingdom. Another aspect of his life that I found very admirable was that he dealt with millions of dollars and was in every respect a CEO, but lived a very moderate lifestyle and steered away from the scandals that have rocked so many other ministries. Along the way he also ruffled feathers and broken relationships. Once again to his credit, in the last years of his life he purposefully sought out many of these people and made amends. This book is far from a panegyric about Bill Bright. In fact in some places you want to cringe and say "what was he thinking!?" But on the other hand, I found Bill Bright's obvious tenderness and dedication to Jesus Christ quite inspirational and though he had his flaws, he attempted to offer the Lord more than most men ever attempt.

On Economic Indicators and Happiness

Everybody saw it coming. Real Estate values going up so fast that in some markets people were “day trading” meaning they were buying a property in the morning and selling it at a profit in the afternoon. The stock market was heating up to record high numbers along with speculation on barrels of oil for some future shortage that hasn’t seemed to materialize yet. Meanwhile our government wages war using subcontractors who patriotically post record profits all at the expense of the next few generations of Americans. Now awash in national debt, the dollar has tanked and with that the value of our savings evaporates in the inflationary spiral. Whenever people are 'getting rich quick' you can bet the farm that things will go the other way just as fast. Moneywise, the news is bad and quite frankly no one worth listening to on economics thinks things are going to improve for a few years. Like I’m sure you have been doing, the last few months have been a steady series of small adjustments. The $30 fill-up is pushing $50, sit-down restaurant dinners are now at home with “take and bake pizza”, and we won’t be getting a flat screen TV with our economic stimulus package but rather paying off a credit card balance which has been creeping in the wrong direction since last November. But I am particularly happy about two adjustments our economic problems have forced me to make. First, I am realizing how wasteful and consumptive my lifestyle has become. I’m turning off lights that don’t really need to be on. Trips to the store are planned with multiple errands and not just for a gallon of milk and I’m planting less flowers and more vegetables in my yard this year. Second, and more importantly, it has made me realize how much worldthink has penetrated my outlook. If our only index of present and future happiness is the economy doing well, then we are impoverished already. Slowly but surely, I am developing a ‘new index of happiness’ that is less material and more spiritual. Jesus Christ rightly tells us our lives really are much more than we possess and anxiety over this is both faithless and futile (Matthew chapter 6). Perhaps we would all be better served by basing our happiness on having a thriving relationship with the God who loves us, a host of friendships where we give and take, and a lifestyle that is noted for its simplicity rather than extravagance. This kind of wealth is far more certain to produce happiness in the long run and far less prone to disappear when times get hard.