Guidelines for Voting

Jim Skillen of the the Center for Public Justice has been doing election year articles. His last is entitled, "Guidelines for Voting". Dr. Skillen is a thoughtful, balanced, and insightful writer. I encourage you to read this and the other articles in the series.

So I'm not accused of political bias, I'm posting this link without first reading Guidelines for Voting. I trust that Dr. Skillen's work will be helpful to all who read it.

For Rumination

Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die.

--From Eco Vista

Deep Thinkers, Good Communicators

Church and society are often misled by people offering simplistic, one-sided answers to the big issues of their time. They pretend to know what they are talking about, even though they lack the necessary expertise. Evangelicalism, especially, with its strong anti-intellectual strain, has often—whether one thinks of eschatology, science, family life, or politics—been badly served by popularizers and activists with simplistic ideas and superficial solutions. Nor will that change unless more people with good scholarly training become effective popularizers and successful activists.

Ron Sider in his article Needed: A Few More Scholars/ Popularizers/Activists: Personal Reflections on my Journey

Good to be an Adult?

The essence of childhood is innocence. The essence of youth is awareness. The essence of adulthood is responsibility.
Andy Crouch in Culture Making

We live in a culture that celebrates youth. It seems to be the best time of life. Filled with fun, laughter, and a certain ease. We are so enamored with youth that most people spend their lives trying to get back to it. But what if the time of youth, while being good, is not the best? What is being a person of responsibility is the best? The kind of person who Andy Crouch speaks of in his book. The kind of person who takes on the task, along with others in the community of faith (and in community) to shape culture so that it reflects the heart of God. If being responsible leads to doing great things for God, even shaping culture for God (think Abraham Kuypers, "There is not one square inch of this world that Christ as King does not delcare, "that belongs to me") isn't it worth growing up? Maybe it's even worth celebrating being an adult.

For more on Andy Crouch's book see two excellent reviews. One by Gideon Strauss and the other by John Seel.

More from Jeremiah

There is a book that talks about the Idols of our Time. It talks about such things as nationalism, trust in weapons and so on. Jeremiah in his eleventh chapter states, 13 For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal. Your gods have become as many as your cities. I haven't done research into this one, but my best guess is that Jeremiah is referring to the fact that each city had its own patron deity for protection. It was a fairly regular thing in the Ancient Near East for cities to have their own central god.

It leaves me wondering about the gods that we have, have they become as many as our cities? Certainly we have the overall god of our culture, the god of consumerism. It is a god that right now is dying in the midst of this huge economic downturn, and as our god dies we are terrified. But beyond the big god, what local deities do we have that we worship? John Calvin talks about an idol being anything we trust in alongside of or in the place of God. It's always hard to figure out just what those idols might be. When does something good that we enjoy become an idol? When do sports move from the category of something we enjoy to something that we trust in? Does it have anything to do with time and investment? When we invest more time in such things than we invest in God, have they become idols? Or does it have to do with intent? When we do these things for our glory, for our kids glory rather than for the glory of God, do they become idols? Or one more. When these things take us away from the community of faith where we have promised to care for and be cared for, grow others and be grown by them, does that make them idols? Or when does something important become something we trust in? Like, when does our concern for keeping our children safe make an idol of either our children or of safety?

I'm guessing that most of us, myself included, don't think too deeply about the idols of our times. We are more likely to justify our idols than confront them. We are more likely to rationalize our idols that seeing how they control us. But could it be that Jeremiah's words ring as true today as they did 2600 years ago, "For your gods have become as many as your cities...."

Jeremiah's uncomfortable thoughts...

The book of Jeremiah is filled with the kind of words that make one think deeply. As I made my way through chapters 10-12 there were more than enough thoughts that made me pause. Here ia one for today, another coming tomorrow:
10.21 For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.
This verse brings to mind a reality that I'm facing more and more. The need to let the word (Sola Scriptura) be the guide for my life. I know that those in Pentecostal circles speak of visions, dreams, etc. I don't doubt that God graciously speaks to some in that way, but my experience on such things is extremely spotty at best. Each time I am tempted to go down that path it seems that it drives me back to the Scriptures as the only true and solid foundation for life, practice, direction. Shepherds who seek other paths or at the very least don't take their dreams, visions etc. and hold them up against God's word seem to follow the path of those stupid shepherds. By the way, doesn't calling people stupid seem harsh in our context? Yet, what else is a person who doesn't inquire of the Lord?
By the way, inquiring of the Lord in this context is all wrapped up with knowing, understanding, and living out the covenant. To inquire means to find out how God wants you to live in light of the covenant.

Take Five

We're starting a new series at EverGreen this weekend. It's called "Take Five". As we enter into this week where the Protestant Reformation is celebrated (same day as Halloween) we decided to look at the five central teachings to come out of the reformation. They are often called the five solas (Latin for "only" or "alone"). The five solas are: Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, and God's glory alone.

As we explore each one of these over the next five weeks, our weekly Bible study "getting dusty" will be tracking both scripture and creeds that teach the five solas. This is a different format than we've used for the past couple of years, but if you are interested in digging deeply into foundational matters of the faith that impact the way we live and the way we love God and our neighbor, this is a great way to dig in. You can download the "getting dusty" at EverGreen's website. Dusty is found under the weekly getting dusty section.

Why we stay at home

There has been a great deal written and even more spoken over the past months about why we don't vote, yet the answers are less likely to be found in current behaviours than they are in the subtleties of post-modern thinking.

We live in a consumer society; one in which the dominant although not exclusive trend is to assess the value of the products we purchase and the activities we engage in by the benefits they bring to us as individuals.

This articulates itself in the reasons for low voter turnout that I hear in the course of my studies and travels across the country.

The most frequent is that "I don't know if I'll vote because I don't agree with everything any of the candidates has to say" or, in other words, there is no single party or candidate that affirms us individually -- at least not at the level required to inspire us to return the favour by going to the polls and affirming the ambitions of one of the candidates.

When we don't see ourselves fully represented in the choices placed before us as consumers, we therefore fail to see sufficient value in the exchange of goods or services and choose not to buy into or participate in the process.

Ray Pennings of Cardus

Why we stay at home

The most common cause cited for irregular church attendance is not lack of faith in God, it is the churches' inability to meet our individual needs.

So, while we once went to church in order to serve and praise God, we are now more inclined to assess the value of church attendance based on the service it provides us.

--Ray Pennings of Cardus

Ray's comments make me wonder about how our new attitude fits in with the words of 1 Peter 2.9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

In Need

The latest World Bank figures for world poverty reveals a higher number of people live in poverty than previously thought. For example, the new poverty line is defined as $1.25 a day. 1.4 billion people live on or below that line. Furthermore, almost half the world—over three billion people—live on less than $2.50 a day and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.

Just the Facts

More on the campaign and when that truth gets stretched...

A Thought

"We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization."

A Funny

The Bible has a way of making jokes that are usually understated. This morning as I was reading in the book of Acts I caught one of those light/funny moments in the midst of a crisis (remember from your English classes how in the midst of tension a writer will often break the tension with a bit of humor?). James has just been killed by Herod. Peter is in prison and the next day is execution. But then an angel shows up. Here's the text: 6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. The funny? The angel strikes Peter on the side. Why not a gentle, pastoral nudge? You can see the angel kind of winding up and whacking him. It's a funny picture. Another thing. Which one of us would have been so calm in the face of death to need a good whack to the side to wake up on the night before our execution?

Worst Ideas

Foreign Policy is a leading journal that informs and critiques. Recently they came out with the 10 worst ideas of John McCain and Barch Obama. It is worth a read as we listen to their ideas and especially as we listen to the debates.