Category: Culture

Be a Voice for Life

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   The week of Jan. 20-27 is Sanctity of Human Life Week, marking the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions that legalized abortion in the United States.

   In that time, millions of babies have been murdered in our country in what has been one of the greatest tragedies in history. This year, when we will elect a leader in the United States, there will be much talk about abortions and politics. How much of an issue should it be? Perhaps the best way to answer that is to ask yourself another question: How much do you know about abortion? Those wanting more education can go here for more information.
   And if you say, “Well, that’s just one issue, should it dictate who I vote for?” then I’d suggest reading this, especially if you call yourself a Christian.
   Here is just one excerpt from that article that I’ll share with you:

No endorsement of any single issue qualifies a person to hold public office. Being pro-life does not make a person a good governor, mayor, or president. But there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor—that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office.

   This isn’t just a once-a-year kind of issue. This is something that happens every day in our society. It’s too big to ignore. Make your voice heard. There is no middle ground.

Juno — Some thoughts

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With Juno now out in wide release, there has been plenty of buzz about it. While a movie about teens exploring sex might not seem like a good thing in conservative circles, it has generated favorable reviews from more than one writer extolling its — even if it’s unintentional — pro-life viewpoint.

There is some hesitation in this household to have my 14-year-old daughter see it since the family movie guide I read in the paper talks about a “discreet sex scene” that opens the movie. “Discreet?” The point is, teen pregnancy is something worth talking about and it is good to see a movie not coming from an expressly Christian viewpoint giving a favorable view to saving a baby’s life, even when it is inconvenient for the mother and the alternative would not be frowned on (by the non-Christian world).

Life is more than Husker football

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    When I was younger, I lived and died sports. I mean, if I wasn’t out in the back yard throwing the ball around to some imaginary receiver or seeing how far I could throw a baseball, I was down at empty lot behind the Lutheran Church playing whatever sport was in season with my neighborhood buddies.
    That was all before we had sports on television every possible minute. There was no ESPN, no Internet and the local sports pages of the Daily Globe were my window to the “world” of sports. I could hardly imagine a thing as “too much sports.”
    Yet that is exactly the kind of thing I think about these days. It used to be you talked about the weather when you didn’t know what else to converse about. Now it’s sports because it’s everywhere. I know and hear more than I care to know about the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, Alex Rodriguez, Tom Brady and on and on. There is no mystery.
    Even in a simple state like Nebraska, we have created our own obsession — Nebraska football. This season’s woeful team has become an all-encompassing drama to be dissected, analyzed, mulled over, debated, meditated on and digested like it is the very meaning of existence for people in this state. What may have once been an enjoyable distraction (remember, that’s what sports were once at one time a long time ago?) has become main stage.
    I refuse to yield, however. I want my life back. Sports are fun, but they’re not everything. Remember when you could enjoy the company of someone without calculating what time you will need to be back to listen to a radio, watch a TV or check the Internet for a score or report? Remember conversations that were more than a handful of words?
    Remember when Sundays were for worshiping and not for recounting what happened the previous afternoon? Do you think God is amused? Do you think He cares to share the spotlight with our ridiculously unsatisfying deity? Perhaps He’s sad. Or angry.
    Maybe we could spare a few moments of our time to think about him. Turn off the TV.

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It’s good to be one of God’s people

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This afternoon and early this evening, my family and I had a chance to gather together with our church family for a hayride. It was a beautiful, sunny, windy afternoon and just the right kind of fall weather for such an activity.

While it was a purely social activity, I couldn’t help come away feeling blessed by being together with people who love God and, because they do, love to encourage others. It has been a hard week at my house and there was some consideration given to not going at all. After all, the reasoning went, we could use the rest and time together as a family. This kind of thinking is not unusual, I think, in circles among Christians. There is a real danger, I think, of almost worshiping the immediate family and turning it into some kind of idol.

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Be a coronary Christian

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The idea of slavery in this day and age is almost universally rejected. We have just had Presidents Day this past Monday, which is a day we use to honor many presidents. Primarily we think of great men like Abraham Lincoln, who played a pivotal role in our country’s ending the practice of slavery.

In Great Britain, the slave trade was ended in 1807 (and, slavery was abolished in 1833). The man who played the major role in that was politician William Wilberforce, who I note here because it was his deep religious conviction that led him to battle in Parlaiment for 20 years to see it through. The final vote to end the slave trade came at 4 a.m. on Feb. 24, 1807. The final vote to end slavery in total came only three days before he died in 1833.

Opening Friday is a movie called “Amazing Grace,” which tells Wilberforce’s life story. Although it is not playing here in Grand Island, I look forward to seeing it when it does play and I strongly hope others will see it as well. It is not often that a person who was a deeply committed Christian is held up for public acclaim like Wilberforce is in this movie. Because of the social issue addressed — slavery — he is held in high regard. But it is only because of his faith that he was able to accomplish this.

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Great lyrics, updated music

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There has been a renewed interest the last several years in worship music, specifically hymns. Many of my favorite recording artists have recorded worship albums, among them Michael W. Smith, Third Day and Jars of Clay. Of those, I would have said that that Jars of Clay’s “Redemption Songs” has been one of my favorites for the way they breathed new life into some great, old songs through updated music.

In the last month or so, I was introduced to the music of Matthew Smith and I have to say that it has been incredibly uplifting. Smith, who has sung lead with the group Indelible Grace, released his first full-length solo album in 2006, entitled “All I Owe.” It is a collection of hymns that have been updated musically. The result is a treasure of 10 songs whose lyrics powerfully minister while sung to very accessible music.

It has been my pleasure to be introduced to great hymns like “The Lord Will Provide,”My Lord I Did Not Choose You,” and “All I Owe” while reconnecting in a new way with hymns like “Jesus I Am Resting” and “Thy Blood Was Shed For Me.” You don’t have to be a hymn-lover (although you should be!) to enjoy this album.

And if you like that, you’ll appreciate the work of Indelible Grace because the group has been devoted to putting the words of hymns to updated music. It is like finding new treasure when you hear some of these great hymns that have been brought back so we may worship God through them. And, ultimately, we can treasure God more through them.

Currently, you can buy “All I Owe’ at the iTunes Store and online (and at your local music store, if you are old school). The Indelible Grace albums are not available at the iTunes Store, but can be purchased online at the link provided.

I’ve got your back

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Today, Feb. 19, is the 62nd anniversary of the beginning of the battle at Iwo Jima during World War II. With the recent release of two movies, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, this past year there has been attention redirected to this strategic battle for this generation that seems so unwilling to stomach war.

Recently, I listened to a message from John Piper where he referenced this battle and how it applies to the mentality of a Christian. He delivered this message on Sept. 23, 2001, just after the attacks of 9/11. Even though passions have waned since then, I think the message still is important for this day:

When I first thought of this message last summer I was reading the history of the battle of Iwo Jima, an eight-mile-square island of volcanic rock 600 miles south of Tokyo. February 19, 1945, 800 American ships amassed to assault the island with its two strategic air strips. The Marines fought a total of 43 months in the Pacific in World War II, and in this one-month assault on Iwo Jima they incurred 1/3 of their total losses. They took the island, but left behind the largest cemeteries in the Pacific: 6,800 American Marines dead, most of them were 18-20 years old.

The application that I had in my mind to this message was this – and now with the crisis we are in today it is all the more powerful and relevant: We are feeling some of the reality of what it means to be at war. I was going to point out that if Christians really saw the world for what it is, we would know and feel that we are always in war. Satan is a powerful enemy, deceiver, and murderer, and he tries to highjack every good plan and purpose of your life and use it to destroy. Our own flesh and indwelling sin are like covert, welcoming bases of operation for this evil. The casualties are not only bodies lost for time, but souls lost for eternity.

A wartime mindset and a radical vigilance and a disciplined use of our spiritual armor are essential, if we are not to be lulled into the stupor of a peacetime mentality. And the armor I speak of is not sword, or bullets, or bombs, or tanks, or grenades, but the word of the cross and prayer and love and suffering for the sake of Christ. How much more do we feel this spiritual wartime sense of urgency today!

And then I was going to ask: How did these marines do it? How did they run behind each other into the thickest machine gun fire imaginable? The second battalion sent 1,688 boys ashore into the face of those guns. 1,511 were killed. 177 left the island. 91 of those were injured. What kept them going?

Of course there is no one simple answer. But one answer that came out over and over in this book, Flags of our Fathers (New York: Bantam Books, 2000), was this: Those are my buddies, and they need me. James Bradley, the author, commented, “These boys would fight to the death for one another. And that motive made them invincible” (p. 147).

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Christmas cards

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How many of you have sent out Christmas cards/newsletters this year? We are not regular in this tradition and I know it doesn’t always sit well with my wife. So this year we actually had our family portrait taken and picture cards made. We also composed a letter to summarize our year and send along with the photos.

My contention is that these types of correspondence are so formal that they almost have no meaning other than saying “hi” via a letter or card. Maybe I’m too cynical and I need to change my attitude. After all, saying “hi” is better than not saying anything. My problem is that I want to say more than space will reasonably allow and then I feel like no one really cares about all my news anyway. That’s called being a self editor and it can really stand in the way of being a decent friend if you let it get out of hand.

So, even though the new year is still a few weeks away, I resolve to change my ways regarding corresponding and instead be more sharing. That means not waiting for Christmas to actually sit down a write a letter to someone (not just e-mail) who I haven’t heard from or spoken to in awhile.

And, to keep this from being just about me, a good way to start is to find out an address of a missionary your church supports and write that person a letter. While this might seem like a daunting task, remember this: Just a short note saying you’re praying for them or even thinking about them goes a long way.