You, me, vicars of large things

Sometimes truths you already know are expressed in ways that are exhilaratingly new to you. So it is with a poem I just discovered, and this which I’ve received I pass along to you.

I Was Vicar of Large Things

I was vicar of large things
in a small parish. Small-minded
I will not say, there were depths
in some of them I shrank back
from, wells that the word “God”
fell into and died away,
and for all I know is still
falling. Who goes for water
to such must prepare for a long
wait. Their eyes looked at me
and were the remains of flowers
on an old grave. I was there,
I felt, to blow on ashes
that were too long cold. Often
when I thought they were about
to unbar to me, the draught
out of their empty places
came whistling so that I wrapped
myself in the heavier clothing
of my calling, speaking of light and love
in the thickening shadows of their kitchens.

~R. S. Thomas

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ForTheHope’s Daily Audio Bible is, well, a daily audio Bible reading.. We read through the New Testament in about 10 months and the Old Testament in about 14 months with a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. And all that blah blah blah means nothing if he doesn’t help you fall more in love with Jesus and the people in Jesus’ world.

If trust in organized religion is low, now what?

In 1975, Americans’ trust in “the church or organized religion” as at 68%. In 2019, that number was 36%. The study’s authors speculate that a variety of scandals involving everything from televangelists to Catholic priests is to blame.

Of course, we must remember that The Enemy has a rather brilliant PR department. He must, given that Jesus is the only perfectly trustworthy person that ever graced the planet.

Most of us work side by side with colleagues in secular workplaces. Put another way, most of us aren’t in places where we influence mass media or wield big platforms wherefrom to proclaim the truth.

And I’d argue most of us shouldn’t try.

Rather, even as messages of truth are dismissed, lifestyles of trustworthiness are hard to argue against. As Paul puts it,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things. (Ga 5:22–23, CSB)

What will happen is that people will wonder why you’re different, why you don’t spend time complaining the way others in their lives do, why you have joy despite the world being a mess. And that will create cognitive dissonance for them as they experience the reality of Jesus in and through you.

None of this is new. Remember Nero (falsely) blaming Christians for Rome burning?

Let them say what they want. Just make sure the people you know experience something different.

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ForTheHope’s Daily Audio Bible is, well, a daily audio Bible reading.. We read through the New Testament in about 10 months and the Old Testament in about 14 months with a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. And all that blah blah blah means nothing if he doesn’t help you fall more in love with Jesus and the people in Jesus’ world.

The confusion of tolerance and responding with questions

In contemporary western culture, it’s not uncommon for people to so identify with an idea that disagreeing with them is tantamount to an attack on their personhood. In some academic circles some have even postulated that expressing propositional truth as “true for all people” is tantamount to micro-aggression.

One obviously challenge with such a position is that it fails its own test. “Saying something is true for all people is wrong” is itself a statement for all people. It’s a contradiction and therefore false.

Closer to home, it’s not a livable idea. No one can actually live without accepting that some things are true, and if you ask them something crazy like, “Is torturing babies for fun okay? Isn’t that just wrong for all people, even if they were to assert that it’s their culture, heritage, or religion?”

The classic version of “tolerance” is that all people have equal value, but it denies that all ideas have equal value. In such a context, we are to be gentle and respectful of someone’s right to disagree. And disagreement means you have something to tolerate.

The contemporary version of “tolerance” has come to mean that affirming the value of people means affirming the their ideas or choices as true. It’s the consequence of failing to see people and ideas as separate.

Consequently, one simple conversational skill to develop is to answer a question with a couple questions, beginning with, “Do you value tolerance?” Most likely they will say, “Of course!” And to this you follow up with, “So if I express a perspective that is different than yours, you’ll tolerate me?”

Remember, even though they’ll have trapped themselves into answering the second question affirmatively, our goal is never to “win” or back them into a corner  — it’s to answer the person (not, per se, the question). Gentleness and respect are always the order of the day, because people are not ideas.

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What if we recognized their issue as fear?

Most modern freedom is, at root, fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities. ~ G.K. Chesterton

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Look at any given person, any person on the planet, near or far. What would you see if you saw them, purely, with the eyes of God?

One thing you’d see is someone who is bent toward hiding from God much like Adam and Eve after the fall (Ge 3:10). It’s not the only thing God sees, but importantly it is a consequence of sin that we have all inherited from them.

Now imagine looking at that person, seeing them as hiding from God. 

Like Adam and Eve, some people might try to hide (as if that were possible). Some numb themselves. Some shake their fist and yell at others that God is just an invention to help us face the fear of death (which, rather ironically, is one explanation of a motivation toward atheism…to avoid the god-with-a-capital-g question).

Whatever their reason, how might our heart-response change if what we see is someone that is simply afraid of the responsibility they have for the consequences of their sin?

What if, no matter what they portray on the outside, we saw them as full of fear?

I imagine how we might respond to a child or puppy full of fear. We’d likely soften our approach. Perhaps if we got better at recognizing the root issue as fear we’d be a little quicker to respond with love, patience, and gentleness.

7 Links of life & Learning (October 15, 2021)

Sorting through the noise to save you time…

This week’s 7 links:

1. Bible: Four things we learn from the story of the woman at the well.

2. Apologetics: Does the existence of great evil mean a perfectly good and infinitely powerful creator cannot exist? Common question/objection, plain language answer.

3. Faith and science: Tom Gilson lays out a brilliant a brilliant challenge….what fables of science do you believer?

4. God’s amazing creation: …in the form of a seriously cool pic of a shark.

5. Culture: Think censorship is the Christian’s biggest social media problem? Here’s an interesting, and healthy, take.

6. Faith@Work: A theology of what love looks like at work.

7. Trends: More people are thinking about meaning and purpose.

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ForTheHope’s Daily Audio Bible is, well, a daily audio Bible reading.. We read through the New Testament in about 10 months and the Old Testament in about 14 months with a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. And all that blah blah blah means nothing if he doesn’t help you fall more in love with Jesus and the people in Jesus’ world.

7 Links of life & Learning (October 8)

Sorting through the noise to save you time…

This week’s 7 links:

1. Marriage: 10 thoughts on marriage from Paul David Tripp…do NOT miss the first point here — it’s an important perspective whether you’re married or not.

2. Seeing differently: Wonderful article about how we see others and more importantly, changing how we see others.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYPUMY8iyko lying

4. Unpopular-but-Scriptural: You’ve heard me say it a 100 times — there are few topics as culturally unpopular as submission. This one is for the MEN.

5. Amazing creation: Someone sent a drone out on the ocean to shoot video during a hurricane. Good thing we know the Lord of wind and waves.

6. Culture: Where are Bibles illegal? Not everywhere, but…that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re available.

7. Textual criticism? What is textual criticism? This is a whole book chapter, and very useful for growing in understanding and trust of the Bible you use today.

♱♱♱

ForTheHope’s Daily Audio Bible is, well, a daily audio Bible reading.. We read through the New Testament in about 10 months and the Old Testament in about 14 months with a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. And all that blah blah blah means nothing if he doesn’t help you fall more in love with Jesus and the people in Jesus’ world.

7 Links of life & Learning (Oct 1, 2021)

This week’s 7 links:

1. Culture: The Taliban will rule by it, but what is Sharia law? (medium article)

2. Heartwarming: 5 myths about body image from the brilliant Sam Allberry that should be encouraging. (medium article)

3. Apologetics: Did the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7 teach Jesus not to be racist? Spoiler alert: No. (long, but most excellent article)

4. Gospel clarity: I recently exhorted you on the podcast to preach the gospel to yourself, but Alistair Begg delivers it in that awesome Scottish accent (4 min video).

5. Signs of the times: Scientists admit the use of fear to control to control COVID was totalitarian (article, paywall).

6. Research on “cancel culture”: How do Americans view the idea of cancel culture? (article, statistical charts0

7. Learning AND fun: How about 3D renderings of what Ephesus looked like during Bible times? (images)

♱♱♱

ForTheHope’s Daily Audio Bible is, well, a daily audio Bible reading.. We read through the New Testament in about 10 months and the Old Testament in about 14 months with a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. And all that blah blah blah means nothing if he doesn’t help you fall more in love with Jesus and the people in Jesus’ world.

Marketing Jesus in a noisy world

Marketing used to be about reach, so the ethos became who could shout the loudest.

Now it's about connection and attention. Want to get attention? 

Be useful.

Crazy enough, it's a biblical idea, too. This isn't "get attention" as in "the focus is on me," but consider what Jesus said:

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." (Mt 5:16, CSB)

It's easy to think of "good works" as things like giving to the poor, and and to be sure, it is that. But it's consistent with Scriptural to also consider "work with excellence” as included in “good works.”

Want to be interesting? Be interested.

Want to cut through the noise? Serve usefully and joyfully.

In an earthly sense, your greatest marketing tactic and job security is being useful. But it’s also useful for your work as a minister of reconciliation in the marketplace. It’s a ministry of showing up and being engaged relationally versus transactionally.

Mass marketing Christian-ese and mega-rallies may have once had a place in a world with three television networks, but those days are gone. Now we live in a world where we do not succeed from afar. Submitted to Jesus, the most powerful tactic on the planet is a conversation undergirded by love.

Which definition of “Love as Service” should we follow?

In his book How God is in Business, Dallas Willard points out two meanings of love as service.

One is, “I love you, and I’ll serve you by doing what you want me to do.”

The other is, “I love you, and I will serve you by doing what is good for you, whether you want it or not.” 

The first definition is how we often think of maximizing revenue. But Willard points out a challenge: What people want isn’t always good for them.

It’s the second definition of “love as service” that governs how we should think in terms of being a morally good person. Willard defines this as a person who is “intent upon advancing the various goods of human life with which (we) are in effective contact.” 

Perhaps ironically, if we were thinking about parenting, we have no qualms with the idea of not giving in to a kid screaming that they want candy dinner. Candy for dinner, generally speaking, isn’t good for them.

But do we stop to think whether or not what a business or customer or coworker wants is good for them?

Serving others is an act of love, and God smiles when we do that. 

But it’s only truly love when we pursue the good, true, and beautiful as defined by the Author of good, true, and beautiful.