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Credibility of Planned Parenthood undercover videos restored, but not our broken cultural trust
When trust totally breaks down, intimacy becomes impossible. We see and hear everything through that grid of mistrust. Marriages spiral into divorce. When trust totally breaks down in a nation we see and hear everything through that grid of mistrust. We turn to relationships and voices that share our values. An organization with a different value on life, a boy with a different red hat is immediately suspect. Nations spiral into political divorce. Unity withers and dies. It’s been a nasty week in the trenches of broken cultural trust—the boys of Covington Catholic School getting attacked because white males in red MAGA hats face-to-face with native Americans beating drums are…
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A Psalm for the New Year
2019—a new beginning. My heart is filled with hope and also lament—the makings of a David-styled patchwork psalm over the year ahead from my own heart to God. God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. Psalm 7:11 As I look into this new year, read the news and take the stories and research to heart, I too feel indignant. And deeply sad. Lord how can it be that… …56 million a year are dying from abortion, almost four times as many as from heart disease and stroke (the next leading cause of death). These little ones are human beings, yet, for…
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Advanced Christmas Story Trivia: How well do you really know the story?
Angels, shepherds, wisemen, Jesus lying in a manger–we know the story so well. But it's been sweetened up, romanticized, censored, stripped of its violence and desperation through the years. It's good to go back to the original sources and renew our appreciation of the extreme drama of the story. Here are 9 questions to challenge you and your children to worship a God who would orchestrate such an amazing story to draw us back to himself. (You might enjoy using one each night as a conversation starter at dinner. You can even include these questions in a larger game of Advanced Christmas Trivia to share at Christmas gatherings with additional…
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Thanksgiving: How the Practice of Gratitude leads to the Presence of Contentment
“I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content…I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need” (Eph 4:11-12). I used to read those verses and think, “Good for you, Paul…I wish.” Contentment and I have a troubled history. Many reasons: chronic illness, physical limitations, and especially the propensity to live in the future ( I think I will be content when I get married…have a baby…accomplish this career or ministry vision…) As a future oriented person who has always lived with chronic, holy frustration, reading Ann Voskamp's book, 1000 Gifts seven years ago changed me. Her close-to-the-heart chronicle of her journey into thanksgiving and…
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Nancy Pearcey’s “Love Thy Body:” The deepest truths about sexuality, gender, human dignity, science and human flourishing
We laugh about drunken parties where people hook up with strangers, then wonder why there's so much animosity between the sexes. Nancy Pearcey's new book offers great wisdom in this cultural moment…. Question: What do these ten truth claims at the heart of today’s culture have in common? 1. The body is only a clump of matter. A wet machine that we can use as an instrument for our own purposes. 2. The design of our bodies is completely by chance. Tells us nothing about our purpose. 3. I am not my body. The real me is my mind, will and feelings. 4. The value of our bodies depends…
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Grieving with Willow Creek Church, Bill Hybels, and the Women Whose Stories Should Concern Us All
Few Christian leaders have impacted me as deeply as Bill Hybels. As a pastor’s wife, Bill’s vision for the power and nobility of the local church changed my understanding of what my life was about: “The Church is the hope of the world.” “There’s nothing like the local church when the local church is working right.” His contagious passion energized me to be more creative and invest more deeply in the church Jesus loves. So along with tens of thousands of others I groaned at the news that several women have accused him of sexual sin. And not just any women. Extraordinarily gifted women leaders that I watched him…
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Eight Things You Should Know about Gangs in Your Community
Working to live out our faith in today’s culture can take us way out of our Christian bubble. Last week my preparation to speak on behalf of a ministry to victims of human trafficking landed me in a gang training seminar. Officer Z, head of gang investigations in Lexington County in South Carolina, shot straight with us about the situation here, and maybe where you live as well. Lexington is a nice middle-class suburb of Columbia, 80% white, 15% black, 6% hispanic 5% foreign born. The median home value is $144K. 89% have a high school diploma. 39% have a BA or higher. Officer Z gave us a…
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Watching Movies from a Christian Worldview: 10 key questions to discuss
When it’s hot outside one of the coolest things to do is watch a movie. Aside from going well with popcorn and cold drinks, movies go very well with discussion, because every movie has a message. Every writer, director and producer has a worldview, a view of truth about the way the world works. And it always finds expression in their movies. A good movie discussion will tease it out and help us think about how it lines up (or doesn’t) with a Christian worldview. What is the movie’s message? Is the message true? Movies are best enjoyed in families and community where we can ask 10 Key Worldview…
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Movie Wrinkle in Time: Best Way to Update (Hijack) a (Fairly) Christian Classic
According to Catherine Hand, the Producer of A Wrinkle in Time, “We had to take the essence of the emotional story—e.g., why did this happen in the book?—and explore how to give it a new look but with the same meaning…We all loved the themes, the characters—the essence of the story. And I hope audiences will agree that we stayed true to that essence.” Hand was friends with L’Engle so I had hopes that she would have honored the author’s intent. But this is one audience member who would have to regretfully disagree. This production team could write a book on how to update a movie and hijack the…
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My Written-in-Real-Time Blog of Billy Graham’s Funeral
A speaker by speaker, song by song, verse by verse summary, with brief commentary, of Billy Graham's funeral in Charlotte, NC on March 1, 2018. To me, it felt a little bit like the days after 9-11. The enchantment of this world was momentarily broken, and the curtain pulled back on the ultimate reality of what is good, true and beautiful. Thank you, Billy Graham, for pointing the way home in life and death. Setting—Tent for 2,300 people (representing 500 countries) positioned for the view to perfectly frame the Billy Graham library/museum, an enlarged dairy barn-styled building with a silo beside it. And to the left, the relocated…
