Two weeks ago, Time released their second annual “10 Most Powerful Ideas” issue, which lists the top ten ideas affecting the country over the last year. The third most powerful idea was “New Calvinism.” In a time of social and economic instability, Americans have once again returned to the Church for comfort. After 9/11, news agencies reported a similar flocking back to religious centers, but this time is a little different.
It’s something that folks who grew up around here have come to take for granted, in which many have participated since they were kids. Handled responsibly, they reason, there is little danger.
It started off as an “I’m sorry” I offered to a friend the other day. He asked what I was sorry about; I simply said, “the November election.” Regular readers will recall my endorsement and defense of then-Sen. Barack Obama during that election cycle.
When the power went off, it woke me up. Of course, a sensible person would have looked around, rolled over, and slept some more.
At the Last Supper, Jesus demonstrated how the Kingdom faces her enemies. He could easily have exposed Judas. Even as soon as Judas began embezzling from the treasury shared by the group, Jesus could have acted, because He knew. He did not act.
So call me a Luddite. Fact is, calendar notwithstanding, I shall consider spring to have arrived when I can start the Gravely without risk of dislocating my shoulder. Part of this has to do with the lifting of heavy weights to build my strength and part has to do with the weather becoming warm enough that the oil in the thing is thinner than molasses.
“A poem should not mean, but be.” So said one of the great poets of the twentieth century, Archibald MacLeish. Meaning is important – direction and description are crucially important to life, but few people are motivated by “meaning” alone. The cliché about actions speaking louder than words gets at the heart of it. Luke seemed to know that quite well and he applied that lesson in the Book of Acts. As we begin the Lenten season today, it seems an appropriate time to meditate on the growth of the Early Church.
Somebody’s bright idea is banging around in my chimney right now, and lest there be any doubt, I don’t much like it.
The idea of faith is one that gets caricatured in the modern world. In part, that stems from misunderstanding. What happens behind that word “faith” is not easily explained to our liking. Ed Hurst writes on the starting point of faith, laying a foundation of understanding.
It’s enough to give you a headache.
A few years ago I was working on a book with Dr. Morris E. Chafetz, and in the course of conversation he said, “Maybe time doesn’t really exist. Maybe it’s just something we’ve created for our own convenience.” As a child of the space age, I’d heard speculations of all sorts and now, with a book to get out, I didn’t see where we had time to discuss it. “Yeah, maybe,” I replied.