Links to Your World, Tuesday April 30

John Crowder, pastor of the First Baptist Church of West, Texas: "I was preparing to preach a sermon responding to the Boston tragedy. But all of a sudden, we had our own tragedy. That sermon about something way off yonder became about an event right at home. I guess the Lord was preparing me ahead of time....My main goal for our church is to be a place that sends out a message of hope. I keep saying over and over, 'This is bad, but God is bigger.'"

 

"Five years after they leave the league, 60 percent of NBA players have nothing left. In the NFL, it’s closer to 80 percent after just two years." Stories of life after fame.

 

With Obama being the first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood, here are 9 Things You Should Know About Planned Parenthood.

 

Mary Eberstadt for Time: "Though religious traditionalism may be losing today’s political and legal battles, it remains poised to win the wider war over what Christianity will look like tomorrow....Traditionalists may be on the losing end of historic real estate, at least for now, as well as booed out of the public square for their views on sex. Down the road, though, they still look to possess something else critical — a growing congregation without which every church, after all, is just a bed and breakfast waiting to happen."

 

The murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell could lead our world to zoom out and look at the entire industry. What? You thought Gosnell was a one-off case? Late-term abortionists everywhere have to deal with infants who survive abortions.

 

When the Pew Research Center asked American Christians if they thought Jesus would return in the next 40 years, only 14 percent answered, "I don't know"--which is the answer Jesus told us to give.

 

"The Whos down in Whoville are perfectly safe. But the Whoms, down in Whomville, having staid, WASPy dinners of roast beast and refusing to pass Little Susie Lou Whom a slice unless she uses the subjunctive correctly in her request — they are in grave danger. Whom is struggling." (link)

 

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"I try to live toward it"

When asked why he is a Christian, among all the other religious choices, American poet Christian Wiman starts out with "that's the way I was raised," which is the elusive answer so many give to evade sounding like they're judging other religions. But then he gets into a much more robust answer. From the NYT interview:

Why is it important to you to be a Christian specifically rather than an adherent of another faith, or of various faiths?

It wasn’t important to me until I reached a crisis in my life. I floated along like so many modern people, alert to a sense of otherness in some of my experiences but unwilling to give it a name. I’m a Christian because it’s the language I know. I’m a Christian because the doctrine of the incarnation expresses a truth that I intuit with every cell of my being. I’m a Christian because a god that does not suffer with us, a god that is not suffering with us right now, is either hopelessly remote or mercilessly cruel. I’m a Christian because, as my grandfather used to say, at some point you gotta fish or cut bait.

Mind, Wiman isn't back to his Texas Baptist roots on all points. In his writing, he often seems to be arguing as much against his religious upbringing as arguing against those with no religious faith at all. But there's hope in what he told Tom Barlett for the April Texas Monthly piece: "I try to live toward it."

When asked if he believes that the son of God, the Word made flesh, was actually crucified and placed in a tomb only to rise again after three earthbound days, Wiman glances up at the ceiling of the perfectly quiet conference room in the stylish offices he will soon vacate. His eyes close behind his rectangular glasses. It’s probably unfair to ask a poet and a conflicted Christian, a man who writes carefully and slowly and wonderfully, to opine off the cuff about a topic so weighty. He does believe it, he says, though not in the same way he believes in evolution or in the fact that the earth revolves around the sun. It is a different sort of belief, a deeper kind of truth. Finally, he finds the words: “I try to live toward it.”

By the way, it was the Texas Monthly piece that introduced me to Wiman. I was sitting in a Fredericksberg store while Diane shopped, picked up the April issue of the magazine that was sitting on the end table, and was immediately drawn in to the article.

 

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Being Serious

Serious smiles a lot.

At least that’s what they say,

His Mum and Pop

Trying to be proud

As all the nurses gather round

To squint into the cloud

Of little Serious on the ultrasound.

It’s likely just the way he’s bent,

The head nurse finally thunders

Into the awe and argument

Swirling through the crowd

Where someone mutters half-aloud

In all my years….

Serious never hears.

Serious spins and spins

With his dumb dolphin grin

In the best bed there is,

Where there’s no guilt and no sin,

No child more inner than this;

Nothing to will

And nothing to want,

No body you both are and haunt;

No drug of disappointment

Or feeling that there’s never now

(Or do these seep in somehow?);

No suffering the world’s idiocy

Like a saint its pains;

No traffic and no planes;

No debts, no taxes,

No phones and no faxes;

No rockslide of information

Called the internet.

Serious isn't. Yet.

An excerpt from “Being Serious,” by Christian Wiman

 

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"Accidental Theology"

I'm reading Christian Wiman's My Bright Abyss now, so this comment from an interview stood out for me:

I read a lot of theology, even though I am almost always frustrated by it. Thomas Merton once said that trying "to solve the problem of God" is like trying to see your own eyes. No doubt that's part of it. There is something absurd about formulating faith, systematizing God. I am usually more moved—and more moved toward God—by what one might call accidental theology, the best of which is often art, sometimes even determinedly secular art. I am moved by works of art that don't so much strive to make meaning as allow meaning to stream through them.

I'm less frustrated with reading (and writing about) theology than he is, but I like what he calls the "accidental theology" of art, even secular art. I like running across these inadvertent presentations of truth, too.

 

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"Those whose calling is to bear witness...avert their eyes"

Laziness, prejudice and pride are ordinary human failings. As we've seen from the press's treatment of the Gosnell story, they can lead those whose calling is to bear witness to avert their eyes from radical evil. Call it the banality of bias.

That's James Taranto, still hitting it out of the park on his coverage of the non-coverage, belated coverage, reluctant coverage, of the Gosnell murder trial. You should read the whole thing. His reference to the "banality of bias" is a hat tip to "the banality of evil," the subtitle of Hannah Arendt's 1963 book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.

 

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Winning Ways: Keeping the Past in the Past

USA Today reported on a performance artist who implanted a camera in the back of his head and spent a year recording everything he passed.

Wafaa Bilal is a professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He says his project would be an "allegorical statement" about what we don't see and leave behind.

Most of us spend a lot of our time always looking back, too, but at least he's getting paid for it. What does it profit us?

This Sunday at 10, join us for a study on how to really put our past behind us. "Can You Help Me Let Go of the Past?" was one of the top six questions people in our area most want to ask God, according to our March poll. The sermon will end with a dramatic presentation that you won't want to miss!

Children's Musical. At 6:30pm this Sunday, our kids will be presenting the musical "Under God's Sea in 3D." Here's Gene's note on the special event:

Yes, there is one of the songs that you will be able to put on your 3D glasses and see it in 3D!! A first at Hillcrest!!! We'll have 3D glasses for you, so you can leave your own at home! Our kids and workers in Kids Music Theater and Preschool Praise Club have been working hard all year to get ready for this event, I encourage you to make every effort to come enjoy their presentation and support them and their hard work.

Do You Have a Spare Bedroom? On Thursday, May 16, the 145-student University Choir and Orchestra from the school of music at California Baptist University will be in concert at Hillcrest! We need you to provide housing on May 16 as well as breakfast and a ride to Hillcrest the following morning before you go to work. This is a superb group of students. Questions? Contact my assistant, Jami, at 345-3771 or jami@hbcaustin.org.

Volunteering at the Salvation Army Fundraiser. I'm a volunteer at the "Doing the Most Good" luncheon and I can bring 15 with me. It's on Friday, May 3, at the AT&T Executive Conference Center. Volunteers work from 9am to 2pm. You'll get lunch and enjoy the performance by Ricky Skaggs and Sarah Jarosz. Dress is business casual. We invite you to become a part of changing people’s lives.

 

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Links to Your World, Tuesday April 23

Advice on raising kids has changed over time

9 Things You Should Know About Female Body Image



Men and women view themselves very differently. Tears and hilarity in these videos.



Related: Why I haven't been allowed into Saudi Arabia: Men deported for being "too handsome."



'Where Are the Andy Griffiths?': On Pop Culture's Dearth of Admirable Men



The left often mocked the warning from traditional-marriage supporters that the redefinition of marriage will not stop at gay marriage. Now an article in Slate says its time to legalize polygamy, and on the heels of a WaPo article about UUs advocating for polyamory. Yup.



Other abortionists up and down the Eastern seaboard "routinely availed themselves of Gosnell's services to help their patients evade legal and ethical limits on late-term abortion" (WSJ). Another reason pro-choice folks have been so uncomfortable seeing rising coverage of this story. If other abortionists sent their patients to Gosnell, is there really much of a difference between them?



Former Muslims say what drew them to Jesus was the message of a loving God presented by loving believers.

 

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"I said out loud what I knew in my heart was true"

Elanor Barkhorn, a senior associate editor for The Atlantic:

I grew up in Manhattan, and September 11th, 2001 was the second day of my senior year of high school. Though I didn't believe in God at the time, I found myself saying, "God bless you" to my friends as we parted ways that day, and in the days that followed. That faint, involuntary urge to call on God's name soon grew into a desire to read His word and then a hunger for friendships with people who believed in Him. Two years later, I said out loud what I knew in my heart was true: "I am a Christian."

Thanks for sharing this.

 

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Griner and Baylor: Mark Osler Doesn't Get It

Baylor Lady Bears basketball mega-star, Brittany Griner, identified herself as a lesbian in a Sports Illustrated interview this week. In a piece for the Huffington Post, Mark Osler said that this would create a problem for Baylor:

Griner's brave act creates a fascinating conundrum: Baylor at once discriminates openly against gays and lesbians, and has as its best-known and perhaps most-admired student a remarkable student-athlete who is a lesbian. For her part, Griner seems unashamed of either her sexuality or her school. Therein lies the secret to Baylor's future. It can be both Christian and accepting of gays and lesbians, and now we know what that looks like.

(We'll leave alone his reference to Griner as Baylor's "best-known and perhaps most-admired student," because, you know, football isn't covered as much as it should be.)

Osler goes on to comment on President Ken Starr's role in California's battle over gay marriage, which (to Osler) was incongruous to the memorable scene of Starr making "confetti angels" with Griner following the Lady Bears securing another Big 12 championship.

But here's the thing: In the SI interview, Griner acknowledges that she's been open about her sexual identity for years. And--concurrently, not incongruously--she has consistently reported on how loved and accepted she's been by the Baylor Family. Griner has had to endure horrid comments from the fans of other schools, but not from her Baylor Family.

Osler seems to find an inconsistency between a school that both stands against homosexuality and yet loves homosexuals. And he seems to think that Griner's acceptance at Baylor is a sign that Baylor's opposition to homosexuality is destined to end.

Griner and Baylor just don't seem to be playing by the media script, however. Maybe the real story is that a faith community can remain both faithful to their principles and loving to their neighbors at the same time.

I have no doubt that the Baylor Family--from the administration to the faculty to the student body--has some lively discussions about what should constitute policy on homosexuality, and this story will contribute to that conversation. But I also have no doubt that Osler won't be the last in the media to miss the real story here.

 

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Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder

The Dove Real Beauty video is really quite touching...

 

...but men deserve some time with a forensic sketch artist too:

 

 

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"These intuitions come on through the earth we know only in passing, and only by passing"

From the American poet, Christian Wiman:

I don’t really think it’s possible for humans to be at the same time conscious and comfortable. Though we may be moved by nature to thoughts of grace, though art can tease our minds toward eternity and love’s abundance make us dream a love that does not end, these intuitions come only through the earth, and the earth we know only in passing, and only by passing.

My word, this is a beautiful post in The American Scholar, as Wiman explains his return to church and to God.

 

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Winning Ways: What Is Heaven Like?

A businessman wanted to send a floral arrangement to a colleague who was opening a branch office. The colleague called later in the day to ask him why the attached card read, “Rest in Peace.” The businessman apologized for the mix up and quickly called to chastise the florist. The florist gasped, “Oh no! That means somewhere in the cemetery there's a bouquet with a note reading, ‘Good luck in your new location!’”

Have you thought much about your new location beyond this life? Outside of faith, some in our world stoically embrace their fate as described by the famous atheist Bertrand Russell:

No fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave…; all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and the whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.

How cheery.

The Bible teaches something entirely different. Those who are impacted by the saving action of Christ will find personal, conscious experiences beyond this life that will be rich and joyful.

Such as?

That’s the question we’ll explore this Sunday. In March we distributed a ballot to find out what questions people in our area most wanted to ask God. On Easter we started going through the top six questions. One of the winning questions was, “What Is Heaven Like?”

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn didn’t think much about Miss Watson’s heaven:

She went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn't think much of it. . . . I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and I to be together.

Huck had a problem with heaven because Miss Watson had given him the wrong idea of heaven. But when we replace our mythologies with what the Bible really says about heaven, we can get a lot more excited about it. Come this Sunday @ 10 and find out!

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"Participants in a fatherhood that is always ultimately His"

Rev. John Ames of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead:

I gave the sermon on Hagar and Ishmael today. I departed from my text a little more than I do ordinarily, which may not have been wise, since sleep was a struggle last night....Any father…must finally give his child up to the wilderness and trust to the providence of God....Great faith is required to give the child up, trusting God to honor the parents’ love for him by assuring that there will indeed be angels in that wilderness...Abraham himself had been sent into the wilderness, told to leave his father's house also, that this was the narrative of all generations, and that it is only by the grace of God that we are made instruments of His providence and participants in a fatherhood that is always ultimately His.

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Links to Your World, Tuesday April 16

from Traces of Texas

Business suits for bankers that turn transparent when they lie


"What is often overlooked in accounts of [Jackie] Robinson's life is that it is also a religious story. His faith in God, as he often attested, carried him through the torment and abuse of integrating the major leagues." (story)


"The Gosnell case has crystallized our view that the current regime of abortion on demand in America is a grave evil that ought to be abolished." James Taranto has written one of the most impressive posts on the Gosnell case out there.



10 Commandments for Conversing With a Sick Friend


Why God's love is so much better than "unconditional."


The Manhattan skyline in cappucino foam is pretty cool...

Winning Ways: God's 911

He was overwhelmed by personal and professional setbacks, and his friend knew it.

"You need to dial God's 911," the friend advised.

The troubled man grunted, "What are you talking about?"

"Psalm 91:1. Actually, I like the rest of the verses, too. But when I'm at my wit's end I always remember where to turn by remembering the passage as God's 911."

That night the man opened his Bible to the verse: "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." He kept reading: "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'" He continued to read the entire psalm. And then he read it again. He thanked God, he resolved to trust God's sustaining grace, and then he settled in to the first good sleep he had experienced in days.

I think most of us need a larger trust that leads to smaller worries. When we distributed a ballot asking people to submit the questions they most wanted to ask God, one of the top six was "Can You Help Me Quit Worrying So Much?"

We began the series, "Questions I've Wanted to Ask God," on Easter Sunday. You can review the first two sermons at HillcrestAustin.org/Sermons. This week we continue the series with Jesus' instructions against worry. You can prepare by reading Matthew 6:25-34. Join us @ 10!

Pray Now for Our "Sweet Life Dessert Comedy Theater." It may sound odd to ask for prayer for a comedy show, but this is no ordinary event. In addition to the great desserts and the laughter, this event is a call to respond to the gospel. Please pray for a great response! The event is this Saturday, April 13! Tickets are $10 in advance and child care is available (only for those who purchase tickets in advance). Time is running out! Get tickets at the church office until Thursday during regular office hours (8:30am to 4:30pm), or purchase online at HillcrestAustin.org/SweetLife. Be sure to send your friends to the web page so they can see the promotional video. Invite them to join you!

__________________________________________

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Links to Your World, Tuesday April 9

The Thumbs & Ammo blog photoshops famous movie stills to replace the guns with thumbs. The motto? "Real tough guys don't need guns, they just need a positive, can-do attitude." Awesome.

 

"According to the latest Pew report, almost 1 in 5 Americans identify themselves as 'spiritual but not religious.' In other words, they have some feeling, some intuition of something greater, but feel allergic to institutions....It’s important to remember that it is institutions and not abstract feelings that tie a community together and lead to meaningful change....Join in; together is harder, but together is better." Rabbi David Wolpe for Time here.

 

Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson shares his faith story:

 

"College improves your earning prospects. So does marriage. Education makes you more likely to live longer. So does marriage. Yet while many economist vocally support initiatives to move more people into college, very few of them vocally favor initiatives to get more people married. Why is that?" Megan McArdle suggests an answer.

 

"Most successful art or invention is born inside constraint. What is beautiful or functional is shaped by boundaries." Good article from 40 years of marriage.

 

Philip Ryken has started to blog through Marilynne Robinson's Gilead.

 

 

 

 

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"The chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me"

I think about my encounters with people in this manner, too, but I wish I could be more consistent. Here is Reverend Ames in Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, reflecting on life as a pastor. Of course, its applicable to every believer, whatever calling you're in:

When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation? If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind. But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate. You are free to act by your own lights. You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person. He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.

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"Christianity isn't dying -- cultural Christianity is"

Ed Stetzer for the National Association of Evangelicals:

Recent concern has been raised about the decline of evangelicalism in the face of the Rise of the Nones -- those who report "none" or "none of the above" when asked their religion.

The headlines have proclaimed that Christianity is dying, and some evangelical Christians are joining in the "sky is falling" chants. Yet, when it comes to evangelicalism, no serious researcher believes it is collapsing. Facts are our friends and we need a few here.

But, there is decline -- in self-identified Protestants, primarily in mainline churches. Many who once identified themselves as nominal mainline Protestants now identify as nothing.

The nominals have become the nones.

As such, we see that Christianity isn't dying -- cultural Christianity is. Actually, I see vibrant churches across the country (and so many more around the world).

Look in the center of many communities and we see churches buying back former cathedrals and filling them with young committed congregations. Four thousand churches are being planted each year -- more than are closing. Non-Anglo churches are spreading wherever new people find themselves. Many churches are seeking to move from being passive spectators to active disciples joining God on his mission.

Young adults that are committed are living out their faith with more passion than ever before, and authentic churches are successfully reaching them.

The sky isn't falling. The Spirit is always at work in the hearts of people, and the mission remains.

 

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Winning Ways: Don't Let Easter Be An Island

It is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world, and stoic stone faces 13-feet tall guard the beaches. I'm sure you've seen pictures of the mysterious statues. No one knows who carved them centuries ago, or how they moved the massive stones into place. Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen came upon them on Easter Sunday 1722, and so he named the place Easter Island.

Is Easter going to be just an island in your life? Don't let it be just some lonely, mysterious spot on your calendar! We had a fantastic celebration with the Hillcrest Family last Sunday--and my thanks to all who made it special! Now let me mention three ways to keep the experience going.

First: Keep Attending the Series, "Questions I've Wanted to Ask God." The topics for this study were chosen by ballot across the month of March. You've already studied one of the top six questions with us last Sunday:"Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People." Now come for the rest of the winning questions:

April 7 How Can I Get Your Help In Making Decisions?

April 14 Can You Help Me Quit Worrying So Much?

April 21 What Is Heaven Like?

April 28 Can You Help Me Let Go of the Past?

May 5 What Is My Purpose In Life?

Second: Come to My "Discover Hillcrest" Class. This one-hour class is a membership class for those ready to join, but it's also a "get acquainted" class for those who just want to investigate the church. I will introduce you to our priorities and vision. Your children and youth can attend Sunday School while you're in Discover Hillcrest. Meet me in the gym after this Sunday's 10am service. Go to HillcrestAustin.org/DiscoverHillcrest for more information.

Third: Get Yourself and Your Friends to Our "Sweet Life Dessert Comedy Theater" on April 13! Tickets are $10 in advance and child care is available (only for those who purchase tickets in advance). Spread this video link on social media (http://youtu.be/KGSLZS30KT8) or just send people to our website: HillcrestAustin.org/SweetLife. Time is running out!

Most coaches teach athletes to "follow through" on a swing or a throw. What you started on Easter Sunday also needs "follow through," and these three activities will help. See you this Sunday!

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