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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Why Bad News Sells...And Doesn't Change Behavior

Tina Rosenberg for the NYT "Fixes" series:

Bad behavior is usually more visible than good. It’s what people talk about, it’s what the news media report on, it’s what experts focus on. Experts are always trying to change bad behavior by warning of how widespread it is, and they take any opportunity to label it a crisis. “The field loves talking about the problems because it generates political and economic support,” said Perkins.

This strategy might feel effective, but it’s not — it simply communicates that bad behavior is the social norm. Telling people to go against their peer group never works. A better strategy is the reverse: give people credible evidence that among their peers, good behavior is the social norm.

But unfortunately, "The approach angers people who lobby for a strong, unmuddied message of disapproval — even though, of course, disapproval doesn’t reduce bad behavior, and social norming does."

 

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On gay marriage, "hope is more important to them than truth"

Roger Scruton in the NYT:

What could be more sensible than to extend marriage to homosexuals, granting them the security of an institution devoted to lifelong partnership? The result will be improvements all around – not just improved toleration of homosexuals, but improvement in the lives of gay couples, as they adapt to established norms. Optimists have therefore united to promote this cause, and, as is so often the case, have turned persecuting stares on those who dissent from it, dismissing them as intolerant, “homophobic,” “bigoted,” offenders against the principles of liberal democracy. Of course the optimists may be right. The important fact, however, is that hope is more important to them than truth.

People interested in truth seek out those who disagree with them. They look for rival opinions, awkward facts and the grounds that might engender hesitation. Such people have a far more complicated life than the optimists, who rush forward with a sense of purpose that is not to be deflected by what they regard as the cavilings of mean-minded bigots. Here in Britain, discussions on gay marriage have been conducted as though it were entirely a matter of extending rights, and not of fundamentally altering the institution. Difficult issues, like the role of sexual difference in social reproduction, the nature of the family, the emotional needs of children and the meaning of rites of passage, have been ignored or brushed aside.

...When truth threatens hope it is truth we usually sacrifice, often along with those who search for it.

 

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Winning Ways: The Most Significant Day in History

In the latest issue of The Atlantic magazine, prominent historians were asked, "What day most changed the course of history?"

I think they missed one.

Yale professor Timothy Snyder suggested December 11, 1241, the day the Mongol emperor Ogedei Khan died, forcing Batu Khan to return to Mongolia to deal with the emperor's succession. This interrupted his drive into Vienna, an invasion that would have made European history very different.

Then there's Princeton professor Anne-Marie Slaughter, who offered July 4, 1776, the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Again, Philip Jenkins of Penn State thought that June 22, 1941, made a good candidate: the date of the ill-conceived Nazi invasion of Russia, ultimately leading to Hitler’s defeat.

Or Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, suggested the day Johannes Gutenberg finished his wooden printing press in 1440, which led to the democratizing of ideas.

I think the Totally Biased host W. Kamau Bell had to be joking with the suggestion that May 16, 1983, was the most significant day in history when Michael Jackson first performed the moonwalk on TV. "I think it’s one of the reasons we have a black president today," Bell observed.

A good case can be made for each of those suggestions. (Okay, maybe not that last one.) But the most significant day in history is missing from their list.

I know this is going to sound like a John Acuff "Jesus Juke" (look it up), but the resurrection of Christ gets my vote. It was God's victory over the ruin of sin and death, thus beginning the renewal of all things. "Is everything sad going to come untrue?" asked Sam Gamgee after finding Gandalf alive in The Lord of the Rings. The resurrection is God's resounding "Yes!"

This weekend is a time to "Remember and Rejoice." Join us at 7 p.m. on Good Friday for a communion service designed to remember the crucifixion. And then join us at 10 a.m. on Easter Sunday to rejoice in the new life of the resurrection!

You can help us on Sunday by doing the following: (1) bring a friend, (2) park off-site either on the road or on the elevated lot behind the Adult Wing, and (3) sit forward and to the left when you enter the building.

Join us in celebrating the most significant day in history!

 

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Happy New Year!

'In Gondor the New Year will always now begin upon the twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell, and when you were brought out of the fire to the King."

Gandalf, The Return of the King

 

For centuries theologians and leaders of the church had affirmed that the key date in human history was March 25, on which date occurred Fall itself; the angel Gabriel's Annunciation to Mary, which heralded the birth of the One who would undo the effects of the Fall; and the Crucifixion, which defeated the forces of evil, which had been unleashed on this world by Adam's sin. It was with these events that Dionysus Exiguus, the sixth-century monk and calendar-maker, determined that the year itself should begin on March 25, which it did throughout Europe for a very long time. It was England's official New Year's Day until 1752, though by that time January 1 had been celebrated by most English people for hundreds of years.

Alan Jacobs, Original Sin, p 43.

 

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My Take on Francis Spufford's "Unapologetic"

Unapologetic is Francis Spufford's apologetic for Christianity. Where it is good, it is very good. But I still can't recommend it.

Let's start where it is good: His description of what he calls the HPtFtU, the autobiography of his own encounter with God, and his defense of Jesus as God Incarnate.

I doubt many of us will adopt his acronym, HPtFtU, which stands for "the human propensity to f*ck things up." But his description of the propensity is a fresh take on 'sin'--before 'sinful' became merely a term to market ice cream. A sample:

Everybody knows...that 'sin' basically means 'indulgence' or 'enjoyable naughtiness'.... What I and most other believers understand by the word...has got very little to do with yummy transgression. For us, it refers to something much more like the human tendency, the human propensity, to f*ck up. Or let's add one more word: the human propensity to f*ck things up, because what we're talking about here is not just a tendency to lurch and stumble and screw up by accident, our passive role as agents of entropy. It's our active inclination to break stuff, 'stuff' here including moods, promises, relationships we care about, and our own well-being and other people's, as well as material objects whose high gloss positively seems to imply a big fat scratch.

Second, props for his autobiography of his own encounter with God in the crisis of realizing his HPtFtU. Quite beautiful. It was, he wrote, "comforting, but not comfortable." And then there his presentation of Jesus as God Incarnate: "He is as human as we are, but if you meet him, you are also meeting the being responsible for the universe."

As I said, where it is good, the book is very good.

But the book is not in every subject good.

No, I'm not talking about his use of f-bombs and other four-letter words. (The asterisk in the word "f*ck" in this book review is my own editing.) The coarse language is off-putting to my sensibilities, and will probably limit the audience on this side of the Atlantic. But that's not the book's fatal flaw.

Neither is the fatal flaw found in his disappointing discussion of homosexuality. He trots out the tired argument that since Jesus never directly addressed homosexuality he must certainly have cared little about it. (For someone as skilled at logical and rhetoric as Spufford obviously is, that argument is surprisingly disingenuous.) Spufford is convinced that Christian opposition to homosexuality will eventually disappear and thus his readers should not see this as a stumbling block to their consideration of Christianity. Despite the fact that he throws biblically-convicted Christians under the bus on this point, that's still not the fatal flaw of the book.

What keeps me from recommending this book is Spufford's weak treatment of the cross. There's simply no clear explanation as to how the cross addressed our HPtFtU. Here's the best he can do:

[On the cross] he's turning his bruised face toward the whole human crowd, past and present and to come, and accepting everything we have to throw at him, everything we fear we deserve ourselves.

Notice that in this explanation, the only function of the cross is to absorb our anger, not God's. In this view Jesus is simply John Coffey from The Green Mile, taking back our ruin, absorbing it into himself. The biblical view is richer, where the cross is seen in relation to an offended God more than offensive humans.

I recall how my theology prof in seminary compared the biblical view of atonement with the view held by classic 19th century liberalism (revived in a growing number of contemporary writers like Spufford). He said if he were to stick his hand in a blazing fireplace, saying to me, "See how much I love you!" I would probably conclude he had a screw loose. But if I were trapped in a burning building and he entered to save me, knowing that he would die in the process but knowing that I would die if he did nothing, well then, I would hail him as a hero. In the biblical view of atonement, Jesus doesn't just demonstrate his identity with our suffering ("see how much I love you!") but he dies bearing the divine wrath we deserved.

It's important to get the cross right, because misunderstanding at this point ripples out into other subjects. Spufford has great skill at describing the HPtFtU and describing his encounter with God in Christ. But the book fails at his inability (or unwillingness) to see how the cross relates to God's offense at our HPtFtU.

 

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"It's gone now, and I don't think I would like it back"

If you feel that Christianity is a smaller (even waning) influence in American culture right now, it's weaker in the U.K. But the writer Francis Spafford sees the upside:

I'm only just old enough myself to remember the way things were before. The world I know, as a Christian, is the one in which we are a small minority. A small minority with an organic link to the symbolism, the buried logic and the dream-life of the wider culture, but still a minority without clout. I know there was another world before this one, in which Christianity was the unconsidered default state of the civilization, but it was dying when I was a child in the 1960s and 1970s, and it's gone now, and I don't think I would like it back. This way, Christianity is no one's vehicle for ambition.... This way, the strangeness of Christianity can be visible again. Without the inevitability, without the static of privilege fuzzing the channel, we can pick out again more clearly the countercultural call it makes, to admit your lack of cool, and your incompleteness, and your inability ever to be one of the self-possessed creatures in the catalogs, or the loveless calculator that is Homo economicus and to find hope instead; a hope that counts upon, is kindly raised upon, the mess you actually are.

Francis Spafford, Unapologetic, pages 220-21. Review coming soon

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LeaderLines: This One "I-Can-Do-That" Action Will Transform a Church

I have an assignment for you. Every week ask one person one question: "How long have you been attending?"

That's your "I-can-do-that" assignment:

Every week.

One person.

"How long have you been attending?"

Isn't that so much better than asking, "Are you a visitor?" People tell me that since we've had so many new people get active at Hillcrest, they don't know who the members are and who the visitors are. They worry that they might annoy an unfamiliar member if they ask, "Are you a visitor?"

So don't ask that question! Ask my question. Find one person to ask my question every single week: "How long have you been attending?"

Members as well as visitors can answer that question. Besides, why should only visitors be greeted? Shouldn't we be getting to know members of our Hillcrest Family as well as those investigating our church?

Ask my question and see how easily it leads you into a good conversation.

If they're a member, get their name, or find our their line of work, or discover that they live in your neighborhood. The resulting conversation will give you another point of connection with your Hillcrest Family.

If they're visiting, you get a chance to take the next step with them. For example, tell them you'd like to introduce them to me after the service. Or ask them if they've attended our small-group ministry and, if they haven't, invite them to your group. If they're not in your age range, walk with them to the coffee fellowship in the gym where they can meet other small-group leaders. You can ask them how they found Hillcrest (90 percent of the time, the answer will be, "a web search"). You can encourage them to come back.

Understand, now. This isn't just about being "friendly." Being nice is a good goal, of course. But my little "I-Can-Do-That" action is actually an extension of our church's purpose.

Our purpose is to be a place where people of every generation can find and follow Jesus together. That purpose is lived out in the "big" ways like programming and music selection and sermon topics. But that purpose is also lived out in the "small" ways like making every person feel wanted and welcomed and helped.

Every person. Member. Visitor.

Lisa Earle McLeod reinforces why it's is so important to have every member of the organization practice an "I-Can-Do-That" action like this. In a Fast Company article, she wrote about her experience at a college campus:

I have a college-age daughter. My family and I were moving her into Boston University (BU) over Labor Day weekend. The four of us, mom, dad, college daughter and her younger sister, were standing on the street, looking befuddled at the campus map. At that moment, a friendly and official-looking gentleman approached us, asking, “Can I help you find something?”

He introduced himself as the dean of students. He asked where we were from, told us he was delighted to have us on campus, and pointed us in the right direction.

Keep in mind that this is a major university in the middle of a huge city with 4,500 freshmen moving in on the same day. Yet the dean himself personally approached us. And here’s the kicker: it’s not just because he’s a friendly extrovert. It’s their official campus policy.

Any staff member who sees someone looking at one of the big maps is expected to approach them and offer help. One staff member joked, “It’s a fireable offense to walk by people at the map and not offer to help.”

Notice that the simple policy isn't just about being friendly. It's a practical, visible extension of the school's official purpose, which is to "enhance the quality, character, and perspectives of our students." The dean that helped McLeod and her family told her, "We have this incredible privilege: we get to engage these young people from all over the world in thinking about their hopes and their dreams. If we can guide them a little bit, that’s invaluable; that’s our purpose."

Everyone at the school is expected to practice this. Employees who stop and proactively offer help are not interrupting their job: It is their job. "If I see that you walked past them because you have other things on your mind," the dean says he tells his staff, "we need to have a conversation and think about whether or not you should still work here.”

So, the college doesn't just enlist official "greeters" wearing big buttons with the phrase, "Can I Help You?" who then wait for someone to approach them. No, but the entire organization is expected step up to a person who looks lost and make an offer to help.

The dean describes the impact it has on staff members: “They’re a lot more present. They notice what happens around them a lot more [and] are more actively observant when they are out walking to get from one place to the next. They started to pick up pieces of paper. They have to be more present in their environment.”

Like that university's practice, everyone at Hillcrest has an "I-Can-Do-That" assignment. Sunday School teachers. Senior adults. Newlyweds. Orchestra instrumentalists. Kitchen servers. Ushers. Committee chairmen. Staff members. Whoever we are in the organization, we can all accomplish this task:

Every week

ask one person

"How long have you been attending?"

Are you doing your part to make sure Hillcrest is a place for every generation to find and follow Jesus together?

__________________________________________

Subscribe to "LeaderLines" and

it will arrive in your inbox each Wednesday

hillcrestaustin.org/newsletters

 

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Winning Ways: When Jesus Shows Up

What happens to a life or a church when Jesus shows up?

Don't get me wrong. Jesus is always with us, but when we speak of certain circumstances or events in life, we tend to say, “Wow, God showed up!” That’s the way we speak about a powerful worship service at church or a youth retreat when a record number of students commit to Christ. That’s even the way Forrest Gump described a hurricane that made him the most successful shrimp boat captain on the Gulf coast: “God showed up!”

Almost 275 years ago, the early American pastor and scholar Jonathan Edwards wrote a book called A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. It was a template for judging when genuine revival had come to a life or a community. He was trying to answer the question, "What does life look like when Jesus shows up?"

That’s what I think we can learn from Matthew 21. There we read of three dramatic acts: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he casts merchants out of the Temple, and he curses a fig tree. The first story is about our loyalty, the second story is about our worship, and the third story is about our productivity.

Those are the evidences of revival.

Churches don't tend to hold annual springtime "revival services" these days, but you'll still hear long-time churchgoers use the word "revival" to describe an event on the church calendar. Ah, there's so much more to the word, friends! A revived believer has a fresh loyalty to Christ's authority, a renewed commitment to worship, and a visible increase in fruitfulness. That, praise God, can happen anytime!

Maybe even this Sunday. Join us this Palm Sunday @ 10 for a study of Matthew 21. We're not calling it a "revival service," exactly. But we pray for revival to fall. Be pleased, Lord, to grant it.

Questions I've Wanted to Ask God: It's still not too late to get your Austin-area friends to complete a ballot for our new sermon series. Send them to the online form (HillcrestAustin.org/QuestionsBallot). You can also print out the form and distribute it (HillcrestAustin.info/winningways/God_Questions_Ballot.pdf).

Sweet Life Dessert Comedy Theater: There was a line at the ticket table last Sunday. You don't want these two shows to sell out before you get tickets for you and your friends. Go online to HillcrestAustin.org/SweetLife.

__________________________________________

Subscribe to "Winning Ways" and

it will arrive in your inbox each Wednesday

hillcrestaustin.org/newsletters

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Links to Your World, Tuesday March 19

Here's a wi-fi enabled toaster that burns the day's news on your morning toast. You're welcome.

 

YouVersion's Bible app has been "downloaded by 83 million unique devices. Four million new users are installing the app each month. The Bible app is in 215 languages, 450 different versions, and collectively users spend more than 3 billion minutes reading scripture on the app monthly." (story)

 

"Jim Gaffigan works clean. He resists profanity. He doesn't rip celebrities with crude insults. He won't reveal everything you didn't want to know about his sexual urges and private parts. At a time when comedy is as filthy as it's ever been—the industry euphemism is "edgy"—Mr. Gaffigan, working clean, has become one of the hottest comedians in the country" (WSJ). You can tell in the piece, though, that he's ambivalent about being recognized for this. "'Clean' and 'family-friendly' are supposedly these positive attributes," he says. "But I sometimes feel like it's an asterisk next to my success, or whatever. Maybe I'm being sensitive. I just want to be known as funny. I mean, when you hear about a family-friendly restaurant, you know it's going to be horrible."

 

"If you’re selling anger and scorn against conservative Christians, the market is hot....There is a growing genre — call it Progressive Christian Scorn Literature — about the scorn progressive Christians have for conservative evangelicals. It seems to be celebrated on the Left as a kind of righteous comeuppance for the Christian Right, and it wins the applause of the Left for the Christian Left. But it’s wrong and it needs to be called out. It’s neither winsome, nor loving, nor constructive, nor right. It will not improve our witness because it’s soaked through with bitterness and rancor." Timothy Dalrymple's entire post is worth reading.

 

Jim Aley hits the nail on the head for those of us about to lose Google Reader:

Serious RSS users aren’t into it for the luscious jpegged beauty. RSS feeds, taken straight, are a wall of text. That’s useful when you want to let news wash over you, to scan screenfuls of headlines without waiting for extraneous pictures to load. When I want to absorb a lot of information fast—which is to say, always—I don’t have time for Flipboard. I want exactly what Google will be taking away from me this summer.

 

Where to get free music and books for your mobile devices.

 

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"Ambigayity," "Worshiplatypus," and Other New Words We Can Use

From the Out of Ur guys, new words for the world of contemporary ministry:

 

 

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"The best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness"

"If you want a happier family," Bruce Feiler writes, "create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones."

In an excerpt from his new book provided in the NYT, he cites the “Do You Know?” scale, developed by Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush, as "the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness." The measure involves 20 questions:

Examples included: Do you know where your grandparents grew up? Do you know where your mom and dad went to high school? Do you know where your parents met? Do you know an illness or something really terrible that happened in your family? Do you know the story of your birth?

Dr. Duke and Dr. Fivush asked those questions of four dozen families in the summer of 2001, and taped several of their dinner table conversations. They then compared the children’s results to a battery of psychological tests the children had taken, and reached an overwhelming conclusion. The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned. The “Do You Know?” scale turned out to be the best single predictor of children’s emotional health and happiness.

Turns out, resilience comes from regarding yourself as within a worthwhile story. Every family's unifying narrative takes one of three shapes, Duke told Feiler:

First, the ascending family narrative: “Son, when we came to this country, we had nothing. Our family worked. We opened a store. Your grandfather went to high school. Your father went to college. And now you. ...”

Second is the descending narrative: “Sweetheart, we used to have it all. Then we lost everything.”

“The most healthful narrative,” Dr. Duke continued, “is the third one. It’s called the oscillating family narrative: ‘Dear, let me tell you, we’ve had ups and downs in our family. We built a family business. Your grandfather was a pillar of the community. Your mother was on the board of the hospital. But we also had setbacks. You had an uncle who was once arrested. We had a house burn down. Your father lost a job. But no matter what happened, we always stuck together as a family.’ ”

Read the rest.

 

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"...an instrument of torture for its symbol..."

Some people ask nowadays what kind of a religion it is that chooses an instrument of torture for its symbol, as if the cross on churches must represent some kind of endorsement. The answer is: one that takes the existence of suffering seriously.

Francis Spufford, Unapologetic. Review coming soon...

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LeaderLines: Do You See the Mud or the Masterpiece?

To the Christians who complain that they're just "not being fed" at their church, John Burke suggests they look to the food that nourished Jesus. When his disciples pressed him to eat the lunch they had brought for their Master, Jesus said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34). He said this in the context of his outreach to a lost Samaritan woman.

Burke's latest book is designed to help believers enjoy this kind of food. It's called Mud and the Masterpiece. The title comes from an illustration in John's first book, No Perfect People Allowed. Suppose you discovered a Rembrandt masterpiece in an alleyway--discarded, neglected, stained. Would you focus on the mud or on the masterpiece? And wouldn't you make it your ambition in life to get that masterpiece to a skillful art restoration specialist?

This edition of LeaderLines isn't a pitch to get you to buy Burke's new book (though I hope I'm doing a pretty good job of that). Rather, it's a pitch for you to take an hour to watch Ed Stetzer interview John on "The Exchange." I'll supply the link in a moment.

John is a national author and speaker, but he's a local Austin pastor. He founded Gateway Church several years ago.

Now, Gateway and Hillcrest have different programming but the same agenda.

Our programming is different, in part, because Hillcrest is committed to building a multigenerational culture. I like being able to celebrate a baby dedication and recognize a 65th wedding anniversary all in the same service. I like being able to assemble younger men with older men into monthly men's breakfast groups--and thus get to sit in one group as astonished younger men listened to a man in his 90s talk about watching Marines raise the flag on Iwo Jima. It's not easy to create a multigenerational church, but it's worth it.

As to programming, then, Hillcrest and Gateway are very different. Our agenda, though, is exactly the same. We want both churches to be places where Austin can find and follow Jesus together. And that's why an hour watching this week's episode of "The Exchange" is worth your while as a Hillcrest leader.

How will this help you lead Hillcrest? Well, Gateway started out as a church consciously, deliberately focused on engaging those far from God in Austin. As Gateway has grown, though, Burke admits that he's drawn in a lot of believers that need some training if they're going to stay the kind of church he started. In other words, Gateway is now at a point a lot of "established" churches are at. And so he's now in a good position to write a book for churches filled with long-time believers who need help in engaging with the lost masterpieces all around us.

So, get a cup of coffee, carve out an hour, and watch the following. It's not about a new product to buy, but it's about a new mindset to hold:

The Exchange - Guest John Burke - Full Episode - Aired February 19, 2013 from Ed Stetzer on Vimeo.

 

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Winning Ways: A Medicine You Won't Mind Taking

Reba McEntire once said, "To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone, and a funny bone."

An upcoming event will help you work on that third one. It's called the "Sweet Life Dessert Comedy Theater."

Dessert and comedy: What a perfect combination!

We've invited family comedian Scott Davis to bring the laughs on Saturday, April 13. He's not just bringing the laughs, though. He's bringing the gospel. And that means this event is designed for you to bring a seeking friend.

You'll have two chances to hear him, at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. We've even made childcare available (I'll tell you more about that in a moment).

So, if you and your friends don't tend to stay out late, don't let the 6:00 pm show sell out before you get a ticket. Or, if you'd rather take your friends to dinner and save the dessert and laughter for after dinner, you'd better get tickets to the 8:30 pm show before they're gone.

Yes, these shows are likely to sell out. That's why I'm alerting you to this event four weeks ahead. The wise planners in our congregation will grab their tickets now.

There are two ways to get tickets: at church and online. Tickets are on sale after Sunday services every week, and also at the church office Monday-Thursday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Or, to get your tickets online, go to www.HillcrestAustin.org/SweetLife.

Actually, there's a third way to get your tickets, but its risky. You can wait until the night of the shows and hope a spot comes open. Any available tickets at the door will cost $15 instead of $10 for advance tickets. As I said, you really should get your tickets in advance.

If you need child care, we have it. Childcare is available for children through 4th grade with advance ticket purchases ONLY. The cost is $5 per child. Childcare payments/reservations MUST be made when advance tickets are purchased.

Don't pass up this opportunity to introduce a friend to Hillcrest. Be thinking and praying right now about whom you should invite and secure the tickets you think you'll need.

Proverbs 17:22 (NLT) says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine." That's why you need to join us on April 13. Doctor's orders!

 

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Links to Your World, Tuesday March 12

Some Church Folk Ask: 'What Would Jesus Brew?' Several congregations around the country are tapping the growing craft-beer trend as a way to attract new members. I don't think "Hillcrest Hops" is coming anytime soon, though.

 

Bobby Ross wonders why the media keeps missing--or ignoring--the religious convictions of the men behind Duck Dynasty.

 

New iPhone case doubles as a stun gun.

 

"We would say that Chris is the most prolific songwriter in the United States now, in this past decade.” Interesting CNN profile of Chris Tomlin, "the most sung artist on the planet."

 

6 reasons Gary Busey should be the next pope.

 

"Chores are the third-most important predictor of marital success. That means who washes the dishes is almost as critical as faithfulness and sex, and it’s more important than money, religion, or politics." Fast Company reports.

 

The accidental poetry of Google's predictive search.

 

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"Just because you’re going it alone doesn’t mean you have to be alone"

Note the worldview on display in the CNN "Belief Blog" entry, "The Secular High Priest of SXSW." It's a worldview shared by folks that many in my congregation work with. An excerpt:

For Bijoy Goswami, [SXSW] is a high holiday with as much virtue as vice. He sees SXSW as a secular celebration where people join together to take the tools of technology and transform them into world-shaking culture.

It's no accident that Twitter was released at SXSW.

At 39-years-old, Goswami is the quintessential Austenite with long hair, a casual style and a computer science degree. He has made a home and built a career around the Austin ethos. He's introspective, relaxed, hip and weird - in a good way.

Goswami describes Austin as a place of becoming: “I’m trying to figure out what to do in my various aspects of my life - spiritual, work, relational - things like that. Austin gave me the communities to work through those questions for myself,” he says.

...

As a secular priest of sorts, Goswami has officiated weddings and provided council [sic] for hundreds in the Austin startup community.

...

One such person counseled by Goswami is Josh Baer, manager of Austin’s Capital Factory incubator. Goswami was a crucial part of his development as an entrepreneur.

Goswami “has this Zen quality and personal confidence that makes people feel comfortable sharing their dreams and aspirations,” Baer says. “He guides others on their path.”

To Baer and hundreds like him, Goswami is like a high priest for Austin’s entrepreneurs, a role he built over the years by leaning on the lessons of the faith he left.

He created a congregation of like-minded entrepreneurs by founding "bootstrap Austin," an informal group of founders coming together to share experiences. His message is that just because you’re going it alone doesn’t mean you have to be alone, and it permeates the Austin start-up scene.

It would be good for you to stop a moment and pray for my congregation as they build relationships among co-workers who find Goswami's worldview compelling--and pray for me as I equip them to do so.

 

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Book Take: "Conscious Capitalism"

Whole Foods Market takes up a large footprint in the Austin culture, so I've long been familiar with the founder's viewpoint on business as a robust social good rather than merely a necessary evil. John Mackey's new book (co-written by Raj Sisodia) presents business as good "because it creates value," ethical "because it is based on voluntary exchange," noble "because it can elevate our existence," and heroic "because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity."

The authors know that their message is counterintuitive in a culture that has come to view business people as primarily motivated by profit at the expense of everything else. As Eaton Corporation CEO Sandy Cutler put it in an interview with the authors:

In a period of time when so many questions and doubts have emerged about major institutions and society, business has not done a particularly good job of telling its own story – not in the form of puffery, but really trying to help people understand the role of capital formation, how important it is to providing livelihoods for families, what business does for communities and for institutions like our schools and universities, and the role business has been helping solve so many societal problems. That is not the way so many people today think about business; they think of it as the source of societal problems. The great majority of companies are involved in doing pretty exciting work where people are having vital, exciting careers, earning a livelihood for their families and making a difference for their communities. That's a story that is worth telling.

"Conscious Capitalism" is, in part, about telling that story. It is also about guiding company leaders to provide the best social good a business can.

You can find some good summaries of the book online elsewhere. This brief post is simply meant as my personal takeaway from the book.

Most helpful to me was the explanation of how interdependent the various "stakeholders" are in the success of a business. The stakeholders include the customers, team members, investors, suppliers, communities, and environment (and then also the "outer circle" of stakeholders such as government entities). Mackey and Sisodia argue that the best businesses look for a win-win relationship between all stakeholders.

I confess that I grew weary of the "wooly" talk as the page count progressed. After days of reading of society's inevitable "evolution" to "higher levels" of "consciousness" as we each "integrate the masculine and feminine side of our persona," eventually I could no longer resist the singers in my head from belting, "This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius." One could say this is just how capitalism is spoken with an Austin accent. The Christian worldview of a fallen world in need of redemption, however, can provide a healthy caution against the view that society is inexorably moving into...into..."harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding." (Oh "Hair," your songs were so catchy.)

Despite the wooly language, I hope the book is referenced often in the national conversation we're having about the rapidly-expanding role of government. To make a better world, progressives tend to place greater confidence in centralized government solutions and look with suspicion on free enterprise. But Mackey and Sisodia make a strong case for the tremendous energy of well-done capitalism to bring the social good we all want.

 

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Links to Your World, Tuesday March 5

Fascinating article about "acquired savant syndrome," in which "ordinary people who suffer brain trauma suddenly develop almost-superhuman new abilities: artistic brilliance, mathematical mastery, photographic memory."

"The Tweet Hereafter" preserves the last tweets of celebrities before their deaths. What if your latest tweet or Facebook status update was your last?

The producers of the History Channel miniseries, "The Bible," explain in the WSJ "Why Public Schools Should Teach the Bible." But not everyone's content with how it's taught in Texas public schools.

Controversy over Calvinism at Louisiana College. This makes me sad and, I predict, it's the shape of things to come in our Baptist Zion. Misunderstandings and mischaracterizations between those for and against Calvinism are growing.

How Facebook Improves Memory

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