Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Christianity a ‘Faded Memory’
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: church, evangelism, faith, gen y, irrelevant, missonal
Leave a Comment The Christian Post reports today that for most young Britons, Christianity is “a faded memory.” This is from a survey of 300 people born after 1982.
Most young people in Britain consider Christianity irrelevant to their lives but they are not as hostile towards religion as their parents’ generation, researchers in the Church of England have found.
That seems like a good thing. The church has historically had to deal with both indifference and hostility, but indifference doesn’t have to work as hard to become curiosity. Especially since Christianity is offering answers to questions that matter:
… while Generation Y is largely unfamiliar with formal religion, it still takes a keen interest in ethical issues.
“The young people drew moral guidance from family as friends, but they also recognized the potential of religion, including Christianity, to provide them with guidelines for living,” she said.
Vacation Winding Down
Today, our vacation starts to wind down. We’re going to hike around Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite. We’ve had a great time at the beach, Disneyland, San Francisco, and the Marin Headlands. I’m looking forward to being back at church on Sunday, but it’s just that I don’t want the vacation to end yet.
Apparently We Don’t Believe Anything
Filed under: mission, pcusa, Uncategorized | Tags: beliefs, confessions, outreach, pcusa, theology, web
Comments (2) Another problem with the new PC(USA) web site: apparently we don’t believe anything anymore. Or, if we do, those beliefs are carefully hidden.
Now, I’m on record as liking the new look of our denomination’s website. And I’ve already commented, negatively, about a particularly smarmy “reasons I’m a Presbyterian” badge posted there.
But I was hoping the PC(USA) web site would at least be better organized. I entertained the hope that it would be easier to find things there now, and it’s not.
Misson Trip
I’m back from our mission trip! It was a short but sweet trip to the Navajo nation in Arizona. We brought a load (two vehicles and most of a U-Haul trailer) of clothing and small items. These are distributed among the community served by the church in Hunter’s Point. Here is the clothing, being unsacked so it can be distributed:
We also visited St. Michael’s school for special education school. Here is Gillis Chapela, the director, and Irene, one of the teachers:
Catalyst Conference Morsels
I like this:
“We’re educated way beyond the level of our obedience.”
That’s Mark Batterson, of National Community Church, speaking at the Origins labs the day before Catalyst West Coast 2009.
On Judging
Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it will be given to you.
—Luke 6:37
In April, a woman named Susan Boyle appeared on a reality television show called Britain’s Got Talent. What happened next made her a sensation, and as a result, probably many of you have heard her story.
If you saw her at the grocery store, Ms. Boyle would be utterly unremarkable, but on television, she stands out. Although she is not ugly, she is overweight. Her hairstyle is unflattering and her clothes are plain. When Ms. Boyle first came out on stage to announce her song, the three judges and the audience were uniformly skeptical about her. There was open derision when she spoke of her goal to have a singing career like Elaine Paige. All that changed when Ms. Boyle began to sing. Only seconds into her performance, the audience began to applaud. When she finished, the judges not only praised her talent but also apologized to her for prejudging it on the basis of her appearance.
In the brief time since her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, Ms. Boyle has appeared on several TV morning shows here in America. Copies of her performance quickly became the “most popular” videos on YouTube, racking up, as I write, an astonishing total of more than 100 million views. (Compare that to 50 million viewers for the final episode of M*A*S*H, or less than 40 million for a typical Super Bowl broadcast.)
Also in April, the columnist and TV commentator George Will wrote an opinion piece entitled “Blue Jean Nation.” Briefly, Mr. Will said it is a bad thing that so many people wear blue jeans today. I wasn’t convinced by Will’s argument. I’m sure that, 200 years ago, people looked at Beau Brummel’s suit and tie, only to wonder at the depths to which culture had sunk. That’s not to say I would encourage anyone going to a job interview to wear blue jeans, unless the nature of the work required them.
I’m interested, nevertheless, in Will’s column, coming as it does the same week as the lesson in judging (or rather, not judging) people by their appearance came to us from Britain.
(There’s an old joke about a man whose clothing weren’t up to the standard of the church he visited. The pastor encouraged him to “talk to God” about what sort of clothing would be more appropriate. Next Sunday, the man was back again, dressed as shabbily as before. The pastor asked him if he’d spoken to God about it, and the man replied, “Well, Pastor, I surely did, and God told me it had been so long since he was here, he wasn’t sure any more what sort of clothes you were wearing these days.”)
Do we judge people? Is clothing more important to us than it is to God? How about other aspects of someone’s appearance, like tattoos and body piercings? What about their age? Do we look at people with white hair and wrinkles, and assume there’s nothing for them to do but run out the clock?
Our Creator has given each of us wonderful gifts. When we look at people, do we see them according to the world’s standards, or God’s? Do we see every person as infinitely valuable and uniquely talented?
And what about ourselves? Are you and I living up to our God-given potential, or do we allow the world’s expectations to shape us?
In fact, Scripture teaches us not to judge. As Susan Boyle’s story reminds us, only God knows how far any one of us can soar.
Blogging Takes Another Life
According to this report, Olive Riley has passed away. She began blogging in February of 2007. You can find her site (or not; it’s slashdotted) here.
(Tripped over this courtesy Truemours.)