Are you facing a major decision in the next 6 months—a decision that will significantly impact the course of your life? For example, if you are a teenager, you may be considering college or, perhaps, joining the military, or taking a year off to travel, or do ministry. If you choose college, which college should you go to? Should you start off in a community college or should you pursue a four-year degree? How much debt should you take on? When you go to college, what should your major be? Perhaps you already have a Bachelor’s degree and are wondering whether you ought to enroll in a Master’s program, or pursue your doctorate.
If someone was to come up to me and ask, “What is the one thing, apart from salvation, that our nation needs at this particular moment” or if someone was to ask you that question – “If you were to give our nation one gift or this world one thing apart from a relationship with God, what would that one thing be?”
Invariably, right before Easter, you will hear a seminary professor on the radio or a Bishop from some church on TV say, “It really doesn’t matter if Jesus rose from the dead, or not. What really matters is the Golden Rule that he taught us – ‘to do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ Or you might hear them say something like, ‘Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter if Jesus rose from the dead, or if his body’s still in the grave. What matters is Jesus’ example of non-violence which is so desperately needed in our war-torn world today’.”
Have you ever tried to argue with someone who was really “dug-in” to a position regarding a controversial issue like abortion or admitting refugees to the United States? As someone who has been committed to a pro-life position for 40 years, I’ve had many conversations with pro-choice people that went something like this:
Do you know people in your life who are stuck going through the motions? Is someone in your family struggling spiritually? Do you have a co-worker who always talks about getting in shape but keeps falling off the wagon? Do you have a neighbor who is lonely and is longing for connection?
We’re going to be engaged in an all-church campaign called “Fully Alive” during the Lenten season, from February 26 through Palm Sunday, April 9. The purpose of the campaign is to bring a laser-like focus to discipleship in our church.
The Bible continually commands us to remember all that God has done in our lives. For example, we read this in Job 36:24: Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song.
Someone once said that you can tell the size of a boat by the size of the wake it leaves behind. An ocean liner creates a tidal wave in its wake. On the other hand, a small sailboat hardly leaves a ripple.
There are lots of ways one could characterize the time in which we are living. We could call our time the Age of Anxiety as people are fearful of threats posed by terrorism and global unrest. We could call our time the Age of Loneliness, as studies tell us that more and more people have no one in their lives with whom they can completely confide. But certainly, one accurate way to characterize our time would be to call it the Age of Exposure.
You’ve heard the expression “Birds of a feather flock together”. It is designed to communicate the basic truth that people who have similar backgrounds or similar interests will choose to spend time together.