Good morning, all.
This week was a whirlwind of on-the-nose summer activity: I went to a concert with my kids on a Tuesday night (a school night! gasp!); my daughter brought home fresh peaches from an outing with friends; we attended a brunch with Wimbledon viewing on the agenda; and our air conditioner let us know that it has not very much longer to live.
Poor thing, it’s already worked for twenty-plus years. I feel it’s earned a rest. But it’s a good thing we have a portable one, because ….it’s July in Charlotte.
The Part Where There’s an Essay: I Still Love the Church (The Conclusion)
Recently I’ve been exploring some “small and boring” ways to invest in your community. This series starts back here.
I still love the church.
I am a second-generation evangelical American Christian. Does anyone know what those words mean anymore? They have been co-opted by marketers, politicians, and others for their own nefarious ends.
For me, having hit my teen years in 1990, it means that my youth group reenacted Carman’s spoken-word piece “The Champion,” casting the pastor’s son, a weightlifter/high school quarterback type, as Jesus, and another kid, a barely-five-foot-tall boy, as Satan. My sister was a background player, cast as Al Capone. Yikes, right?
It means that I was once part of the color guard (for those not indoctrinated, the flag-wavers at a college football game) in an all-church production of a musical extravaganza entitled “Army of God.” I don’t remember much else about it, except there were purple sashes as part of the costume.
I had the CD burning experience. We ended up buying most of them back again.
I created a dance routine with my girlfriends, set to DC Talk’s “Nu Thang.” I rededicated my life every summer at camp. My first concert was Amy Grant’s Lead Me On tour (it is still my favorite of her albums -- way underrated).
I once watched a youth leader teach about the evils of money and then give out all the money in his wallet to the kids in the crowd. I am still fuzzy on the lesson we were supposed to learn with that one.
You may hear other people my age citing the motivation behind these experiences as reasons for why they aren’t in the church anymore. To be sure, they made the experience of growing up in my faith a bit confusing. But I don’t blame most people involved. In my experience, there was just a lot of...extra stuff in the 90s. It was basically the “extra” 80s of the secular culture, ten years later. This is sort of how things go with a church that’s striving to be like the world around it, in order to woo the world around it.
Instead, it should have just been the church. The odd, boring, church-y church.
Fortunately, I also had a youth group leader who introduced me to Rich Mullins. I had a mentor in college who took reading, study, but also play, very seriously. I met fellow travelers who were faithful and broken, and trying to work it out. And I kept reading my Bible.
It’s my hope that this series would bring to light the tiny ways that little faithfulnesses in the church and the world can add up to a lifetime of beautiful fruitfulness. These are things that all of us struggle with from time to time, and it’s not my idea that you would master these things all at once. Rather, this series ought to serve as a reminder of how to faithfully impact your community over the long haul. Wherever you are, these things will serve your friends, family, church, and leadership well.
“…only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero.” - Gandalf, in The Fellowship of the Ring
For the Anglophiles
I’ve been enjoying the most recent entries in The Rest is History podcast, exploring the American Revolution. It’s been enlightening to hear it from some Englishmen for a change!
Reads & Listens of the Week
Perhaps some of you could use some encouragement: The Parents Saying No to Smartphones.
I’m a little behind, but I enjoyed this interview with Collin Hansen about The Beliefs that Made Tim Keller. Stay to the end for Collin’s personal reflections on the recent outpouring of thanksgiving for Tim’s ministry.
Here’s Cal Newport of Deep Work fame talking about How the Digital Workplace Broke Our Brains.
There are few things that I’m a brand-name snob about, but plastic wrap is one of them. So I related deeply to this cartoon story about saying goodbye to that 750-square-foot roll of plastic wrap.
A friend sent me this article: Against the Cynicism Cycle: Why TV Could Do With Less Moral Grayness. The only show I’ve watched that they discuss here is Mad Men, but I wonder where the most recent offering The Bear (Hulu) would fall in this discussion. It seems… sad, but decidedly not cynical. Is anybody watching?
Poetry replaces grammar, gospel replaces law, longing transforms obedience, as gradually as the tide lifts a grounded ship. - “The Weight of Glory,” CS Lewis