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The local paper a few years back published an article by a retired pastor who made a startling point. At least I thought it was startling. Which is ironic, since one would have assumed his argument to be altogether obvious.

He began by citing statistics of declining church attendance, then offered this curious explanation: people don’t actually know what the gospel says or what the church stands for. That’s because, these days, Christian doctrine is rarely explained much less discussed, even in our churches.

What one finds instead is a glossing-over of the difficult parts of biblical and doctrinal claims. Pastors either avoid the subject or re-interpret it. Continue reading “A Royal Priesthood”

This past Monday was the anniversary of the official end of the Vietnam War – April 30, 1975. It is a day that, for Americans, should shame us. For the residents of South Vietnam, however, it will always be a day of unfathomable sorrows.

Of course, as we all know, Vietnam was a watershed moment in the United States. Endless debates continue to this day as to whether the war was ever justified. While some feel it was a necessary effort to prevent the spread of communism (the Domino Theory), others feel it was a senseless war we never should have gotten into.

Regardless, we entered the war. And then we left. Continue reading “An Ignominious Anniversary”

Cigna, the insurance company, just came out with a report that reveals a startling level of loneliness in contemporary America. According to the survey, nearly half (46%) of the U.S. population reports feeling sometimes or always alone, while a full 47% feel “left out.”

27% rarely or never feel they are understood by anyone. Two in five sometimes or always feel their relationships lack meaning, while 43% say they are isolated from others. One in five say they rarely or never feel close to anyone; 18% say there’s simply no one they can talk to.

These numbers are not good. Yet why is this so? Why are we so isolated from one another? Continue reading “Surviving Progress”

Most of us agree society is adrift. The public square is full of shrill voices demanding our attention. We hear a lot of talk about “freedom” and “equality.” But we never seem to discuss what it means to be a people. Or to reside in a particular place. With a particular history. A place we call home.

In my last post, I questioned the sovereignty of universal claims. Which goes for both the “liberal” and “conservative” variety. And that’s not because they don’t presuppose the good.

For we human beings really do desire the good. We aspire to something more than what is, something better. We’re hardwired that way. Continue reading “Free Falling”

Over the years, I’ve been asked repeatedly to teach a class on other faiths. As religious people, it’s natural to want to know more about what other people believe.

But I always demurred. Why? Not because much can’t be gained, but because the church first needs to know what it believes!

The underlying assumption of these requests, I suspect, is that all religions are the same. Learning about other religions helps us learn what is basic to all. Continue reading “A Victim of Its Own Success”

In a recent phone conversation with my oldest brother, Chris, we got onto the subject of church. Why don’t people seem interested in it? And what might they be looking for?

These are big questions, but I took a stab at it. I cited 9/11 as a case in point. In the weeks following the attacks, I reminded him of the great influx of people into our churches. After a time, of course, they drifted away.

But what brought people, who otherwise had no real use for church (or at least not enough to rouse them out of bed on a Sunday morning), to fill the pews? Continue reading “The Grand “Sez Who?””

You may be wondering what all this history has to do with religion. Well, the Chinese have a saying, or at least I think they do: “If you want to know about water, don’t ask a fish.”

Because we swim in today’s cultural waters, we often have little objective sense of what defines that culture, what it stands for, and, more critically, how it came to be.

Which is to say we give little thought as to why we function the way we do. In such a climate, it’s easy to forget that our culture’s values and norms are not necessarily the same as, say, Christianity’s. And that’s the rub. Continue reading “From Buzz Cuts to Man Buns”

It’s no accident that the writers of the hit British TV show, Downton Abbey, a family saga that chronicles the changes brought about by the decline of the British Empire, begins its first episode referencing the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred 106 years ago, on April 15, 1912.

While visiting Prince Edward Island some time back, Linda and I stood on its east coast, the very spot, in fact, where the Titanic’s first distress signal was received. On a cloudy late summer afternoon, I thought about all those helpless souls plunging into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. It gave me chills. Continue reading “From Downton Abbey to Rebel Without a Cause”

Recently a local paper published an article by a retired pastor lamenting the loss of the “Social Gospel,” the mainline Protestant church’s reformist response to the challenges of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

The social conditions that necessitated this response, he says, were in part the result of the closing of the American frontier and the completion of the cross-country rail system. What emerged was a new national identity. At the same time, a new urban/industrial economy was rapidly replacing the older rural/agricultural model. Continue reading “One Little Problem”

Mark Twain once said, “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”

History, that is, appears to run in cycles, with a pendulum effect. Yet, as Twain’s quote suggests, each age adds a new twist.

Ever since the West decided truth could be obtained without God, each age has suffered from unrealizable expectations. That’s because we human beings are created to seek perfection, God-given perfection. But without a transcendent God on whom we may rely, history, by default, is tasked as the only viable alternative. Continue reading “History’s Mood Swings”