CLIMBING THE WALLS

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”

Recently a member of the church from which I retired called to invite my wife and me to her 100^th birthday celebration at the church. Initially concerned about returning so soon, we were honored to be asked and agreed to attend.

At the gathering I told several people I had started a blog, Climbing the Walls, the name a riff on one church member’s warning to me about retirement, that “in six months you’ll be climbing the walls.” Continue reading “Out of the Water”

For about 500 years now, give or take, human beings have been trying desperately to find truth without God, to locate it within the finite human sphere without need for the supernatural.

The first modern attempt could be seen in the Enlightenment, where truth was to be found in reason and science. There were universal, objective categories within reality that the human mind could discover, order, and harness for good. Reason could control nature. Continue reading “Culture, Values, Spirituality, and Other Such Nonsense”

“Enter through the narrow gate; for this gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

This was the preaching text used at the church Linda and I attended this past Sunday. The preacher, as a corollary, also quoted the closing lines from Robert Frost’s famous poem The Road Not Taken: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” An audible gasp of appreciation could be heard from a woman in the congregation. Continue reading “Choices”

Back in the early 60’s Bob Mosher came to dinner at my parents’ invitation. He worked with my father at BBDO in New York for years but had subsequently moved to California where he created the hit show, Leave It to Beaver.

He brought with him autographed studio head shots of both Wally and the “Beav” for my 3 siblings and me. We were thrilled. (Naturally, we all lost them over the span of years!)

Continue reading “Overreach and the Imperative of Ever-Greater Fluidity”

Back in the 90’s I came across a historian who discussed the lifecycle of civilizations and societies. He cited the post-WWII period in the United States as an example of a civilization at its peak.

American society was cohesive. That is, we agreed on the basic goals for our nation. Our disagreements had more to do with how to achieve them. Continue reading “Beyond the Twilight of the Gods”

Contemporary American society is suffering from an epidemic of guilt, yet another side-effect of our culture’s loss of faith.

Part of Christianity’s genius is not only its perspicacious diagnosis of the human condition (sin as an inescapable fact of life), but its revitalizing remedy for this universal malady of the soul.

And that remedy is confession and forgiveness. We are assured that when we earnestly acknowledge our moral shortcomings, God forgives us. Continue reading “The Loss of Forgiveness”

Beginning in earnest with the Enlightenment but gaining speed in the 19^th century, Western culture pretty much decided that God was no longer indispensable. With newfound confidence in the power of reason and science, the idea was that human beings finally could solve life’s most vexing problems.

No longer held back by primitive beliefs and mystical obfuscations, humanity was now in a position to uncover the hidden secrets of the universe previously obscured by the prejudices and ignorance of the past. Continue reading “Utopia”