Most of the important things that a human being ought to know cannot be comprehended in youth.

This is a quote from the catalog I received from The Teaching Company. (By the way, I highly, highly recommend the Teaching Company as a resource for viewing the best in college teaching.

I am 58. I shudder to think of the things I did not know in my twenties and thirties. I had zeal, passion, commitment and the willingness to be led. But in looking back I now see that I was being led by people in their twenties and thirties. This is where almost all the “new ideas” for marketing our faith are coming from. They are being shaped by quite intelligent and well-motivated twenty and thirty somethings.

I was listening to a Rob Bell Nooma video on Easter Sunday titled “Today.” (It was great). He referred to a dad raising a teenage daughter. I wondered – how of this does he really know. Has he lived long enough to give me the insight I need on this one? Does he grasp this isuue? CAN he grasp this issue?

Is it time for the church to grab back the baton and bring in some other hands to pass along the faith? Maybe there are some things people in their twenties and thirties cannot know about the faith journey, things that get left out or minimized or dismissed. Maybe we need to include leaders who have seen what happens over three or four generationas of kids when certain models are followed. Maybe we need to intentionally give dead leaders a vote, people who followed Christ for a whole life-time and who shaped worship and service so that nothing gets left out, nothing foreign gets put in and nothing is left out of balance.

CS Lewis commented that even as translations of the Bible increase, biblical literacy is decreasing. Cannot it not similarly be said that even as the models for ministry multiply that the confusion over church is increasing. How much have we really gained? Are we holier, more pious, reverent, separated from the world system?

The church should take seriously the fact – “most of the important things that a human being ought to know cannot be comprehended in youth.”

The Faith of George Washington

This morning I showed to my 9/10 and 11/12 grade Bible classes this video sermon by D James Kennedy. I have it in my library from some years back, taped right off the tube when I was watching the Coral Ridge Hour.  It continues to thrill me to hear of the life and faith of Washington. While it has become custom to question the religious faith of our founding fathers and to entertain any suggestion, no matter how small, that they were men of clay feet, there is powerful evidence of extraordinarily deep devotion, moral rectitude and humble piety among them. Foremost must be George Washington.

As Kennedy quotes in his sermon, some considered Washington, in his day, to be the “moral wonder of the world.” The fact remains that there are those who follow in the train of the apostles, who run for the prize and who do manifest a life worthy of emulation.

The book from which Kennedy does much of his quoting is “George Washington, The Christian” by William J. Johnson.

Of course, there was no reference to Washington’s slave holding or to any other worldviews that made him a creature of his day. But if we are to have heroes of any kind, we must at some point be generous enough of spirit to allow others to remain but flesh.

 I think I am challenged enough to do even more reading on Washington. I am in temperament his opposite. I am often hot blooded, quick of response and a man of moods. I like men who do not hold their cards to their chest and who are not squeamish is expressing opinion. (In this I am particularly fond of John Adams). But it would do me well to look at the spiritual journey of such a man as this.

And besides, as a teacher I wonder who will be the heroes of our youth. Washington should be a good start.

That church is dead – really dead!!!

From A Peculiar Prophet

A couple of years ago, a District Superintendent paid me (Will Willomon) of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received. He had told a pastor of our interest to move him to a different church. “I can’t do this,” responded the pastor. “That church is dead. It’s been dying for years and now I hear it’s really dead.” The DS replied, “I’ll tell the Bishop but let me warn you, this guy really believes that Easter is true. To tell him a pastor or a church is dead means nothing to him. He just sees death as an opportunity to see what Jesus can do.”

Today’s Quote

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.  Michael Jordan