enough canon fodder?
good news weekly 6.15.24
Father’s Day Service — Food + Encouragement for Dads. We would love to see you @ 9 or 10.45.
enough canon fodder?
i have started to really enjoy women’s basketball. at the higher levels, it reminds me much more of the game i played + my boys play, shooting / passing / rebounding, than the CRAZY athleticism of top level men’s hoops.
starting with last year’s final four, and carried through the caitlin clark / angel reese saga, i enjoy the games, i enjoy the content. i’m not trying to seem a certain way about it, i just find myself genuinely interested.
but the discourse around women’s hoops is brutal. the older players gently taking shots at caitlin clark. the need to make the white girl the pure one and the black girl the mean one. the fussing and arguing and fighting by men in the media about a sport they just starting caring about 10 minutes ago, annoying.
it has crystalized something i have been pondering for a while. most of the conversation is about stuff other than what we are talking about. people bring our constantly smoldering resentments + political fights to something that should be cool + fun and sort of ruin it.
polarization produces proxy-wars.
issues tend to be seen not for what they are, but through the glasses we were already wearing to evaluate them.
most news stories are immediately formed into canon balls that can be loaded into ideological canons and fired at your enemy.
pro-caitlin clark becomes anti-woke.
pro-palestine becomes anti-evangelical or anti-MAGA.
todays weather because evidence of climate change, pro or con.
each young person who dies of a heart attack becomes an anti-vaccine war cry.
football star travis kelce, a darling of the left.
liberal political commentator bill maher, a darling of the right.
famous person on the other team caught in hypocrisy … media good
famous person on the my team caught in hypocrisy … media unfair.
golfer arrested trying to get to golf course … police bad.
same golfer charges dropped … privilege bad.
famous person exonerated of sexual assault allegations, take that woke mob!!!
it’s nonsense.
the bible we read has stories of false accusation (joseph) + proportional response to assault (dinah) + stories with ambiguity baked in (david / bathsheba or ruth / boaz).
the bible has power used for good and power used for bad. the bible has the people of God under attack and the people of God being righteously judged for their foolish choices.
most things have more than binary options for assessment
and you + I should restrain ourselves from assuming we are always right.
kingdom independents refuse to be drawn into the culture wars, because
people are more important than issues. by that i mean, God loves the people i disagree with and i need to learn to understand them even when i don’t agree with them.
as an example, i have been saying lately in church that i won’t pray for pets. i stand by this. there are enough people with issues that need my attention lol. however, i recognize that in lots of situations, animals are a tremendous comfort and companion. i should care about you. and if you care about your animal, caring for you requires that i care a little too.
and, situations are more important than sides.
sometimes police have to shoot their guns to keep the community safe. sometimes that is done in wrong ways or wrong times.
some marriages need to end because of repeated trust breaking, some don’t and people should get over themselves and make it work.
we must work towards being mentally strong enough to evaluate individual situations, not lazily assume we will end up on the same side every time.
my general personal convictions here:
1. take care to be a good neighbor, not a binary culture warrior.
2. only get worked up or certain about things that involve people close to you or where the details are established + clear.
I don’t know how much longer it will, but our 6 year old daughter Fefe loves the dollar store. When she goes, she surveys the aisles making a lengthy list of all that she wants. It’s never good enough to get one thing, she usually ‘needs’ about three items and typically within three days, she has lost interest in that ‘thing’ she so desperately needed because it was cheap.
Although I think we would be shy to admit it, our world likes things that are cheap. I listened to a podcast recently about a clothing line that is trying so hard to make great clothes that pay their employees fair wages. Do you know why it’s slow-moving to get that clothing line to gain traction? People like the idea of fair wages for all but most people aren’t willing to pay more for clothes when they can get something similar for much cheaper.
This week I read Psalm 50 + 51. There are a few verses in these chapters that talk about the sacrifices that God wants from us. Of course, the ultimate sacrifice that the Bible is all leading toward is the one of Jesus Christ. The perfect, spotless sacrifice that took away the sin of the world. The Old Testament reminds us of the sacrifices God’s people had to make that were bloody and probably a bit awkward as they carried their sacrifice to their place of worship. You could never say that kind of sacrifice was cheap. They had to take something of value to them, kill it, and then bring that to him. And as I share these verses that stood out to me about sacrifice, the question that kept plaguing my mind was whether or not you or I are willing to give the sacrifices that cost me something and aren’t marked by the cheapness of our society.
Psalm 50:14 says, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving”... and verse 23 says, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to the one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
And then
Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
These verses in Psalm 50 remind me that it takes practice to get out of the habit of asking God for things but of praising Him for who He is and thanking Him for what He has done and all He has provided. When was the last time that you thanked God for the breath in your lungs or the Bible that you hold in your hands or even the difficult circumstance that brought you to prayer?
There are things that constantly happen in our lives that we get frustrated and hurt about and we want to point the finger at someone. But we forget to look inward and ask God to give us a spirit of humility toward the people who have hurt us. We forget the mercy and forgiveness that God has poured out as an expensive sacrifice on us.
One of the reasons I love God so much is because he deals with our sinful hearts and brings conviction right where we have been acting cheaply with him. Join me as I reflect on what I need to alter so that my life is full of sacrifices that are worthy of the price that God paid for me. Aren’t you glad God didn’t take the cheap way out on us?
Last Weeks Sermon
one of my favorite messages in a while, I SEE IT
Father’s Day Prayer
I lift up every earthly father on this Father’s Day. In a world filled with confusion, I pray you bless fathers with godly wisdom and good judgment. And for the fathers who feel that their doing and being is not enough, reveal to them that in Christ Jesus, they are enough. For the fathers who are lost, help them find purpose. For those who have failed, bless them with opportunities to redeem those moments.
For those needing to forgive, make their hearts tender and open. And for those whose fathers have transitioned from this life, grant them peace and comfort. Lastly, I pray that your Holy Spirit moves on their heart and by grace through faith, you would invite them into a loving relationship with you though your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
this is good news,
luke+kristen