Nov. 2 - Morning car thoughts
The wonderful thing about loving God is the longing that accompanies it. Every dram of grace betrays the greater drought in our core. We are fed, yet we cannot boast (Eph. 2:9). As we approach election day, the tensions we’ve allowed to simmer on our least favorite stove burner begin to whistle. Political conversation amid our fragile attempts at co-inherence, in the church and in the world, feels like an extra twist of the knife. Things are hard enough. And yet, as we sing in “The Love of God”, “When…/ earthly thrones and kingdoms fall / God’s love, so sure, shall still endure / All measureless and strong.”
Thomas Merton wrote that it’s only by God’s sheer grace that we haven’t destroyed ourselves yet, and here is another place we cannot boast. The strength of our empires, the courage of our leaders, the freedom of our people: all of this balanced on a knife’s edge, held by Almighty God who…loves us. “A king's heart is like channeled water in the LORD's hand: He directs it wherever he chooses.” (Proverbs 21:1) We can laugh in the face of scary kings because the Lord is in control. This morning, I parked at the lake and read Philippians 4 before work. Albeit the most trotted memory verse from my many years in Sunday school, I read it today with new eyes. Misty ones, at that. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (v. 4) Could this be a coda to Psalm 42:5-6? “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.”
Paul goes on to describe the agility this confidence in the Lord’s goodness and provision provides him. “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (v. 11-13)
I have learned the secret: Christ. Should we be brought low, should our communities suffer from pharaohs within and without, should a renaissance of righteous living manifest, we can rejoice in the God of our salvation.
And as our joy increases, so will our longing to see more of the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
“As the deer panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after thee…”
Nov. 3 - Ellul & Schaefer escort me to the polls
I’ve been researching Francis Schaeffer and his L’Abri fellowship movement. Coincidentally, or not, my study has been rather timely. In the months before the 2016 election, I stumbled upon a recommendation for Jacques Ellul somewhere. I soon selected Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes to be my field guide through the most intense election cycle of our time. Tensions between both political parties had never been higher and the influence of memes and other forms of media on the election was undeniable (yet perhaps not as impactful as the bitterly-disappointed Russia conspiracy theorists would like to think). And so a book like Propaganda was helpful in its explanation of propaganda’s origin, function, and effect on the human spirit.
My biggest takeaway was that local community is an excellent buffer against propaganda. Isolate an individual and you render him vulnerable to the weakest persuasions. Why? A slew of reasons, but, simply put, he has no push-back. A man is easier convinced of his neighbors’ evil if he never interacts with him. But if the neighbor is kind, this is complicating information. Yet the most fundamental push-back is community’s ability to immerse a person in life. In community, you have a name. In the papers, you are a demographic. To the state, a serial number. Community also keeps us busy taking care of each other and not idly getting lost in the obfuscations encouraged by the state. We can see this most clearly in upper class liberals derision of middle America as ’fly-over country’. Thank God for the Electoral College, if but for these little tyrants.
Back to Schaeffer. Though I’m just dipping a toe into his legacy and philosophy of thought, I see L’Abri as being a Christian intellectual form of the kind of propaganda-preventive community Ellul sketches. It warrants further examination, but it’s certainly encouraging to see that this vision for a holistically Christ-centered life of flourishing is a long-developed heritage I can add my voice to. As the morning waned, I listened to a Schaeffer lecture on YouTube: “Christian Manifesto.” In this lecture, Schaeffer speaks boldly and passionately against the passivity of evangelicalism and our failure to stem the rising tide of humanistic moral abasement. He specifically reviles abortion, and calls on Christians to refuse to cede ground on this issue if we believe in Christ. “Do you believe Christianity is the truth of reality?” Yes and amen. He goes on to promote the virtues of civil disobedience in light of a nation that issues any commands or policies that run contrary to God’s holy law. It’s not just an option to rebel, it’s a duty.
Yahweh is the God Who Is Here in the World That Is. I’m going to vote with objective reality in mind. Praise God that we have the freedom to vote and to abstain. Praise God that He empowers us to obey the state and to rebel against it. Everything is grace.
Nov. 4 - Rufus the Hawk
Today, I learned that Wimbledon has its own security guard hawk. Rufus, a Harris’ Hawk, has one job - keep pigeons away from the venue. Succeeding Hamish, the previously employed guardian hawk, Rufus has faithfully held his position for over fifteen years. Harris’s Hawks are used often for bird abatement as they are easy to train and highly sociable.
In his manifesto on Christian art and aesthetics, The Arts and the Christian Imagination, Clyde S. Kilby lists a series of axioms that frame his worldview.
Consider his third resolution: “I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.”
This day is like none other. Granted, it’s the day after an undecided election and filled with accusations of voter fraud, and therefore certainly one full of notable variety. But if we can relax our laser focus on the election and its miseries for a moment, we might be able to notice that today is still not ‘plodding’ without it. Of Kilby’s resolutions, this one tempts me as a tattoo idea. Despite the fact that it partakes of the same spirit expressed by Twin Peak’s Special Agent Dale Cooper in his ‘once a day, every day, give yourself a present’ speech, it’s important to savor the uniqueness of the day. If absolutely nothing unpredictable or different happened to me today, November 4th would still be the day I learned about Rufus the Wimbledon security hawk. And that would be just fine.
When we consider this in view of reality - that we were created by God for this exact time, given this day by God for our participation in it, and sustained by God for His glory, every moment drips lavishly with meaning and importance. We don’t know what the losses and gains of today will usher in tomorrow, but that’s not under our purview to begin with. Even if the only differential is a cool new fact, that may be one small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind. Okay, that’s a stretch, but it kind of works?
Nov. 5 - KJV
There are a particular group of Christians who feel that the King James Version Bible is the only acceptable and holy translation of the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures. KJV-only people are pretty ruthless in their commitment to the singular translation, but I think it may just be another little idol we churn out, like Calvin diagnosed. The skill by which King James’ sanctioned translation was wrought is most likely subpar to current linguistic acumen, but that’s not enough for KJV-only folks. I see both sides to some degree, but I do believe the heavy-handed insistence on one translation tells more of the readers fear, born from their lack of knowledge in the area of linguistic apology.
But they love Jesus, so we can hang out.
What I really like about the KJV is all the stuff that NIV folks tend not to like. “Abideth” has a much sweeter ring to it than “abides”. This is one small example. There is an element of nostalgia in it for me but my love for euphonious language is what really hooks me in. The Bible is full of beautiful words and I’m thankful that this translation was vital in making sure more people got to hear them.
My dad used to keep a KJV Bible in his work truck. Dad worked with all kinds of guys: Mormons, Jehovah’s Witness, other Christians, cliche lewd construction guys, and guys that just kept to themselves and showed up for a paycheck. My father has always been passionate about talking to people about belief, so when he’d get out that Bible during coffee and lunch breaks, the guys would ask him about it and he’d chat with them. That Bible is nasty. It’s covered in peanut butter stains, boasts dozens of ripped pages, and the binding is unraveling at an alarming rate. I discovered it in a storage area of my parents house recently and decided to keep it. Now it’s my car Bible and I flip through each morning before I walk into work. On the inside cover, the lining now mostly chipped away and fading, Dad wrote, “This is not a rule book, it’s an owner’s manual.”
Seems fitting to store the soul manual next to the Toyota one.
Nov. 6 - Strong female characters
Whenever I hear the feminist scree about the lack of strong female characters portrayed in our media, I have to wonder what they’ve been consuming. Looking back at my childhood, I can easily name a few role models that exhibited the kind of strength I still hope to inhabit. But then again, I think I have a different definition of strength than my feminist counterparts.
Granted, I was raised under the influence of some pretty niche cultural artifacts (heck, my eighth grade final English paper was an eleven-page thematic analysis of progressive rock, from Fripp to Floyd and beyond), but these things weren’t necessarily un-accessible. Mom raised me on Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, fantasy novels, and Regency era adaptations. Dad brought me up on Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, stories of his Grandma Adler pacing the floor each morning as she prayed out loud, and dressed me for church in weird outfits that mortified my mom but instilled in me a sort of levity regarding appearances. Mom now thinks I have bad taste.
A varied set of influences, to be sure, but there were common virtues that spanned them all: confidence, decisiveness, humility, healthy submission, and resilience. Though certainly not immune from weakness and indecision (they wouldn’t be life-like if they were), these women approached their circumstances with integrity. I think first of Eleanor from Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Clara from Martin Ritt’s film The Long Hot Summer, and Millie from the R&H musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. These were strong characters who carried themselves un-apologetically and bore their trials well.
Millie’s commitment to stay with Adam Pontipee, her bullheaded husband of twenty-four hours, and tame her six unruly brethren-in-law is the opposite message told to young women today. Is it more difficult than you thought? Embrace your self-worth and leave him. But Millie neither eschews her convictions nor buckles under her unexpected new lifestyle. She rolls up her sleeves, literally, and gets to work. Adam doesn’t fully shed his chattel-like treatment of women until the end of the story, but it’s Millie’s assertiveness accompanying her loyal submission to him as her husband that guides him there. I could say more about Eleanor and Clara but I’ll save those analyses for another day.
Could we do with more strong female characters out there? Always. But let’s not pretend they’re a new development. Traditional women are just snubbed from the intersectional table.
Nov. 7 - Long-range living
Last year, Wendy advised our Bible study to think long range about our lives. This theme has come around often since then, and I think it’s time to really take notice. I wonder just how much time i spend within each area of my life kicking myself or missing something because I didn’t think ahead. Don’t get me wrong, risk assessment and pleasure prioritization are things I exercise daily, but I don’t approach them with the kind of holistic finitude I now believe may be necessary.
Regardless how one feels about the projected presidency, it will certainly have an affect on our daily lives. It’s a shame that the office of the president has such weight, especially as one of three governmental branches. But down to brass tacks, this confidence will inspire people to go further & push harder, and if you are someone that does not (or cannot) ascribe to the cultural mandate, you’re poised in a disadvantage. From tax increases to the manipulative approach that leverages pandemic lockdown, things will change and they will affect you and I.
There are two approaches we can take, neither radical. One, a paralyzed sort of fearful indecision and downright apathy, or two, strategize for the best possible outcome. I say these aren’t radical things because, in all honesty, we should be doing the second approach already (read: I should be doing this already). But sometimes it takes national shake-ups like this to remind us of which habits and skills are advantageous to develop and which pastimes are wastes of time. As I currently stand, I think competence and agility are important.