The Friday Update - MAD

Happy Friday,

The Lord delivered these words via Jeremiah 2,500 years ago. Not that much has changed since then. Our boasts tend to be about OUR successes, OUR leadership acumen, OUR physical prowess, OUR agility, OUR market predictions, OUR, OUR, OUR. Zoom out 50 years, then 500, then 5000 and only one boast will be left to make:  "that they have the understanding to know me."

Growth

Everyone wants to grow. But it's worth reminding ourselves that the reigning metaphor Jesus uses for Kingdom Growth is agricultural, suggesting spiritual growth is: 1) intentional 2) slow 3) invisible 4) and unimaginably transformational. Few look at a nut and see an oak-to-be. Few look at us and see all that we can be. Thankfully, Jesus is one of them.

Again 

This will be the third—and probably not the final—time I direct you to something Ben Sasse has recently said. As he is dying in public, he is sharing some very helpful insights about life and death. Click here to read or listen.

It’s Ironic and Comic That

1) The Bible is the most frequently stolen book.

2) Silicon Valley nannies are often pressed to sign contracts promising to never let their children see a screen.

3) Many of the young wish they were older while many of the old wish they were younger.

4) Those who used to fret about the young having sex are now fretting that they’re not.

5) We think we’d be happy if only we had what someone else has, while others think they’d be happy if only they had what we have.

6) Finally, it’s Ironic but Not Comic that the sinful people to whom God extends grace often hesitate to extend that grace to others.

Without Comment

1) In the latest war, Iran not only listed oil fields as high impact targets, it also listed Amazon and OpenAI’s Middle East data centers.

2) In ‘24 31% of Americans were Middle Class, up from 10% in ‘79.

3) This study shows that “managers of managers” are more likely to be thriving in their lives than those who work for them. Yet they are also more likely to report negative daily emotions, suggesting that leaders’ lives are more difficult than the lives of those they lead, but are also happier and more satisfying.

4) A Gallup poll from February found that—for the first time ever recorded—more Americans sympathize with the Palestinians than with the Israelis.

5) McDonalds is adding energy drinks to their menu.

6) United Van Lines annual report shows that Minnesota, West Virginia, Oregon, Delaware and South Carolina lead all states for the stat of “a greater percentage of people are moving in than moving out.”

IS2M

The fact that 22% of Americans say they go to church every week is oddly comforting. It is not true, but the fact that people lie about attending suggests they at least think it’s a good thing.

Overheard

1) Two things are true: wars can be just, but there might have never been a truly just one.

2) The root of joy is gratefulness.

3) The gospel of John opens with the Logos creating the cosmos, and closes with Him grilling fish for breakfast.

4)  We worship with our time, and our attention is the truest liturgy.

5) Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats.

Question of the Week

If being a Christian were illegal, would you be arrested? 

Quotes Worth Requoting

1) “The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe

2) “There are two types of people in the world: those who come into a room and say, ‘Well, here I am!’ And those who come into a room and say, ‘Ah, there you are.’ We need more ‘there you ares.’” — Frederick L. Collins

3)  When asked for the best advice he had for young people, Dallas Willard said, “Don’t strive to advance yourself. Let God advance you.” 

4) “Christ’s capacity to absorb suffering and keep loving was stronger than our capacity to inflict suffering and keep hating.” — John Ortberg

5) "Either Jesus never was or still is.” — Malcolm Muggeridge

WOTW

Honorable mention goes to a fully automated loop (a situation in which AI-generated assignments are completed and graded by AI agents), Silicon Sample (the name for election polling skewed by AI bots) and annoyance economy  (a description of the hassle of dealing with chat bots making robocalls and skewing election polling). Full honors go to Mutually Automated Destruction (MAD), an obvious play on the 70’s version of MAD — i.e., Mutually Assured Destruction. (Yes, I am aware—and also annoyed—that AI references are skewing my WOTW discussions. I suspect we may need to get used to the AI invasion.) BTW, although it’s too early for a Word of the Year, it’s worth noting that velocity is emerging as a contender. I’m not sure how a physicist would define it, but I’m hearing people reference it to capture the speed and frequency with which important life events are unfolding. 

Resources

Click here to hear my sermon from last weekend, which was on Revelation 20:1-10, one of the most hotly debated passages in the Bible. And click here to listen to my interview with Andrew Hanauer—founder of the One America Movement addressing issues of polarization in the US. (We apologize for having a few audio issues during the interview.)

Closing Prayer

"Most gracious Father, we most humbly beseech you for your holy church. Fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purge it; where it is in error, direct it; where anything is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen and confirm it; where it is in need, furnish it; where it is divided and torn apart, make up its breaches, O holy One of Israel. Amen.” (William Laud, 1573-1645)