The Rivers Edge Advantage

“A perverse man sows strife” -Pro. 16:28

You have been there and known the difference.  It may have been a class,
a work place, or even church where you noticed a huge shift in the general
atmosphere within a short period of time after a change of just a few
personnel within that group. It sometimes happens when even one
particular person leaves that the whole demeanor of the group changes
for the better. There is greater openness, more laughter, and even
episodes of joy break out where there was always a bitter edge to the
relationships afore.  It demonstrates the power of one.  Scripture proclaims
that where there is no talebearer, strife ceases (Pro. 26:20).  Sinful
attitudes on the part of a few have a way of reaching out and contaminating
the mood and tone of a whole group.

I remember a number of episodes where group dynamics shifted dramatically
within a short period of time and affected my feelings and attitudes.  The first
involved my high school church youth group.  As a teen-ager, I grew up in a
relatively small church with a peer group of about 20 youth.  Many of them were
related but more importantly, they were secretly living a double life style.  They
did their churchly duties in deference to their parent’s wishes, but at school and
away from church, they were flirting with all the worldly stuff that they could get
away with.  Church youth activities were thus laced with ambivalent feelings on
my part.  It was not a safe or accepting place, and God was definitely not the
center of interest.  I felt estranged and alone.  After I was off at college, the
makeup of the youth group changed dramatically as youth groups are wont to do.
I found myself sucked in whenever I was home and during the summers.  We
became a family and even the least of these was affirmed in some way or another. 
Those friendships continue to this day.

As a young boy, my parents moved to a farm in rural Illinois, and I found myself at a
one-room country school with four grades.  After acclimating, I experienced a
tremendously bonded group of children who affirmed one another in many ways.
I enjoyed school and looked forward to the studies that were quite up to speed in
spite of the many limitations that such a situation entails.  Well, good things like
that can not be allowed to continue, and so the county built a brand new junior high
school and bussed us all to town each day.   Hence, my 7th and 8th grade years
found me swimming in a social pool that was downright terrifying at times.  It
colored my whole middle school experience and was less than satisfying in many
ways.

Many parents at the middle and high school years right now are puzzling as to the
best academic path for their students. We live in a highly competitive age, and we
want to give our students the best edge possible.  But I urge any in this category
to think in terms of the learning environment as well as all of the course offerings
that a school such as Farragut High School could afford.  A student’s performance
can be colored by the dynamic of the group that inhabits any particular class.  I
first learned to love History because of a friendship with another student who
relished with me the chance to discuss the subject matter and the teacher’s
eccentricities.

We, at River’s Edge, have a vision for our new high school that it become a place
where like-minded students will be able to bond and form positive friendships
that will color their attitudes towards the subject matter in a positive direction. For
this purpose, we hope to involve students together in activities ranging from
student government to mission trips. We desire to create a place where students
feel safe from ridicule, worldly peer pressure, and negative attitudes. But more
than that, we desire to bring students together who actually enjoy the challenge
of math, who have a love for the arts, or who delight in literature.  The right kind of
student chemistry can be priceless in developing a passion for learning,
something that will seldom happen in a place where students feel threatened or
burdened with hostile forces arrayed around them.  Our new school will be small
but that can turn into a tremendous advantage as we recruit students who are
people of passion and character.  It is the River’s Edge advantage. 

Twenty Questions

The Twenty Most Pressing Issues to be Faced by the Next Generation

1. Law, culture, and politics: Will the homosexual lifestyle become a protected sub-group with all who speak against it be deemed guilty of ‘hate speech?’ Is there room for religious based knowledge in the public square? What will happen when all religious views are excluded from public life? What is the true definition of “religious freedom” enshrined in our Constitution? What does the separation of church and state really stem from?

2. Education I: It says in Daniel 12.4 that "people will be running to and fro and knowledge shall be increased". Then Paul says in II Timothy 3:7 that people will be "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth". So from that perspective, I think we should be concerned with "What to teach and how to teach it" as educators. What can we teach that will enable our students to be able to "discern between good and evil" and what do they need to know to avoid "the tree of knowledge of good and evil". These are deep issues with no simple solution.

3. Education II: Will the public schools destroy themselves on the opposing priorities of raising standards and insuring that all students graduate? What will Christians do in the face of this protracted stalemate?

4. Technology I: the kids of this generation have instant communication and know all kinds of things that grandparents don't know. How will we control the influx of knowledge that they are receiving from all of these devices? And should we?

5. Technology II: Although we are able to communicate instantly from almost anywhere in the world, we are an increasingly isolated people. How do we balance this “time for which we are fitted and chosen”? We must keep fellowship with God and His believers, we must battle all of the increasing lures of time and resources, and, yet, we must remain sane while doing so.

6. Technology III: King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been in ancient times before us. ” Perhaps modern challenges are, at the core, not new challenges, just restated, rehashed problems of old in somewhat different scenarios. Technological development has a way of magnifying what is already in the human heart. It is a means of enhancing the capabilities of man to promote good or evil in a swifter, more efficient, more effective manner, to make one either more productive or more destructive. Technological development, while benign in and of itself towards good and evil, most certainly has an impact. Technological development changes the scenario so that exercising the sin nature is relatively easy and effortless, perhaps as easy as pressing a button. However, the same technology can be used to promote God’s truth to the world in a more efficient manner than has ever been possible before. One person, regardless of age, money, or influence can be a world missionary from his own home. I propose that a worthy challenge we have as a generation is, “How can we use the technological resources available to us in creative ways, to impact this generation for Jesus Christ?” and “What dangers do technological development present to us because of the nature of the human heart?”

7. Environment I: The synergistic effects of multiple contaminants on the human body and environment. (In layman's terms, we have some understanding of how single contaminants impact us and the environment at different concentrations but how do they work together to impact us when they are mixed and what effect do different mixes have on impacted individuals).

8. Environment II: What is the true impact of humans on our environment and how should that affect the regulations that govern our lives. (The global warming issue falls under this question but it is much broader than that single issue.)

9. Culture and faith: “How do we teach and strengthen our faith and dependence on God when we live in a society of gross over abundance?” He has been to Ukraine a couple of times on mission trips. He is awed by how much they do and how happy they are with so few resources. A friend of our living in Ukraine has told us more than once that when a Ukrainian moves to the States, their faith often dies.

10. Economic: If and when the economy collapses in some way or another under the crushing load of debt currently being amassed, how will our children survive and flourish? How can we best achieve financial independence for families in a world economy founded on unstable premises? How much of the world’s system do we buy into and how creative do we need to be in regard to education and job training?

11. Science and sociology: What does it mean to be “human” and what, if any, distinguishing features and rights separate us from the animal kingdom?

12. Culture and politics: What foundational principles are at risk when we elevate diversity as a supreme value as opposed to the Christian consensus upon which this country was based?

13. Medicine and politics I: What protections need to be placed upon human life? How has legalized abortion affected our attitudes towards the sanctity of all human life? Can we contain our schizophrenic viewpoints without a total breakdown of the American health-care ethos?

14. Medicine and politics II: What will be the future of medical care in view of its spiraling costs, government interdiction, and uncontained litigation? Can we manage to find a creative, affordable, and compassionate alternative for our families and the body of Christ?

15. Culture and Faith: Pornography has become one of our major industries, and its allure and ease of access has penetrated nearly every home in America at some point in time. Can we stem this tide personally or as a nation, and can we rescue marriages, families, and the participants in this deadly trade from enslavement and destruction?

16. World politics: What will be the ultimate result of the push for a global economy and one-world culture? Is nationalism totally dead? Are cultural differences real or imagined?

17. Culture and religion: How can we reclaim generations of children raised without fathers and turn their hearts toward the Heavenly Father? How can we uphold the standard of the sanctity and inviolate status of marriage and extend compassion to the single parents laboring under heavy burdens of raising children by themselves? How do we balance mercy and truth in this tender sphere?

18. Culture and politics: How do we retain any cultural, legal, and political identity as a nation when immigration continues to be largely uncontrolled? What forces are actively arrayed against controlled and restricted immigration policies? What will the face of our country look like 50 years from now? Are there any redemptive aspects of this shift in population make-up?

19. Economic growth, population: How will the declining birth rates remake the countries of the world and change the economic balance of world power?

20. Religion: Who will win the battle for the hearts and minds of the 10-40 window of world populations: Christianity or Islam? Will Islam continue its aggressive expansion or wither in the face of rapid communications growth?

Questions

“Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.” -KJV John 3:25

Education, like youth, is wasted on the young, or so the saying goes. Like any proverb, there is an element of truth present that makes rebuttal difficult. I must admit that much of my education was poured upon me at an age when my maturity level was largely impervious to either truth or the disciplines necessary for mastery. In today’s educational jargon, we would use the word “readiness” to describe that state of being where a child is actually ready or not ready to receive the assigned lessons.

A painful memory for me comes from my senior year in high school when, for one reason or another, I decided to pick up the book, “The Brothers Karamazov” by Dostoyevsky and read it just for fun. Now there is an oxymoron for you: reading a Russian novel “just for fun.” I am not sure it can be done. Russian novels are always daunting especially as the progression of characters passes the two dozen mark. Yet, there I was, proudly carrying a black paperback copy around school and earnestly pressing my way through it. To my credit, I actually finished it. The trouble is that I could never tell you what it was really about. I was driven more by vanity and show rather than any intellectual pursuit of truth. I loved the reaction from teachers and other students who were so duly impressed by my literary tastes. It was a totally hollow experience.

In high school, I was simply and totally unprepared for the questions and issues raised in the book. Now, I have been challenged once again to read “The Brothers Karamazov” as one of the top 100 books every person should read in their lifetime. There are many compelling reasons for placing the book in this elite position and many would argue for its inclusion as it deals with many of the great issues of life, love, and faith that thinking adults are prone to contemplate. I am pondering taking another turn at this famous novel, this time bringing with me a lifetime of experience that has made me aware of the great issues and questions of life.

If I have a bone to pick with many upper level History and literature books, it is that they do not always identify what great issues are being addressed in the pages and pages of text that are provided. I always made a point to never promise my young History students that they would leave my class with all the answers. I did hope that they would take away an understanding of what the great questions were. One cannot appreciate an answer unless one understands the question. Reading the book of Romans is daunting to a young reader unless one understands that there is great tension between faith and works and a history of debate as to what is the real basis of salvation.

What I would like to do is challenge my readership with coming up with a list of the 20 top questions or issues of our day be they theological, social, economic, political, or environmental. We have just been examining the question of the basis for human dignity. It is a question for our age because of the challenge of secular, Darwinian humanism. Former generations never even questioned this because there was such wide agreement. Not now. So what issues would you nominate as the top 20 questions facing this next generation? I encourage you to submit your entries as a comment. Try to focus them as tightly as possible preferably no more than 100 to 200 words max. We will then comb through them, and our staff will argue the top finalists. Feel free to submit 1, 5, or all 20.

It is my hope to use this as fuel for thought and direction in our middle and high school classes. It will be a curriculum that is problem driven by the challenges our children will actually have to face.

History

“Let them bring forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.” -Isa. 41:22

I do not believe that I have yet to see a pithier job description for a historian than Isa. 41:22. It is in the context of a mock challenge that the Lord issues much as Job was challenged to answer if he had comprehended the earth in its breadth or could number the clouds. As daunting a challenge as it is, the true historian attempts to do just that, to look closely at the former things and declare what actually happened and from there make predictions on how nations and peoples will follow in suit when like conditions mature in the same order. The book of Proverbs is a collection of prophecies based upon observations of past behavior that indicate probabilities of outcomes from future behavior. We have that ability to learn from the past in order that we might not repeat the same mistakes. But human behavior is bewilderingly complicated and conditions rarely ever recreate themselves exactly. Then there is the Lord who can interject His hand at any point and turn the events of man to serve His eternal purposes. These things taken together make the job of a conscientious historian incredibly challenging.

We should never underestimate how important that job is in laying down paths for future generations to follow. Solomon’s Proverbs declare his purpose from the outset to “instruct in wise dealing, in righteousness and justice and equity” (Pro. 1:3). These things can be taught, he maintains, but not without a foundation of knowledge based upon past history and insightful observation. I was thrilled to pass by a quote in our History Fair from William Penn, the American pioneer of religious freedom in Pennsylvania, who said, “Men must be subject to God or ruled by tyrants.” How interesting that way back in the late 1600’s this man had such insight into human nature and History that he could make such a bold pronouncement. There is no more relevant truth for our age than this. We are in the middle of a flood tide of effort to take liberty to the limits of license and time will tell if the wheels will all come off of our society with the only remedy, despotism, not far behind.

It was a joy to see our school reveling in the stories and costumes of bygone eras. We must cherish these stories both for our inspiration and the dire warnings they contain. I look to Abraham Lincoln to see the power and beauty of self-deprecating humor utilized to teach and lead others. I read the story of Theodore Roosevelt to see a lust for life in both robust action and scholarship. I thrill at the hunger of Peter the Great for knowledge of things great and small, the new, and the unexplored. I am humbled by the wisdom of Alexander Solzhenitsyn gained almost exclusively through suffering. I am amazed at the grace of Booker T. Washington in handling disadvantage and discovering the joy of work well done. I shudder at the history of Lenin to see a man so twisted and bent beyond recognition by hate and bitterness. I wince at the story of Robespierre to see what enormous wreckage that could come from a man of simple tastes, steely discipline, and total dedication to the law. All these and more are my teachers. No one could ask for greater.

I trust your students found something this week to inspire admiration or horror, inspiration or pity, comprehension or incomprehension in the lives of those they studied. I learned that the actual name of the famous Cherokee Indian Chief, Sequoyah, was George (something or another). “Sequoyah” actually was a nickname gained through a hunting accident and means “pig’s foot.” My, my, how names that now have the ring of such reverence and sophistication actually comes from such humble origins. I doubt that all our friends living in Sequoyah Hills, one of Knoxville’s oldest and most prestigious neighborhoods, would be thrilled to know they live in “Pig’s Foot Hills.” Nor would “George” be a very memorable name for the Cherokee’s most celebrated chieftain. It is a reminder that it is the man that makes the name and not the other way around.

my space

I am well known to my family and friends as someone who is both glad and despondent over the new media that invests our lives at every point. The invention of word processing was truly an incredible blessing especially for all of us who remember manual typewriters, carbon copies, and white out. E-mail has also been a development that has revolutionized cross country and international communications. I still have a box of daily letters my wife and I exchanged while I was stationed in Korea. A phone call home at that time would have cost a day’s wages. Ham radio operators were the only practical means of communicating with missionaries abroad. For just these two developments alone, I count myself fortunate to have lived to see them. They rank right up there with the telephone, the airplane, and velcro. Yet, the dark side of the new media is with us as well, and we have yet to learn how to cope with it all. We cope, yes, in that life goes on. The struggle comes in determining just how much of our lives we will invest in it and in discovering to what extent it is affecting us for good or ill. These things are not readily apparent and take time to analyze.

I tremble, tip toeing where angels fear to tread, in challenging some conventional thinking regarding the social websites and the place they have come to occupy especially in the lives of our children. I have caught a glimpse or two into the world of adolescent ‘face-booking’ and have not been comforted. I had a hard time discerning the difference between it and the silly notes we used to pass in class in elementary school except that these are high tech in full color with photos. So, is that so bad? I had to think on that one. Obviously, the potential for cyber-bullying is incredible for ruining a reputation with a photo, rumor, or a total lie. None of us, I would hope, would allow our children to participate in this whole social networking thing unmonitored nor permit them to participate in cyber-assassination in any shape or form. This is not where my struggle is.

I am concerned about good kids just being their silly selves and having access to such a powerful interactive tool. Why? I am worried on two counts. First of all, both myspace and facebook require that all participants be 13 years of age or older. I suspect that I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every less-than-thirteen year old with a myspace account. We need to re-examine our commitments to honesty and forthrightness if we are aiding and abetting access to these social network sites by our children. If these sites were as free of peril that some Christians might imagine, we should ask ourselves why it is that a purely secular company has put such age restrictions in place. It is a direct contradiction of our River’s Edge priorities to enable or allow our underage students to practice deception of this kind.

Secondly, I fear the propensity of on-line socializing to widen the chasm that separates teens from adult society. We know that given enough time and opportunity, teens will create their own sub-culture apart from the real world. What we now talk of as the “teen culture” is a relatively new phenomena that came about in the 1950s as a result of greater leisure time, increased prosperity, and the growing media. The markets picked up on the disposable income in the pockets of teenagers, and they became a target focusing on their interests and fads.

I would ask myself as a parent if I want to facilitate this social isolation which only seems to serve up in spades the most banal of adolescent dialogue. Scripture says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. I am still discovering pockets of it tucked away in the nooks and crannies of my life. Anytime we allow children to pull apart and set up their own community unmolested by adult values, we should not expect much. At worst, we can look to “The Lord of the Flies” to see what can happen. And marvel not at the abilities of teens to speak in code, a new language safe from adult interception. Do you really know what your kids are saying?

Dignity IV

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” -Pro. 14:34

Gilbert Meilander has written a recent book on the subject of the dignity of man entitled Neither Beast Nor God.* I just naturally liked it already because of the title. We are not in the same category as any beast of the field which is a distinction no longer assumed in the public sphere. Our friends at P.E.T.A. regularly remind us of that and accuse us of “specie snobbery” or some such thing. Without the Bible, it is hard to explain why humans should have their way in this world just because they happen to be on the top of the food chain.

Meilander book-ends the topic with the reminder that we are not gods either no matter how much some of us might wistfully imagine in fractured moments of self-delusion.. It is Satan’s oldest trick to tease us into some grasp at equality with God as happened in the garden or at the tower of Babel. Our Mormon friends find this not so repulsive or unobtainable as one might think.

In the book, the author talks about human dignity as that common distinction afforded the human race as opposed to animal or vegetable life. He characterizes it, however, as a somewhat slippery term that invites comparisons among us as when certain people show themselves notoriously inhuman in their personal conduct or merely as not having as much worth as another. Meilander points to the necessity of grounding everything in the concept of personal dignity, an idea that finds its roots squarely in Scripture.

“A society can acknowledge and reward differences in accomplishment and achievement, it can recognize the sadness and tragedy of disability and fading capacities, and it can appreciate the worth of particular loves and special bonds of association—it can, that is, honor and affirm the dignity of the human condition, of this creature who is neither beast nor god. But it can safely do this only when its first and last commitment is to respect the equal dignity of persons, each of whom is made for community with God.”

I recently read the tawdry story of a young woman who had driven her husband to the hospital early one morning. She was drunk, and he was suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen as a result their argument. They both sounded absolutely pathetic. Not the kind of folks I would choose as neighbors or sitting as a jury of my peers. Yet, both retain a sense of personal dignity that requires me to treat them as people for whom Christ died and still seeks to save. Our secular society finds our compassion in this regard as helplessly “religious” in nature and therefore irrelevant to the public sphere. They would even criticize us for interjecting religion into matters of state. Yet, Meilander finds that it is the unbelievers “who find themselves mute when asked to give an account of our shared public commitment [to equal respect for every human being].” Their silence in this regard is both enlightening and frightful.

It is instructive to witness the great outpouring of love and concern for the people of Haiti coming from a) Christians and b) countries sharing a traditional Christian heritage. They recognize the personal dignity that resides in each poor, helpless, and struggling Haitian man, woman, and child in spite of language, culture, tradition, or even religion. We go because Christ went. We weep because Christ wept. We have compassion because Christ had compassion. And in doing these things for the least of those, we do it unto Him. When enough of us continue this great commission and tradition, we can actually exalt a nation.

*2009, Encounter Books, New York, NY.

Dignity III

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” -Genesis 1:26

If you wondered if there were any fresh questions regarding the dignity of man out there today, you need look no farther than the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It is not a journal I subscribe to or keep up with regularly but you need to hear the rich and imaginative language with which two highly educated doctors have come up with in justifying the taking of human life. The article which ran in the December, 2009, journal has a title which says it all: “An ethically justified practical approach to offering, recommending, performing, and referring for induced abortion and feticide.” My guard goes up immediately anytime I read about an ethically justified practical approach to anything. It is almost a sure give-away that someone is going to rationalize something horribly wrong.

Sure enough, the authors, Frank A. Chervenak, M.D., and Laurence B. McCullough, Ph.D., have created a very high sounding argument justifying the practice of abortion by redefining when human life takes on value and meaning. According to them, “the fetus lacks the capacity to generate a perspective on its interests” due to “the immaturity of the fetal central nervous system.” Did you get that? In other words, human life that cannot reflect upon its own self interest has no inherent value or meaning. The authors go on to insist that we have obligations to the fetus only “…when the fetus is reliably expected later to achieve moral status as a child and person” which is “…established only by the pregnant woman's decision to confer the status of being a patient.” They talk about some concern for a fetus who has viability outside the womb but after all this talk of “perspective on its interests” and the conferring of personhood only by the mother, we can envision only a muddled life ethic perched precariously on the most slippery of slopes.

If you were not confused already, catch this surefire guide to directing the limited role for a doctor’s “individual conscience.” One needs to be careful because “…in contrast to professional conscience, individual conscience is variable because of the striking heterogeneity of the sources of morality that form individual conscience.” There you have it. The conscience of the individual is inherently untrustworthy because it is formed by who-knows-what source of inspiration. It might even be contaminated by religious views which we all know are oh-so personal (read “arbitrary” and “capricious”) in nature. We who have amateur consciences are to leave these choices of life and death to those trusted souls who can exercise a more “professional conscience.”

We do not have here some diabolical evil geniuses out of a James Bond movie or some sci-fi tale twisting logic and language to cover their perverse schemes. These are pre-eminent scholars and medical minds of the highest order who are conjuring up this Brave New World now on our doorstep. The dignity of human life is under attack simply because our new leaders have abandoned the ground of being that has for centuries defined western civilization. They search desperately for another rock of understanding but can only come up with “the capacity to generate a perspective on its interests” or simply, the ability to choose. Just how will this kind of thinking hold up in situations of despair when a parent, a spouse, or the state questions the practicality of caring for a life that has become burdensome? I thought so.

You have an opportunity to stand with others this weekend upholding a Biblical standard for the dignity of all human life by attending the Right to Life prayer service at Calvary Baptist Church, 3200 Kingston Pike, at 2:00 PM, Sunday, Jan. 24^th, featuring Mr. Jim Wood of Wears Valley Ranch. What a great field trip for you and your children. They need to know that being little is not necessarily safe anymore.

Dignity II

“Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my name, receiveth me” -ASV Mark 9:37

I love the song, “Plant a Radish,” from the 1960 Schmidt and Jones musical, “The Fantastics.” It is the plaintive cry of a gardening father who has great luck with vegetables but not so much with children.

Plant a radish.
Get a radish.
Never any doubt.
That's why I love vegetables;
You know what you're about!

They're dependable!
They're befriendable!
They're the best pal a parent's ever known!
While with children,
It's bewilderin'.
You don't know until the seed is nearly grown
Just what you've sown.

So plant a carrot,
Get a carrot,
Not a Brussels sprout.
That's why I love vegetables.
You know what you're about!

Life is merry,
If it's very
Vegetarian!
A man who plants a garden
Is a very happy man!

Plant a beanstalk.
Get a beanstalk.
Just the same as Jack.
Then if you don't like it,
You can always take it back!

But if your issue
Doesn't kiss you,
Then I wish you luck.
For once you've planted children,
You're absolutely stuck!

While the spirit of this song is very light hearted and centers on the whimsical years of adolescence, the actual reality of this truth can stretch one to the limits of despair. I have a nephew-in-law in prison for manslaughter right now. He has broken his mother’s Christian heart innumerable times and one has to ponder the why of it even though there were some obvious cross currents in his life involving a broken home and an alcoholic father. But even the finest of families produce the most curious anomalies that perplex us all. One child is the model of responsibility while the next is totally forgetful and oblivious to all that is around him. One has all the gifts of an academic scholar and the other is intrigued only by machines and grease. One will cherish all the home making arts while another has no love whatsoever for anything domestic.

We are content for the most part with this reproductive lottery when it comes to the skills, interests, and abilities of our children. It is quite another thing, however, when we all of a sudden realize that our child is severely limited in intelligence, personality, or by a physical abnormality. Life all of a sudden can turn into a grinding test of faith and love when we realize that one of our children is not the child we had in mind.

Not long ago, I recall talking in the same week with two sets of parents sharing a similar though divergent problem. One set of parents had discovered that they had a very gifted child on their hands, a child that read at a level far beyond his years and who was totally bored with the school work his peers found challenging. Yet, he was emotionally right on grade level in terms of personal maturity. The other parents had discovered that their child was not just developmentally delayed but actually tested out at a very low I.Q level. Both children, as a result, would present constant and on-going challenges to their parents. Neither family asked for or necessarily would have even chosen either of these characteristics if they had had a choice. But God clothes both in equal dignity that recognizes no difference. In fact, it is the weak among us who define our humanity best and contribute greatly in that regard. Jesus chose to associate with low life, children, and even lunatics demonstrating how God uses the simple things to confound the wise. Our challenge is to see each of our children as equally valued in the sight of God regardless of ability, stature, or charm. Our children need to see that in each other.

Dignity I

Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; ASV Heb. 2:14

For all you word fans out there, Christmas is a time where we celebrate the Incarnation; God with us. Like no other, our God chose to come near and inhabit our world with us in human form. Incarnation literally means “in flesh.” It derives from the Latin word, caro, from which we derive all sorts of words such as carnal, carnivorous, and even carnival which harks back to the celebrations that would take place before the “doing away with meat” during Lent. The Incarnation of Christ in our world has been the source of much holiday meditation of mine and is a concept that both appalls me and thrills me.

On the appalling side, I can get quite queasy when I dwell on the weaknesses of the flesh. I could never be a doctor or especially a surgeon. Once the body is opened up, I am easily sickened by the sights of quivering, bloody tissue. I prefer to picture each of you as freshly washed and groomed persons in your Sunday best beaming smiles from your Christmas pictures. That you are spirits wrapped in flesh that is subject to a thousand corruptions and quite capable of emanating the foulest of substances is a fact I choose not to dwell upon. And our Lord stooped to take on this mantle of weakness? It is hard for me to imagine a more bizarre scenario. How could he do this?

On the thrilling side, the very fact that Christ did take on the form of human flesh with all its concomitant weaknesses and frailties is incredibly ennobling. Christmas forever puts a stamp of extreme value upon all human flesh as God himself chooses to take it on for the purpose of redeeming all humanity. He shares in our universal weakness, our suffering, and our pain to accomplish His plan of salvation for a broken and lost creation. But not for all, not for the plants, the animals; just for man alone. All creation stands as a mere backdrop for this drama of redemption for people such as you and I.

This is what changes everything when we look at creation and all the world. Mankind has a dignity and worth because of the price tag God put upon it. This idea has previously infected all of western civilization through the ages but now is in grave danger. Our modern world is attempting to maintain the old values regarding the dignity of man apart from the underpinnings of Christian faith. Pity on those who try for it is hard to do. Many hang their hopes on focusing on the rationality of man and his free will to choose. This is a threadbare hope at best and one which will wither away, but surely it will never resist the onslaught of a determined attack. Even now there are those who talk about defending new born life only when a certain “viability” is attained. “Choice” is, in fact, championed as a supreme act of the free will in terminating the unborn. And the loss of rationality is becoming dangerously close to justify the ending of “unmeaningful” life.

When we talk of critical thinking as a worthwhile and virtuous activity, I would urge you to examine with your children this whole idea of the dignity of man as we have traditionally come to presume upon it. It is in poor health in our society, and we Christians are the only folks that have the gold standard antidote. Do your children know what is at stake here? I would plead with you to take time and effort to discuss and teach them in very concrete terms the ramifications of the incarnation. This can be a Bible lesson or one seen in literature or History. The stark test of it is to visit a nursing home and wade into rooms full of the feeble, the broken, the incontinent, the mentally absent, the less than sweet smelling, and to touch their translucent skin in a way that says that they have great value because God said so. The fate of our society as we know it depends upon it.

Christmas 2009

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. -KJV Matthew 2:1-2

Every experienced teacher knows of at least a few exciting moments when they have come up with a razzle dazzle lesson plan that “wowed” their students and brought their enthusiasm to a fever pitch. Great teachers live for those moments and yearn for more of them day by day. Students love it as well whenever learning is coupled with fun and excitement of any kind but especially days that include anything involving a live animal, loud noises, real paint, or a combination of smoke and fire. We educators understand the power of excitement and hands-on discovery and would love to infuse every lesson with fireworks or rabbits popping out of hats. Unfortunately, there is much in education that just does not lend itself to the dramatic. A good teacher can bring a certain amount of drama to any subject, and this administrator will encourage that at every turn. But try as we will, there are always those stretches in the educational journey where progress can only be achieved by a good supply of practice, repetition, and memorization that borders on or camps out in the bland land of the tedious.

Teachers have been made to feel guilty, at times, in today’s high energy world for lapses in the school day where repetitious exercises and drill are relied upon to imprint a concept or idea. Avant-guard teachers are even praised for not requiring any homework whatsoever on the part of their students. Yet we know that there is much to be gained through routine and daily practice that may, indeed, be entirely devoid of dramatics or “fun.” Artists will even tell us that discipline, commitment to practice, routine, and structure are the gateway to creative accomplishment having any lasting and real merit. Bertrand Russell wrote of the necessity to bear with the boredom of structure and discipline and argued that any society “that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men...unduly divorced from the slow processes of nature, in which every vital impulse withers.”*

I looked to the Christmas story this year and saw many instances where the main characters moved slowly to the center stage of world history through days, months, and even years of tedious labor. Shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night, a dreadfully dull duty when all others about them were asleep in their beds. Joseph subjected himself to the tediously slow pace of a cumbersome and pregnant young woman with many special needs while blindly following inconvenient orders that were the despised idea of a foreign king. And the wise men were professionals all who had dedicated years of study to their craft, patiently and studiously charting the heavens. They scratched at the puzzle of the ages of how all the stars swam in relationships that kept changing but yet seemed tied together in some ingenious dance. These wise men were products of a lifetime of study dedicated to a line of work that promised no immediate reward. Yet when the star appeared, they were there looking, observing, and alert to see its implications when everyone else saw nothing at all.

May we be found faithful in the dry valleys of duty while others chase after a mirage of shimmering illusion leading nowhere; an illusion that issues the siren call of instantaneous gratification, quick results, and easy execution. May we lead our children by word and example showing them how to persevere through adversity, weariness, and strain to obtain the rewards of both earthly study and eternal preparation. Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Gal. 6:9). There are enough little men about us.

* As cited in Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me (New York: Riverhead Books, 2008), 41

Significance

“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” - Psalms 56:8

Just how special are you? A clue comes from modern pathology science which has discovered the unique, special mark that each person carries within their DNA. A recent crime story took this simple fact one step further as investigators solved an abduction and murder case involving a 5 year old girl by analyzing the tear stains on the passenger side of her killer’s car. There, within those stains, was found the unmistakable proof of the little girl’s DNA identity. How poignant that this little girl’s tears solved her own murder case. How incredibly powerful is the knowledge that our tears are uniquely laced with our own one-of-a-kind personhood.

In ancient times, we are told that mourners at funerals would collect their tears in little bottles and place them with the body upon burial. Evidence of this has been found in tombs in Rome and Palestine sometimes in great profusion. From this we can flesh out the picture of Psalm 56:8 where God is said to collect our tears in His bottle; or as the indelible stains upon the pages of our record. Our tears are uniquely our own, and our God knows them all.

Two lessons come clear to me upon reflection on this truth. One, each one of us is completely different from all other persons who have ever walked on the earth or will take breath in this world. When the Scriptures talk about a victim’s blood crying out from the ground for justice, we know now that every drop of our blood has our name on it. We are imprinted from birth with a mark that sets us apart from all others. When lost in a large crowd of thousands or imagine ourselves swallowed up amidst the millions of China, we need never lose track of our own unique significance in the eyes of God. And, in fact, He has numbered the very hairs of our head. He sees the sparrow fall but proclaims we are of far greater worth. Such knowledge is too high for me. I cannot attain to it. Yet it is sweetly comforting.

Secondly, God has ordained that we live such lives where tears are inevitable. Sorrow and grief follow in our steps as surely as death follows life. Ever since our expulsion from the garden, pain and suffering are an endemic part of our lives. At one time, my immature thoughts considered pain as either the result of my own poor thought processes or someone else’s. If we were just smart enough, pain could be avoided altogether. Either that or pain was just a result of some bad luck which, like lightning, strikes without cause or warning: a twist of cruel but random fate. I see pain and suffering now as more a constant part of the fabric of our lives: as destined for us as earning our bread by the sweat of our brow.

Yet God, Himself, stepped into our world and took on the limitations and pain of man. Dorothy Sayers wrote, “For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is – limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death – He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine… He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.”* We, too, can walk this vale of tears and find it all worthwhile. Especially as we know we are uniquely significant. Not only that, but we are hovered over by the lover of our souls, one who has experienced all the limitations of the flesh, who keeps a record of all our tears until the day when all sorrow shall cease; no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying when He will wipe away every tear.

*Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos? (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949), 4.

Completely Loved

“Henceforth I call you not servants; … but I have called you friends;” -John 15:15

A visit to Mrs. Miller’s 4^th gr. class was on my agenda the other week, and so I went to just observe and be as unobtrusive as possible. Before I could enter the room, however, a display of student work on the door arrested my attention and held me riveted by what I began to read. It was just one of those simple fill-in-the-blank exercises that elementary teachers use to get to know their students and elicit some creative expression. Under a photo of themselves, students filled in the blanks with statements about themselves that ranged from the humorous to the profound. A girl wrote: The important thing about me is that I love God. I love my family and my friends. I love my enemies but not working outside on a very hot day. Oh, that all of us found loving our enemies preferable over working outside on a very hot day. Wow! Another wrote: I like ice cream and vegetables but not mold! The most important think about me is I love Jesus, the Christ. Without a doubt, this most important thing is the most important thing. May we do as well to remember.

While these stabbed me to the heart (all the while standing there with a door half opened), one response brought tears to my soul that came close to seeping out the eyes. A girl wrote: The important thing about me is just being me! I like school so much! I like school because my teacher is fun, and my classmates are all great! I also like all the subjects – they are very fun but not English as much. I also like doing cartwheels (a lot) and playing with my sister! I think we play well together. But the most important thing about me is that I am completely loved, completely accepted, and completely significant!!!

I stood there stunned that any 4^th grader would be able to say that they were completely loved, completely accepted, and completely significant at that tender age. I wanted to file a letter of complaint against my upbringing and bring suit against all involved because I was never able to say any such thing let alone be able to even spell those words. How many of us could simply sit in wonder at how we might have matured, how different things might have been, and what results might have followed had we been able to say in 4^th grade, I am completely loved, completely accepted, and completely significant.

My first suspicion upon further reflection was that the parents had coached their daughter on what to say. And so I interviewed them over the phone trying to ascertain the source of these words that had so gripped my imagination. No, there was no dictation involved. The student had freely transcribed these stirring sentiments on her own. But there had been a conscious and deliberate pouring into this young heart a series of devotions taken from God’s word that underlined these very things. Though I am sure that these parents had invested much of their time in giving their children a sense of their own love and acceptance, in the end it is the Scriptures that brings the deepest and most satisfying answer to the child’s heart. For every child instinctively knows that there are secrets and closets within each of us that are known only to God. Parental love is important, but God’s love is even more important because he knows us, oh, so intimately. Once God’s love is grasped and accepted, we are free to love one another as witnessed by the positive words of affirmation towards all of life throughout this young girl’s responses.

It is my prayer that all our students may come to the full knowledge of our standing with God, the creator of heaven and earth, who stoops and deigns to call us, “friend.” Nothing shows the need more than a recent survey of Knox Co. middle school students which revealed that 17% of them had considered killing themselves, 12% had made a plan, and 7% had made an attempt. How desperate the need.

Grasping the Moment

All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. KJV Psalms 145:10

I paused for traffic on this golden day, and watched in wonder as a swarm of leaves showered over me in a sudden frolic. Once dead upon the ground they held little fascination, yet in flight they spilled themselves in utter abandon, giving the moment a sudden delight. Just for me. They held their place for a season of green but now, they danced with the wind in a blaze of color for this one brief bit of time, just for me, and were gone.

There are these rich days of autumn in which the sun breaks through and lights up a few glorious hours of our year in which one tree in fifty suddenly grips our sight with special beauty. It bids us stop and just behold the color yellow rippling through a blue sky in a demonstration only nature can provide. And there, on the ground, lay a perfectly reflective puddle of yellow flakes anchored to a blackened trunk; mute testimony that says this is no illusion.

And just when I think I have seen the perfect tree with the most vivid hue, another bids me on to come and drink in an even more impressive scene. Now, orange and green blend in marbled splendor and surpass the dead of yellow. I cannot but dread that I am not able to take it all in; that there are more and better views just around the corner. And then I must cope with a sun that will not stand still, though I command and command, and in a few brief turns of time changes everything.

That sun, the same early morning companion I witnessed setting the eastern sky afire in red just a few days hence, refused to do my bidding then. I searched in vain for someone to come to my precipice and share in the sky splitting display that came but once in time. I needed a witness to verify the absolute glory of it all, but it would not wait, impatient to get about its task, and so the moment was gone, the masterpiece dissolving like some passing mist.

I witnessed, too, this week, a father bending over his two sons with tender but manly embrace. He spoke words of blessing tinged with words of challenge; instruction that gave their little lives direction and purpose; rails of steel laid with unmistakable affection into the hearts and minds of two young boys that would not fail to guide them hence and return them safe again. I looked at young eyes that were open to receive these assurances of grace with a trust affirmed by love and deep respect. The beauty of that moment held me transfixed until it, too, passed by.

This same day bore witness to the magic of two, new born babies who pulled at deep passions within a mother’s breast. Not just ‘a’ mother, but all mothers who happened on the scene. For some brief days, these little ones have the power to command and compel complete attention and cause many to stand in line for just a chance to hold them. What fascination to see such quiet and mute forms evoke such tender joy. It is the cry to grasp this moment of time that passes all too quickly, echoing memories of children grown and gone before.

I want to cling to all these moments for their raw beauty, but they pass before me as live drama defying all efforts to freeze them in place. I am forced to live in awe of the now and practice gratitude for these passing moments of beauty and grace. May God give me eyes to see all such passing scenes of splendor that touch my sleeves each day and enough joy in my heart that is sufficient to pay the proper obeisance.