Should we turn to culture?

Culture [Kuhl-cher] - noun 1. The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

School days. Ah. Fond memories of hanging with my friends, playing sports, pranks, girlfriends, getting good grades without studying too hard. My first concert, the thrill of doing things I wasn't supposed to, jumping off the second floor balcony of the Bilmar Hotel in 11th grade to avoid hotel security. No need to say why they were knocking on our door.

I keenly remember standing in assembly, the Catholic priest who was our school chaplain intoning...something. I'm a little embarrassed to admit the extent that my friends and I made fun of him and the hymns we were supposed to be singing. If God wasn't so forgiving, I'd be doomed for sure.

I'd gone to Sunday school and church as a kid growing up - back in the day, when we had to wear a suit and tie. But that was a lifetime away from military school and peer pressure and, well, fun.

Thirty years later, I'm a Sunday school teacher. I could dwell on the irony of that but I have a more important point to ponder: Why are kids leaving the church today?

More specifically, young men and women in their mid-to-late teens and even early twenties are departing the church in droves. In fact, Over 60% of children who grow up in the church will leave it as young adults according to Already Gone, a startling book by Ken Ham and Brit Beemer. The cause?

Sunday school syndrome.

Ham and Beemer are finding through extensive research that instead of strengthening the faith of young people by solidifying the Bible's historical authority, Sunday school is teaching that the Bible is more about inspiration and morality than authenticity and reality.

How much time to young people spend in church? How much time do they spend in school? How much time do they spend in front of the television or with ear buds firmly implanted in their heads, listening to music? How much time do they spend on social networking sites or otherwise surfing the Internet?

I would hazard a guess that the time spent in church, or in church-related activity is far less than the rest. In fact, I believe that, similarly to the premise of Already Gone, church plays a part in the disconnect of young people from God. And I readily admit that I've been an enabler.

How many times have you invited someone to church? Did that suffice for your outreach duty? According to Matthew 28, Jesus didn't ask us to go and invite people to church - He asked us to go and make disciples. Big difference. In college and professional sports, recruiters go and scout out talent, inviting them to come and play at a particular school or for a particular team. It's up to the coaches to take that talent and mold it into a winning team. I have a sneaking suspicion that most Christians - evangelical or not - are more recruiter than disciple-maker.

But if each of us fails to take our personal knowledge of God - gained through regular study of God's message to humanity and how it (and He) has changed our own lives - and share it with someone, helping them mold that knowledge into their daily life, we are blowing it - big time. I even found a video for a church that admitted church was boring - except for theirs.



At the end of the day, what are we up against? We're up against our culture. We live in the age of reality shows and instant gratification. Oh yeah, I hear that our youth today are the most giving generation of all time - and I've met some young people that awesomely fit that bill. But I also heard a report on NPR this morning that highlighted the emergence of charity for profit. Everything from the pink ribbons to the timing of donations to take full advantage of our tax laws. The new charity is I'll give...as long as I get the best return from it.

So what's the answer? How do we fulfill Jesus' command to us in Matthew 28? Do we turn to culture? Do we make ourselves the anti-church?

I wrestle with how worldly we should be in reaching out to young people. Faith in God is a serious thing. That doesn't mean we can't have fun - heck, the knowledge that I will have eternal life and spend that time in the most amazing place in the universe is pretty exciting, if hard to conceptualize in our culture. One example of - at the risk of...something - a godly secular song is U2's 40



He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

How do we get them back?

X

He'll be back...

This article on MSNBC opines that Tiger Woods will never recover from the marital infidelity scandal he is currently embroiled in.

I am disappointed in Tiger - no doubt about it - but to say that he will never recover is naive. The media-consuming public has a notoriously short memory. The article mentions Kobe...what about Ted Kennedy? Holy cow, he was responsible for the death of a woman and he came out of that to serve forever on the Senate, with distinction. Listening to the endless eulogies after his death, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Mr. Kennedy is going to be put forward as a candidate for sainthood. But we're not talking about the honorable senator from the great state of Massachusetts.

We all get mad when our idols let us down. That is more an indictment on us than on the object of our misplaced idol-worship. Tiger will be back - he is too good of a golfer and too strong mentally. Will he be as loved? Probably not. But within a year, maybe two at most - he will be tearing it up again.

Either that or your looking at the next Howard Hughes...I could be wrong - I'm not perfect either.

What do you think?

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Now that's funny...

When I was younger, I used to watch Saturday Night Live. Of course, that was back in the days of John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner and many others. Heck I even watched it during the tenure of Dana Carvey - who can forget the classic Church Lady line, "Could it be...SATAN?"

I also enjoyed Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood as Eddie Murphy took an icon and turned him into a deadbeat tenant.

Saturday Night Live has made fun of just about everything, from Chevy Chase mugging on Gerald Ford to Dan Akroyd tearing down Jane Curtin during the news, to Phil Hartman's "The Real Reagan" skit.




What I'm trying to say is that nothing was sacred when it came to SNL writing and performing parodies and skits. But now, even Hollywood is making noises about SNL going too far. What heinous tear-down could have elicited such a reaction?




First of all, let me apologize for the poor quality of this video - and for the film crew cackling in the background - even they thought a skit about Tiger getting his comeuppance at the hands of his wife was funny.

As the article notes, what seems to have flipped everyone out is that Rihanna was the musical guest on the SNL this week. You may remember that Rihanna suffered a domestic violence issue with her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. I'm conflicted here. As I've gotten older, I've thought that a lot of what SNL does is distasteful and offensive. So what's the difference now?

I think this is sadly ironic...What do you think?

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Simple but Powerful

A friend of mine sent me a link yesterday to a site hosted by Xerox Corporation. Of course, I thought, any company whose name begins with X can't be bad, right?

Our men and women have been deployed overseas - in harm's way - for many years and it's crucial that they understand just how much each and every one of us appreciates their service. From the cooks in the mess tent to the nurses in the hospital facilities to the mechanics in the motor pool to the ones ducking as bullets ricochet all around, we owe our heartfelt and eternal gratitude.

Go to Let's Say Thanks, pick out an original post card design, select a short message or create one of your own, and let a soldier, sailor, airman , marine or guardian know that you appreciate their service. If the link above doesn't work for you, copy and paste the one below into the address bar of your browser:

http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html

Politics doesn't matter. Whether you agree with our past, present, or future foreign policy or not is irrelevant. Take a moment and let our troops know you support THEM.

God bless all of them and bring them home safely.

X

Lambert is not my idol

I guess it's appropriate that as I write this, The Andy Griffith Show is on CBS. I kind of like TAGS, but don't watch it regularly. The Dallas-Oakland game just ended, so it was on.

In fact, I don't watch a lot of TV anyway, which is why I missed the American Music Awards the other night. Fortunately, I have every traditional and web-based media outlet and blogger on the planet to tell me what I missed: Adam Lambert having faux-sex on prime time television.

It's a far cry from Mayberry to the modern AMA's. A crying shame in my book. Mr. Lambert is free to live his life as he pleases and appears to be doing so. Fortunately he doesn't call or write to ask what I think.

Before people get upset that I might be focused on the orientation of his display, hold your horses. I wasn't thrilled when Britney and Madonna decided to give each other an oral exam a few years back at the MTV video awards. What people do in the privacy of their own homes is none of my business. But what they do on national TV should be everyone's.

My displeasure - to quote an anthem from the 1970's - is like so much dust in the wind. Popular culture will continue to plumb the depths of depravity in the name of creative freedom. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

What do you think about the direction our culture is headed?

X

Jeremiah 24 and the good/bad figs...

I don't normally get too preachy on The Stream - opinionated yes, preachy, not so much. Some may feel like this post crosses that line but I have to post it - sorry.

I'm reading the book of Jeremiah as part of my daily devotional and this morning it struck me (as I read chapter 24) that the people who were captured and carried off into exile were the ones God was going to save. Imagine yourself as a resident of Jerusalem in a time of siege. The armies of Babylon are at the gate, the city is nearly surrounded, there's some crazy guy wandering around hollering that God is punishing you for your sins and worshiping false gods.

The city is in chaos, people are wondering where God is - why is He letting these foreigners come and destroy the city dedicated to His name?

Jeremiah 24 has the answer, but is it what we want to hear?

How many of us would willingly let the armies of Nebuchadnezzar take us captive? How many of us would instead, take our families and what few possessions we could carry and  flee to neighboring lands? How hard would it be to convince our families that it may sound crazy, but we need to go into exile? That giving our lives over to the King of Babylon - the enemy - is God's plan to save the remnant of His people.

How hard is it today to do things that seem to go against the wisdom of the world?

Do we, as believers, have what it takes to make the really hard choices that our faith will someday demand?

That is what our pastors are here for. That is why small groups/Sunday School exist. We have to prepare ourselves - Paul reminds us in Romans 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Are you ready?

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This could have been a boring blog...

...but instead, it's awesome! because I was able to meet some tremendously talented people last night - some that I have known for years, but have never met!

I attended the monthly meeting of the Written Remains writers group in Newark (pronounced New - Ark, so I'm told), DE.

Honestly, I've been slacking in the writing department for the last several months, with this humble blog amounting to the most creative writing I've done in ages. But last night, able to sit with my friends and fellow writers, well, I felt nothing less than inspired.

We enjoyed the aromatic atmosphere and ambiance of Panera as stories were discussed and dissected, knight-warrior's motivations were unpacked, and zombie redneck girls were sympathized with.

The highlight of the evening was finally getting to meet - live and in person - Sherry Thompson, author of Seabird and the soon-to-be released, epic follow-up, Earthbow.

Thank you Joanne for helping make it all possible and thank you to Justynn Tyme and la jeune fille de dressage for a most memorable evening. I wish you all continued success in your creative endeavors and hope that our paths will cross again.

Until then, bonne santé, bonheur et la bénédiction de Dieu sur vous tous.

X

Friday Football

If any NFL seekers arrived here after searching for Friday football, well, sorry mates - this post is all about the beautiful game. And what better way to start out than this lovely young lady (video link courtesy of a great find over at The Beautiful Game):



Yikes! If that girl is the future - look for the women's game to make huge strides in the next 5-10 years.

Speaking of the future of soccer, Freddy Adu used to be the next great American hope (albeit imported from Ghana) for our country's future in the beautiful game. But he is currently languishing near the bottom of the Portuguese 1st division at Belenenses, on loan from more successful cross-town rivals, Benfica.

Freddy is only 20, yet his star has waned since debuting as a 14-year-old in MLS. One can only hope he can convince his new manager to give him more playing time - especially with the loss of Charlie Davies for the World Cup - now only 8 months away.




Speaking of stars on the wane, several years ago, a young Christiano Ronaldo - C-Ron to the Johnny-come-lately's - burst on the scene and fairly took the soccer/footballing world by storm. It didn't hurt that he played for my favorite team, Manchester United. It's always nice when arguably the best player in the world is on your side.

But where is C-Ron now?

In this old video, he's pitted against the once-king of football - Ronaldhino; another brilliant player who has let success go to his head (and gut).




The sad fact is, Ronaldo was traded to Real Madrid over the summer and has been injured for much of the season, unable to play for the Galacticos or in Portugal's crucial World Cup qualifying ties. C Ron had it great at Man U. He was truly the best player around. Now, he is just the most expensive bench warmer there is.

Does this all have a point? No, not really.

Our youngest - a junior in high school - played in the first game of the HS season last night. He did well, but they still drew 1:1 against the opposition. Not to worry, much more to come!

Our oldest just finished his first season of college footy. He didn't see much playing time off the bench as a freshman but he is getting invaluable training and should be stronger, faster and ready to compete next season.

Happy Friday all and don't forget to watch or play some football this weekend!

X

So long Ida...

Ida is leaving. She didn't make as big of a splash as predicted. But this morning as I drove to work, the rain, the clouds and the gusty winds made a perfect backdrop for one of the best Duran Duran songs ever...



Yes, I'm an 80's freak - but not just any 80's music. I like to think that I prefer the more eclectic songs from the Golden Age of music videos. Even though this song is from the 1993 eponymous album, the group stayed true to their artistic video flair. A great song with which to send off Tropical Storm Ida... X

What does Bob Dylan know?

Thanks to a friend of mine, I've been stuck in an endless loop of memories this afternoon; memories drawn from my life and thoughts during the time that the song, "Ode to Billy Joe" was popular.

Thanks to this being the Age of the Internet, it's easy to find information concerning just about anything - oftentimes, too much for my taste. But in this case, I found some quite interesting tidbits and commentary about the bluesy ode to life in the Mississippi Delta made famous by Bobbie Gentry.



As a writer I'd love to capture the emotion and atmosphere of Ode to Billie Joe in some of my work. I never knew how difficult it was to write a short story until I tried to write one and get it published. Reading the lyrics to this song, I am amazed at the depth of Ode's story captured in these few words.

And then I read a commentary that claimed the Bob Dylan song, "Clothesline Saga" was written as a parody of Gentry's classic - that he hated Ode to Billie Joe.

Anyone with an imagination; anyone that has lived - or even passed through - a rural area, especially in the clinging heat of June, can wonder at the hidden mysteries of a seemingly simple people.

Country folks' lives are full of mystery and wonder. But what would Bob Dylan know about that?

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