Distracted Americans

The efficiency that technology affords us is undeniable. Yet around-the-clock connectivity and instant access to information is distracting millions of Americans, and having a deep impact on long-term planning.

Nearly one in three (31%) Americans say they find the immediacy of society today (email, texting, instant messaging, etc.) distracting, and an alarming 69% say the fast pace makes it hard to stick to long term goals. While that’s a slight decrease from the 74% who said the same in 2011, it’s still a considerable majority.

...

Interestingly, older generations seem to be struggling more than their younger peers when it comes to balancing the pace of today’s society with focusing on long-term goals; but younger people report  higher levels of distraction overall:

• Majority of Boomers (74%) and Matures (75%) say the pace of society makes it harder for them to stick with long-term goals, whereas only 61% of Gen Y and 63% of Gen X say the same.
• 35% of Gen Y and 36% of Gen X say that the immediacy of society today is distracting, whereas only 30% of Boomers and 24% of Matures say the same.

http://www.northwesternmutual.com/media-center/technology-society.aspx

(originally written May 15 2013)

Worship for the ages

A recent article in Tabletalk magazine, titled One Family Under God by Tom Ascol, gives a nice summary of inter-generational worship.  It is easy to get hung-up on ministries focus on every group, age, stage in life. One response to this my-needs-centered ministry approach is an extreme family integrated approach.

It seems that a simple, gentle article such as this presents a reasonable, balanced approach to realizing the church as one body, one family, with many varying facets, being brought together for worship of our great God and Saviour Jesus.  It is the mean between the extremes of radical separation and radical non-segregation.

(Written April 28 2013, finally published December 29 2013)

Light overcomes Darkness!

“Where light is not, darkness must needs be” 
- St. Augustine  http://ref.ly/o/npnf02/1089733

Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
- Psalm 112.3

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
- John 1.4-9

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
-Psalm 27.1

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
- Matthew 5.16

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S   ! ! !

Reflections on Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound

“But of wretched mortals he [Zeus] took no notice, desiring to bring the whole race to an end and create a new one in its place.”   - http://ref.ly/o/aeschpbeng/14028 

YHWH did not go this far.  He was grieved, and stated a couple times that He wanted to make a fresh start (think of the selection of Noah, or God's conversation with Moses when He was blasphemed by His people).

-----------------

But now no limit to my tribulations has been appointed until Zeus is hurled from his sovereignty. - http://ref.ly/o/aeschpbeng/39738

So is Zeus truly sovereign if Prometheus states this, or is Prometheus dilluded and blasphemous?  Or perhaps neither are gods. :)  Interesting view of  'gods'.

-----------------

Hermes and Prometheus talking:

“But ever-ageing Time teaches all things.” - http://ref.ly/o/aeschpbeng/51876

These gods are bound by time, and thus change.  They are 'becoming', not 'being', unlike our great God and Saviour.

Created in time

“Further, if they acknowledge that it was created in time, but will never perish in time,—that it has, like number, a beginning but no end,—and that, therefore, having once made trial of misery, and been delivered from it, it will never again return thereto, they will certainly admit that this takes place without any violation of the immutable counsel of God.”
-St. Augustine, The City of God

The dot and the line.  Created in time, but will never perish: the human soul has a time when it was not, yet from the point of its creation forward, no time when is shall not be.

http://ref.ly/o/npnf02/1078023 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Grace: gift to us

“And thus it is written, “The just lives by faith,” for we do not as yet see our good, and must therefore live by faith; neither have we in ourselves power to live rightly, but can do so only if He who has given us faith to believe in His help do help us when we believe and pray.”

- St.  Augustine,  The City of God

So this is another giant's shoulder the Reformers stood upon!

http://ref.ly/o/npnf02/1997186 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Elephant in the room of suffering

“I suspect that the reason why it is so hard for many of us to live out these implications of our theology is that we do not deeply feel the truths we formally espouse. My creed may tell me I am a miserable sinner, that I deserve hell, that all that I enjoy in life is a gracious gift from God, that I am in no position to expect to escape suffering. But when it comes right down to it, I simply feel my own suffering is unfair.”
- D.A. Carson in How Long, Oh Lord?  Reflections on Suffering and Evil

Carson nails it on the head.  I admit, this thought has crossed my mind: I do not always, or even usually, admit to myself the wickedness in me.  I wonder, often, how many of us espouse a creed in word, yet don't always internally believe it.  And how often do we speak of this elephant in the room?

http://ref.ly/o/howlonglord/91409 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Approach to suffering

“How we handle the suffering of testing and discipline therefore depends not a little on what we focus on. On a trip to Australia, I met an Anglican bishop who had been mightily used in evangelism and church planting in three African nations. He was sometimes referred to as “the apostle to Tanzania.” After he “retired” from his missionary work in Africa, he set up a seminary in the United States. But when I met him, his suffering from Parkinson’s disease was so advanced that he could no longer talk. He could communicate, just barely, by printing out block letters in a wavering hand that was almost indecipherable. He often had to draw a word three or four times for me to understand him.

We “talked” about a number of matters close to his heart—at least, I did the “talking,” and tried to ask most of my questions in a form where he could signal merely yes or no. In the short time I spent with him, I sensed a man of unshaken faith, and so I had the audacity to ask him how he was coping with his illness. After decades of immensely productive activity, how was he dealing with his own suffering, with the temptation to feel he was now useless and fruitless? He penned his answer twice before I could make it out: there is no future in frustration. That bishop understood Romans 5 and Hebrews 12.”

- D.A. Carson in How Long, Oh Lord?  Reflections on Suffering and Evil

http://ref.ly/o/howlonglord/160379 via the Logos Bible Android app.

Rest In Peace Mr. Lewis

In honor of Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis   (Nov 29 1898 – Nov 22 1963)

“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.” - “The Great Divorce”

"We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” - “The Abolition of Man”

"If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated, but as it is, a cultural life will exist outside the church, whether it exists inside or not.  To be ignorant and simple now - not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground - would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense, but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.  Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered." - "The Weight of Glory"

“Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory or one of unthinkable horror.” - “Mere Christianity”

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only - and that is to support the ultimate career. " - “Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis”

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”  - “The Screwtape Letters”

"To love at all is to be vulnerable" - “The Four Loves”

"A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered.  You are speaking, Hmän, as if the pleasure were one thing and the memory another.  It is one thing. ...What you call remembering is the last part of the pleasure, as the crah is the last part of a poem.  When you and I met, the meeting was over very shortly, it was nothing.  Now it is growing something as we remember it.  But still we know very little about it.  What it will be when I remember it as I lie down to die, what it makes in me all my days till then -- that is the real meaning.  The other is only the beginning of it.". - Hyoi in "Out of the Silent Planet"

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.” - “Mere Christianity”

"Don't be too easily convinced that God really wants you to do all sorts of work you needn't do.  Each must do his duty "in that state of life to which God has called him."  Remember that a belief in the virtues of doing for doing's sake is characteristically feminine, characteristically American, and characteristically modern:  so that three veils may divide you from the correct view!  There can be intemperance in work just as in drink.  What feels like zeal may be only fidgets or even the flattering of one's self importance... By doing what one's station and its duties" does not demand, one can make oneself less fit for the duties it does demand and so commit some injustice.  Just you give Mary a little chance as well as Martha." - "Letters to an American Lady"

"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” - “The Last Battle”

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." - “Mere Christianity”

The Greek Way

"But if ever a day comes when our intelligentsia is made up of our star football players we shall be on the way to understanding the Athenians - as Aristophanes saw them."  (Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way,1930)

Power of Poetry & JFK

"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations.  When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence.  When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."--John F. Kennedy, Oct. 26, 1963

This from a sitting American president.  My, how our leaders have changed...

The Gospel In Four Minutes

What a powerful presentation; highly recommended!



Lyrics:

It’s the full story of life crushed into 4 minutes. The entirety of humanity in the palm of your hand crushed into one sentence. Listen its intense right. God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life. The greatest story ever told that’s hardly ever told. God. Yes. God. The maker and giver of life. And by life I mean any and all manner and substance. Seen and unseen. What can and can be touched. Thoughts, image, emotions, love, atoms and oceans. God. All of it his handy work. One of which is masterpiece. Made so uniquely that angels looked curiously. The one thing in creation that was made with his imagery. The concept so cold. It’s the reason I stay bold, how God breathed in the man and he became a living soul. Formed with the intent of being infinitely intimately fond. Creator and creation held in eternal bold. And it was placed in perfect paradise til something went wrong. A species got deceived and started lusting for his job. An odd list of complaints as if the system ain’t working and used that same breath he graciously gave us to curse him. And that sin seed spread though our soul’s genome. And by nature of your nature, your species, you participated in the mutiny. Our. Yes. Our sins. Its nature inherited, lack in the human heart, it was over before it started. Deceived from day one and lead away by our own lusts. There’s not a religion in the word that doesn’t agree that something’s wrong with us. The question is what is it? And how do we fix it? Are we eternally separated from a God that may or not have existed? But that’s another subject. Let’s keep grinding. Besides trying to prove God is like defending a lion homie, it don’t need your help, just unlock the cage. Let’s move on how our debt can be paid. Short and sweet. The problem is Sin. Yes. Sin. It’s a cancer. An asthma. Choking out our life force. Forcing separation from a perfect and holy God and the only way to get back is to get back to perfection but silly us, trying to pass the course of life without referring to a syllabus. This is us. Heap up your good deeds. Chant, pray, meditate but all of that of course is spreading colon on a corpse. Or you could choose to ignore it as if something don’t stink. It’s like stepping it dog poop and refusing to wipe your shoe and all of that ends with how good is good enough. Take your silly list of good deeds and line them up against perfection, good luck. That’s life past your pay grade. The cost of your soul you ain’t gotta big enough piggy bank. But you can give it a shot. But I suggest you throw away the list cause even your good acts are an extension of your selfishness. But here’s where it gets interesting. I hope your closely listening. Please don’t get it twisted. It’s what makes our faith unique. Here’s what God says is Part A of the gospel. You can’t fix yourself. Quit trying it’s impossible. Sin brings death. Give God his breath back. You owe him. Eternally separated and the only way to fix it is someone die in your place and that someone gotta be perfect. Or the payment ain’t permanent. So if and when you find the perfect person, get him or her to willing trade their perfection for your sin and death in. Clearly since the only one that can meet God’s criteria is God. God sent himself as Jesus to pay the cost for us. His righteousness, his death, functions as payment. Yes. Payment. Wrote a check with his life but at the resurrection we all cheered cause that means the check cleared. Pierced feet, pierced hands, blood stained son of man. Fullness forgiveness free passage into the promise land, that same breath God breathed into us God gave it up to redeem us. And anyone and everyone. And by everyone I mean everyone who puts their faith in trust in him and him alone can stand in full confidence of God’s forgiveness. And here’s what the promise is, that you are guaranteed full access to return the perfect unity. By simply believing in Christ in Christ alone. You are receiving life. Yes. Life. This is the Gospel. God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.

Quiet living

Plato writes 

...he [the philosophic soul] keeps quiet and minds his own business - as a man in a storm, when dust and rain are blown about by the wind, stands aside under a little wall.  Seeing others filled full of lawlessness, he is content if somehow he himself can live his life here pure of injustice and unholy deeds, and take his leave from it graciously and cheerfully with fair hope. (The Republic, 496d)

Amazingly (or perhaps just reflecting my prior ignorance), Paul reflects this same thought some 400 years later.

and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, (1 Thes 4.11)

and

11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thes 3.11-12;  cp 1 Tim 5.13)

I shouldn't be surprised that Paul would reflect the best of his surrounding Hellenistic culture.  What I am surprised at is how little the western Protestant church understands these connections.  While certainly not inspired Scripture, this background is incredibly rich.  Why have we not studied this, or been taught this, or understand this?   Shame on me, and on us.

Starting from a point of the unknown?

"When the beginning is what one doesn't know, and the end and what comes in between are woven out of what isn't known, what contrivance is there for ever turning such an agreement into knowledge?" (Socrates in Plato's The Republic, 533c)

Think of post-modernism's a priori denial of absolute truth, and thus beginning contemplation with "their feet planted firmly in mid-air."

One right angle

Quotes to ponder:

Plato:  It looks to me as though there is one form for virtue and an unlimited number for vice.  (The Republic, 445c)

Tolstoy:  All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way (Anna Karenina)

Zacharias:  There are many angles at which a man may fall, but only one at which he may stand straight (paraphrase).

Ponder those!

The Perfect Game

I normally do not post about movies, but there are exceptions!  Tonight we watched The Perfect Game (Amazon Prime), a wonderful film about an underdog team in the 1957 Little League World Series.  Based on a real events (and quite accurate, from what I can tell), it is an engaging story of a young, small group of boys overcoming considerable odds.  Family friendly, it handles bigotry in a healthy manner, as well as displaying conviction of faith, the church in a positive light, and father-son reconciliation.

For more historical background, see www.smithsonianmag.org.

Enjoy!

Art appreciation, engaging people, and shining eyes

We arrived home today from a Classical Conversation practicum on mathematics.  One TED talk which was mentioned was conductor Benjamin Zander on the transformative power of classical music.  Listen, and let these ideas impact your life.

http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

How many shining eyes do you, do I, have when we communicate to others?

Quirky rhythms

Sometimes you see something a bit different, and think "Huh, now that is kind of unusual, and fun in it's own quirky kind of way."  I am certain many of you may already be familiar with this work.  Some of us - me, in this case! - are just slower that others!

In that light, I offer you ... a typewriter symphonic arrangement.   :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZCh4EY_kug

Wine pairing infographic

I confess:  I enjoy a glass of wine on occasion.  However, I am a complete novice: which wine complements certain types of food?  Well, wouldn't you know it - a wine pairing infographic!

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672459/the-ultimate-wine-pairing-infographic#1

Casey still strikes out

A fun wrap-up to the week

On June 3, 1888, the San Francisco Examiner published a 575-word baseball poem written Ernest Thayer entitled "Casey at the Bat." It was a poem about a fictional player on a fictional team in a fictional town, but in the 125 years since its release, it has become part of baseball history -- a lesson about the need to be humble, something that goes far beyond baseball.   (CBSSports.com)

Listen to a recording of Johnny Bench (yes, the all-star catcher) and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recite the poem.  Enjoy!

http://www.worldmag.com/podcast/worldandeverything/TWAEII_2013Jun03_04.mp3

Rise of Asia, Relative Decline of West

So here is another portent of our changing world.  I live in the United States; my own government, specifically the Office of Director of National Intelligence, published a report in late 2012 titled Global Trends 2030. The background and purpose of the report is: 

The National Intelligence Council's (NIC) Global Trends Report engages expertise from outside government on factors of such as globalization, demography and the environment, producing a forward-looking document to aid policymakers in their long term planning on key issues of worldwide importance. ... 

Global Trends 2030 is intended to stimulate thinking about the rapid and vast geopolitical changes characterizing the world today and possible global trajectories over the next 15 years. As with the NIC’s previous Global Trends reports, we do not seek to predict the future—which would be an impossible feat—but instead provide a framework for thinking about possible futures and their implications.

A few thoughts.  First, it is ironic that I did not see mention of this first in US-based media outlets, but rather on the BBC.  (After reading the BBC article, I did find articles on NPR and Time).  Why does the American media not cover such reports more thoroughly?  Do we as Americans simply not think in such "long term" perspectives?

Next, while the report, and its methods and conclusions can be questioned (for instance, see the Time article), I have to wonder how world influence - economic and otherwise - will shift in the future.  It seems inevitable, based upon the rise and fall of cultures and nations we see throughout history, that America cannot and will not stay the "on top" forever.

Interesting things to ponder.

Keeping our children safe

On the recent, auspicious 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the United States, I was struck by something our President stated.  Speaking in context of the grizzly Sandy Hook Elementary shootings, he remarked:

This is our first task as a society: Keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change. (http://m.cbsnews.com/fullstory.rbml?catid=57564298)

Why do I draw this connection?  I agree with our President: one primary task of our society, even of any society, is to keep our children safe.  However, it is disturbing how we pick-and-choose who qualifies as "children" we should be keeping safe.  Why are children outside the womb people whom we keep safe, while children inside the womb are at risk of death, often with little-to-no protection from our society?  Why are they denied the basic human right of life?  This picking-and-choosing of who qualifies for human rights, and who does not, is an ethical evil.

Applying his comments to this different context, our President is frighteningly correct:  this is how we will be judged, and these voices should compel us to change.

Thoughts on Resurrection Sunday

Again stepping outside my typical tradition, a friend recently shared portions a work by Gerhard Forde titled On Being a Theologian of the Cross. He writes:

The question for Luther's doctrine of atonement is thus not that of abstract payment to God but rather how God can succeed in giving himself to us so as actually to take away our sin, to destroy the barrier between us and God. This is the reason for the prominence in Luther's thought of 'the happy exchange.'  Christ, through his actual coming, his cross and resurrection, takes away our sinful and lost nature and gives us his sinless and righteous nature. This cannot be an abstract metaphysical transaction. We must, through the cross of Christ, his terrible suffering and death, be actually purchased and won, indeed, killed and made alive. If it is to be a 'happy' exchange, our hearts must be captured by it.

... Christ must be one who has and bears our sins; he must actually become a curse for us to set us free from the curse of the law.

...Yet in the resurrection the divine power overcomes even death, and thus conquers, kills, devours, destroys, buries, and abolishes death, sin, the curse, the law, and all the tyrants.

Wow! Powerful thoughts on this day. And more importantly, powerful actions by our God on our behalf. Thank you, Jesus, for as Forde correctly writes, "The point, however, is that Jesus put himself there willingly."

fly unto God for grace

Tonight, while eating dinner (by myself while traveling on business), I was reading from  Luther's Commentary on Galatians.  He wrote (page 327):

"All the ungodly are utterly ignorant of this knowledge and this cunning. Cain knew it not when he was shut up in the prison of the law and seriously felt his sin. At the first he was without the prison: that is, he felt no terror, although he had now killed his brother; but he dissembled the matter craftily, and thought that God himself was ignorant thereof. ...

He remained still shut up in prison. He joined not the Gospel with the law, but said: “Mine iniquity is greater than can be forgiven.” He only respected the prison, not considering that his sin was revealed unto him to this end, that he should fly unto God for grace. Therefore he despaired and denied God."

That phrase - fly unto God for grace - stopped me in my tracks.  It is a frightening thing to pray, but be that as it may: Lord, please reveal unto me my sin that I might fly unto You for grace!

Wealth - what is your standard?

When Americans - that includes me - think of wealth, our perspective often considers someone up the ladder from us, someone who has more toys, a bigger bank account or 401(k), the boat or nice car, or the cottage out in the country.  But when we step back and re-calibrate our perspective, our view perhaps should change.  Yes, many of us are wealthy (including probably you, since you have access to read this post on some sort of computing device connected to the internet).

There are many statistics out there, such as "If you have sufficient food, decent clothes, live in a house or apartment, and have a reasonably reliable means of transportation, you are among the top 15% of the world’s wealthy." (source:  IRememberThePoor.org)

Or this example, titled "Attention, Protestors: You're Probably Part of the 1%" which states "How much do you need to earn to be among the top 1% of the world? $34,000.  That was the finding World Bank economist Branko Milanovic presented in his 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Going down the distribution ladder may be just as surprising. To be in the top half of the globe, you need to earn just $1,225 a year. For the top 20%, it's $5,000 per year. Enter the top 10% with $12,000 a year. To be included in the top 0.1% requires an annual income of $70,000." (source: fool.com)  Now, as this article points out, there needs to be various adjustments for location, yet even with these adjustments, it is nearly impossible to argue that we Americans are not extraordinarily wealthy.

Jesus was concerned about this issue 2000 years ago, specifically in regard to the impact of wealth on our very being, our souls.  In my teaching during worship with our church this morning, I touched on the episode in the Gospel according to Luke regarding the rich young ruler.

I have wonder:  how much am I like that young man?  Have I succumbed to the expectations and allure of my culture?  Something to ponder.

Statism, the dominant religion?

In God We Trust, or so the inscription states on currency in America.  But exactly which "god" is that?  I have increasing wondering on this point.  As I am very, very late to the party, I simply need to reference works for others.

A recent news article prompted these thoughts.  An article simply titled Statism from some time ago, written by R. C. Sproul (what an amazing mind that man has!), formally introduced me to the topic.  He wrote

Statism is the natural and ultimate enemy to Christianity because it involves a usurpation of the reign of God. ... the church and the nation face a serious crisis in our day. In the final analysis, if statism prevails in America, it will mean not only the death of our religious freedom, but also the death of the state itself. We face perilous times where Christians and all people need to be vigilant about the rapidly encroaching elevation of the state to supremacy.

I am aware that others have spoken and written about this issues, including Russell Moore on First Things and The World and Everything In It (good stuff!) and First Things, and even Ayn Rand (again, to my shame, I have not read her works yet, so I cannot comment on her views).

Why do I write this post now?  This article, posted on CNN, is a prime example of what Sproul and Moore spoke.  In one of the most viewed CNN iReport articles, the author concluded 

I do not want religion to go away. I only want religion to be kept at home or in church where it belongs. It’s a personal effect, like a toothbrush or a pair of shoes. It’s not something to be used or worn by strangers. I want my children to be free not to believe and to know that our schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical, just and fair—not on what they believe an imaginary God wants.

Do you see it?  I have no qualm with the author writing this phrase (though I completely disagree).  I would ask, respectfully:  Do I want my children to know that our schools and government make decisions based on what is logical, just and fair?  On what basis could our schools and government possible base decisions of justice and fairness, outside of either democratic voting (might makes right), or dictatorship (because I said so)?

Again, I am no political theorist, and I acknowledge my understanding of this topic is very limited.  Yet I see the raising of the "state" as a pseudo-religion, ultimately becoming a "god" (without using the term).  Am I wrong?

emphasis: bloody cross or empty tomb?

A thought for the new year:

As we seek to live in light of the gospel - good news - of Jesus Christ, I am noticing a significant focus on the cross upon which Jesus was brutally executed.  It was this pivotal event in history that secured justification and salvation of those who confess and believe.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  (Romans 3:21-26 ESV)

and

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10 ESV)

Paul presses home this historical fact, this reality, time after time after time...

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:2-5 ESV)

My observation is one of emphasis, not one of omission.  It is this:
Do we focus so much on the cross that we inadvertently neglect the empty tomb?

Yes, that the incarnate God-Man died in my place ("justifier") on the cross is pivotal in history.  And that the Father counted Him worthy ("just") to pay the penalty of sin on my behalf, and so much more broadly, on behalf of all mankind, and even creation (Romans 8.20-25) is our only hope ... and oh, what a hope (assurance) it is!

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:12-22 ESV)

Rejoice in the hope, for we follow a risen Saviour, and there is an empty tomb!