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.

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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).

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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'.

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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.