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Finish the Task
A few years ago I had a conversation with Roger Thurow while he was writing his book Enough: Why The World’s Poorest Starve In An Age of Plenty. His first question to me was, “Why is it that evangelicals are just now becoming involved in social justice issues?” Roger’s impression was that the only thing millions of evangelicals cared about was evangelism and any interest in issues of poverty hunger disease and orphans was relatively new. As we talked, I realized that his perspective was probably common. After all, the largest and most visible ministries and organizations were those focused on evangelism. While World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse, and a few others…
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The Return
1. After 70 years in Babylonia, Cyrus, the King of Persia issues a decree that the Jews who wish to return to Judah are free to do so. While Nebuchadnezzar’s policy was to completely conquer nations and bring people to Babylonia in exile, the Persians allowed conquered nations to become client states or colonies. The book of Nehemiah is the history of the return and the rebuilding of the city. 2. So we read in Ezra an account of those who returned. After 70 years, not everyone wanted to return, of course. People had lived their whole lives there and had no interest in uprooting and rebuilding. They had no…
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Jacob Wrestles With God
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Our Peculiar Game
The philosopher Jacques Barzun wrote years ago, “Whoever would understand the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball the rules and realities of the game.” From its very beginning during the Civil War, it has been the defining sport of America. “The game of Base Ball has now become beyond question the leading feature of the outdoor sports of the United States It is a game which is peculiarly suited to the American temperament and disposition; the nine innings are played in the brief space of two and one half hours or less. From the moment the first striker takes his position and poises his bat it has an…
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A Letter To A Friend About Philanthropy
Our conversation started me reflecting on the way we thought about our work when Fourth Partner was doing grantmaking. There are two illustrations of that and, ironically, both are related to our work with Hispanics. The Hispanic Business Alliance was the result of my being upset with Steve Murdock’s report to the Chamber of Commerce about Hispanic immigration. The Mayor’s COOL program came out of an experience I had with a guidance counselor at Lee who was surprised when I asked her how many Hispanic students were going on to college. She admitted they did very little counseling with minorities and were pretty much content to send everyone they could…
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The Exile
1. We know there were three invasions of Israel over a period of two hundred years. The first was by the Assyrians who carried off the ten Northern tribes. We know very little of what happened to them. They just disappear from history. The second invasion is Babylonia’s first invasion and defeat of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar carries off 10,000 of the upper class leadership of Jerusalem as well as the military commanders, the craftsmen, artists and educated – the best of the Jewish society. Among these are Ezekiel and Daniel. He left the poorest. It is those who were left behind to whom Jeremiah is speaking in Jerusalem. It is the…
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Jacob Wrestles With God
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A Vote for Pharisees
A recent telephone interview study by the Barna Group presented a series of 20 “agree-or-disagree” statements to 1 008 self-identified Christians to determine “whether Christians have the actions and attitudes of Jesus as they interact with others or if they are more akin to the beliefs and behaviors of Pharisees ” the self-righteous sect of religious leaders described in the New Testament.” Here is a sample of statements Barna used to describe Christ-like actions and attitudes: “I listen to others to learn their story before telling them about my faith.” “I see God-given value in every person” ” regardless of their past or present condition.” “It is more important to…
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The Importance of Local Response in Disaster Recovery
Our guest blogger this week is Ben Smilowitz. In his first year of law school Ben saw the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina and realized a need existed for someone to demand public accountability and provide an open line for survivors ” emergency workers and volunteers to report gaps during disasters…so he started the Disaster Accountability Project. DAP has become the leading nonprofit that provides long-term independent oversight of disaster management systems. His perspective is valuable, and The Gathering wants to share his thoughts with you. The recent natural and man-made disasters in Boston” Texas the upper-Midwest China Iran/Pakistan and Bangladesh underscore the importance of disaster planning. Although costly effective…
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Fall of the Northern Kingdom
1. At the height of its power, sophistication and influence Israel is invaded by kudzu. Well, not really but it’s something like that. Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 from Japan for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and was recommended by the Soil Erosion Service as an excellent ornamental plant and cover to help prevent soil erosion. Left unattended when farmers moved due to the boll weevil infestation, it was left to grow with no controls and with no natural predators it now covers 7.5 million acres of the South. We call it the “vine that ate the south”. Remember the outbreak of cholera in Haiti…
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Jacob Wrestles With God
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You Never Get Over It
"You never get over it. It's been 20 years since we lost her and we think about her every day." A couple of years ago at The Gathering ” we had a panel of four parents who had lost children. We didn't do it to be sensational or dramatic. We did it because a number of families in The Gathering have children who have died. Some of these children have been young” and others were older like the couple I quote above who lost a daughter early in her marriage. No one really wanted to do the panel and honestly I felt a twinge of guilt about asking them.…
