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An Anguished Apostasy
When Bob Dylan stepped on the Newport Folk Festival stage in July 1965 there was nothing in his last three appearances that could have prepared the 100,000 devout fans for what happened next. Instead of his usual acoustic guitar and denim work clothes, he was outfitted completely in black and then plugged in an electric guitar. What followed was a moment that marked the end of the folk revival by the performer everyone considered the voice belonging to them all. The introduction that night was, “And here he is…take him, you know him, he’s yours.” If they had only known what was coming. With the Butterfield Blues Band behind him…
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Proverbs 3:21-35
We need to remind ourselves every week of two important things in the study of Proverbs: First, these are the instructions from a father to a son about the son’s eventual role in leadership. They are not simply rules for a happy life. They are part of his training for responsibility and we should not read them without our own increased responsibility in mind. Again, all of this life is an apprenticeship for what is to come. We are being prepared. Second, these are principles and not promises. The author is not a prosperity preacher telling us how to avoid hardship or the normal circumstances of life. They will not…
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Proverbs 3
We need to be careful when we read Proverbs out of context and pick only the verses that promise us wealth, success, and a blessed life. That is the trap of the prosperity gospel. They lift Proverbs out of context and do not preach the whole Gospel. Too often we have turned Scripture into something that reads more like Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” Remember when Paul encountered the believers in Ephesus and they had only heard the gospel of John and repentance but not the gospel of the resurrection? They had ethics but not spiritual power. They had a church that valued the benefits of John’s example and stern…
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A Friend’s Revenge
There are a few figures in Scripture who grow on you with age. Perhaps we come to understand their circumstances or have more in common in growing older. We have experiences of our own that explain their behavior. That is the case for me with Ahithophel. My first response to his story many years ago was, “Oh, the traitor who committed suicide.” Yes, he did but he was far more than that and it’s the “far more” that interests me. When Absalom rebels his first call is to Ahithophel – David’s most devout friend and counselor. Surprisingly, Ahithophel joins the rebellion and while fleeing Jerusalem David hears the news of…
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Proverbs 1
1.What is the purpose of the book? It is not a list of sayings or quotes to be turned into bumper stickers or quoted as magic phrases to be repeated that will guarantee success in business, raising children, marriage and life. It is a father passing on the character traits and disciplines required to rule. It is a manual for learning how to bear responsibility for other people – not just individual development. It is a father personally teaching sons and not simply handing them a book of wise sayings. What are the proverbs you remember from your father and mother? My guess is they have stuck with you far…
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Signs of Jonah
A friend mentioned he is re-reading Graham Greene’s “The Power and The Glory.” It’s the story of a failed priest on the run from the police. He is friendless, homeless, and searching for some sense of purpose in his life. Hiding from his calling and decisions he has made in the past he is ironically incapable of not being a priest and ministering to people – even at the risk of his life. Tormented by his own sense of guilt, he spends the whole of the novel both in flight and in pursuit. It is so much like the life of Jonah. I don’t know if Graham Greene had him…
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We Should Do Something Together
Now that the first devastating wave of the pandemic has hit and communities are beginning to slowly open up we can expect to see the word “collaboration” back in the news. Already, there have been articles written by organizational experts and pundits with little experience in foundation and non-profit work predicting the future and offering advice on how best to respond to a changed world. Whenever there is a crisis in funding there are those who jump to the conclusion that both foundations and non-profits working together is not only necessary but easily done. I have been part of a number of conversations in the last few weeks about the…
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A Lion’s Heart
It wasn’t a simple disagreement but a showdown that resulted in both men, once fast friends, turning away from each other for the balance of their lives. Neither sees the other again over their bitter feelings about a young person one considered to be a coward while the other not only defended but fought to give a second chance. Who was this young man causing the permanent split between Paul and Barnabas – two heroes of the early church? He has an interesting story—especially for early failures and late bloomers. As a young man John Mark was surrounded by the apostles and leaders of the movement coming to his home.…
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News From Another World
As a young soldier in the Civil War, Jefferson Kidd was assigned the duty of being a messenger – a runner – traveling on foot and delivering notes between the various army units. He discovered he loved the freedom and the responsibility and his assignment “felt like a thin banner streaming, printed with some regal insignia with messages of great import entrusted to his care.” After the war, he found work first as a printer and then as an itinerant reader – one who went to small towns in Texas reading newspapers from around the world in saloons, lodges and meeting halls where people would pay a dime to hear…
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Undivided
Two devoted friends and brilliant minds — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — fell out with each other over politics, personal slights and both feeling betrayed by the other. The feud not only embittered both, causing them to abandon all correspondence and relationship of any kind for many years, but divided friends and admirers. What a loss to the country. In 1809 a mutual signer of the Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Rush, had a dream about the two former Presidents, wrote it down, and sent it to both men. In the dream he saw the alienated statesmen renew their friendship and begin corresponding with each other. John Adams, again…
