Discussing Nothing
February 28, 2007
A Brief Report from Truth and Grace Ventures:
Last Thursday, the Servants Quarters community gathered to discuss 40 Days of Nothing, our walk together through this season of Lent. In undertaking 40 Days of Nothing, we have entered a season of intense, deliberate reflection, self-denial and, hopefully, transformation. We are striving to limit our consumption to the basic necessities, resisting the empty promises of the world that we can find well-being through indulging our endless wants and instead focusing on God’s promise that His grace is sufficient.
The spirit of our discussion and the character of my new friends impressed me greatly. Our discussion topic, revolving as it did around radical self-denial, is not particularly attractive on its face. On the contrary, it seems to possess significant potential to generate feelings of depression and self-pity. In my opinion, though, our time together could be best characterized as joyful. Despite the nature of the material and its serious implications, the room was filled with laughter and joking and a sense of hope. Perhaps some would suggest that it was nervous laughter, but I believe the atmosphere was born of a common sense of peace not unease. These young leaders shared thoughts and stories evidencing not only a commitment to allow God to transform them, but a willingness to share that blessing with others. I believe that was the immediate reason for the hope permeating our time together.
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Amazing Grace
February 16, 2007
40 Days of Nothing
February 09, 2007
From the Truth and Grace Ventures Blog
When Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 21, the Servants Quarters community will embark on 40 Days of Nothing. As described in the Book of Common Prayer,
The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. [Likewise, we are invited] in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.
The Litany of Penitence for Ash Wednesday calls on us to confess, among other things,
the pride, hypocrisy and impatience of our lives, [o]ur self-indulgent appetites and ways, . . . our exploitation of other people, . . . our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, [o]ur intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, . . . our blindness to human need and suffering, . . . our indifference to injustice and cruelty, . . . our waste and pollution of [God’s] creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us . . . .
Having confessed, we turn to the Lord, praying that He would restore us and accomplish in us the work of His salvation so that we may reflect His glory in the world. This is why we will undertake 40 Days of Nothing, so that we may honor our Lord by deliberately and systematically identifying and removing obstacles that impede our relationship with Him.
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Everything and Without Ceasing: A Brief Reflection on Prayer
February 03, 2007
A couple weeks ago, I participated in the third and final weekend residence of the 2006 Centurions Program. Like the two prior residences, the time was marked by intense, humbling intellectual challenge and spiritual conviction, as we heard – and hopefully learned – from the likes of Peter Kreeft, Chuck Colson, Gary Haugen and Ken Boa. (Unlike before, my bride was allowed to accompany me, making for special, if not particularly romantic, memories.)
With the passage of a little time, it’s interesting to reflect on what ideas from that weekend hold fast within me. To this point, one question posed by T.M. Moore rings more loudly and regularly in my head than anything else: “What is it about ‘everything’ and ‘without ceasing’ that we don’t understand?” He was referring, of course, to St. Paul’s instructions that we pray about “everything” (Philippians 4:6) and “without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Undoubtedly, T.M.’s question haunts me, because I pray sporadically not continually. And on the continuum between nothing and everything, my prayer life lies closer to the former than the latter. I know better. Now I have to do better.
Guarding Against Presumption
November 17, 2006
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1).
Or as Eugene Peterson puts it in his translation,
The Message, “Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends.
Teaching is highly responsible work.
Teachers are held to the strictest standards.”
The reason for more strict judgment “is obvious.
The pretence of knowledge adds to the teacher’s responsibility and condemnation” (A.T. Robertson,
Word Pictures in the New Testament). James
reminds us of Jesus, who condemned Jewish teachers (Mt. 23:1–33; Mk. 12:40; Lk. 20:47) and said that even our casual words would be judged (Mt. 12:36). Furthermore, Jesus taught that people are responsible for what they know (Lk. 12:47–48). The teacher claims to know and set himself or herself up as an example for the church . . . . How responsible must such people be on the day of judgment! (D.A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition).
James’ admonition weighs heavily on my mind. I post three blog entries on His Evidence each week. I suspect that some readers might accuse me of presuming to be their teacher. In addition, I find myself positioned to lead a small group of highly committed rising Christian leaders through the Servants Quarters Program, the core of which involves studying Christian worldview, particularly as it informs Biblical values of stewardship and servanthood. That leadership role certainly looks a lot like the dangerous teaching positions about which James warns.
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Restoring Culture: What Can One Person Do?
November 04, 2006
Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek wisely cautioned would-be social planners against falling into the “fatal conceit” – the belief that they can predict with any precision the complex consequences of their efforts at societal reform. Ken Myers, a leading Christian author and cultural analyst, argues that Hayek’s
call to humility should be given to those of us who want to effect a change in culture. Cultural engineering doesn’t work. We can do very little to encourage or discourage cultural trends or fads. (All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians & Popular Culture, p.32)
Careful not to say that we can do nothing to change the culture, Myers (quoting T.S. Eliot) advises that the “very little” we can hope to accomplish is to:
“combat the errors and the emotional prejudices which stand in the way” of cultural change. That is, we can call attention to the folly or absurdity or outright sin that certain cultural phenomena encourage or facilitate . . . “We should look for the improvement of society, as we seek our own individual improvement, in relatively minute particulars. We cannot say: ‘I shall make myself into a different person’; we can only say: ‘I will give up this bad habit, and endeavor to contract this good one.’ So of society we can only say: ‘We shall try to improve it in this respect or the other, where excess or defect is evident’” (id. at 32-33).
During the last month or two, I’ve returned several times to Myers’ advice. It bothers me. I want to believe – and I do think – that each of us can do more than just “very little” to effect cultural change.
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Halloween III: Light in the Darkness
November 02, 2006
Last week, I explained why my family reversed course from 2005 and decided to celebrate Halloween ‘06, participating in Christ’s work to redeem even this holiday. Well, this year, Team Wilson enjoyed Halloween like never before.
The preparations began days in advance. While my ladies attended a birthday party last weekend, I spent several hours adorning our house with ropes of white lights. Later, Christine hemmed Savannah’s costume, and the girls delighted in placing labels on the treats that proclaimed, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” They also made a poster to hang by the door that proclaimed, “Jesus is the light of the world!”
And then the big night arrived. Before settling in for an evening of handing out treats, we led our girls on their victorious candy campaign around the block. Christine and I (dressed as Mary and Joseph) escorted our girls (dressed as an angel and one of the three wise men) and led our “donkey” (played by our 150-pound Newfoundland puppy Maximus). Even though Maximus didn’t wear a costume, I think he may have attracted the most attention from passersby. Wearing a Halloween costume -- which I haven’t done since elementary school -- turned out not to be as embarrassing as I remembered.
Back at home, we sat outside to enjoy the glorious fall weather and warmly greet guests disguised as werewolves, vampires, and Bill Gates (my bride’s personal favorite, and to some just as scary as the werewolves). Trick-or-treaters were delighted to receive full-sized candy bars instead of those mini-sized imposters. Along with their candy, guests received booklets describing the best treat of all -- Jesus Christ.
Perhaps most rewarding were the warm greetings we received from friends, neighbors and strangers alike in response to our brightly illuminated home. What a difference the white lights made in our little corner of the world.
Cars slowed to get a better look. A neighbor across the street yelled with a friendly wave, “Thank you! The lights look great!” One mother called out, “Your house is beautiful!” A dad said, “I’m sensing a positive vibe here.” A little girl exclaimed, “It’s like Christmas and Halloween all in one!” We heard reports of children telling their parents, “Look at that house with the lights! We have to go there!” One young boy knowingly said, “Oh! It’s all about Jesus,” when he saw the poster that our girls made.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m looking forward to Halloween 2007.
Teens Are Fickle: Should I Care?
November 01, 2006
According to the Washington Post, there is good reason to believe that the fantastically popular teen networking site MySpace is headed for obscurity. MySpace “functions like a cross between a diary, e-mail program and photo album where content can be shared with friends, whose pictures appear on a member’s profile.” Since inception two-and-a-half years ago, MySpace has attracted 124 million profiles, was acquired by News Corp. for $580 million, and entered into a $900 million deal with Google primarily allowing Google to advertise on the site.
Despite this striking success, the Post finds reason for pessimism. First, a reporter found area teens saying that “they’re over MySpace.”
“I think it’s definitely going down – a lot of my friends have deleted their MySpaces and are more into [MySpace rival] Facebook now,” said Birnbaum, a junior [at Falls Church High School] who spends more time on her Facebook profile, where she messages and shares photos with other students in her network.
From the other side of the classroom, E.J. Kim chimes in that in the past three months, she’s gone from slaving over her MySpace profile up to four hours a day – decorating it, posting notes and pictures to her friends’ pages – to deleting the whole thing.
“I’ve grown out of it,” Kim said. “I thought it was kind of pointless.”
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Halloween II: Taking a Less Safe Course
October 24, 2006
Today I offer further evidence that I and my family are just stumbling along in our own search for truth and meaning in faith and culture. A mere two weeks ago I attempted to explain why the Wilson Family does not celebrate Halloween. Now, I am going to try to explain why we have changed our minds, and how we intend to celebrate this year.
My previous post implicitly assumed that Christians have just two options when it comes to Halloween: to celebrate or not to celebrate. Within that framework, I described why I was (and remain) uncomfortable with the “celebrate” choice. In short, we are to honor and glorify God in all that we do, and it is difficult to conceive of how that goal would be advanced by our participation in Halloween which, with its pagan origins and lingering influence, often celebrates or trivializes evil.
That analysis conveniently ignores another option: perhaps the most appropriate way to serve the Lord in this season is to engage the culture, to bring the Light of Christ to the darkness, to serve as His hands and feet, participating in His work of redeeming all of creation. I accuse myself of “conveniently” ignoring this possibility, because it is the most difficult path for me to take. Not since about third grade have I been a fan of Halloween. I don’t enjoy the attention that comes with wearing costumes. (What are you? Who are you? Why did you choose to dress up as that?) I personally wouldn’t miss it at all, if we all agreed to drop it from the calendar. Moreover, it’s rarely easy to stand up with Christ against the current of the culture. Being a fool for Christ takes courage, and enjoying being His fool takes practice.
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From Rwanda to Darfur
October 21, 2006
My bride and I watched
Hotel Rwanda last night.
Like the first time we watched it, the story was gut-wrenching and conscience searing.
The civilized world closed its eyes as Tutsi Rwandans were murdered by the thousands by their Hutu countrymen.
I don’t feel culpable for or complicit in those atrocities. The Rwandan genocide transpired while I was in college. I was still a kid, or at least still acting like one. I was blissfully ignorant. The current crisis in Darfur is less convenient for me. Evil has reigned in Darfur for three years. Systematic acts of violence are ongoing. As SaveDarfur.org explains:
Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.
So, I sit here . . . wondering . . . What can I do? What should I do? How can I not do something?
Lies I Tell, Part II
October 21, 2006
There’s a lie I tell myself that’s recently been getting a lot of mileage. It’s very effective at getting me off balance and keeping me there for a while. This is it:
“Yes, it’s a sin, but it’s not a big deal.” I’ll call it LIE2.
I was saved by God’s grace and I’m bound for heaven. But while I’m here I am expected to continually drive sin from my life. To recognize my weaknesses and stop taking the bait. To guard against dangerous situations, and avoid them when I can. When I slip (which is daily, if not hourly) I sometimes comfort myself with LIE2.
LIE2 is the most effective source of confusion in my life. Every time I sin, I need to immediately stop it. Address it. Reject it. That is how I grow in faith and trust in God. The second I turn to LIE2, Satan is on my back and we’re off to the races. When I accept one sin in my life, I open the door to whatever else might be waiting to waltz in.
For me, sins come in bunches. They must travel in packs, looking for any chance to stop and visit. Take their shoes off. Stay a while. When I let one in, his friends are right behind. How could I possibly believe LIE2? In my heart, I know that even the smallest of sins - and just one - is enough to keep me in hell forever. All praise to Jesus Christ for saving me from that.
Society will continue to pound their message: “Buy more, eat more, envy and hate. Steal and lie. Sneer, despise. Download it for later. It’s OK. Sneak a peek, and rationalize. Above all, be proud, trust and believe in the gods we love: tolerance, things, and yourself. And if you go too far, get embarrassed or caught, tell LIE2. And find support.”
Christ is my joy and my all. I’m a new man in Him. Sin IS that bad. It’s not OK. If He is my strength, I will prevail.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ro6:22-23
In His service,
Mike
Halloween: Is it Just About Kids, Costumes and Candy?
October 10, 2006
Our daughters, ages 7 and 5, will not celebrate Halloween at the end of the month. That’s right: no dressing up in costumes, traipsing around in the dark with friends and collecting candy from the neighbors. Why? Because we love Jesus, and He doesn’t want us to have any fun.
Well, that’s only half true. Jesus did not come to stop our fun; He came that his followers “may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). We love Jesus and are deeply grateful for His sacrifice. Accordingly, we earnestly desire to follow Him, honoring and glorifying Him in thought, word and deed. We cannot see how celebrating Halloween would glorify God. To the contrary, we fear that celebrating Halloween, at worst, celebrates evil and, at best, trivializes it.
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Them, Me, and a Candle
October 02, 2006
I’ve had the joy of serving as a youth leader since I joined the church. I was the teacher, but it was through our kids that I learned something true and unforgettable. And it was the timing of this revelation that was the most surprising.
We went to West Virginia in 2001 and 2002. I saw our kids working hard for five days straight, removing debris, painting, and fixing plumbing. But my lesson was not there.
We went canoeing. Dodging rocks, getting soaked, drying out, evening campfires. Our kids were so full of life and joy, even in the rain, even without the lost lunchmeat. But my lesson was not there.
We went to Spring Hill. Great presentations from the staff. Christian rock, horseback riding, tubing, and some prayer. It was glorious and amazing. But my lesson was not there, either.
My lesson came at Youth Group when there was nothing but them, me, and a candle. We talked about prayer, thought life, and chastity. About justice and sanctification. We discussed why Jesus was the only way to heaven, and about the inerrancy of Scripture. Sometimes we got frustrated. Sometime almost angry. There was never enough time to finish. But during those discussions, it happened. I realized quite clearly that I needed the Spirit to guide me.
Each week, our kids asked sincere and difficult questions, questions I could not answer alone. Each week I prayed for help, and God showed up. From that moment, it was not me that spoke. Their hunger for His truth forced me to abandon my understanding and allow the Holy Spirit to take over. Just “Mike” could never have been enough. The Spirit joined us to help us with the Scriptures, to guide our understanding, and to point out the futility of our self-reliance.
Then in silence, we doused the lights, lit a candle, and passed it. The first time around the circle we each shared our concerns about the week ahead. Then we went around again. This time, each of us prayed. I saw our kids lay their thanks and concerns before God. Teenagers, praying out loud. Amazing. When we were finished, we’d huddle together and ask for His strength for the week. And we got it.
I learned that it doesn’t take a retreat, a mission trip, or a forest to find God. It requires only turning my volume down, and turning His volume up. When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. Jn 15: 26-7
In His service, Mike
Ridiculously Expensive Designer Footwear: What Can We Learn From It?
September 23, 2006
The cover of this Tuesday’s Washington Post Business Section included an article celebrating the emergence of a class of DC professionals wearing $1,000+ pairs of high-end designer footwear, Taking a Stiletto To D.C.’s Drab Image: A Sensible-Pumps Town Develops Taste for Manolo and Jimmy. The story features Kira Lieberman, a 29-year-old political consultant, who owns 371 pairs of shoes and 25 pairs of boots. It showers attention on Charrisse Jordan, wife of Washington Wizards coach Eddie Jordan, who isn't bashful about posing for a picture among some of the 200 or so pairs of shoes she has at their Maryland home. (No estimate of how many additional pairs she keeps at their home in New Jersey.)
I have read this article several times, searching in vain for any indication that the author or the editor for whom she writes finds such gluttonous self-indulgence anything less than commendable. Instead we are told that “high-end designer shoes . . . symbolize all that is fabulous,” and that these women are doing a public service by “squashing the region’s stodgy reputation under their four-inch stilettos.” The author rationalizes buying $1,000+ pairs of shoes, pointing out that many purchasers “are repeat customers.” We need not worry: these women are not “forgoing rent and eating ramen to pay for their Prada pumps.” When confronted with such extravagant self-worship, I have to stop myself from slipping into an easy moral outrage. I have to stop myself from carrying on about the many impoverished children who could be fed, clothed and given medical care for the price of a single pair of Prada pumps. As I start to comment on another’s shortcomings, I am reminded of the need to look at myself.
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Money and Possessions: from Greed to a Biblical Motivation for Reward
September 19, 2006
Time’s cover story for the week of September 18 – Does God Want You To Be Rich? – explores the hold that the so-called “prosperity gospel” has on a significant fraction of the Church. When prosperity preachers say that God wants His followers to be rich in the things of this world, it riles me. When their destructive message is amplified through mainstream media reports, it angers me.
My sinful nature would love for the prosperity gospel to be true. In fact, if I were to design a religion, it no doubt would include a god who wants me to be rich right here, right now. As recently as two years ago, my adoration of money may have rivaled the most decadent among us. As an adolescent, Alex P. Keaton was among my role models. Later, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, consistently rated as one of my favorite movies. The major appeal: Gordon Gekko (played by Douglas).
As slick and twisted as Gekko was, I admired what I perceived as a willingness to discuss the pursuit of self-interest in language stripped bare of political correctness. Recall his climactic speech at the Teldar Paper shareholders’ meeting:
[G]reed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.
“Greed is good,” I agreed. Admittedly, greed is an “excessive desire” by definition, but I doubted whether “excessive” really meant anything in this context. By what standard could that possibly be measured? (Can you hear the influence of my post-modern University of Michigan education?) Hence, in my world, an excessive desire was nothing more than a hearty desire, and there couldn’t be anything wrong with a hearty desire for life, money, love or knowledge.
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The Virus of Faith
August 30, 2006
“For many people, part of growing up is killing off the virus of faith with a good strong dose of rational thinking. But if an individual doesn’t succeed in shaking it off, his mind is stuck in a permanent state of infancy, and there is a real danger that he will infect the next generation." ─ Richard Dawkins
According to Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor, provocateur and evolution apologist, I’m infected by a virus called faith. Until recently, I would have become angry upon hearing such an allegation – angry with the lies, the arrogance and, most of all, the person making the allegation.
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Tuning Out, Tuning In
August 27, 2006
Seven years ago, a guy named Mike moved into my office. At the time, I was only a casual Christian. Mike was saved, and frankly he was a little scary. He talked about prayer and the Holy Spirit. He actually knew and quoted Scripture. He had a strange and disturbing peace about him. I didn’t like him very much.
In my new position, I was spending a lot of time working at my desk with my headphones on. After about a month, Mike told me that I was filling up my head with too much noise.
“You aren’t giving God a chance to talk to you,” Mike said. “You listen to your car radio all the time too, don’t you?” Man, was I mad. “No, not all the time,” I said. But I did. Still, I didn’t see his point. If God had something to say, He could surely speak louder than my car speakers. Mike challenged me to go a week with the music off. “Fine,” I said. “No big deal. I’ll humor you.”
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Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained
July 22, 2006
I had the unique opportunity a couple months ago to attend a men’s retreat at a friend’s church. I took a plane into Washington on Friday, and my friend and I drove to West Virginia to spend the weekend with ninety men. The retreat was rolling along like most retreats do: praise music, a good speaker, coffee, small talk. But that was not my goal for being there. I had a unique opportunity, and I knew it.
I made my move in the first small group breakout session. The group leader asked us to talk about where we were in our walk with God. Everyone gave the expected answer: place of employment, marital status, kids, and tenure at the church. Then they stopped.
When it was my turn, I took a different approach.
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A TV Revealed Me
July 22, 2006
As I settled into my Grayling hotel room last week, I set about the task of filling my time. Though I usually avoid the easy choice, that night I turned on the television. I spent the next several hours wearing out the batteries in the remote control. Though nothing was interesting enough to hold my attention, “everything” was sufficient to keep the power on.
As I passed, paused, or stopped on channels, I included myself in the group of people who had decided to watch that program. I hung out in the “company” of many target audiences: food lovers and nature lovers, housewives and athletes, investors and children, twenty-year old boys and history lovers.
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Why a Nice Jewish Girl Named Her Daughter Christine
July 31, 2005
By Guest Author: Gail Smith Wright (Ramsey's mother-in-law)
This really is a two-part question: why did I name my daughter Christine, and why was I open to doing so, being a nice Jewish girl. I’ll start with the why-she-got-the-name first.
I had had three pregnancies by the time I became pregnant with Christine: one had ended in the birth of my son, Christine’s older brother, and two had ended in miscarriage. Christine’s older brother had to have a complete blood transfusion at birth due to a blood incompatibility problem: my type O blood was causing antigens to form against his type A blood. Because my husband had type A blood, and type A is always dominant over type O, any child we had would have type A blood. This was most likely the reason for my two previous miscarriages, according to a hematologist we later consulted.
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Faith Is Personal
June 30, 2005
Religious faith is personal. The sentiment has been repeated so often that it nearly seems self-evident. Without doubt, it has become a ground rule for acceptable public discourse and interaction. Author and apologist Ravi Zacharias refers to this phenomenon as the “privatization” of religion:
Privatization may be defined as the socially required and legally enforced separation of our private lives and our public personas; in effect, privatization mandates that issues of ultimate meaning be relegated to our private spheres.
Even George W. Bush, who has been described as “among the most openly religious presidents in U.S. history,” often says that faith is personal.
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This Website Is Weird
April 30, 2005
Six months ago, you simply could not have convinced me that, before long, I would create a website devoted to sharing my faith and the evidence which underlies it. No way. No how. Not me. That would be too far out of step with the mainstream -- too weird.
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What I Mean by "Faith"
April 30, 2005
In my experience, the term “faith” is all too commonly used and understood as “blind faith,” or “belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.” I see it in popular literature and movies and hear it in discussions with family and friends.
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My Faith: An Introduction
March 31, 2005
In March 2005, I created Hisevidence.com, publishing my personal testimony out of a desire to give my bride an Easter gift, and to make a written record for our family of this special time.
You can find that testimony here.
