Well…do you?

“Do you believe that the God of Jesus loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity, that he loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain, that he loves you when your intellect denies it, your emotions refuse it, and your whole being rejects it?  Do you believe that God loves without condition or reservation and loves you this moment as you are and not as you should be?”

-Brennan Manning (fellow ragamuffin)

Biblically Illiterate

Yesterday a fellow track coach and I were discussing the biblical illiteracy of young people in our contemporary culture.  This is an issue that I have read some about.  The church has created terms like “unchurched generation” and “a post-Christian society” to describing this emerging trend in American culture.  After the discussion I asked a handful of students some basic questions about the Bible to see just how biblically illiterate they are.

Me: “Can you name the gospels?”
Them: “Proverbs?
Me: “No.”
Them: “Isaiah?”
Me: “No.”

Are you shocked?

I sure was.

Is this okay in the church?  When are kids supposed to learn the Christian stories?  Is biblical illiteracy a consequence of topical teaching/preaching?  Are parents missing something at home?  Do parents know the stories?

I’m left with more questions than answers.

Low Standards

“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”
-Desmond Tutu

Lord, please give us the eyes of Christ to see people as you do.

Rant

This past Sunday I ended up ranting/lecturing in front of my students.  They, as they tend to do occasionally, decided that Sunday was the day to laugh and giggle during Sunday school and make fun of the other people (myself included) in the room .

I can recall a time when such fits would anger me because I had spent so much time preparing our time together.  Didn’t they know how much time I had spent planning this time to teach?  Why weren’t they listening to me?  I had SO much wisdom to share with them.  Didn’t they know how much better life would be if they sat still for a while?  Shouldn’t they affirm me after the amazing job I was doing?

In essence I wondered, “Why aren’t these students recognizing and affirming my work…or me?” Pathetic.  Trust me, I know.  Praise the Lord for their sake and mine that I have matured beyond this point.  But these were not the questions that were racing through my mind this past weekend.

Love

I recently took a course at school titled “Pastoral Counseling.”  Having been a psychology student during my undergraduate training it was enjoyable to reengage with “my roots” of formalized higher education.

The first day of class our professor posed us the following questions: “What would you think of a person if they came into your office, sat down, and confessed that they have a problem with physically abusing their daughter?  What would go through your mind?  How would you perceive them?”

“Disgusting.  Criminal.  Abhorrent.”  These adjectives raced through my head and perhaps through yours as well.