The end of the [Vietnam] war in 1975 marked the beginning of the end of rule by the World War II generation, and the dawn of modern America--the mean-spirited America of me-first, trust-nobody, sound bites, revile-anyone-who-disagrees, and devil-take-hindmost. All of this misbehavior is a mark of our timidity, not our confidence. Americans across the political spectrum cannot bear dissent, because we lack the courage to meet it squarely. . . . And yet, within that collapse of American self-belief, individual stories of triumph are possible.
In other words, there is still a dream in the middle of the American nightmare.
There's a new book out, entitled 'Millenials in Ministry', and I'm looking forward to reading it. It will be a while. I have a stack of books to read so high that I can't see over the top, and that doesn't include good novels like Stephen Carter's (he gives an intriguing look into the African-American community, a culture of which I understand so little, even though it is all around me). Novels come at the end of the day, when my mental processes have slowed down to a crawl--or didn't the Psalmist say that he would give the best part of the day to God's Word--'I will awaken the dawn' (Ps. 57:8)?
Be that as it may, I've been reflecting on my impression of the current American situation, and no, I'm not really thinking so much of recent federal legislation. What bothers me is, on the one hand, the inability of Christians to set boundaries and live by them, and on the other hand, our aloofness from the world--the fortress mentality so recently defended by Franklin Graham. (See, by the way, Marty Duren's excellent response to Graham's latest comments about Muslims.)
It bothers me about myself, first. I just read Psalm 1 again, and having had a very good Hebrew professor in seminary, I'll try my hand at my own paraphrase:
OH THE JOYS of the one who does not get involved in the plans of evil people, nor try and stay neutral on the path that sinners take. And she/he certainly doesn't take part in the critical, reviling, condescending attitude toward others that is often prevalent around us. Instead, good people are filled with delight in God's instructions for life, and they mull over them, and their implications for their daily choices, every chance they get.
It doesn't mean, I don't think, that we don't engage the world; what it means sis that we don't get sucked into the world's ways, including learning to say NO to a critical, negative spirit.
It means crossing cultural boundaries, and making friends.
For me, in the middle of all the troubling things around me, it means believing that a new generation of workers can and will be raised up to communicate and demonstrate Jesus to Muslim people who've never had a chance to learn about Him.
I've got proof of that; we've just gotten 5 new applications (and there' supposed to be some more coming) from young people who want to do just that.
I'm sincerely hoping people will pray them out, because the devil will try and stop them with every thing he can throw at them.
Still, it looks like the dream is still alive in the middle of the selfie-nightmare.
Actually, I think I prefer the word 'vision', rather than 'dream'. In other words, Kingdom-vision of God's promise, and not the so-called 'American dream'. The latter is probably more of a fantasy built on sand than anything else. The former is the true City on a Hill.
And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:3).
Amen.
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