Pap-Daddy: Part 4
At the conclusion of last week’s Pap-Daddy story (a real story about a true hero), Farris Burton was in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean; his ship, the Zaandam, had been sunk by a German submarine’s daring daytime attack and he had just given his life jacket to a ship mate struggling to survive. Pap-Daddy recalls . . .
I finally got near a raft. One of the men aboard was named Hoogendam; I had served with him aboard the Firethorn. I tried to convince Hoogendam and the others to steer the raft towards one of the lifeboats and to hook up with other survivors, but they seemed uninterested. Later I would learn that these men had been aboard their raft for 83 days before being rescued (the longest that anyone had been known to survive in open ocean at this time). Only three of the five men that I met would live to tell their tragic tale.
As I left the raft behind, swimming and floating on various pieces of wreckage, I spotted another sailor, Henry Phipps. Phipps had a piece of hatch-board covering that was 2′ wide and 6′ – 8′ in length. It was impossible for us both to float on the board at the same time. Yet, we knew that staying together would increase our chances of survival. So we worked out a system where one of us would lay flat (on our stomach) upon the board while the other would stay in the water behind the board and try to swim. Our destination was one of the Zaandam’s lifeboats that was too distant to see unless we were on the crest of a wave.
While Phipps and I were busy fighting for our own survival, those men aboard the lifeboat were fighting to keep their only hope of rescue afloat. Apparently, while the lifeboat was being lowered into the water, it had blown loose and capsized. It took almost 60 men to get the boat right side up. At which point one of the chief engineers, Fredrick Mills, began patching a hole below the water line that was 40″ long and 22″ deep. Mills was held by his feet, with his head and shoulders under water, as he used salvaged canvas and sawdust to complete his repairs. When the job was finally complete Mills was brought into the lifeboat, blue with cold and gasping for air.
Meanwhile, darkness was fast approaching and Phipps and I were becoming discouraged. We continued to work our way towards the lifeboat, but neither of us knew if we could, in fact, make it. We were exhausted from the long swim and sick from swallowing so much sea water mixed with oil. I tried to encourage Henry; I kept tugging at him and telling him to hang on. Finally we reached the crowded lifeboat. Somehow, I had enough strength to pull myself aboard. Henry was in a daze and as I tried to pull him aboard the lifeboat he looked at me and said, “What are you doing up there?” Thankfully, we both made it into the boat. We were pretty beat up, but so was everyone else.
As always, check back in a few days to read the next installment of the Pap-Daddy story…
Why I Pray: Prayer Changes Things
A few days ago I wrote a post about prayer. Specifically, the post focused on this question: Why should I pray; what do my prayers accomplish? My answer was that we pray because prayer matters. While this answer is true, it is not complete. So I decided to follow up with these thoughts about the efficacious nature of prayer. In other words, I wanted to write about how prayers, specifically prayers of supplication and intercession, really change things.
Prayers of supplication and intercession do indeed change things. But in order to understand what they change, we need to look at the nature of God and the nature of change. First, the nature of God; this will obviously be a very simple and somewhat shallow treatment of our infinite God, but this is, after all, a blog and not a book. God is the only eternal, ominpotent, omnipresent, and omniscient Being that exists. As such, God is fully and powerfully present everywhere and everywhen. He is completely aware of all things and entirely capable of doing anything that is not contrary to his holy, good, and perfect nature. God’s unique and limitless power, presence, and knowledge result in His sovereignty, i.e. “God is supreme in His rule and authority over all things though he does allow human freedom” (Mark Driscoll, Doctrine).
Now for the nature of change. First, we must believe that, unlike us, God and His plan do not really change – He is who He is and He does what He has always intended to do in his predictive will. However, we must also recognize that the Bible, at times, uses “change language” to describe God. In order to understand this we need to recognize the difference between real change and (what philosophers call) Cambridge change. Real change is exactly what it sounds like: a real change in somebody or something. Cambridge change is not real change; it is seeming change in relation to real change. Here is a little thought experiment to help us understand the difference . . .
I am a short guy, 5’6″ tall, but I would love to be a tall guy. So, for the sake of the experiment, let’s pretend that I have a magic growth elixir. If I drink this magic growth elixir, I will grow to 6’2″ overnight. The result is that I will have experienced real change. Now let’s pretend that I don’t have access to a magic growth elixir. Instead, I have stumbled across a powerful shrinking potion that makes everything around me shrink down to a size that makes me appear to be 6’2″. In this example, I don’t actually experience real change, but Cambridge (or relational) change. I didn’t grow taller; everything else just grew smaller and made me taller by comparison.
The Bible teaches that God doesn’t experience real change, but He does experience Cambridge change in relation to us as we experience real change. I know this is heady stuff, but it is really important because it means that prayer does change things and what it changes is us! When I pray, I don’t really change God’s plan or His mind, but I do change myself. Just by praying, I am humbly admitting that I need God’s help and intervention; that is a change from my normal practice of arrogance and self-reliance. I am also making myself more cognitively aware of a need by thinking through it in a prayerful matter. Another change that could take place is that after praying about a need, God leads me to meet that need. These are just a few examples of change, but they are enough to reveal that while the change might be subtle, it is definitely real.
No Such thing as a Perfect Parent
Parenting is deadly serious and deadly difficult. Parenting is the responsibility of raising a child to know God, to love God, and to spend his, or her, life in the joyful pursuit of God’s glory. Maybe this is why God decides to dedicate the book of Proverbs to teaching us how to live wisely and how to raise wise children. The stated purpose of the book would be to aid young people in becoming wise, and the first nine chapters are written from a father to a son. In other words, Proverbs could very well be the first parenting manual ever published. Proverbs was written around 700 BC when King Hezekiah petitioned some of his wisest scholars to compile a book of wisdom. This book would draw largely from the 3,000 proverbs attributed to King Solomon – the wisest man who ever lived. It would also include some writings from Hezekiah’s men, a man named King Lemuel (maybe Solomon’s pseudonym), and King Agur.
To understand this book, you first need to understand who Solomon was. Solomon seemed to be God’s golden boy. Early in Solomon’s rule he had a vision from God in which he was commanded to ask for whatever his heart desired. This was the greatest moment in Solomon’s life. What would the young king ask for: health, wealth, long life, peace, or power? No; Solomon would follow the advice of his parents and he would seek God’s wisdom. Solomon understood that he was unfit to be king and incapable of effectively ruling God’s people in God’s land. So, given the opportunity, Solomon asked for God’s wisdom. God was so pleased with Solomon’s request that He not only granted him wisdom, He also granted him a life full of other blessings. Solomon’s star was on the rise. His life was marked by significant achievements: he was the richest man in his day; he oversaw the building of God’s temple and countless other ancient architectural masterpieces; as an adept businessman he made Israel a world power through international trade; he was an insightful philosopher, a wise judge, a romantic poet, and a righteous king.
Solomon was raised by a Father “after God’s own heart.” He taught his son to pursue wisdom and honored him by crowning him as King of Israel. Yet, in spite of all his blessings, Solomon’s happy story turns tragic. Initially Solomon clung to God, desperately loving and serving his Creator. However, by the end of his life, Solomon had replaced his God with an idol. The Bible says that he clung to his wives, all 700 of them, and his 300 concubines. It goes on to say that these women did not love God and eventually turned Solomon away from his Lord. By the end of his life, Solomon was no longer constructing buildings for God, now he was building shrines for idols. The author of the first parenting book ever published was now worshipping Chemosh and Molech through child sacrifice.
Before we judge Solomon too harshly we must admit that we are little better. Thankfully, God has loved us enough to overcome our hatred for Him by breaking into our realities and choosing us in such a way that we might choose Him. And He did this by sending us “one who is greater than Solomon,” Jesus Christ. Solomon was granted God’s wisdom; Jesus was God’s wisdom. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we can find acceptance and forgiveness. God’s wrath has been absorbed by our Savior. Our sins have been exchanged for Christ’s righteousness. And the curse of death has been defeated through His victorious resurrection. Still, we are near-constant idolaters; loving a variety of created things more than we love the Creator. Each of us, at our best, is (in the words of Martin Luther) simil iustus et peccator – at the same time both righteous and a sinner. The good news is that Jesus knows our frailty. He is, right now, interceding for us at the right hand of the Father. Jesus forgives our sins and redeems our brokenness – even the sins that we commit as parents and the brokenness that we pass on to our children. Without Christ our best parenting will be a filthy mess of self-righteous, moralistic, therapeutic, behavioral modification. With Christ, even our worst parenting can be redeemed for the glory of God.
Why I Pray: Prayer Matters
I was recently asked this very interesting question: “If God is in control of everything and already has a plan, then why do I need to pray — can I change his mind or His plan?” In essence she wanted to know what her prayers accomplished. I would love to say that I am so incredibly super-intelligent that I spit out an incredibly wise and God-glorifying answer on the spot. But I can’t. Actually, I began answering the question only to realize how big it truly was. So I stopped talking and I said, “Prayer does matter and we should pray, but I don’t know how best to answer you right now. Let me study this and we’ll talk soon.” This is the fruit of my studying. I hope that reading it is as helpful for you as writing it has been for me…
There are several types of prayer recorded in Scripture:
- Adoration — Prayers of Praise that focus on who God is.
- Thanksgiving — Prayers of Gratitude that focus on what God does.
- Confession — Prayers of Repentance that focus on what we have done wrong.
- Supplication — Prayers of Request that focus on our needs.
- Intercession — Prayers of Request that focus on other’s needs.
It is clear that the first three types of prayer are not what my questioner was concerned with. Obviously we need to praise God, thank God, and confess our sins to God because that makes us better people. In other words we don’t pray prayers of adoration, thanksgiving, or confession to change God; we pray these prayers to change us. But what about supplication and intercession? If God is sovereign, i.e. ”He is supreme in His rule and authority over all things though he does allow human freedom” (Mark Driscoll, Doctrine), then why do I have to ask Him to do things that He has already decided to do or not do? The simple answer is because He has told us to; the deeper answer looks at why He has told us to.
God has multiple ways of working in Creation. He can work immediately, i.e. without any intervening factors or secondary causes, or He can work mediately, i.e. with intervening factors and secondary (or tertiary, etc…) causes. Prayer is an example of God’s mediate working. This means that even though God is already aware of everyone’s situation and He already knows how He is going to resolve each of these situations, He often chooses to share His dignity with undeserving creatures like us by working His resolutions through (or in conjunction with) our prayers. So, I pray because God has commanded me to pray. I pray because God sovereignly decides to work through my prayers, which He is sovereign over. I pray because prayer matters to God . . . and to the people I pray for.
Maybe it will help us to look at another example of God’s mediate working: Provision. Ultimately, God is the provider of everything for myself and my family, including my daily bread. Yet, God (normally) chooses to work His provision of my daily bread mediately through my own provision. In other words, I have to work a job, get a paycheck, deposit my paycheck, pay my bills, go the grocery store, buy my groceries, store them, and prepare meals in order to have my daily bread. God could immediately handle this activity; he could easily drop a four-course meal on my lap everyday or put it directly into my stomach courtesy of a divine feeding tube. However, He chooses not to. So I provide for my family because God has commanded me to provide for my family. I provide for my family because God sovereignly decides to work through my provision, which He is sovereign over. I provide for my family because my provision matters to God . . . and to my family.
Pap-Daddy: Part 3
As Pap-Daddy, aka Farris Burton, and the rest of the men and women aboard the Zaandam left their most recent adventure on the horizon, they all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Unfortunately, their relief was short-lived. On the eleventh evening after leaving the port of Capetown, South Africa the crew of the Zaandam sighted a plane. Most assumed that this was just another U.S. Naval plane out on routine patrol, but hindsight reveals that it may have been something much more ominous: an enemy spy plane. While we still don’t know the identity of this plane, we do know what happened to the Zaandam just a short time later. This is how Pap-Daddy remembers what happened next…
It was November 2, 1942. We had been aboard the Zaandam for about 12 days, and we were near the equator – approximately 400 miles off the coast of Recife, Brazil. Even though it had been almost a month since the Firethorn incident, I was still shaken by what had happened. In fact, due to our recent adventures several of the Zaandam survivors (myself included) kept our life jackets with us at all times. We even slept with them right next to our bunks. Of course this led to a bit of good-natured ribbing by some of the Zaandam’s regular crewman, but being called a chicken wasn’t nearly enough motivation for me to stow my Mae-West.
On this particular day, I was assigned the Noon – 4PM watch. Having just been relieved, I went below deck to my quarters – where most of my shipmates were assembled. I clearly remember that I had a nagging sense of discomfort while in my quarters. So, I picked up one the little Gideon New Testaments and began to read the tenth chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Still, I couldn’t shake my unease. Then I got an odd feeling, like something was about to happen. I left my quarters and went topside to the lounge. I had no sooner gotten topside than the first torpedo struck the ship knocking everything out of place. Instantly, I knew what was happening . . . again!
We had been trained to man our battle stations in the event of an attack. So I rushed to the starboard side of the ship and onto the outside deck. I was nearing the gun station when the second torpedo impacted the ship – right near the below deck quarters that I called home. This strike did serious damage to the integrity of our ship. I watched as the lifeboats and rafts – being stored on the top-deck – lifted into the air and then fell back into place. I could sense death around me. In my imagination I could see the dead bodies floating in the debris.
I knew it was time to abandon ship; it was sinking fast and all guns were useless. The ship was going down bow-first and the fantail was already rising out of the water; I was probably 30 – 40 feet above the water at this point. I crossed my arms over my Mae-West life jacket, held my breath, and jumped. I don’t know how far I went beneath the water before I surfaced, but it seemed like an awfully long time.
After abandoning ship, I surveyed the chaos around me. Men were fighting for survival – many of them were seriously injured. The water seemed full of wreckage, oil, bodies, and sharks. After the ship sank, I noticed one of the regular crewman struggling to stay afloat without a life jacket; he was probably one of the guys that had called me a chicken. I was a pretty good swimmer, so I took mine off, gave it to him, and explained why I chose to keep it with me at all times. As is true of so many others, I don’t know whether this man survived or not. All I know, is that I never heard from him again.
To be continued…
Pap-Daddy: Part 2
Last week, I told you the story of Farris Burton, a.k.a. Pap-Daddy’s, adventures aboard the Firethorn as a member of the Naval Armed Guard. A few weeks after that ship went down, Pap-Daddy was assigned to assist the gunners on board the Zandaam. At this point in time, the Zaandam was operating more as a rescue ferry than a merchant ship – picking up survivors at ports from Cairo to Capetown. In fact, the Zaandam really was a floating home to a motley crew of civilians, sailors, gunners, and merchant marines whose ships had fallen victim to the incredibly fierce naval warfare of WW2. However, once underway, everyone quickly settled into their duties aboard the Zaandam.
Three days into the journey home, the Zaandam was challenged . . .
The other ship challenged us by blinking signals. Our crew quickly manned the guns. Then, out of the darkness, two warships appeared and surrounded us. Needless to say, we were frightened. One of the warships lowered a small boat into the water. As it approached our ship, an officer called out and commanded us to raise a flag of identification. An overly anxious member of our crew began to raise the flag, but didn’t notice that it was upside down. In that position, the symbol on the flag looked like an old German ensign. As soon as we noticed the mistake, we scrambled to strike colors and hoist the flag correctly.
By this time we were scared to death; we were out-manned, out-gunned, and surrounded. Still, we had our guns loaded and we were ready to blast the first ship, until we noticed that five more ships had joined the party under cover of darkness. Clearly, we needed to rethink our aggressive strategy. All we could do was wait as the officers parlayed. It was maddening not knowing what was happening or being said, but evidently our officers knew what they were doing because the warships disappeared into the night. And we continued on our way…
Stay tuned for Part 3 — a story of shipwreck and survival.
Welcome to the Story
Let me start with a confession: for most of my Christian life, I knew that I was supposed to read my Bible faithfully, but, like a lot of Christians, I just didn’t do it. I had a lot of reasons for not reading Scripture, but none of them are worth recounting here. To make matters worse, when I finally would read my Bible, I would do it for the wrong reasons. My reading would be motivated by my selfish desire to fix a problem in my life (what does Scripture teach me about me), my silly attempt to manipulate God (I read my Bible, now answer my prayer), or obligation (Christians are supposed to read their Bibles). Seldom was my reading motivated by my love for God and His Word. Clearly, this lack of reading was a problem for a guy who loved a God that primarily revealed Himself through a book.
Then, I discovered this basic truth that changed my life: the Bible isn’t just a book, it’s a story; and it isn’t just a story, it’s an awesome story. Recently, I had the privilege of reading a book by Stephen Nichols that reinforced and clarified this foundational truth. In fact, this is what he has to say about the story of the Bible in his new book Welcome to the Story: Reading, Loving, and Living God’s Word:
The story of the Bible has not just any plot, but the best plotline of them all. In facts, its plotline of fall and redemption become the template for any good story, any good novel, and any good movie. The biblical plot involves “trouble in paradise,” that is the original trouble in the original Paradise. It also involves a resolution, a solution.
In Welcome to the Story, Nichols takes believers on a journey through the story of the Bible. He walks us through creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. He inspires us to understand that the Bible is so much more than we ever realized. But, thankfully, he doesn’t stop there. After telling the story of the Bible in a very entertaining way, Nichols trades his storyteller hat for his professor hat and begins to give us practical guidelines about reading the story, loving the story, and living the story. All in all, Welcome to the Story was a good read, equal parts inspiration and application. If you struggle with Bible reading, then grab Nichols’ book and force yourself to read it. It might just be the kick in the pants you need to jump into the greatest story ever told – the story of the Bible.
Stop the Nonsense
Yesterday (August 12, 2011) I was driving home from my final mentoring session with a very promising and gifted young man. We had spent the morning discussing Biblical manhood and the virtue of desperation. As I sat across the breakfast table from Kendall, I urged him to embrace desperation; to live a life marked by a reckless determination to glorify God – no matter what. It was a good morning … until I got in my car and tuned into ESPN radio.
Steven A. Smith was filling in for Colin Cowherd on Colin’s show “The Herd.” Smith was discussing golf. Specifically, he was discussing Tiger’s atrocious showing at his most recent Major. Everything was fine up to this point (Tiger did play a horrible couple of rounds), but then Steven A. Smith began spewing bad advice all over the airwaves by suggesting that he knew how to fix Tiger’s poor play. Now unless you have been living with your head buried in the sand, you know that Tiger Wood’s marriage fell apart some time ago. The cause was his many sexual escapades with dozens of women who happened to not be his wife – if you’re “old school” you call this adultery. If you’re Steven A. smith, you call it a good idea … Here are just a few pieces of Smith’s advice to Tiger:
… everybody has their muse. This isn’t working for Tiger. He needs to go back to what works for him. Tiger, you need to stop thinking about monogamy … Tiger Woods is trying to be something he is not … Let’s stop this nonsense about trying to calm down a bit. That’s not what he needs, what he needs is to get a tad bit wild again … Let me see Tiger with a honey on the course … Stop this nonsense.
At this point, you should be slightly annoyed if not completely angry. Smith’s advice is reprehensible. He is telling us that playing a game well is more important than living a life of virtue. He is preaching relativistic pragmatism. In other words, if numerous experiences of casual sex with dozens of different women is what “works for you,” i.e. your muse, then, by all means, have numerous experiences of casual sex with dozens of different women.
As I listened to this nonsense, I just wanted to scream at my radio. Whatever happened to virtue? Whatever happened to right and wrong; to the notion that real manhood wasn’t defined by a man’s ability to play a game, but by his ability to live right? Have we forgotten that, ”virtue comes from the Latin word virtus which meant manliness, or virility” (Peter Kreeft)? Real manhood isn’t about doing what works for you. Real manhood is about dong what’s right – even when it doesn’t work for you. Thanks for the advice Smith, but maybe you should “stop the nonsense” and stick to box scores.
Parental Guidance Required
I am 29 years old and I have one child – a 2 year old named Lincoln. So, I understand that I am in no way qualified to preach a parenting sermon based on my own wisdom. That is why this parenting sermon is based on the wisdom of God as revealed in the book of Proverbs. I hope you enjoy this sermon and are edified as God is glorified.
A Story of Marriage and Redemption
This is a sermon entitled, “The Forever Faithful God.” It is a story of marriage and redemption based on the forever faithful love of God that is displayed in the life and ministry of Hosea. I pray that you would enjoy the sermon and that you would be edified and God would be glorified as you experience it.
Pap-Daddy: Part 1
This year Lincoln, my baby boy, got to spend a whole week with his grandparents. Needless to say, he had a blast. They played in the garden, drove electric cars around the yard, and got to spend a day with a very special guy named “Pap-Daddy.” Pap-Daddy is my Linc’s great grandpa. He got dubbed Pap-Daddy when my wife was trying to explain to our toddler that they were about to go see “pappaw’s daddy.” Pap-Daddy’s real name is Farris Horton Burton and I am so excited that Linc gets to know him because Farris is a real hero – in a world that needs real heroes. If you want to see some really great pictures of Linc and Pap-Daddy, check out the Abby Caldwell Photography Blog. To be honest, Farris’ story is too long for a blog post. But it’s too good not to tell . . .
In 1941 there was much speculation that the U.S. would soon be dragged into the ongoing European conflict that we now call WW2. Instead of protesting the war or dodging their duties, this generation of young American’s began to enlist. Farris was one of these young men. In fact, he was too young. At sixteen years of age, he had already passed the exams necessary to enter the Navy, but was unable to convince his parents to sign a release form. So, he was told to come back when he was seventeen. On April 26, 1942 (his seventeenth birthday) Farris enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
After his training, Farris was assigned to the U.S. Navy Armed Guard. The men of the NAG served on merchant ships that had been outfitted with defensive weaponry. Farris was trained as a gunner and his first assignment was the S.S. Firethorn. Not long after coming aboard the Firethorn disaster struck, in the form of an undetected German u-boat and twin torpedos. It was about 8:15 AM on October 7, 1942, Farris had just finished his 0400 -0800 duty at the forward gun turret, grabbed a quick bite to eat with his buddy Nelms, and returned to his bunk in the forward quarters when the torpedo struck. In Farris’s words:
There was an awful explosion that appeared to blow the whole ship out of socket. Everything seemed to move around. A few seconds later, there was another explosion. I made it out of the quarters, but I never saw Nelms again. As I ran, it seemed in my mind like I had gone through this exercise before . . . I still believe the Lord was leading me.
The ship was already on its side. So I pulled myself up passed the Officer’s mess hall by using fixtures welded to the bulkheads. Finally, I entered the water off the side of the ship with no life jacket and began battling against the suction of the sinking ship. The Firethorn sank in less than 2 minutes . . .There was wreckage and oil all around. I was exhausted from the swim and sick from ingesting an unhealthy mix of oil and salt water. So I eased up on the first thing I found for relief. I really didn’t know what was keeping me afloat.
Thankfully, some of the crew managed to get to one of the rafts that had been designed to float free in the event of a ship’s sinking . . . They spotted me in the midst of the debris field. After getting me onto the raft one of the men said, “Hey Burton, look what you were floating on!” Apparently, I had been kept afloat by a large dead fish. [Side note: To this day, Farris can't (or won't) eat any kind of seafood.]
Our raft was constructed of strips of wood and two air tanks, one on each side, that would provide enough buoyancy to keep us afloat. However, the center of the boat was depressed and the men had to sit in the water. There were fourteen sailors aboard the raft . . . We saw other rafts in the area as well.
We also saw the submarine that torpedoed us. As was common practice, the submarine had surfaced in order to find the name of the ship and the captain – to take as a prisoner. The enemy approached our raft. Three or four German sailors stood on the deck with, a man who we assumed to be, the Commander of the vessel. They pointed their submachine guns in our direction, but no one responded with any information. I, and several of the others, thought they were going to strafe us. They did not, but they did remain in the area to impede our rescue.
We drifted for two days before a South African Navy Vessel rescued us. During the rescue the ship made contact with the submarine and dropped depth charges . . . After losing contact with the submarine, the South African Naval crew continued their rescue effort until all survivors were on board. They dropped a few more depth charges and departed the area, making for the port of Capetown, South Africa . . . We stayed at the Union Jack Seaman’s Club from October 10 until we boarded the S.S. Zaandam on October 21, 1942. The Zaandam was en route to the U.S. from Cairo and was stopping along various ports to pick up survivors. The US Navy Gunners, like myself, received duty assignments along with the Gunners already aboard the Zaandam.
And this is only the beginning…
The Enemy Within
I recently re-read the hauntingly prophetic introduction to Neil Postman’s classic work, Amusing Ourselves to Death. It is so good that I want to share it with you – in it’s entirety.
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another – slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
I agree with Postman: Huxley was right. We are distracted people and our distractions will be our undoing! If we continue to make petty things important and important things petty, we will find ourselves adrift in a sea of malaise. We will be bored as we drown in our own pleasures. The solution to this problem: embrace desperation – the enemy of distraction. Don’t waste your life in the pursuit of a thousand tiny things; live your live recklessly determined to do one great thing.
The Art of Relevance (and the Rant)
It’s time to stop talking and allow our students to speak. We must trade the traditional teacher role for the adventurous tour-guide role showing students the way. This will give the scriptures meaning and life. How better to grow a generation, then to give that generation their voice? Day in and day out these kids are being ignored by family, teachers, and other authority figures. Maybe we should give them the chance to speak and be heard? Can you imagine how awesome it would be if our church began lifting up the fallen, mending the broken, and hearing the ignored? It may change everything this world has ever known about God’s people. It may be the beginning of a new era.
The toughest part of the rant is being informed. You will have to know, what is “in” right now. You will need to have an opinion on everything. Trends change so often and now you have to keep up. Bob Dylan had it right in his song, “The Times They Are A-Changin.’” He said, “Your sons and your daughters, are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly agin’, please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand.” These words are very true; remaining vital to the people of this world, is the priority for effective ministry in today’s churches.
Students today, are rather amazing. I like them because they take nothing at face value and expect more from the people who are in positions of authority. The poet, Taylor Mali, once said, “it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY. You have to speak with it, too.” This is a very important idea that our students understand. They are not going to fall for the “because I said so” or the “because I am in charge” bit any longer. They deserve real answers – answers that are borne out of patience and wisdom.
The rant, may lead you down rabbit trails, but with the guidance of a spiritual leader you will arrive at answers. I once, had my students relate Scripture to a burger. The bun holds everything together; it may appear boring, but without it everything falls apart. The garden is the flavor that brings us to the answers. The meat, well, you know what the meat is: it’s the most tired cliché for intense information in our world. However in today’s world, there is not just one answer. Is the bun sesame seed or a Kaiser roll? Is it a veggie burger, because those are popular? With every person, the simplicity of a burger changes; the reality and nature of a burger doesn’t change, but it’s from does. Remember, everybody orders differently. So start the rant, and let them fly. I have seen even the most introverted student launch into conversation, because we were able to start the rant on a topic they loved. When you are talking about something you love, do you keep quiet?
sporks and goats: lessons in student ministry
It seems that today, way too many church leaders and volunteers are out of touch. Each day we are losing relevancy. We live in a time where students desire to be challenged. They want to learn. They want to grow deep in their faith; probably deeper than any generation before. But we cannot continue to teach them the way we always have. This generation needs something new. They need rants and pop culture.
We need to adapt our teaching styles in order to remain effective. The age of the powerpoint sermon and bullet-pointed lecture are ending. Response to conversation and music is larger than ever. For instance, why do most students active in churches still seek secular bands and new music that fits their genre, but maybe not their lifestyle? Because at best the newest music in the Christian realm sounds five years old and has a message that is not lived everyday. Relevant. We have to remain relevant by teaching a message that reaches students and shows them who God is and what the Scripture has for their lives. We must show them what the church should be.
The church is about people; about simply doing and being. So, this is not a “How-To Guide” nor is it a formula because every individual is different, and (by extension) every group is different. This bog is just me trying to make you think about new ideas and new tactics. It is my effort to show you that ranting about sporks and goats might just be a necessary part of relevant student ministry.
I guess, it may be helpful for you to know where the whole sporks and goats thing came from. Then again, it might not be helpful, but it’s a fun story and I’m going to share it anyway. I was a youth volunteer in a Methodist church in Williamstown, WV (Hometown ShoutOut!) On this particular night, I was leading a small, but talkative, group. We had shared some horrifying pet stories and my students were opening up on a level that was uncommon. So, I decided to run with it. We were studying worship. As the discussion went on, I led us to discuss sporks. Now, I can’t lie, I love the spork. It is my favorite of the utensils. However, not everyone shares my sentiment, and thus a rant was born. For you see, everyone eats differently and with different tools. It all depends on the culture or the house you are having a meal inside. Now, what seemed like a random rant became what I had intended: the perfect analogy for worship. Everyone worships differently (just as everyone eats differently), and with different tools – some worship without using songs and others rely solely upon song. Really, it all depends on the culture of the house in which you are worshiping.
The goat rant wasn’t some great spiritual experience. It was born out of a need for my students to vent. They needed to voice their concern over a teacher who spent more time talking about raising goats, than teaching math. This really bothered many students, and they needed someone to hear them out. So I listened, and after they was done they were right back on track. Rather than fight to keep them silent, I chose to let them speak and then get back to the topic. Let your students be heard, so they can refocus.
