Deus Misereatur

When I wrote " Our Heads on Straight " in 2020 and " Beyond Outrage " in 2023, I was deeply concerned with the way all aspects of news and social media were shaping us to be manic, anxious, and angry. Since then I have found a wide spectrum of folks, even people who are not Christians, like Jonathan Haidt , concerned as well. So I was interested when I stumbled across "Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age," a 208-page paperback written by Samuel D. James, associate acquisitions editor at Crossway and one-time communications specialist for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The author's aim in the book is to show that social media and the internet technologies are not neutral tools but "an epistemological environment - a spiritual and intellectual habitat - that creates in it's members particular ways of thinking, feeling, and believing" (9). The author does an expert job hitting his target! James ma...

  In last week’s letter I talked about us being a garden-church rather than a factory-church (if you didn’t have a chance to read it, you can see it on my blog here: " A Garden-Church " ). I drew from Christopher Hutchinson’s book “Rediscovering Humility,” and ended with this thought from Hutchinson, “A humble church is a place of faith and hope and love, centered on Christ the Lord, feeding constantly on His character and humility” (p. 218-219). There is a bit more I am adding to last week’s letter.  First, from several sources, there are over 300,000 Protestant/Nondenominational/Independent churches in the United States. In many ways, numbers should not be super important to us, especially as we recall that it is the Lord who adds to the church such as are being saved (Acts 2:47). Yet the numbers are deeply encouraging and enlightening. And so, here are some numbers regarding those 300,000 congregations.   According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (a...

O LORD, as the Psalm writer says, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more (Psalm 10:17-18). For these reasons, and more, we make bold to call on you, to call on you in truth (Psalm 145:18). O great God, mighty Sovereign, we pray for our world, all the national governments and their citizens, and our own country. May sound-thinking prevail in all realms and all communities. We pray for Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, Russia, Venezuela, and other lands with all of the strife boiling over. Turn each situation around for good. Bring those in power – the leaders of various separatist groups and presidents – to think out what is in the best interests of all, not just their tribe or faction. Watch over the many displaced people who have fled for their lives. Preserve them, protect them, and pro...