More than I ask or imagine. . .

The Injustice, The Scandal, and Lamentations: Making Sense of Penn State in Prayer

 

 

   Living in Central PA now, there is one story that everyone is talking about the Penn State  scandal.  In preaching the book of Lamentations, I am seeing this whole scandal in a new light.  Lamentations details the destruction of the city Jerusalem and the punishment that was brought on by their injustice and sin.  While the destruction is terrible, the reason that is has happened is detailed in Lam 3:

34      To crush underfoot
         all prisoners in the land,

35      to deny a man his rights
         before the Most High,

36      to deprive a man of justice—
         would not the Lord see such things?

The answer of course, is "Yes He will see and He will act."  Therefore, when justice happens God has seen and acted.

My sermon last week was on praying prayer of vengence, known as the imprectory psalms.  Praying that God would bring justice is so vital to those who do not have a leading voice.  God hears those prayers and brings justice. I used the example for someone who has been abused. Tolerence or sentimental notions of God being only a tolerate God will not give hope.  God will bring judgment to those who oppress and victimize. He will make things right again. Only God who loves deeply and passionately will see and act in response to the prayers of the victimized and abused.

The Penn State story broke Saturday up here but no one knew the details until Monday or late Sunday.  I have seen friends go through the whole process of greif. They see JoePa fired and the end of everything for the program that dominated sports life here. They see the program they love turn to something diabolical.  Those abused children have cried out and God has heard their prayer.  Finally the abuser will be brought to justice and the whole system needs to be disrupted.

Below is a video of Matt Millen, a former Penn State football player reacting to the scandal.  As he processes what has happened he breaks down around minute 4:00 of the clip.  He says, "When we can no longer protect our children, then we as a society are pathetic".  This scandal is not just about one man's violent abuse or one university's inaction. This has far reaching implications in our whole society, from our obessions with sports to our families breaking down allowing for children to be preyed upon.  We are sick, and we are pathetic as a society. This is an opportunity for us to repent to examine our lives and call out that God would change our hearts and the hearts of others.  We should also pray that God would end such victimization of our children and bring justice to those who have no justice.  Only before the throne of God can we begin to let this change us. We also give honor to the victims by allowing it to change us. Let justice come as Jesus makes all the wrongs right.

O God, would you fogive us as a people and individually in ways that we have contriubuted to this culture where the most vulnerable are the most violated.  Have mercy, Lord, and may Jesus' victory triumph in this whole event and in our world's history.

 

The Fellowship of Presbyterians: Why a New Reformed Body? #MN2011 @fellowshippres

Here is a just posted video from the Conference from Minnesota that I attended last month.

 

 

John Crosby - "Why a New Reformed Body?" from Fellowship of Presbyterians on Vimeo.

World Cup Soccor by Donald Miller

Great blog by Donald Miller on the World Cup....
http://donmilleris.com/2010/06/17/the-downside-of-soccer/

If you’re like me, you’re kind of loving the world cup. The drama of nation pitted against nation and the modern-day gladiator feel of each match is too much to ignore. And it’s also hard to argue that the players competing this month in South Africa aren’t the greatest all-around athletes in the world. Anybody who has kicked a ball around for a few minutes knows how fit you have to be to even play, much less compete.
If you’re like me, you’re kind of loving the world cup. The drama of nation pitted against nation and the modern-day gladiator feel of each match is too much to ignore. And it’s also hard to argue that the players competing this month in South Africa aren’t the greatest all-around athletes in the world. Anybody who has kicked a ball around for a few minutes knows how fit you have to be to even play, much less compete.

That said, many here in America (read white-twenty-somethings who once backpacked through Europe) praise soccer a bit too much as a unifying sport. While it’s true soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and it’s also true it has unifying qualities in the sense that it hilights the common ground interest in a common sport, it’s hardly a total unifier. In fact, an argument that soccer does more to polarize continents, nations, countries and even towns would be fairly easy to make. Entire riots take place after wins and losses.

In the end, soccer is just a sport, and it does what every other sport does, it illustrates what is in the heart of man: the desire to compete, to win, to excel, to unify as a team and so forth. In that sense, it is beautiful. Where soccer fails is where every other sport fails, and that is in the fanaticism of it’s fans. Citizens of towns and states and countries place their identities on the successes and failures of their clubs, sacrificing their perceived redemption on the altar of a match. Sadly, that’s no different than the dynamics of any other sport.

On the very positive side, a friend pointed out recently that soccer goes beyond the field, that it is an equalizer, that globally, the north performs as well as the south, that money, unlike most other sports, doesn’t necessarily dictate who wins. And this is true, and it is perhaps the most exciting dynamic about soccer. But this dynamic begs an obvious question: Should we be speaking against the structure that created the inequality, rather than working within the structure to equalize it in the first place? But of course that suggestion is a pipe dream. It’s a fallen world.

Robert Green of England after the infamous goal.
It’s this identity association that corrupts sports. In America’s opening game at the World Cup, Robert Green of England missed a routine stop that allowed America a goal. Listening to the commentators for the rest of the game told you how sad Robert Green’s life will be, perhaps until he is old. That game cost England more than a victory, it may have cost Green a comfortable life. Soccer fans can be rabid. After a match in which Benin goalkeeper Samiou Yessofou let a similar shot through, he was murdered by an angry fan. These guys aren’t kidding.

So am I excited about the World Cup? Absolutely. I’m more excited about it than March Madness, and just about anything else shy of the NFL playoffs. But do I think soccer is the shining sport? I don’t. I think it’s the same old same old with a different ball.

That said, Go America!

Ron Paul Exclusively on the Kindle.

As many of you know, I am a fan of Ron Paul's writings.  And more of you know my love of the Kindle.  Well, now these two things come together now.  Amazon just announced that 4 of Ron Paul's books will be offered exclusively in the Kindle store.  Below is the press release from Amazon. 

One of the first books I read on my Kindle was End the Fed, and I read Revolution last summer in print. These other books are in some book stores but they are expense in print.  I find Ron Paul refreshing in our current political climate.  He is not partisan, but he teaches people through his interviews and writings about our Consitition and how Washington is supposed to work.   I look forward to reading some more of his work espeically on Abortion and Foreign Policy in the 4 added books.

Bestselling Author and Congressman Ron Paul's Books Now Available Exclusively in the Kindle Store

RosettaBooks makes electronic versions of four books by Ron Paul available exclusively in the Kindle Store for download in under 60 seconds SEATTLE, Jun 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced that RosettaBooks has released four books by bestselling author and Congressman Ron Paul exclusively in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). The books--"A Foreign Policy of Freedom," "Pillars of Prosperity," "The Case for Gold" and "Abortion and Liberty"--are available as e-books for the first time, and they will be exclusive to the Kindle Store for one year. Customers can download these books from the Kindle Store for $9.99, and can read them on their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC, Mac, iPad and soon, Android phones. "We're happy to be able to offer our customers these four books by Ron Paul exclusively in the Kindle Store," said Melissa Kirmayer, Director, Kindle Content. "All four books are available for $9.99 and are ready for customers to download and start reading in under 60 seconds." Ron Paul, an 11-term congressman from Texas, has been described as a leading advocate of freedom in the U.S. capital. He has devoted his political career to the defense of individual liberty, sound money and a non-interventionist foreign policy. Judge Andrew Napolitano calls him "the Thomas Jefferson of our day." After serving as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s, Dr. Paul moved to Texas to begin a civilian medical practice, delivering more than 4,000 babies in his career as an obstetrician. He served in Congress from 1976 to 1984 and again from 1996 to the present. He and Carol Paul, his wife of 51 years, have five children, 18 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Ron Paul, the New York Post once wrote, is a politician who "cannot be bought by special interests." A congressional colleague once said: "There are few people in public life who, through thick and thin, rain or shine, stick to their principles. Ron Paul is one of those few." "Ron Paul is one of the most widely admired authors in politics," said Arthur Klebanoff, CEO of RosettaBooks. "RosettaBooks is proud to publish the first e-book editions of four of his most important books, available exclusively in the Kindle Store."

Social Networking and Media Revolution

To everyone who thinks that Social Networking (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter) is a waste of time or just Narcissism,

Please watch the following video because our world changes when technology changes.  The Church of Jesus Christ needs to be use this the same way the Apostle Paul used Roman roads to carry the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.   The video is from this past Summer, but the impact is still the same.

My favorite example of the revolution is how Generation Y does not check email.  As a campus minister, I find this to be true. In fact, texting or messaging on Facebook are the preferred methods.  What is your experience with this?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

Lose Charmin and Lose your Freedom

This caught my eye from The Drudge Report, which is on my iGoogle page. 

American Taste for Soft Toilet Paper worse than Driving Hummers

Here is a bit from the article:

The tenderness of the delicate American buttock is causing more environmental devastation than the country's love of gas-guzzling cars, fast food or McMansions, according to green campaigners. At fault, they say, is the US public's insistence on extra-soft, quilted and multi-ply products when they use the bathroom.

"This is a product that we use for less than three seconds and the ecological consequences of manufacturing it from treesis enormous," said Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defence Council.

"Future generations are going to look at the way we make toilet paper as one of the greatest excesses of our age. Making toilet paper from virgin wood is a lot worse than driving Hummers in terms of global warming pollution." Making toilet paper has a significant impact because of chemicals used in pulp manufacture and cutting down forests.

I do believe that God calls us as humans to take care of His Creation.  When we abuse it, there will be consequences based on how He set up the World. Disintegration and Unsettling void are the major consequences of abusing God's Creation.

But here, I think we are going overboard. People can have the freedom to use whatever they want in the bathroom.  But that will never change the "devastation" of TP on the environment. What begins to happen is people lobby the Government to change behavior.  If it ever comes to that, then TP will become a luxury at the best for those how can afford the taxes on it, or outlaw it.

The title here is a bit of tongue of cheek, but we must really ask the question always.  Does a government have the right to tell us a luxury is immoral because of environmental impact?  Or should conservationism stay in the place of free choice? 

I tend to believe that it is a matter of freedom, because that it always where the best ideas gain traction when it arises through freedom.  Freedom always has limits like destroying life or the liberty of someone else.  However in the realm of everyday life, such as food, consumer goods, and yes toilet paper, freedom will always be the most moral and most effective choice.

Viva La Charmin!