Juxtaposition
I'm living in the world of family and newborn miracles.
How many babies have been born in the world in the last week? We stopped by the hospital a couple of days ago to check Luke's bilirubin count and during the brief time we were there I saw two couples take their newborns out the front door. Luke's brief moment in the hospital spotlight is long over and he's been replaced with more babies who also have already been replaced.
Babies are so commonplace.
Holding Luke is not commonplace. It is joining with the rest of humanity in the wonder of how life springs up from beyond our understanding. It is amazement at the innocence of this person who has not yet ever done or said anything wrong. It is watching a face that is similar to others but uniquely his own as it stretches and grimaces and relaxes.
People always speak in superlatives in the presence of a newborn. I think there must be something new I can say, but there isn't.
So why juxtaposition? I read and listened to the news today.
One of those newborns grew up to be the governor of New York and hired a call girl, paying her more than $4000 for one evening. When caught, he did not face the cameras alone. His wife beside him, he spoke of needing to take some time out of the public spotlight to rebuild trust in his family. Badly spoken. He is still in denial. When reality comes, if it comes, he will realize that he further injured his wife by asking or allowing her to stand before the cameras with him. He will realize that at this moment he must face the fact that trust is completely gone. Speaking so soon of rebuilding trust minimizes in the extreme the ways he has torn down trust with his own hands. I have no idea whether he has been a good governor. I do know that if he wants to be respected ever again as a man, he should be standing alone to take the heat and not putting his wife in front of the cameras.
More juxtaposition-
The new Sojourners has a book review of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite" by D. Michael Lindsay. The review is by Tony P Hall. The book is about how evangelicals have organized to become powerful so that they could impact the world from inside the power circles rather than from outside. These are Hall's words:
"I wish Lindsay's book could have portrayed the rise to prominence of a group of believers who had abandoned their wealth for the cause of Christ, rather than invested it to garner greater access; a group who had gained power by empowering the poor, rather than expanding their network of influence; a group who had changed the culture because they had brought in to the mainstream those left out of it, rather than propelled themselves into the cultural elite in order to justify their cause...In pursuit of the reign of God, evangelicals have acquired everything they need: media networks, publishing companies, adviser-directed philanthropic funds, political action committees---pretty much everything Jesus never had. Lindsay concludes, however that there are no real direct policy changes that have resulted from their efforts so far...How good is the salt if it loses its saltiness?"
and more---
Also in Sojourners is an article about our reliance on nuclear armaments. Did you know we currently spend $110 million a day on nuclear forces? Did you know that with the money we spend on nuclear arms we could pretty much alleviate hunger and illiteracy and poverty around the world?
more still---
A new book is out, "A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face With Modern-day Slavery" by Benjamin Skinner. An article from NPR is here. Although slavery is illegal everywhere, there are more slaves now than ever before in history. According to Skinner, you can buy a 9 year old girl in Haiti for $50.
How do we put all this together? Evangelicals are powerful, yet the money that could significantly relieve the struggles of the world is spent on nuclear weapons, and little girls are sold on the street for $50. And how am I different? What am I doing about stopping nuclear weapons or saving little girls?
And a final juxtaposition---
Someone who makes a difference in a positive way.
My husband read the book, "God's Smuggler" about Brother Andrew back when we were first married. Brother Andrew started his ministry by taking Bibles into communist countries before the cold war ended. Brother Andrew is still living out his faith. He will be 80 this year and now focuses his efforts on the Middle East and the Islamic world. According to Sojourners, he is openly Christian and promotes the Christian faith. Yet, he receives warmth and respect in the Muslim community. According to those who are familiar with his ministry, this is because his words are put into action. His life is congruent with the faith he claims. He has befriended the founder of Hamas as well as former PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He has preached the gospel to Hamas leaders in Gaza, members of the Taliban in Pakistan, and in Islamic religious schools.
How many babies have been born in the world in the last week? We stopped by the hospital a couple of days ago to check Luke's bilirubin count and during the brief time we were there I saw two couples take their newborns out the front door. Luke's brief moment in the hospital spotlight is long over and he's been replaced with more babies who also have already been replaced.
Babies are so commonplace.
Holding Luke is not commonplace. It is joining with the rest of humanity in the wonder of how life springs up from beyond our understanding. It is amazement at the innocence of this person who has not yet ever done or said anything wrong. It is watching a face that is similar to others but uniquely his own as it stretches and grimaces and relaxes.
People always speak in superlatives in the presence of a newborn. I think there must be something new I can say, but there isn't.
So why juxtaposition? I read and listened to the news today.
One of those newborns grew up to be the governor of New York and hired a call girl, paying her more than $4000 for one evening. When caught, he did not face the cameras alone. His wife beside him, he spoke of needing to take some time out of the public spotlight to rebuild trust in his family. Badly spoken. He is still in denial. When reality comes, if it comes, he will realize that he further injured his wife by asking or allowing her to stand before the cameras with him. He will realize that at this moment he must face the fact that trust is completely gone. Speaking so soon of rebuilding trust minimizes in the extreme the ways he has torn down trust with his own hands. I have no idea whether he has been a good governor. I do know that if he wants to be respected ever again as a man, he should be standing alone to take the heat and not putting his wife in front of the cameras.
More juxtaposition-
The new Sojourners has a book review of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite" by D. Michael Lindsay. The review is by Tony P Hall. The book is about how evangelicals have organized to become powerful so that they could impact the world from inside the power circles rather than from outside. These are Hall's words:
"I wish Lindsay's book could have portrayed the rise to prominence of a group of believers who had abandoned their wealth for the cause of Christ, rather than invested it to garner greater access; a group who had gained power by empowering the poor, rather than expanding their network of influence; a group who had changed the culture because they had brought in to the mainstream those left out of it, rather than propelled themselves into the cultural elite in order to justify their cause...In pursuit of the reign of God, evangelicals have acquired everything they need: media networks, publishing companies, adviser-directed philanthropic funds, political action committees---pretty much everything Jesus never had. Lindsay concludes, however that there are no real direct policy changes that have resulted from their efforts so far...How good is the salt if it loses its saltiness?"
and more---
Also in Sojourners is an article about our reliance on nuclear armaments. Did you know we currently spend $110 million a day on nuclear forces? Did you know that with the money we spend on nuclear arms we could pretty much alleviate hunger and illiteracy and poverty around the world?
more still---
A new book is out, "A Crime so Monstrous: Face-to-Face With Modern-day Slavery" by Benjamin Skinner. An article from NPR is here. Although slavery is illegal everywhere, there are more slaves now than ever before in history. According to Skinner, you can buy a 9 year old girl in Haiti for $50.
How do we put all this together? Evangelicals are powerful, yet the money that could significantly relieve the struggles of the world is spent on nuclear weapons, and little girls are sold on the street for $50. And how am I different? What am I doing about stopping nuclear weapons or saving little girls?
And a final juxtaposition---
Someone who makes a difference in a positive way.
My husband read the book, "God's Smuggler" about Brother Andrew back when we were first married. Brother Andrew started his ministry by taking Bibles into communist countries before the cold war ended. Brother Andrew is still living out his faith. He will be 80 this year and now focuses his efforts on the Middle East and the Islamic world. According to Sojourners, he is openly Christian and promotes the Christian faith. Yet, he receives warmth and respect in the Muslim community. According to those who are familiar with his ministry, this is because his words are put into action. His life is congruent with the faith he claims. He has befriended the founder of Hamas as well as former PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He has preached the gospel to Hamas leaders in Gaza, members of the Taliban in Pakistan, and in Islamic religious schools.
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