Disaster Relief
My thoughts over the past few days have been where a number of people’s thoughts have been – on the plight of those facing the flood waters on the Great Plains and in the Midwest. My wife, Jami, and I have most recently moved to Peoria, Illinois, from Norfolk, Nebraska, and our children live in Omaha, so there are many people we know who have experienced evacuation and tremendous loss. We have joined many of you in praying for God’s deliverance, strength, and blessings for those facing the flood waters.
If you would like to help, these are a few sites you might want to explore. There are no better stewards of resources for aid than Orphan Grain Train and the Nebraska District, LCMS. Thank you for your concern and care.
Ndlcms.org (and look under news and events for Disaster Relief. There you will find links for LCMS World Relief and Human Care Disaster Response, among others).
The Lenten Journey
A friend from college and I got back together after a few decades of not even knowing where the other one was (thank you, Facebook!). That was a couple of years ago.
But then, just last week, E. I. messaged me about an organization of which we were both a part in college. It was one of the more formative extra-curricular activities I experienced in college and it could use a bit of attention from the alumni.
While we were talking, E. I. expressed an interest in taking part in some type of Lenten discipline. Was there anything I could suggest? I happened to be looking at my bookshelf in the study and a volume of devotions written by Walt Wangerin, Jr., caught my eye. My friend purchased it that day and we talk each week about what we’ve read (thank you, Jeff Shoumaker, for that idea!).
In this way my friend and I are walking together on this Lenten journey. Such a pilgrimage, if you will, enables us to hold one another accountable. We are encouraged to keep up the discipline and we benefit from each other’s perspective. (These are the intended benefits of being in a Synod, a word meaning “same road”, i.e. “walking together”).
God’s blessings be yours in abundance as together we make this forty day journey through Lent.
A thought on the passing scene...
Rider College of Business Dean Cynthia Newman resigned from her position as Dean in response to the New Jersey university banning Chick-fil-A from campus, despite it being the student body’s top pick. The university said in an email to students in November 2018 that the chain restaurant’s “corporate values have not sufficiently progressed enough to align with those of Rider.”
We are seeing more and more of this push for Christianity to “progress” with the rest of the culture around us. We are being called to relax our adherence to orthodox Christian truths and practices and instead join with the world in what it declares is valuable and true.
What I really admired in Dean Newman’s response was the way in which she was not vindictive. Instead, she gives a reasoned and gracious summary of her stand:
“I felt like I was punched in the stomach when I read that statement because I’m a very committed Christian and Chick-fil-A’s values, their corporate purpose statement is to glorify God in and to be faithful stewards in all that is entrusted to them and to have a positive influence on everyone who comes into contact with themand that mirrors my personal beliefs perfectly,” Newman told Campus Reform.
I’d have to believe that the phrase “have a positive influence on everyone who comes into contact” is the key. The Body of Christ is not called to hate anyone. We are called to love one another and to seek what’s best for one another in that love. Such love does not mean a tolerance of “anything goes.” It’s a love that is willing to sacrifice for another’s ultimate well-being. And that example was set perfectly for us by the Savior Who holds us accountable, Who offered Himself on the cross to forgive us, and Who furthermore sent the Spirit to call us to faith and lead us in life.