April is National Poetry Month. I hope you have a few favorite poems that you’ll dust off and enjoy. And I hope you will explore poetry a bit more, regardless of how much or little it has shaped you thus far.
Poems touch places where prose can’t go. They scratch where other genres don’t reach. They ignite or fan into flame emotions that otherwise remain cold.
There’s been some discussion in the blogosphere lately about whether Gandhi is in heaven. I won’t recreate that debate here. But I would like to address some of the attitudes behind the interaction. A key issue is humility.
Many people think Gandhi was a very humble man. And these same people present themselves as humble. They use phrases like, “How can we know for sure…” or “Who are we to say that….” or “I think we need to remain agnostic about…”
In some recent blog debates, some people have defended unorthodox theology, seeking support from C.S. Lewis. “Lewis believed some questionable things and people don’t reject him,” they reason.
It has caused me to reflect on why I like Lewis so much, even when I think he occassionally misses the mark.
These blog posts center around the notion of “integration.” When I call myself an integrationist, I mean that I look for wholeness and seamlessness in all of life. One area where compartmentalizing (the opposite of integration) has hurt the church is the isolation of evangelism. Outreach has often been seen as a separate or unusual “program” in the church rather than a core component of its existence.
In the previous blog, I argued that we need to find words to say about homosexuality. Silence is not only impossible, it is also harmful. We need to speak up and offer a blend of compassion and conviction, a balance rarely found in our polemical world.
Yesterday, President Obama reversed his earlier opinion and announced that a ban against gay marriage is unconstitutional. I’ll let others with more political savvy talk about the change of position on a crucial issue, the power of the executive office, and other earthly but important dynamics of our political system.
I will comment on how thoughtful Christians might respond.
By now, it’s old news. And I, for one, am glad the story’s over. IBM created a computer to compete against the two greatest Jeopardy players of all time. And, surprise of all surprises, the computer won. The way Alex Trebek talked about it, I think we were supposed to worship the computer. Or at least we were supposed to welcome this new technological development with wonder and joy. My responses were more of boredom and fatigue.
Do you battle “Seasonal Affective Disorder” during these gray days of February? Many people do. I find myself counting down the days until the end of the month, knowing that March is usually more upbeat for me. It doesn’t help that “Seasonal Affective Disorder” is often abbreviated “SAD.”