Faith Venture

Bible Study magazine runs an interview every issue. There have been some really good ones with people from all over the globe. The latest issue features a professor from Hong Kong.

His focus is on building bridges between the “old guys”–church leadership–and young people.

It seems that the younger generation just doesn’t accept teaching from pastors or other older teachers unquestionably. They like to express their thoughts. They like to question things. They are also the first generation in 150 years not brought up under British rule. They are also questioning the Chinese authorities.

He, quite naturally, thinks this is unique.

People said that about my generation, too. That was the 60s. Remember those days? (If you say yes, you weren’t there, so the joke goes.)

Writers from Western Europe and America going back perhaps 200 years  or more also seemed to reflect this questioning of authority before becoming the authority.

Think Luther. Or Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and their friends.

I like to reckon that large companies (IBM was famous for this) only hire A students. Why? They are trainable. They are quick to learn new facts and give the facts back.

We poor B students–we were always questioning, looking for a better way, wanting to go our own way. We didn’t get hired by IBM into nice jobs with big salaries. We kept trying to change the world.

(That analysis, by the way, is obviously a crude generalization. But think about it for a minute. Where do you fit?)

So, I applaud those young people in Hong Kong who want to hold their elders accountable–both secular and religious. And I applaud people like this professor who tries to build bridges. Listen to younger people. But then push back on them to force them to think through first opinions and mature as thinkers.

It tells me there is hope for the future of Hong Kong. What is this like in your community and your church? Do you freeze out young people because they ask questions, or do you welcome their questions and meet them honestly?

Do as I say, not as I do.

I’m not sure where I first heard that phrase. Maybe it was a teacher in my high school who taught such things as etiquette who was eating like a slob in the cafeteria.

When I was in college, I often heard students in the Education Department talking about how they didn’t want to be role models. They would just impart “knowledge” intellectually divorced from personality and behaviour. These would have been among the first Baby Boomers–the “Me Generation.”

Unfortunately, they were role models. You cannot escape it.

I was shocked and dismayed by the phrase when I first heard it; and the phrase still makes me sick to the stomach.

That saying also reminds me of the vocal element of American Christianity. They delight in pointing out to others how they should be living. Sort of modern Pharisees. Clean on the outside and dirty on the inside as Jesus pointed out once.

The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.

Are you a parent? Ever notice how your kids pick up on your bad habits rather than listening to your good advice.

Worse, ever catch yourself doing something that you really disliked when your parents did it?

Picture a protestor who doesn’t like whatever cause the marchers represent. He has speakers on his hat, an amplifier on his back, and a microphone. “JESUS LOVES YOU,” he shouts.

What is the message? Jesus loves them? Or, I hate you and all you stand for?

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament talks about being surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Sometimes I am quite embarrassed.

How about you?

My great-grandmother always called today (well actually May 30 back in those days) Decoration Day. It was a day to visit cemeteries where deceased relatives were buried and decorate their graves. Leave a flower or bouquet or something.

Then we called this Memorial Day and turned it into the “official” beginning of summer. Sort of like how Labor Day became the “official” end of summer.

Memorial Day we can still pause and remember generations before us. But we’ve added a special remembrance of those in our military who served and died in our various wars.

I imagine that those of you who read this from many other countries (when you go on the Internet, you are open to the world) have similar days of remembrance.

In my life, I’ve been the little Cub Scout placing flowers on the graves of veterans at our village program. And in the high school marching band playing patriotic marches for the parade and ceremony. Now, I’m quieter.

But, let’s pause…and remember. No matter which country you’re from. We all have had predecessors who should be remembered.

The palest ink is better than the best memory. — Chinese proverb

The speaker was discussing being steadfast commenting on a passage from 1 Corinthians. He said something that provoked some thoughts. I need to make a note of that, I thought.

My everpresent notebook was on the floor unde my seat. It was a effort to reach under and retrieve it. Then fish the pen from my pocket. I’ll remember it, I told myself.

Ha!

By the time I remembered that I had something to remember, it was gone.

I was going to write on something related to being steadfast or holding steadfast or something like that.

Write things.

I once made all my notes electronically, except for a small Moleskin that fit in the back pocket of my jeans or slacks. Now I make all notes in a journal. Thoughts. Things to remember. Business interviews. Notes from press conferences. Notes from books and articles. Things I need to do.

When I fill a notebook, I go back through and copy unfinished business into the new notebook. I can sketch ideas graphically. I can draw mind maps. It is much freeer to write with a pen in a journal than to type into the Notes app of an iPhone.

Every few months, I’ll go back and skim through several old notebooks. It’s interesting to see my thinking from a year ago. Or things I’ve never done, yet.

Spiritual discipline? Yep. 

Personal discipline? Yes again.

Growth tool? For sure.

We joke about getting old and losing our memory. Actually, our memory is much worse at every age than we think it is. The worst evidence in a trial is eyewitness testimony.  Write it down.