How to Learn

Read this for the 100th time today: Listen... no one ever learned anything by talking.

I'd have to disagree. Should more people do more listening and less talking? Almost certainly. However, therapy would be useless and friends would be unnecessary, if nothing were learned by talking. Much can be learned by talking. Talking to a friend, a pastor, a mentor or a counselor, or even to yourself puts ideas and feelings into words that can then be explored, analyzed, contradicted or understood. I tend to believe that exploration, analysis, contradiction and understanding are powerful tools for learning.

Ever learned anything powerful about the world, someone else or yourself by talking?

Just the Stats, Ma’am

It’s been said that statistics are like swimwear, they’re revealing but what they don’t reveal is what’s most important. The natural reason for statistics is to draw conclusions about the world around us. As a person who is fascinated by stats, whether in sports or society, it pains me to see people muck up the interpretation of what studies conclude.

Many people (people who get paid enough to know better) confuse “correlation” with “causation.” A good example of the difference would be to look at people who eat salad every day for lunch verses those who do not. If your results showed that people who eat salad every day for lunch are healthier than those who do not, you could say one of two things. You could say salad makes you healthy (causation) OR you could say that people who eat salad every day for lunch are more likely to be committed to a healthy lifestyle and are noticeably healthier because they’re more likely to eat right at other meals and exercise (correlation). In other words, salad isn’t the only contributing factor to their health.

A recent joint study by the University of California and the University of Minnesota revealed that high school teens who have casual sex are likely to have lower GPA’s than average, while there is no noticeable difference between those who are sexually active in “committed relationships” (a not-clearly defined term) and those who abstain entirely. One of the conclusions drawn by the folks who ran the study was that this “hooking up” resulted in lower grades, while a “committed relationship” protected teens from the damaging effects of sex.

They didn’t seem to consider the idea that those with lower GPA’s might include kids who had an all-around disinterest in academics and an interest in things like delinquent behavior, drug use or casual sex. These might be the same kids who were more likely to TP houses or spray paint overpasses, but it seems unlikely to me that a study would conclude that those students who buy more spray paint and toilet paper are risking a hit to their report card.

In other words, the conclusion seems to be that casual sex leads to bad grades while a string of monogamous sexual relationships early in life does not. No one seems concerned with the values and morals modeled in families of origin that might include casual attitudes about school, work, drugs, crime and sex. A strong correlation between casual sex and bad grades is not surprising, but causation is a harder case to prove.

More importantly, the findings indicated to many people that the solution for teens is to teach them the importance of relationships. Apparently, the only negative or important consequence to sex is bad grades. Who knew? You know what I think about that, if you read my previous post on the social justice implications of that mindset in middle class America.

What conclusions do you draw from this study?

I Know What I Hope

I preached this week's sermon mainly on Revelation 7:9-17, and touched on Acts 6...

John told me I didn’t have to start writing his till this morning. After all, if the end of the world were to have happened mid-week, I’d be off the hook. Though, it’s been pointed out that after this summer I may now be a bit of an expert on those left behind. And who better to talk about Armageddon and calamity and the end of the world than the youth pastor?

But what I want to focus on today first are maybe some of the things we dwell on a bit too much… and misconceptions we may have. What do you think of when you hear the term “Armageddon?” Do you think of fire and brimstone? Skies as dark as sackcloth and the moon as red as blood? Maybe the four horsemen of the apocalypse? Or even the 1990’s box office hit that was filmed at a time when oil drillers could play the team of unlikely protagonists saving the world from an asteroid?

John of Patmos relates a fairly intense and highly descriptive vision as recorded in the book of Revelation. It’s full of wildly popular imagery of death and destruction and animals and beasts and bowls and horns. Interestingly… the term “Armageddon” appears only once in the entirety of John’s book and there is great debate over what it even means. Some scholars think it’s a mountain, while others think it comes from ancient Hebrew words for “attack” or a “destroying mountain” referenced in other parts of the Old Testament. Regardless, both this word, Armageddon and the other vocabulary seem to play only a small part in his vision and yet so many of us know it. Armageddon, tribulation, rapture. There’s even a company, run by atheists, who provide a post-rapture pet care service so that you are insured someone will care for fluffy and spot when you are taken.

The vocabulary is all about our experience and familiarity as we glean from pop-culture. When I was a little kid, on rare special occasions, my father would drag his guitar out of the attic and play it. There were only a few songs he knew how to play that held any interest for me and my sister at our young age. At the age of four I walked by his guitar once in the hallway, saw it and remarked to myself in hearing range of my mother, “oh, Puff the Magic Dragon.” To me, that’s what a guitar was. It was an instrument that played a sad song about a dragon… not unlike the limited view many of us have of the book of Revelation.

I could just as easily have said the guitar was an octopus’s garden or secret agent man, as my father played those as well, but the point is that my understanding of a guitar and my understanding my father was limited by the experiences with which I was most familiar and had heard repeated the most. The artwork, the sermons, the book series and so forth about the book of Revelation all tend to focus on the sensational and gory parts of John’s revelation. The end times, the tribulation, the woes, the destruction, the Antichrist, and so on. But so much of what is contained in this book is different, and so much of it contains a vision of unity and peace and of hope.

Our passage today might not strike fear into your heart, but it should be incredibly inspiring and hopeful. I’d like to focus on three things in this passage that stand out. Firstly, how many believers stood before the throne… secondly, who was there… and lastly, what they are promised. How many? Who? What were they promised? To begin with… how many? The passage indicates that there were too many to count. For a man who could keep up with and write down that many sevens and could count at least as high as 144,000, it seems unlikely that here, early on in the vision, John is merely getting lazy with his arithmetic. This crowd is literally innumerable. Standing in their white robes… a symbol of victory… is a crowd he cannot count… Some scholars think this may be a reference to fulfilling the promise to Abraham that his descendants, his people would number like the stars.

It’s a common and well-loved idea that only a select few make it to the end or get into heaven and stand before the throne. If nothing else, humans love their exclusivity. A church of 144 people or a denomination of 144,000 righteous people is certainly easier for us to manage, but it’s simply non-biblical to think of so few people getting to stand before the throne… as the world ends. John makes it clear that a much larger number of people gain this privilege.
But who is present in John’s vision. Who is standing before the throne of the lamb here at the end of time? John says: Those from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. This phrase is present in John’s Revelation five other times. This is not a General Assembly gathering of PC(USA) folk or an AME Zion conference or a lone mega church from Seattle or Korea. This is a gathering of every possible people, nation state and language group. This is a multitude that has no other commonality amongst them all but a belief in Jesus Christ as Lord.

I worked for a non-profit organization last summer in Richmond, Virginia that endeavored every day to bring about racial reconciliation in their community. My mentor pointed out to me that there’s one big reason many non-church-goers are unimpressed with Christianity. We, for the most part, gather on Sunday morning in groups of people like ourselves… the same racial backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds… and languages, worship God separately and apart and go about our lives unchanged. The most segregated hour in America is 11am on Sunday each week.

Who would be impressed by this as an outsider? Anyone can do that. You can do that at a country club or a community center. In the early Church, as recorded in Acts 6, they had the same problems with ethnicity and cultural groups. The Greeks, who were a Gentile minority group among the first Christians, came to the disciples, concerned that their people were being shorted when it came to distributing food. The disciples talked and prayed about it, knowing that these concerns were legitimate and that they would never be able to lead the Church if they had to constantly settle logistical concerns. They decided they would choose leaders to distribute the food. What I’d never realized until recently is how important were the names of those leaders listed. Reading it in English and out of their historical setting, it’s easy to miss the importance of those names. From Philip to Nicolaus, every name on the list is Greek. Every single person was a minority.

Now, while it is not uncommon in the book of Acts to end a successful event with a phrase about how God added to their numbers daily, and in this case, God did add to their numbers, what IS unusual is that this is the only time that priests were also converted. This evidence of unity, of true racial and cultural reconciliation was the greatest evangelistic effort imaginable. It was evident to them that true worship… that authenticity of the message of God for all people… was best conveyed when all of God’s people worshipped together. And here in Revelation, it truly is a gathering of all people, true and awe-inspiring worship.

Here, all of God’s people can worship together before the throne of the Lamb. Those many differences have become unimportant to all who believe and worship Christ. When the end comes, all becomes as God intended and all is reconciled. They are there before God, serving only God day and night and so they are promised that God will: shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

It’s easy for us in this day and age in a big city like Denver to be isolated from those who are truly hungry. At the most, if we don’t go seek them out, we may see them on a street corner with a cardboard sign. But there are hundreds of hungry and malnourished children in Denver alone. And it’s even less likely any of us will come across someone who has no access to water or even clean water, but if you’ve ever gone on a mission trip or with Greg on a Healing Waters trip, you know just what a real concern that is to so many millions of people today… the suffering that causes. It’s incredibly humbling to know just how great that suffering is, but perhaps even more incredible will be the day of hope when absolutely no one will hunger or thirst as they stand before the throne. The day when all physical suffering is gone… and we are protected… and not one child suffers from hunger or thirst… this will be the end of time of which John speaks.

But it is also the emotional pain that will cease on that day. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. In no way are any of us isolated from the emotional pain that illicit tears. Each of us experience loss, tragedy and pain. So this verse is perhaps among the most powerful parts of that promise for each of us. My Hebrew professor in seminary once told us of a student in his class at a university. Her name was Jessie. In talking with her mother on the phone about her progress at the midterm, he suggested some study skills and that attending class regularly would benefit her the most. As their conversation ended, Jessie’s mother asked if he was the same Carson who signed the VA Benefits forms for students who had lost a parent in the line of duty. In fact, he was.

Jessie’s father had been a pilot, she explained and while she knew almost nothing of how he died, she took comfort in knowing it had apparently been quick. Her last memory of all of them together was in the park, Jessie being carried high on her father’s shoulders under a cloudless sky. Well, Jessie’s attendance improved after the break but soon returned to its original pattern. When she did come, she would take notes for a few minutes and then rest her head, seemingly very tired. It was clear that she was not well-liked by her classmates.
Just before exam time, they had their final class. The topic of the lecture was this passage in Revelation. Jessie, never having asked a question all semester raised her hand, and did not wait for my professor to call on her. “The verse,” she asked, looking around nervously at her peers. “That verse about God drying every tear… Does that mean every tear from that time on… or that God will go back into all of time and find every tear and dry all of them, too?”

A very bright and popular student on the front row rolled her eyes, checked her watch and hunkered down into her seat frowning. The rest of the class lapsed into murmurs and chortles. My professor racked his brain, considering historical context and the resistance to apocalyptic literature to linear interpretation and so on. Then he thought about that conversation with Jessie’s mother. My professor fumbled for an answer that he was sure was nothing more than the most polite way to address her and conclude class quickly. However, the next week, he put Jessie’s question on the final exam as extra credit, augmented by technical terms and literary and historical mumbo jumbo. Only two students attempted to answer it.

Jessie wrote the following: I called my mom and told her my religion professor didn’t really answer the only question I had all semester. I told her it was more like you talked about what you hoped the answer would be. My mom said that for some kinds of questions in life it might count more what you hope the answer is than if you have it all figured out. Do you think she is right?

She went on to talk about her father and her last memory with him in the park, flying high on his shoulders, much as her mother had told it. Then she said: I don’t know the answer to this question, professor. I really don’t. But I know what I hope the answer is. I know what I hope. Is that worth any points? …I think I really need this extra credit to pass this course. I’m transferring home next semester. I need as many classes as possible to transfer.

The only other person to answer this question was the bright popular girl on the front row. She of course wrote a brilliant exposition… literary and historical context… syntax and grammar and genre. She said that these texts “seem to be dipped in a special coating that makes them resistant to simple answers…” referring to Jessie, and that, “These writings deal not in the currency of verifiable fact, but in the currency of hope.” A currency of hope.

As she concluded her essay, she wrote: I know my answer is a good one… You know I don’t need any extra credit… please consider giving my credit to the student in the back row, the one who slept most of the time and who kept us late that day she asked this question that seemed to shake you so badly. I bet she needs it. I want her to have it. I think maybe so do you. I think I saw what you thought when a lot of us laughed.”

My professor told us that he didn’t know what became of either student or what caused this bright popular girl to descend from obscenity to compassion… but he did know… what he hoped. I myself don’t know whether you should be pre-trib or post-trib, how or if the rapture will occur. I don’t know if all the creatures and beasts and horns and plagues are literal or figurative. I don’t know what Armageddon means for sure. I don’t know how the end of the world will unfold, and I don’t believe anyone else does either. I do know who will be there at the end though, and that all peoples of all nations will be there and that we are promised God’s protection, and that there will be no more hunger, no more thirst and God will wipe every tear. And I know what I hope.

Let us pray…

Greenday

As a boy, I sat glued to the TV for a week for... Turtle Week. Yup, Reading Rainbow had a week on sea turtles and I... was... fascinated. This story really moved me this week.

CNN reports: Playalinda Beach, Titusville, Florida (CNN) -- One-day-old loggerhead turtles were set free adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center overnight, scurrying down a beach in the cover of darkness to begin their lives.

The baby turtles were hatched at a space center facility after being transferred from the beaches in the Florida Panhandle and Alabama.
Biologists believed 700 to 800 turtle nests were in jeopardy of perishing, with BP's oil lurking offshore.

"We would have 100 percent mortality if the hatchlings were not able to be translocated," said Jeff Trandahl of the Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "We are looking at relocating 70,000 to 80,000 turtle eggs."

So far, 13,000 eggs have arrived and more each day. Turtle power! You can see them scurrying across the night sands in this video...

Movie Review: Inception

In a word: INCREDIBLE. Though I'm still restling with the concepts and the questions, this film is probably the best I've ever seen. If you know me and movies, this is no small statement. A good movie is hard to come by, a great film even harder. It takes a lot to make it on my top 100, and must rank fairly highly in a number of categories including the music, the cast, the chemistry of that cast, the performances, the story, the ending and its ability to inspire, challenge and emotionally connect. Inception did ALL of that.

For many people, the Matrix delivered in many of those aspects. It did for me. Everyone left the theater looking up and around at the people with them, wondering if they were really awake or trapped in the Matrix. It was fascinating. It brought up that one question: what is real? But of all the questions or concepts raised in the Matrix, it all revolved around that. Powerful, but limited. Inception opened an entire Pandora's Box of concepts about reality, dreams, creativity, inspiration, hope and ideas. "What is the most resilient entity in the world? Is it a virus? An intestinal worm? No. It's an idea. Once planted, an idea can grow and spread and survive almost anything." This is just one of the many concepts into which Dicaprio and crew delve in the movie.

In the Matrix, when Neo asks if he can dodge bullets, Mopheus tells him that when he's ready he won't even have to dodge them. The concept of this changed and changeable reality is fascinating, but it's in a computer essentially. In Inception, it goes farther. It's all in dreams. Not only can you alter that reality. You can construct absolutely anything you want. Creativity is limitless. Time is no different. As in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it's very different inside this other realm. Just 10 minutes of dreaming seems like an hour in the dream and it's multiplied if you go into a dream from within the dream.

As with Avatar and the Matrix before it, this movie delivers on absolutely new and unique visuals that blew me away. The cast is all-star. Dicaprio delivers a performance between his ingenuity in Catch me if you Can and his madness in the Aviator, with a bite of something new that is insired by Chris Nolan's Batman and the grittier aspects of Bond. Chris Nolan chose Han Zimmer for the score (incredible) and 3 of his best actors from the first Batman movie (Ken Watanabe, Michael Kane and Cillian Murphy), besides rising star Ellen Page and a fast-maturing Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, 10 Things I hate about You, Brick) and old school Tom Berenger. The evil Picard clone from Star Trek: Nemesis even joins the team.

The movie is hard-hitting, deep, thoughtful, confusing (without being impossible) and absoluting stunning in every way. They filmed it in six countries. I don't recommend it for anyone who clings too tightly to reality or takes heavy anti-psychotic medication, but to anyone with imagination and curiosity, it could easily be the best film you see this decade.

Triennium Recap

If you've never been to a Presbyterian Youth Triennium, find a way to go! As a youth, I attended in 2001, and it was one of those most amazing experiences of my life. The attendance has dwindled in recent years from over 7,000 Presbyterian youth (many presby variations) from all over the country AND internationally to a mere 5,000. These high school youth descend on Purdue's campus in West Lafyette, IN every 3 years and it's mayhem.

I went again in 2007 as a small group leader. The experience was also awesome, though the drama and music at the worship services was confusing and distinctly subpar. This year... not so. Again, I went as a small group leader and every aspect was incredible. The lesson plans were great, the training was more streamlined. The worship was PHENOMENAL. The band was fantastically talented and the drama flowed well, illuminating the small group scriptures (the story of Esther) each day. Best of all, the preaching absolutely rocked the house. Bruce Reyes-Chow opened the week and really delivered. There were several more great sermons and messages from international attendees, including an earthquake survivor from Haiti with his story of child servitutde and rescue.

The week culminated in the final worship with Tony Campolo preaching. Easily the most inspiring and moving sermon I've ever heard. I laughed hard, I cried, I was so moved I was ready to go sleep on the streets with the homeless and proclaim the word in prison and congress. It was wonderful. If I'm able, I'm going to repost his sermon here.

Triennium is a wonderful experience. If you're an incoming freshman in high school through graduating senior the summer of Triennium, you can go as a youth participant. If you're 21 or older, you can go as a group chaperone from your home delegation as sent by your presbytery or as a small group leader. If you're between high school and 21, you can still go on work team. This is incredibly hard work, setting up events and equipment, etc, but very rewarding. The next Triennium will be in 2013. Get in touch with me or your presbytery office for more info.

It’s Who You Know

I worked for an urban non-profit in Richmond, VA, that among other goals, was striving for racial reconciliation. One day, a friend of mine, who is black, was explaining to a group of interns what it really means to have black friends. He said, “It’s not enough to have one black friend. You have to have two black friends… and they have to not like each other.”

He brought up a valid point. For many Christians, racial harmony is idealized personal hope of ours, but we make token personal daily efforts towards the realization of that goal (i.e.: I sometimes vote for black political candidates; I once went on a mission trip somewhere they don’t speak English; I occasionally listen to Gospel music; I play tennis with the Korean kid in my gym class; I had a crush on the Swedish foreign exchange guy in Western Civ.). While these are certainly steps in the right direction (mostly), it’s often much easier to just not make the effort.

In Acts, chapter 6, they were having disputes between the Jewish Christians and the new Gentile members (a minority at the time). They were worried about food distribution and equality. What was their solution? They appointed leaders to be fair distributors (administrators). What’s interesting is the list of names of these new admins: Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus. Now if your Greek and Hebrew is as rusty as mine, it may take you a minute. None of those names are Hebrew. They’re Greek. Yup, every single one of the people the Apostles chose to be one of the new administrators of policy (after much prayer) was a minority. The fascinating thing is that for all the times in Acts that "many were added to their numbers," this is the only place that even priests were converted. Racial reconciliation can have powerful consequences.

What does this mean for you? For your church? Maybe it means that to gain a real perspective on things, you need to go put yourself in places where you are the minority. Maybe it means you need to visit a place where you’re the one with the strange accent and funny way of dressing, and I don’t just mean leaving Nashville for Newark for the weekend. Maybe your church needs to appoint leaders on session who represent your smaller groups (youth, children, elderly, handicap, single people, people who read the newspaper or this blog). Or perhaps, just inviting people from the neighborhood next to your church or holding your worship service at the soup kitchen once a month. The answer could very well be right under your nose.

A recent video from Improv Everywhere shows a humorous way one man tried to broaden his experience and those in a small town in my own state:




What are you doing to bring this part of the Gospel to life in your own church?

B@d W*rds W# S@y

I recently read a very interesting blog post on Taking the Lord's name in vain specifically, but also more generally on the bad things we say, including cursing or shouting substitutes for explatives. The author bemoaned both those who are ultrasensative to such phrases, as well as the silliness of those phrases. The most interesting part was on what it truly means to take the Lord's name in vain...

Christians take God’s name in vain the most

When people say “Oh my God,” they don’t even think about it. Sure, it’s rude. But what does it really mean to take God’s name in vain? I think God gets way more P.O.ed (cuss word ititials are dumb too) from Christians who sincerely take his name in vain. How do we do it? By showing up to church and praising him while we curse our neighbors. By sincerely asking God to do things that He has said he won’t do. By creating a false idol and calling it “God.” By worshipping God so He’ll give us more stuff. By calling ourselves “Christians,” which has the name of God in it, and not acting like we follow Christ. And God’s up there saying, “Holy shrimpcakes, you’ve got to be kidding.”

When it comes to cussing, maybe it’s not the words that come out of a man’s mouth that’s wrong, but the cause of it in his heart. If I can get so mad at the ATM that I let out a string of curse words at it, something is wrong with my emotions, and my mouth is just a symptom.

But instead of doing the hard thing by not asking God for stupid crap that’s bad for us, or getting our emotions under control, we do the easy thing and tell some new Christian that now that he’s a Christian he’ll need to stop swearing and “talk nice” so he doesn’t offend the delicate sensibilities of other Christians. We get riled up about non-Christians using the word “God.” But when you realize that Christians are the biggest abusers of God’s name, you know that we should really shut the smurf up because we don’t have any place being offended.

Great graham crackers.

SHY in the Rink

This week, the High School youth headed to University of Denver to go skating since it's been over 95 for a few days. Hopefully when it's cooled back down a bit in two weeks, we'll head back to Eisenhower for SHY in the Park. We had 15 youth come out tonight. Here are 14 of them and Terri!

Greenday

Brought to you by: The WellGrounded Life

On this Greenday, I thought I'd a little levity with a word on nutrition from another blogger. I've made the point before that food choices should be made primarily for reasons of faith and stewardship of the earth. Here's some news on choosing foods according to what will or will not give you a heart attack (all in good fun, but also true)...

Below is “The Last Word on Nutrition,” which combines the results of many independent scientific studies.

The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats, and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

The Ukrainians drink a lot of vodka, eat a lot of perogies and cabbage rolls and suffer fewer heart attacks than the Canadians, British, Australians or Americans.

Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Word on the Street

Tomorrow is SHY in the RINK! All high school youth, come on out to Joy Burns Arena at University of Denver. The public rink is downstairs from the hockey rink. We'll meet at 6:30pm, Wed, July 14th and skate until around 8pm. Bring $5 (and skates if you have them) AND any friends you wanna see fall on the ice.

The Rise of The Christian Left

A couple of years ago, a professor of mine in seminary in a class on Evangelism in the Congregation made an interesting point… Many ultra-conservatives in America are concerned about two problems: the rising secularization of their nation AND the immigration problem (specifically from across our southern border). He made the case that perhaps the best way for them to stop worrying about “problem” A was to stop seeing “problem” B as a problem at all. He made the observation that so many of our illegal immigrants are highly religious in their background and culture that they may in fact be the basis for a resurgence of faith in America.

So when The New York Times published an article recently addressing the surprising religious fervor in the Democratic party, it was less surprising than it should have been, but it raised some new questions about those implications on our two-party system.

The author of this new article in the Times posed the question, “Which political party’s members are most likely to believe that Jesus will definitely return to earth before midcentury?” You might have guessed Republicans, but you’d be wrong. Here’s what Charles M. Blow had to say…

“On the surface it may seem surprising, but, in fact, it’s quite logical. Blacks and Hispanics, two highly religious groups, are a growing part of the Democratic Party. A June 2009 Gallup report found that blacks and Hispanics constituted 30 percent of the party…

According to a Gallup report issued last Friday, church attendance among blacks is exactly the same as among conservatives and among Republicans. Hispanics closely follow. Furthermore, a February Gallup report found that blacks and Hispanics, respectively, were the most likely to say that religion was an important part of their daily lives. In fact, on the Jesus question, nonwhite Democrats were roughly twice as likely as white Democrats to believe that He would return to earth by 2050…

Welcome to the Religious Left, which will continue to grow as the percentage of minorities in the country and in the party grows.

People often ask whether the Republican Party will have to move to the left to remain viable. However, the question rarely asked is whether the growing religiosity on the left will push the Democrats toward the right…

For the most part, it seems to have made its peace with the mishmash of morality under the Democratic umbrella, rallying instead around some core Democratic tenets: protection of, and equality for, the disenfranchised and providing greater opportunity and assistance for the poor.

The unanswerable questions are whether these highly religious, socially conservative Democrats will remain loyal to a liberal agenda as they become the majority of the party and their financial and social standing improves. Or whether Republicans will finally make headway in recruiting them.”

Then again, as Blow points out, this could all be a moot point, if those in either party are right about the return of Christ being so soon…

YouthToob

If you haven't checked it out yet, there's a great new site up... YouthToob. It's got funny videos for youth groups. It's content appropriate to high schoolers and relevant to teens, college-age and young adults. It's a great way to segue between activities, lead off a discussion or simply waste time. There are goofy Jesus-dubbed movies, inspirational clips, comedians and more. Some are funny, some are moving and some really make you think. If you have video suggestions, send them my way and I'll get them added...

Eres Todo Poderoso

This is the youth singing Eres Todo Poderoso (You are all-powerful) on the roof of our hotel in Antigua at the end of our mission trip to Guatemala this summer...

Thanks to Greg for filming this.

Feed my Sheep

Just as in the days when Jesus was trotting around in his robe and sandals, as a faith, Christians love to focus on the "DO NOTs" of Scripture. Do not kill, do not steal, do not dress inappropriately and do not watch The View (that one really should be in there, if it's not). The Do Nots can be very hard to interpret sometimes. However, I like the "DO's" of Scripture. DO justice, LOVE kindness and WALK humbly with your God. FEED the hungry, CLOTHE the naked and VISIT the sick and in prison. Yup, I love those.

Two weeks ago, the Youth of Wellshire got back from BUILDING homes for the homeless. And last night, our YAX (Young Adult Christians) went to New Genesis downtown to FEED the hungry men at the shelter. Several young adults came to help prepare the caseroles on Sunday after church and then we took those casseroles, salad and desserts down to the shelter. Nine of us served dinner and ate with the men at New Genesis, sharing our stories and our food. We hope to go back again some time.

If you or a young adult you know would like to get involved with the ministry oppertunities for service, mission, fellowship and fun, contact Brian, Associate Pastor of Youth & Young Adults at: bdaoust@wpcdenver.org or search for YAX (Young Adult Christians) on Facebook.