Wrestling With the Text

Sam Harrelson on July 29, 2017

I’ll be preaching on Genesis 32:22-31 (Jacob wrestles God / Angel / River Demon / Jungian Archetype … depending on your persuasion) at First Christian Church Columbia, SC on August 6. This is probably my favorite text in the entire Bible and I’m excited that it comes up in the lectionary next week.

I always wonder how others read this story. Leave me a comment here or on Facebook, Twitter, email etc and let me know.

I’ll post the sermon when I’m done, but maybe you can impact in how that turns out.

“The same night he got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, ‘Let me go, for the day is breaking.’ But Jacob said, ‘I will not let you go, unless you bless me.’

So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ Then the man said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’ The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.”

 

Thinking Religion 115 and Hermeneutics

Sam Harrelson on July 19, 2017

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Thomas is in Philadelphia this week but we still managed to sneak in a podcast episode. We start by going over the very important but often-overlooked general idea of hermeneutics and why we should take them seriously in the Age Of Trump (AOT from here on out). Then we hop into the Bible Bracket Challenge. Sorry, Ruth.

Dr. Thomas Whitley and the Rev. Sam Harrelson discuss the concept of hermeneutics and continue their ongoing quest to decide the best book in the Bible from the Thinking Religion Bible Bracket Challenge.

via Thinking Religion Episode 115: Your Hair Is Like a Flock of Goats

Praying in Public

Sam Harrelson on July 18, 2017

I don’t get it. It’s just pizza, man—I don’t know if we need to ‘beseech’ the ‘Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow due to change’ to bless it to ‘our bodies, hearts, and hands that we might serve thee.’ It’s not even good pizza.”

via Local Man Takes On Persona Of 17th Century Puritan When Praying

The Babylon Bee is a satire site, but that doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of biting reality in most of its posts. I can definitely confirm a lifetime of hearing prayers full of “beseech”ing and use of lingo that is out-of-date in any context.

Praying in public has always been something of a fascination for me and I’ve always been interested in the multivarious ways that contemporary Christians here in the US (primarily in the South) do it. Whether it’s before our football games or at our NASCAR races, it’s an integral part of the culture as much as fights over bbq sauces and whether Jimmie Johnson is better than Dale Earnhardt (he is).

I wonder what the drive is to use such language in prayers (especially ones at restaurants or in public gatherings)? I know that I’ve been a part of group prayers, say before a meal at a crowded and small restaurant / fast food joint… particularly with youth groups) where the prayer leader (typically male) rolls forth with a choice number of King James idioms that always feel as if they’re more of a performance in order to pique the interest of others outside of the group.

It gets particularly fascinating when we mix formal and antiquated language with very casual references to our “smokin hot wives” and “Goodyear’s performance.”

Maybe that’s the point of praying in public for many people… witnessing or evangelizing in a mini-one-act-play. I’m certainly not ashamed of my faith or never pass up a chance to talk about Jesus (I scrawled “ASK ME ABOUT JESUS” on my beloved green Vans in the 8th grade… I still wear those). But when I do lead a prayer in public or when my family prays before a meal at a restaurant as we often do, we try to be reverent or at least make the prayer more about thanksgiving than performance art.

Perhaps it depends on whether you like 1 Timothy or Matthew better. It’s sort of an “is the dress gold or blue” thing, I reckon:

8 I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument; 9 also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10 but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. 11 Let a womanb]”>[b] learn in silence with full submission. 12 I permit no womanc]”>[c] to teach or to have authority over a man;d]”>[d] she is to keep silent. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.

Matthew 6:5-8

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.a]”>[a]

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 

Evangelical Crisis of Faith

Sam Harrelson on July 17, 2017

The 20 percent of white evangelicals who did not vote for Trump — many of whom are conservative politically and theologically — now seem to have a lot more in common with mainline Protestants. Some in my own circles have expressed a desire to leave their evangelical churches in search of a more authentic form of Christianity.

Other evangelicals are experiencing a crisis of faith as they look around in their white congregations on Sunday morning and realize that so many fellow Christians were willing to turn a blind eye to all that Trump represents.

via Trump threatens to change the course of American Christianity – The Washington Post

ATM’s are the American Money Changers

Sam Harrelson on June 23, 2017

Holy cow (literally)! I’ve never thought about this connection (and if your church wants to be like Jesus and throw the money changers / ATM machines out of the Temple and switch to online donations, Harrelson Agency can help with that).

“The second dimension for consideration in the appearance of ATMs in the lobbies of evangelical churches is that they signaled something by their very presence: America was in fact becoming a cashless society. The debit card that people carried in their wallet could be just as good as cash anywhere else, but in the sanctuary, cash was the appropriate offering.

So as in the ancient world where Jews from all over the world exchanged their secular coins in the Court of the Gentiles in Jerusalem’s Second Temple for coins with no image on them that they could use inside to make various offerings and purchase sacrifices, today’s believers also needed to make an exchange.”

Why cash remains sacred in American churches – The Conversation

Wise as Serpents and Innocent as Doves

Sam Harrelson on June 19, 2017

The following is my sermon from June 18, 2017 (Father’s Day here in the US) at New Hope Christian Fellowship in West Columbia, SC.

In countless American churches this morning, a preacher (mostly white males with white hair such as myself) will give a sermon about the importance of Fathers and how Fathers are their best when they match the example of God The Father with their own family.

The sermon writes itself, right?

Pluck a passage out of this collection of books about God The Father and talk about how God placed us men at the head of our families to model that notion of fatherhood. Be responsible, and be loving and caring, but be stern when needed (because those kids will test you, after all!). Be loving to your wife and support her in all that she needs while you’re out winning the bread because your wife is just like the church and can’t do much without your guidance and wisdom.

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be too cynical here, but this is the word that God has laid on my heart. So bear with me.

I love my family. I love my children. They love me (right, kids?). But I’m not a fan of Father’s Day or Mother’s Day for much of the same reason that our family doesn’t participate in cultural Christmas. We need Easter more. And I want my children to know that.

I also want my children to know that the patriarchal language that we use when we talk about “God the Father” in the 21st Century United States is far far removed from the biblical witness. I don’t believe that God can be described as a male or in the sense of an American Dad anymore than I believe that an actual human-sized bunny breaks into houses all over the world once a year.

I want my family to hear from “Dad” that if we take our faith seriously, it comes with a whole set of challenges that we must face honestly in a world that encourages easy answers. In a world where Facebook posts and over sentimentality based on likes and hearts tells us to shut our minds to complicated issues, we are faced with a Jesus who tells us to listen up and to get ready to move.

I want my daughters and son to hear that God is not a male and is not white haired and doesn’t hold a lightning bolt at bay ready to strike you down if you displease HIM.

But in acting out on faith, it’s not going to be easy. We’re not going to get everything we want. Santa will not follow us all the days of our lives. There will be times when we are called weird, different, odd or even hurt psychologically or physically for a faith that goes deeper and is lived out in actions and intentional ways. But this is what happens when we let the Spirit of the Father speaking through us. And the Spirit of the Mother. And the Spirit of the one Triune God.

Hear now, the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ:

Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)

9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.

9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

9:38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

10:1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.

10:2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;

10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

10:4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,

10:6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

10:7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’

10:8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

10:9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts,

10:10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.

10:11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.

10:12 As you enter the house, greet it.

10:13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.

10:15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

10:16 “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

10:17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues;

10:18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.

10:19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;

10:20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

10:21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;

10:22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

10:23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

This is one of the five important sections in Matthew. Often called the Five Discourses of Matthew, these sections are perhaps meant to mimic the Five Books of the Torah in what we Christians now call the Old Testament. The Torah was of utmost importance to Jews in Jesus’ day but even the community around the author of Matthew would have still viewed them as their scripture as we don’t have anything like a New Testament yet (Matthew would have been written sometime around the year 75, or forty to forty-five years after the death of Jesus). Matthew was setting up Jesus as a new Moses. A Moses 2.0 that would restore Israel to its glory and righteousness as a people set apart to follow God’s law.

So in this section, we have a different depiction of Jesus that stands in contrast to the Great Commission at the end of the book of Matthew when Jesus commands his apostles to spread the Good News to all people on earth. Here, Jesus is only concerned with the people of Israel to the point where he actively directs his apostles not to go into Gentile or Samaritan towns.

That’s not always the Jesus we want to encounter, is it?

As we find Jesus here, he is doing lots of healing, preaching, and teaching in synagogues. But things aren’t particularly going as well for his ministry as we might-might think. The crowds, when there are any, are skeptical. He’s being sent out of towns for his works. Pharisees are accusing him and his disciples of being gluttons and hanging out with the wrong groups of people.

Previous to this, Jesus had just healed the bleeding woman, cured two blind men, raised up a dead girl, healed a paralytic, called Matthew to follow him, and healed a mute demoniac (which caused those who saw it called him the Ruler of Demons). Plus, he drove two deadly possessed souls into the body of a herd of pigs… and was asked to leave the town right away. It has been busy, but not necessarily easy or popular, time for Jesus and his ragtag group.

We open here with Jesus wandering around Israelite villages in the Galilee teaching in Synagogues, proclaiming the Kingdom, and curing diseases and sickness.

But he has a growing compassion for the people in these towns and villages. He sees them as lost sheep without shepherds or leaders.

We get the famous “harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few” statement. It’s nice language that makes it easy to read this as a quick directive on missions work. But keep in mind that anytime we hear or read “Harvest” in the OT or NT, it’s not necessarily a positive term. In both, “harvest” normally refers to the judgment coming at the end of the age. Jesus sees the end times coming any moment.

I like this passage in many ways, but particularly it’s here that we see Jesus have something of a revelation himself. It’s almost as if he begins to see the enormity of his own mission and comes to grips with what his developing ministry needs.

And that’s where we come in.

After all of this healing, teaching, and preaching, Jesus realizes that it’s going to take others besides just himself for these ongoing missions. So here at the beginning of Ch. 10, Jesus gathers together his twelve disciples (12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples… 12 is an important number) and gives them authority to cast out unclean spirits, cure every disease. This is a new Israel. Jesus is enacting the Kingdom and not just preparing but actively setting up the infrastructure that will be needed when it arrives (which it will any minute now).

Jesus can’t do this all by himself. Just as Moses did.

Jesus uses the exact same phrasing as Moses did in Numbers “sheep without a shepherd” as he passes authority to the Apostles, just as Moses passed authority to Joshua. There’s an element here, where if we think about the early Christians living fifty or hundred years after the death of Jesus, that makes sense to the hearers of this text both then and now… we want legitimate leadership. Jesus is giving us that with these apostles just as Moses did with Joshua.

Then we get the names of the apostles themselves. See the change from “disciples” to “apostles”? It’s important. A disciple is one who follows. Apostle literally means “one sent out”. So, we see a transition here in Jesus’ group.

Then in Ch. 10 vs 5, we get “The Little Commission” to the Twelve. “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the sick, cast out demons.

The apostles are sent to Israel, all Israel, and only to Israel.

This is an eschatological event. Jesus is enacting the Kingdom. THIS is the Kingdom. This is Heaven. I’m going to break the Fourth Wall here. This is what pastors or preachers or clergy have a hard time telling you. It’s almost like an industry secret. Like how Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are capitalist holidays created by corporations to make us spend money and why we emphasize Christmas so much more than Easter in our culture that is so much more in need of the Easter story than the one of the cute baby.

Ready?

Here it goes.

Jesus is telling us here as he reconstructs Israel, as does the entirety of the biblical witness, that heaven will come down to the earth as the Kingdom of God draws near. Jesus isn’t just healing people or raising people from the dead in order to win souls for some afterlife where we’ll all float around on clouds and play harps. No, this is very real. And very now. And it should matter to us. Jesus here isn’t concerned with your soul or with the souls of Israelites. He is concerned with getting the people of Israel ready to enter the imminent and very real Kingdom of Heaven that will happen… here. Not somewhere up there after we die.

It is reaffirming and warming to think of heaven as some fantastical place where there will be chocolate fountains (well, in mine at least) and we’ll be reunited with Ol’ Sparky and have cool white robes. But that’s simply not what Jesus taught. We miss the point every time.

Instead, the Kingdom is coming here. Heaven and the reign of God will be in this reconstituted creation.

God is not abandoning the earth and drawing us all into a sky kingdom. It’s here and it’s real. It’s a place where the dead will rise, the sick will be made well and the disease will be cleaned. “Then there will be no time of sorrow.” In our world of modern medical marvels, food production at scale, and government programs meant to help those who have needs they cannot meet, it’s comforting to think that heaven or what Jesus is doing here is meant to edify our souls so that our souls can “go to heaven” after we die. But I don’t think that’s the point here or from any of the biblical witness on the Kingdom of Heaven.

So as we read the Little Commission and Jesus’ instructions to his newly-minted apostles here, we realize that there are an immediacy and importance to what he is directing them to do. Keep moving, don’t worry about whether you’ll make money if people don’t want to keep you or hear the Good News then shake the dust off your sandals and go. Don’t let money or gear slow you down. Move. Move. Move. The Kingdom of God is at Hand.

But then.

Then.

10:16 “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Tough passage and we try to make light of it. I’ve read pastors try to use it as a testimony to “Balancing Acts” or that Jesus is telling us to be “Prudent Yet Pure.”

No.

It’s important to read this in the context of what is going on. Jesus is telling the Twelve that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. They must go. And go quickly. Spread the Good News. But, he says, but … know that not only will there be challenges. There will be persecutions, especially as you preach this to the Chosen People. Jesus has already felt the sting of rejection from his hometown, from the places where he performed miracles, and even from his family. But don’t look to a political party or TV host or blog or money seeking false teacher to tell you how you are being persecuted.

No, those trollings and persecutions and challenges won’t come from where you expect.

You, the apostles of Jesus (if you so desire) will face those same people Jesus faced who knowingly and unknowingly will curse you, persecute you, and look down on you because we live in a world where Christmas is much more important than Easter and it’s much easier to send a greeting card or an email or make a Facebook post than it is to actually get out and do something.

But realize, you will not be trolled or persecuted because you call yourself a Christian in the US. You won’t face the dirty underbelly of the internet or the office water cooler or the warehouse lunch room because you cling to a cultural form of Christianity that dilutes messages to platitudes and repeatable sound bites from the latest radio personality or Instagram meme card that we all just hearted. I want my family to hear that American Christianity is not under attack from some radical world government or a powerful fringe group of ultra-fascists looking to take our guns and our crosses and replace them with healthcare. No, the liberals are not persecuting American Christians. No, the conservatives are not taking away our religious liberties. We are all lost sheep. Jesus is calling us to be apostles.

Instead, Jesus is calling us to go beyond. Go deeper. Take our faith seriously. To take the Kingdom seriously. To have ears to hear and eyes to see rather than fingers to angrily respond to a tweet that doesn’t fit your previous conception of what it means to be one of God’s people.

God keeps us on our toes like that. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. There are very real wolves ready to pounce. But be bold with God.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Go.

You will be persecuted because of the very name of the one who offers entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. Don’t worry about those who will mock and beat you and put you on trial or pick on your “weird” faith. Move. Go. Practice Resurrection. The Kingdom is at Hand.

Amen.

The Death of the Denominations

Sam Harrelson on May 20, 2016

Amid protest, song and fears of a denominational breakup, United Methodists at their quadrennial General Conference decided yet again not to decide anything regarding LGBT rights.

But in a groundbreaking move, the delegates from the U.S. and abroad voted 428-405 on Wednesday (May 18) to allow the church’s Council of Bishops to appoint a commission to discuss whether to accept same-sex marriage or ordain LGBT clergy.

Source: Methodists postpone debate of gay issues that could split denomination | Religion News Service

We’re at the beginning stages of a few societal transitions (revolutions?) that will take decades to shake out fully here in the United States.

One has to do with economics and the emergence of efficiency as a market motivator.

Another, perhaps related shift, involves the erosion of our collective agreement that large groups can or should represent us and be central to the formation of our individual identities. Whether that’s the Republican or Democratic parties during this election cycle of historic high “unlikable” ratings, our relative shift to anti-Union attitudes, or the continuing and rapid decline of mainstream Protestant denominations, we’re certainly seeing new dynamics in play as we emerge from the shadow of the 20th century and head towards the middle of the 21st.

With two world wars and a decades long Cold War, the U.S. was defined by the concept of representative nationalism in the last century. Christian denominations saw their largest number of members in the 1950’s, political parties became increasingly powerful, the Evangelical movement soared, broadcast media gave us our news and views, and our sports team became religions… all while we fought off the Japanese and Nazi’s and then the Commies and added “Under God” to our Pledge of Allegiance and “One Nation Under God” to our currency.

Sixteen years into this new century, we’re still under the last century’s shadow. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as centuries, decades, and years themselves are artificial lines that we try to carve into our young species’ conception of whatever time is… but these lines do provide interesting parallels when we look back and ahead in our own individual minds.

Sixteen years into the last century, we were in the midst of World War I and coming to terms with the notion of a “League of Nations” or some sort of a worldwide governing body that would help us resolve disputes before they became the type of quagmires that resulted in that terrible war. The U.S. was entering the age of the automobile, more access to information and news than ever before with the mediums of radio and newspapers, our market economy was taking shape as a world player, and our economy was being transformed from largely agrarian to industrial due to the development of new technologies and means of production.

Sixteen years into this century and we can see many parallels. We are still wrestling with the idea of worldwide governing agreements (economic and political) and weighing the difference between isolationism and globalization. We’re in the middle of a series of regional wars and conflicts that are shaping our military and foreign policies into something that will look different in the coming decades than they had been before. We’re entering the age of the automated car, we have more information available than we could ever ingest through the medium of the web and the coming revolutions in virtual and augmented realities. Our market economy is still taking shape and evolving with the global market as well as our own needs and realizations here about inequality, poverty, capitalism, and morality. Our economy is transitioning from a largely industrial one to a service-based economy due to the development of new technologies and means of productions. Robots are building robots.

One thing that is markedly different, in my mind at least, is our conception of identities. We are coming to terms with realizations that not all Democrats, or heterosexuals, or Methodist, or transgender, or white people, or video game players look the same or can be put into neat and tidy demographic boxes. Whether that’s due to the nature of the influence that the web (and increasingly social media on the web) have had on our society or some other mix of variables, it’s hard to define. However, those of us who were born in the 20th century have to realize that we still have one leg in a century defined by large groups governing identities whereas the 21st century seems to be presenting an emerging realization that large groups are perhaps not the best hook to hang our identities on.

I feel that as we navigate the years and decades ahead, we’ll see more and more that groups such as the United Methodist Church or the Republican Party or the local Chamber of Commerce will fade in importance, perhaps to the point of dissolution into smaller units. The democratization that the web has brought to our culture in the U.S. is a double edged flame from Prometheus… it gives us light and freedom but it demands new responsibilities and awareness. If you were born in the 20th century, I hope you realize that our world has changed as has the culture(s) of our country. Grow and learn or get out of the way.

Our government’s representative democracy serves us well because it is intentionally messy and “slow” in dealing with issues that our collective national cultures want addressed quickly. However, our religious denominations and political parties perhaps should take a different path rather than using time as a tool of obfuscation and avoidance.

Just as our notions of forms of government or economics evolve over time, so will conceptions such as denominations and political parties. They will both probably exist at the end of the 21st century, but they’ll certainly look different.

“Random” prime numbers and human projections

Sam Harrelson on March 14, 2016

“So just what has got mathematicians spooked? Apart from 2 and 5, all prime numbers end in 1, 3, 7 or 9 – they have to, else they would be divisible by 2 or 5 – and each of the four endings is equally likely. But while searching through the primes, the pair noticed that primes ending in 1 were less likely to be followed by another prime ending in 1. That shouldn’t happen if the primes were truly random –  consecutive primes shouldn’t care about their neighbour’s digits.”

Source: Mathematicians shocked to find pattern in “random” prime numbers | New Scientist

Math, philosophically, is spooky.

Does it “really” exist in the cosmos or is it (like most things we consider to be intrinsic to the universe) a human projection based on our finite nature?

You Are Becoming Obsolete

Sam Harrelson on March 7, 2016

I was born in 1978. The C2-8P with its futuristic dual floppy drives was cutting edge tech.

My oldest child was born in 2007. This had just been released and some of the first pictures I have of her were taken with it. She will never know a world without it.

LC was born in 2010, the same year as this. It is revolutionizing how we do everything from teaching and learning to making a medical diagnosis.

And now I have a four month old son who was born the same time this went on sell. He will never know a world that doesn’t include widely available and affordable VR (or AR).

I imagine that we’ll see a similar revolution in our society in the way that iPhone has changed us since 2007 because of virtual reality devices going “mainstream.”

Similarly, things we didn’t think could change are changing rapidly.

We’re seeing our political system transform seemingly overnight. We’re teaching our children with tools such as Coursera and Khan Academy that are replacing the need for highly skilled teachers of content. Even our religious landscape looks very different than it did 10 years ago.

Churches, schools, and politicians are all clamoring to stay relevant and not show signs of aging or becoming obsolete.

However, our bodies age and decline. When we pass mirrors, we still see ourselves in our mind’s eye at the height of our physical (and maybe spiritual) beauty. The wrinkles and scars don’t always register right away. Some of us seek out surgery or vitamins or juice cleanses or yoga to delay the inevitable. Most of us want to delay death.

Yeats would remind us,

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Things fall apart. You will die. Your church will not look the same in ten years as it does today. Your child’s school will teach math differently than you learned math. Donald Trump may become our country’s president.

You will contribute some verse, however. Even after you are long gone as a corporal being, perhaps distant family will think of you or a depiction of you in some not-yet-invented VR machine will allow a great-great-grandchild to interview you for a project.

What about our churches, our schools, and our political system? What will our grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren say about them? Will they be comforting thoughts or will they react like teens in the video above reacted to Windows 95?

You are becoming obsolete. Embrace that and the decay and work for justice and peace in all that you do and with those you choose to worship, learn, or legislate with while you’re here. Worry less about the details that your obsolete brain is telling you matter.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.