The Week February 1-7, 2016

Vision
Culture
It’s worth asking whether pop culture is a sufficient vehicle for representing and advancing the Kingdom of God. Pop culture matters, and we ought to participate in pop as Kingdom citizens, as I argue in my book, Redeeming Pop Culture. But the neglect of “high” culture on the part of Christians today is not only a betrayal of our Christian past but a dangerous acquiescence to the spirit of the age. Joseph Epstein examines the declining state of “high” culture in America (“Whatever Happened to High Culture?” The Weekly Standard, November 8, 2015). He observes, “Among those of us fortunate enough to have grasped its significance, high culture took us out of our small worlds into a larger universe where human possibilities were immensely enlarged. But now high culture, once thought to be not the shortest but the surest way to the good life, is no longer the main quest in artistic or intellectual life, having been not so much defeated as replaced by noise, nervous energy, sheer distraction.” The culture that appeals to people today is largely sensual, commercial, and fleeting – that is, pop – and has little regard for such things as tradition, our cultural heritage, or even beauty and goodness. The effect of the decline of high culture into just another form of pop is that the audience for culture loses its vision for anything other than a culture that entertains, distracts, and diverts rather than one that edifies and provokes to wonder. We see the same thing in the Church, I fear, where all things pop continue to replace the long tradition of Christian worship, hymnody, and even theology, and where the rich Christian cultural heritage is all but ignored. Mr. Epstein observes, “Culture comprises connections and interconnections between past and present, and these in turn comprise the future of culture.” But if all our culture is merely the culture of the moment, then are we not doomed to repeat the cultural – and moral – mistakes of the past, being ignorant of them? Can anything be done about “the present state of extreme thinness of culture”? It all depends on our vision of what culture should be, how culture should be used, and what standards of beauty, goodness, and truth should guide our cultural preferences and practices. For those who have made the Kingdom turn, higher standards of culture await our aspirations and endeavors.

Disciplines
Renewable Fuels
It will be a long time – and perhaps never – before renewable fuels completely replace fossil fuels for everyday energy uses, but renewable fuels scientists press on nonetheless. Robert F. Service reports on one of the most creative approaches to renewable fuels to date, namely, making methane – an emission-free fuel – from carbon dioxide in the environment (“Tailpipe to tank,” Science, 11 September 2015). The process reminds me why I should have paid more attention during high school chemistry class. Scientists use energy from natural sources, such as the sun or geothermal, to create electricity and separate oxygen from carbon. Then they use the resulting products to make a form of methane, which creates energy without emissions. Cool, no? This is science at its best: Curious, brilliant, far-thinking minds, competing amicably, sharing the results of their work, striving for the public good, and keeping an eye on the potential for making money. No swipes at religion, no absurd boasts about the power of evolution, just science, working as God intends, to make the most and best use of all His glorious gifts. May their tribe increase.

Engaging the World
In his fine little book, A Single Ray of the Sun, John Carey examines aspects of the Celtic Revival for what we can learn from them about engaging the world around us from a Kingdom perspective. Celtic Christians were open to the world – its past, culture, and aspirations – and looked for elements of divine goodness and grace in the stories and artifacts of their forebears and contemporaries. They sought ways to incorporate the evidence of God’s common grace into the community and movement of His redeeming grace, both to enjoy the blessings of God wherever they were to be found, and to discover means of identifying and communicating with the people around them. Celtic Christians were not original scholars, but they worked hard to maintain and disseminate Scripture and sound theological traditions. In addition, Mr. Carey explains, “in Ireland scholars and bishops were also busy with the old traditions, seeking to create a hybrid, composite culture which would be both wholly Irish and wholly Christian.” The evidence of their poetry, art, and community-building is that they were in many ways quite successful. Mr. Carey offers a challenge to us today, to learn from these ancient believers how to realize more of the presence of God’s Kingdom in our own day and time: “But if no earthly society can hope to embody more than a fragment of the kingdom of heaven, that fragment may contain things which no one else has found. Each people, in each phase of its history, explores new possibilities of thought and experience; the wider and more sympathetic our gaze, the more our own sense of possibility may be enriched.”

Outcomes
Helping the Poor
Organizations that promise to help the poor should be held accountable for specific outcomes. That has been the burden of Dean Karlan, as he reports in the October 2015 issue of Scientific American (“More Evidence, Less Poverty”). The specific focus of his work has been micro-lenders in developing countries. He insists, “The question that needs to be asked – and that needs to be asked every time someone writes a check to a charity or a government commits to a multimillion-dollar aid project – is, Will this actually work to alleviate poverty? In other words, how will people’s lives change, compared with how their lives would have changed without the program?” The rest of the article outlines specific research and approaches to measuring such outcomes, and is an excellent challenge to similar organizations when it comes to what they are actually achieving. I put Mr. Karlan’s question, in a bit of a different form (“Will this ministry actually help advance the Kingdom?”), to a group of pastors, and they struggled to come up with any answers that could actually be measured. I put it to myself as well, concerning my own work, and it has had a sharpening effect in my approach to what I do. Jesus calls us to bear fruit that abides. Pastors and teachers are for the equipping of the saints for works of ministry. The goal of all Christian instruction is love. Surely we can translate such ideas into alluring visions, specific plans, focused activities, and measurable results?

Beauty
Some excellent insights on beauty from British philosopher Roger Scruton (Beauty): “Beauty is therefore as firmly rooted in the scheme of things as goodness. It speaks to us, as virtue speaks to us, of human fulfilment: not of things that we want, but of things that we ought to want, because human nature requires them.” “Lovers of beauty direct their attention outwards, in search of a meaning and order that brings sense to their lives. Their attitude to the thing they love is imbued with judgement and discrimination. And they measure themselves against it, trying to match its order in their own living sympathies.” “For beauty makes a claim on us: it is a call to renounce our narcissism and look with reverence on the world.” “...the experience of beauty also points us beyond this world, to a ‘kingdom of ends’ in which our immortal longings and our desire for perfection are finally answered.” “...everything I have said about the experience of beauty implies that it is rationally founded. It challenges us to find meaning in its object, to make critical comparisons, and to examine our own lives and emotions in the light of what we find. Art, nature and the human form all invite us to place this experience in the centre of our lives. If we do so, then it offers a place of refreshment of which we will never tire.” In the Kingdom of God we don’t think much about beauty, so it is good to remember that we serve a “beautiful Savior” Who is the embodiment of all things beautiful, good, and true. Write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I’ll send you a month’s worth of daily meditations to aid you in contemplating the beauty of our exalted King and Lord. Ask for Glorious Vision, and I’ll send it out by return email. 

Envoi
Common Things

You never, Heraclitus claimed,
step in the same stream twice.
Appearances may seem the same
(familiarity's to blame,
or each thing's never-changing name),
but heed that Greek's advice.

There's more to life than meets the eye
or dances on the ear.
The moments of our lives flow by,
fraught with potential we might try;
yet, deaf to their sweet siren cry,
we neither see nor hear.

But hidden in each common thing
and every routine sound,
in leafless trees, on flashing wing,
the song that common sparrows sing,
and each arriving email's "Ding!"
are wonders to be found.

Step forth, then, into unseen worlds
where mysteries abound.
Eternal truths will be unfurled,
and nagging doubts behind you hurled
when your poor soul is slowly swirled,
turned upright and around
in common things profound.

T. M. Moore