Your weekly installment of what we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.
Articles of the Week
Caring for Refugees, J.D. Greear. Over the past week, the news has been dominated by the question of how our country—and the church—should best care for refugees. Pastor J.D.’s response points to several other useful resources, and shows what we, at the Summit, are doing to minister to refugees.
Don’t Be a Gullible Skeptic, Trevin Wax. Too many people in our current society are what Trevin calls “gullible skeptics” – 100% skeptical of some media sources, but also 100% gullible toward their own news sources. It’s a problem that helps explain why we see so many fake news stories from both the right and the left. Trevin’s advice? Let’s get above the fray, listening to all media with a healthy dose of skepticism, and caring more about the facts than about whatever case we’re trying to make. We serve a God who cares about the truth.
Is It Arrogant to Claim We Are Right? Michael Kruger. In our modern times, it appears that humility (a great thing) has gotten all jumbled up with uncertainty (a not-so-great thing). This has some dangerous consequences for those of us who claim to have a word from God. Christian: stay humble in spirit, but bold in truth. It’s not necessarily arrogant to say you’re right.
God Wants You to Get More Sleep, Kate Shellnutt. The invention of the light bulb has kept America up later. Now the prevalence of the smart phone is cutting into our sleep even more. I (Chris) just knew that technology was evil! Okay, that may be a bit of a leap. But this much is certain: getting enough sleep is a constant challenge, and there are plenty of forces working against us. In addition to pointing out the value of sleep, Shellnutt’s article has the best compilation of 10-20 quotations about God and sleep that I’ve yet seen. Very impressive.
Make America Unified Again: Three Social Divisions We Must Overcome, Bruce Ashford and Michael Graham. Our national motto is e pluribus unum: “out of many, one.” But it certainly doesn’t feel that way these days, when our political atmosphere is about as fractured and fractious as ever. The first step in moving forward, though, is diagnosing the situation. So we’re thankful for Ashford (one of our elders) and Graham’s analysis, showing three of the biggest divides in our country right now—and offering a way to bridge them.
On the Lighter Side
Bap Lip Reading of the Inauguration. Some of this may actually be pretty close to reality. The George W. Bush moments are my favorite. (Also, lip reading must be pretty hard.)
Wisdom For Your Weekend is presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with occasional guidance from J.D. Greear. This is our attempt to reflect Proverbs 9:9: “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”
