Wisdom For Your Weekend is your regular installment of what we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web. Presented to you by Chris Pappalardo, with occasional guidance from Pastor J.D., 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.”
Video of the Week
What Cultural Message Have You, As a Parent, Worked Hardest to Contradict?, Jason Cook, Jen Wilkin, and Greg Thornbury. Christian parents know they should be raising their children to live as strangers and aliens in our society. What does that look like in real life? What specific messages do we need to work hardest to contradict? This was the best 10 minutes of video I (Chris) have watched this week.
Articles of the Week
Altar of the Feels, Melissa Edgington. Let’s stick with the theme of parenting for a moment, shall we? Melissa Edgington is coming at you with her guns blazing. Her target of choice? The feels. (For those of you who don’t know what “the feels” are: [1] They are a light-hearted way to refer to strong emotions, and [2] I’m sorry for my generation.) Basing our parenting on our kids’ feelings is absurd—which most of us know. But what about our own feels? Let Edgington confront you. You’ll be the better for it.
Three Ways Ministry Can Make You Conceited, Tim Keller. Three seems rather conservative, if you ask me. Fortunately, Keller makes his three categories broad enough that they can fit all of the warped variations we care to squeeze into them (there’s even nested lists!). If you’re in ministry, you must constantly fight against these three flavors of pride.
Should Christians Attend Gay Weddings? Randy Alcorn. Now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land, Christians will encounter this question with much more frequency. Sincere believers should sense a tension, and many will come to differing conclusions. Alcorn, weighing the balance of grace and truth, thinks that our answer should be “no.” If you want to understand why, read on.
What the Single in Your Pew Needs from You, Gina Dalfonzo. The percentage of singles in our country is higher than it has been in the last hundred years. But many churches still aren’t sure what to do with the unmarried people in their church. Stop for a moment and ask yourself: What are some tangible ways churches should create a welcoming space for singles? Try to answer that question before you look at Dalfonzo’s answer key.
On the Lighter Side
This is what happens when you reply to spam email, James Veitch. The spam email comes in, promising to deliver a heap of diamonds, piles of unclaimed insurance bonds, or a couple suitcases of unmarked bills. And most of the time, if you’re sane, you simply delete it. But what if you decided to chase the rabbit for a while? Veitch narrates his own exchange with a spammer that lasted months. Quite entertaining.
