Charis

I took Zachary to see Amazing Grace yesterday afternoon–wow! I was deeply moved, challenged, and encouraged. I had heard of Wilberforce through my studies of British literature, but I didn’t know much about him. It was exciting to see a man of faith and conviction portrayed as a hero—and he should be, because he did something profound. I also appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Olaudah Equiano, the former slave; I’ve read and taught parts of Equiano’s autobiography in my American literature courses, but I was not aware of the extent of his involvement in the anti-slavery movement in England.

I’ve wanted to see the film since it opened, and I wanted to take Zack, but he was not particularly interested, and I hadn’t found a good time to go. As usual, though, the timing was perfect, and I can see that the Holy Spirit had a hand in it. I had just finished reading about having a vision for one’s life in Live Your Calling, which Teddie and I are using in a small group we attend this semester, and Amazing Grace shows vision and calling in action in a spectacular way. It is good to be reminded that one person can change the world—though I’m mindful that Wilberforce didn’t work alone, and the film makes that clear. He was surrounded by those who shared his vision and labored with him. Still, it was his persistence and determination—dogged determination is more apt—that bore fruit.

Amazing Grace is just the sort of film that I want my children exposed to: I want Zack to see the power of vision and passion, to see the legacy that a man of conviction can leave, and so to stir his vision for what he can do. I know it did that for me.

You can learn more about the film and Wilberforce at the official site for the film.

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the need to pray for our culture, and I promised to offer some ways to act.

First, pray.

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

This passage is often quoted, so much so that when I see it or hear it, my first response is “It’s that pray for the nation passage.” That’s sad, both because it reflects a lack of reverence for God’s word on my part, and because I’m missing its awesome promise. This is God speaking here, pledging to Solomon to bring salvation and healing—the very things our culture needs. I encourage you to meditate on this passage, hide its promise in your heart, and seek God to honor His word.

Second, become an activist. This word tends to conjure up images of picketing and marching, both of which are appropriate responses at times. But you don’t have to take to the streets to make a difference. I’ve been a member of One Million Dads for a couple of years, and it’s been an easy way to bring about visible change. For instance, this summer OMD and others have conducted a campaign asking companies to withdraw their advertising from F/X shows like Rescue Me and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This campaign made national news a few weeks ago when T-Mobile’s president, Robert Dotson, watched the programming his company sponsored and ordered a stop to advertising for these shows. I should note that I don’t participate in every campaign that OMD sponsors; they have supported some legislative proposals that I thought were unnecessary, and I’ve even written them a few times to say so. But it’s not all-or-nothing; I can support their core goals and get behind the campaigns that I agree with. The important thing is that I’ve done something.

Here are other organizations that are active in changing our culture and media; perhaps one of them will be a good fit for you:

• The Parents Television Council “was founded in 1995 to ensure that children are not constantly assaulted by sex, violence and profanity on television and in other media.”
• Morality in Media “was established in New York City in 1962 to combat pornography. Now national in scope, MIM works to inform citizens and public officials about the harms of pornography and about what they can do through law to protect their communities and children. MIM also works to maintain standards of decency on TV and in other media.”
• National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families: their mission is “To move the people of God to embrace, live out, preserve and advance the biblical truth of sexuality.”
• One Million Dads, One Million Moms, and One Million Youth: these three organizations are part of the American Family Association, which works to combat offensive media.
• Battle Cry: founded by Ron Luce of Teen Mania Ministries, Battle Cry is building a coalition of churches and Christians to battle for the young people of the United States.

Third, watch where your money goes. As I noted back in “vote with your wallet,” when we support family-oriented, positive media with our purchases, we are giving incentive to businesses to produce more of the same. Businesses want profits; they will follow the dollars.

I would love to hear ways that you have found to make a difference; share your experiences in the comments.

One area of prayer that I know I need to grow in is prayer for the nation, or more broadly, prayer for our culture. I’m a U.S. citizen, but through the Internet I can easily read the blogs of writers in the UK, Africa, Australia, anywhere in the world. And likewise, I can be influenced by thought and materials from anywhere. It’s a given—almost a cliché—that we live in a global culture, but it behooves me to consider this influence and extend my prayer to cover all the peoples and nations that can and do impact my life.

Through the kind of confluence that the Holy Spirit is so good at creating, this need for broader prayer was brought into sharp focus this morning. Let’s see if I can bring together the various threads and make it into a whole:

While on campus yesterday, a coworker mentioned that her husband subscribes to a newsletter promoting healthy father/daughter relationships. I made a mental note and thought I would look for the site. I couldn’t remember the exact name, so I typed “daughter dad” in Google. I was not prepared for the results. With Google’s filter set to “moderate” (the default), nine of the first ten links were for explicit sites focused on incest and rape. I was astounded. I tried a few other combinations, and finally, “daughter father activism” got me to DadsandDaughters.org, the site I was looking for.

I started to write a post on this last night but had to leave, which was just as well; this morning, I got a better perspective. In Ezekiel 9, the prophet is given a vision of six executioners and a man with a writing case:

And the Lord said to [the man with the writing case], “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.”

What abominations prompted this slaughter? In chapter 8, Ezekiel is shown a vision of widespread idolatry in the temple back in Jerusalem. He first sees the “image of jealousy,” which scholars believe was the goddess Asherah, typically associated with fertility and cult prostitution. A little later, Ezekiel sees women morning the death of Tammuz, a fertility god. Ezekiel also sees men turning their backs on the temple to worship the sun, and elders are worshiping Egyptian deities inside the temple. Though I don’t believe the description given of the elders is prophetic of today’s fascination with pornography, the wording here is striking; God says to Ezekiel, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures?” In case you’re wondering how many “elders of the house” are spending time in the dark, “each in his room of pictures,” a 2001 survey of pastors indicates that about a third struggle with pornography, and a 2005 article from the Christian Science Monitor suggests that problems with pornography are rampant within the Christian community.

I didn’t need yesterday’s surprise with Google to tell me that pornography is a problem in the global culture; that, unfortunately, is old news. What I learned yesterday is that this evil has infected what should be among the most pure relationships: a father and his daughter. What lies are men believing when they seek sexual gratification through images of rape and incest—behaviors that they would undoubtedly repudiate if asked, “Would you actually do this?”

My first response was akin to despair: what can we, can I, do? But God never means for us to despair; He is a God of hope, and the Spirit showed me that this morning as well.

After reading Ezekiel, I thought, “Wow! this is serious. God didn’t send a reprimand; He sent executioners.” But as I took communion and prayed, peace came. As I received the bread, Christ’s body broken for our healing, and the wine, His blood shed for our salvation, I received hope. Christ’s body and blood have healed and saved me; they are meant to heal and save the world. And more to the point, they are powerful enough, sufficient to heal and save the world. To put it another way, God can handle pornography.

And I read also in Matthew 18 this morning; here Jesus reminds us that

if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. (v. 19–20)

This brought me back to Ezekiel, the part I missed the first time as I focused on the idolatry. Note who isn’t killed: those “who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed.” God saw those who were deeply pained, who lamented the sin around them. I suspect the sighs and groans were more than, “Poor Joe; his wife left him because of pornography. That’s sad.” or “It’s a shame you can hardly watch TV without seeing something sexual.” No, these were people who grieved over the sin in their culture; it stopped them and brought them to their knees.

And so I thought, “Would I have survived that day? Would I have been marked with an X?” What about you?

Regardless of your answer, here’s the thing: we can learn to grieve over the sin in our culture, and we can grow in prayer for its healing. It’s exciting to me to think that Jesus’ words about the power of unified prayer are not bound by location; He is among us when we physically pray with others, and He is among us when we join in prayer for a cause, even though we are in Birmingham, Bogatá, and Berlin. I invite you to join me in praying for a spirit that is moved to sigh and groan for the sin that surrounds us and to move from that grief to intercede for the healing of our culture.

And tomorrow I’ll share some other ways we can take action.

Dan Miller’s latest newsletter sounds heretical, but he makes a great point that sometimes “waiting on the Lord” is simply an excuse for doing nothing.

Miller asserts that “waiting on the Lord” as Isaiah describes is more akin to being a waiter—a servant (and thus, one who is active in serving)—than to someone who is inactive while expecting something to happen. Thus, prayer is a good thing, but if all we ever do is pray and never act, we have problems.

He finishes the newsletter with some great quotes on taking action; my favorite is the first, by Thomas Robert Gaines:

“It is good to dream, but it is better to dream and work. Faith is mighty, but action with faith is mightier. Desiring is helpful, but work and desire are invincible.”

However, the most convicting for me is Dale Carnegie’s statement that

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

It’s one thing to say to yourself, “I’ll get around to that eventually.” It’s another thing entirely to say, “I’m settling for mediocrity.”