Weekly Meanderings, 7 June 2014

Last updated on: June 7, 2014 at 12:08 am by Scot McKnight

Weekly Meanderings, 7 June 2014 2014-06-06T20:13:46-05:00 Scot McKnight

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It’s Graduation Day at Northern Seminary! Congratulations to our many graduates and our prayers for your ministries to flourish at the hand of God.

Michelle Van Loon’s nice post on regret (launching from President Obama’s deepest regret that he didn’t spend more time with his mother).

Molly Worthen’s insightful commentary on the decline of baptism in the SBC, its response and the prospects of revival as the march of secularization continues:

You’ve probably heard that the United States has been the exception to the decline of organized religion in the developed West over the last 200 years, and that’s true. But American exceptionalism has merely delayed secularization, not halted it. Poll numbers—rising numbers of “nones” who say they have no religious affiliation; slowly falling rates of church attendance—suggest that even if Americans continue to believe that life has a supernatural dimension, many may be drifting out of institutionalized worship. Traditional religious organizations are losing their grip on the public sphere and their influence in the lives of individuals. “All things considered, I think that religion is slowing down, in decline … everything is clearly going in the decline direction,” said Duke University sociologist Mark Chaves, who has written one of the best synthetic studies of the polling data on contemporary American religion.

Thoughtful Christian leaders have already begun to recognize this. But realism doesn’t mean shrugging off the obligations of the Great Commission or ceding victory in the culture wars to liberals. Jesus called his followers to “make disciples of all the nations,” not just the United States. Conservative evangelicals are preaching abroad with a renewed zeal, buoyed by the hope that traditional ideas about gender roles and biblical authority still reign outside the West, and that already “reverse missionaries” from the Global South are beginning to plant churches and save souls in American Babylon.

Christianity has been around for 2,000 years. Over the centuries, the faith’s center of gravity has shifted many times: from Palestine and Northern Africa to Rome and Byzantium; from Western Europe to America. The Southern Baptist experience is more proof that Americans’ term at the helm of Christ’s ship may be nearing an end, and the sailing is more squally than ever.

Yep, in our neck of the woods the new houses being built seem to be the big ones.

No more Mr. Mom!

The number of stay-at-home Dads has doubled in the last 25 years, reaching a peak of 2.2 million in 2010, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center. And although the Great Recession contributed to a sharp uptick, by far, the fastest growing segment of at-home Dads say they’re home taking care of the kids because they want to be.

And they don’t want to be called Mr. Mom anymore. In fact, the growing At-Home Dad’s Network has been leading a campaign to get the term banished from the English language.

“Back in the 1980s, ‘Mr. Mom’ was a way to describe a man who was taking care of children, because that was seen as women’s work,” said Al Watts, president of the National At-Home Dad Network. “But now there’s been a great change in society. And there’s a great term for a guy who takes care of his kids. It’s ‘Dad.’”

And while at-home dads still face stigma – surveys show that society rewards at-home mothers, but still wonders why at-home fathers aren’t at work – Watts said his organization is taking that uneasiness about caregiving men head on: His organization has begun handing out “Man Cards” that read “As an actively involved dad, you are the manliest of men.”

Ted Gossard, Christians and political parties:

I am puzzled over Christians– particularly churches, denominations and leaders publically lining up on either the Democratic or Republican side here in the United States. Lining up right or left. And I should add center. Libertarian, socialist, whatever (should I now include, Tea Party?). That’s not to say I myself don’t have a political stance or take political positions, although I find it rather murky and difficult. And I really want to hear the best of every side, and not the supposed worst of political rivals.

Thomas Lyons begins his response to Ken Wilson — Vineyard faces the homosexuality challenge. Al Mohler thunders away about the homosexuality challenge among the SBC. Bill Arnold also faces the homosexuality challenge among the Methodists. There is some rhetorical force in laying down “there is no Third Way” but I submit that there are four ways: Strident Affirmation, Compassionate Affirmation, Compassionate non-affirmation, Strident non-affirmation. You can name the names for each category, but they are not hard to find.

From homeless shelter to Georgetown:

Rashema Melson, 18, will graduate on June 11. She lives with her mother and two brothers in one room at the D.C. General homeless shelter. Her father was killed when she was 7 months old.

What will you talk about at graduation?

I’m going to talk about how Anacostia pushed me. People feel like Anacostia is this place where all the ghetto kids go and that Anacostia is really easy, and I’m like, “No.” My speech is going to be dedicated to all the teachers who pushed me and who I could talk to in a time of need and who helped me when I didn’t have anything like food or clothing.

Where is he now? Matt Murton, former player for the Chicago Cubs:

After leaving MLB, his contract was eventually sold to the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. Oh, and by the way, he’s killing it there. In his first season with the Japanese ball club in 2010, Matt Murton actually broke Ichiro’s (yes, that Ichiro) record of 210 single season hits, with 214 of his own. He ended that year with a .349 BA, 91 RBIs, and 17 HR.

Seriously?

I don’t care if it’s not MLB. That’s awesome. One of the greatest hitters in Japanese (and US) baseball history had his record broken by none other than Matt Murton: MLB Journeyman.

While he hasn’t had a season like that since his breakout year, Murton has made himself into a star in the Japanese league. This past off-season he considered making a “comeback” to the MLB but instead decided to stay for another year and will be earning $3.5 million in 2014 (if my calculations are correct, his combined earnings in MLB from 2005-2009 were roughly $2.3 million). Get paid, man. Get paid.

Murton was never bad in MLB. He really was just a victim of circumstance. FanGraphs wrote an article about his situation back in 2010 during his breakout season in Japan. You should read it, even if it’s “dated.”

I don’t think anyone should feel sorry for him though.

“Where is he now” status: Gettin’ paid in Japan.

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