Ring Out, Wild Bells!

Alfred Lord Tennyson gave us this 

more than a century ago ...

    Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
        Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
            Ring out the thousand wars of old,
                Ring in the thousand years of peace.

     Ring in the valiant man and free,
          The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
                    Ring out the darkness of the land, 

                         Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let it die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

   Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
     The faithless coldness of the times;
       Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
         But ring the fuller minstrel in.
     Ring out false pride in place and blood,
        The civic slander and the spite;
           Ring in the love of truth and right,
              Ring in the common love of good.

________________________
For when the right day comes.
You are dearly loved.

Seeing Clearly ... the Culture Wars

Choose your side, one of two simplistic ideologies ... those are the options we're given.

Today, the battle is for the minds and hearts of us all. 
     Neither side is a safe refuge for an individual of conscience and principle. 

          People of faith are particularly challenged as all this becomes visible in churches and leaders.  

"When we see a political figure on TV, we are not seeing the person as he necessarily is; we are seeing, rather, the image someone has decided we should see."
~Dr. Francis Schaeffer 1976
     He was right, and he could have made the same observation today.  We see most of them reading prepared statements shaped to persuade, not inform.  We see them being portrayed as models of nobility and virtue, and most of us fall for it.

"There are certain news organizations, newspapers, news magazines, wire services, and news broadcasts which have the ability to generate news. They are the 'news makers', and when an item appears in them it becomes the news. This ability to generate news rests upon a kind of syndrome or psychology or mind-set, not only in the journalistic fraternity but also in influential circles comprised of congressmen, other government officials, and professors. The influence is not necessarily based on circulation, but rather on its reputation with the right people. This is at times consciously cultivated; for example, certain news outlets release their big stories to the wires and the radio and TV networks before the 'big story' hits the newsstands.

     Not only do these 'news makers' make certain things news— in contrast to that which gets 'lost'— but the color they put on the news tends to be picked up as well. Often this tone is set by starting off with what is called a 'hard lead,' the first sentence of a news article which is supposed to sum up the story in an eye-catching way. If this is subtly slanted, the tone of the whole story tends to be set, and it becomes the stained-glass window through which that story and perhaps even related stories are comprehended."

     These 'news makers' today are the life and breath of social media. Their 'news' and 'opinions' explode across the world not based on relevance or accuracy but on the shallowest standard of preferred perspective and memeability.  Truth is neither valued nor pursued by a majority of media followers or their influencers.  Meaningful conversation regarding most issues is abandoned.

Choose your side, one of two simplistic ideologies ... those are the options we're given.

Today, the battle is for the minds and hearts of us all. 
     Neither side is a safe refuge for an individual of conscience and principle. 
          People of faith are particularly challenged as all this becomes visible in churches and leaders.  

               How then might we respond?

                    Can we sit and talk about the goals we share and the paths over which we disagree?  Or will we be divided by what our culture has become?  Is it our choice?

____________________________________________

     Quotations are from Francis Schaeffer in his book How Should We Then Live?  The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture written in the early '70s.
     We visited L'Abri (French for 'the shelter', a discipleship community based in Switzerland) in the years before this book was published.  Schaeffer's influence in the early years of our marriage was a blessing.

Why should I fear when evil days come?

Why should I fear when evil days come,
    when wicked deceivers surround me ...
    those who trust in their wealth
    and boast of their great riches?

No one can redeem the life of another
    or give to God a ransom for them ...
    the ransom for a life is costly,
    no payment is ever enough ...
    so that they should live on forever
    and not see decay.

For all can see that the wise die,
    that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
    leaving their wealth to others.

Their tombs will remain their houses forever,
    their dwellings for endless generations,
    though they had named lands after themselves.

People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
    they are like the beasts that perish.

This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,
    and of their followers, who approve their sayings.

They are like sheep and are destined to die;
    death will be their shepherd
    (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).

Their forms will decay in the grave,
    far from their princely mansions.

But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead;
    he will surely take me to himself.

Do not be overawed when others grow rich,
    when the splendor of their houses increases;
    for they will take nothing with them when they die,
    their splendor will not descend with them.

Though while they live they count themselves blessed ...
    and people praise you when you prosper ...
    they will join those who have gone before them,
    who will never again see the light of life.

People who have wealth but lack understanding
    are like the beasts that perish.

... the Land of the Free 2023

America, the land of opportunity; a noble nation setting the example of true freedom, God’s gift to the world ...

... or so many have said.  People in the United States now find themselves in a struggle, a scourge of irrationality, manufactured deceptions, and a contempt for truth that has been decades in the making. It follows the decline of an involved citizenry and an increasing distrust of government. We’ve watched as ideological extremes have brought hostility and division and a plague of disinformation. 

White nationalism has returned along with fear mongering, unchecked bigotry, and an emboldened culture war that violently looms over us. Our collapse into irrationality shocked the world, and it still watches, wondering what effect it might bring. Our mocked democracy weakened as our leadership moved on to language empty of any meaning. Our historical memory of governance, of ethics, of justice and responsibility, all discarded. With little opposition, power players took on the workings of a dis-information machine characterized by a disregard for the truth, often accompanied by primitive taunts and threats from the highest office. 

What we are witnessing is not simply a political project. Objective truth is viewed by many as a liability, and ignorance as a virtue. Common sense education is similarly regarded with disdain. Words are reduced to noise. Traces of critical thought persist only at the margins of the culture as anger becomes the primary organizing principle of American society. Moral values have been replaced by simple competition, division, and personal interests. 

We watched as false accusations were made by those knowing that the public would easily be seduced by emotional exhortation and sensationalism, all of which mimics the celebrity culture and reality television.  

State and federal courts dismissed as unproven more than 50 lawsuits of alleged electoral fraud presented by the president and his allies.  There was no evidence.  U.S. election security officials (representing the investigative work of thousands) have said the election was “the most secure in American history”, yet with our ever-increasing flood of information and our over-stimulated lives, it appears we no longer have the time to mature into informed thought. Half of us chose to accept the false claims while ignoring the reasoned analysis and evidence. 

Change continues. It has a price. Truth and objectivity are gone from public discourse. Quite simply, the US is a house divided and partisan disagreements run deeper than ever measured. At the personal level as well, we are unreasonably divided … willing to abandon decades of relationship.  Even the church finds itself wounded, broken ....

Can we live in this world without being shaped by it?  Must we allow ourselves to be dragged down in the quagmire?  How might we choose a higher standard than this which we've seen?  What specifically is the right goal?

Furious Freedom