Regrets
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”…At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left...Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus, John 8
Happy Friday,
Among the many things this story implies is that Jesus is not a blend of mercy and justice. He is one hundred percent of both.
Question
Which emotion does Jesus display most often in the Gospels?
Artemis II
The photos continue to pour in from the Artemis II mission, and they'll stop you in your tracks. You can see some of the most notable pictures from the 10,000 taken here. It's worth reminding ourselves of what David said when he looked at the stars: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
2026 American Politics
I see three main groups at the moment: 1) The Die-hards – whose hope, time and emotional well-being are married to their team; 2) The Confused – who wonder how it’s come to this; and 3) The Exhausted – who are actively avoiding the fray. I understand all 3, but do my best to remember that my citizenship in the City of God requires me to love my neighbor—and my enemy—in the City of Man.
Without Comment
1) 6 out of 10 Americans have no issue with MAID (Medical Aid in Dying—AKA, physician-assisted suicide).
2) Per Pew, more Americans believe viewing porn is wrong (52%) than think having an abortion is wrong (47%).
3) The Big Ten becomes the first league to have 3 schools hold D1 championships in football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball in a single year.
4) 80% of the global GDP comes from cities.
5) The word pandemonium means “demons everywhere.”
6) Per the NYT, the fertility rate—which has been falling since 2007—dropped to a new low last year.
Regrets
I regret to inform you that I’m not the pastor who hired sky-diving bunnies to drop in during the Easter service. (The deacons would not approve the expense.) I also regret to inform you that I forgot to send out the video of Aslan on the Stone Table last Friday. Thankfully, I can rectify the latter mistake. It is here. (And it’s worth watching every year.)
Overheard
1) Why is Good Friday necessary? Because each of us is capable of betraying him on Thursday.
2) Family dinners without devices create more lasting memories than social media posts about family dinners.
3) The world exalts powerful Caesars and self-important Herods. God delights in courageous shepherds and humble lambs.
4) Spiritually speaking, failure is less dangerous than success.
5) You can’t hurry clarity.
6) We often ask the wrong question – i.e., Did it work? – rather than “What did we learn? Our goal for any given year should be at least “50 learnings.”
Quotes
1) “You will not go through life with a 100% approval rating, so you need to decide whose approval really matters.” — Kevin DeYoung
2) “Our world has more information, but less wisdom. More data; less clarity. More stimulation; less synthesis. More distraction; less stillness. More pontificating; less pondering. More opinion; less research. More speaking; less listening. More to look at; less to see. More amusements; less joy. There is more, but we are less.” — Brett McCracken
Answer
Compassion. Which prompts this question for those of us claiming to follow Him: how many times in the last 24 hours have we felt compassion for someone?
WOTW
Honorable mentions go to Verminopolis (a nickname Washington D.C. has picked up, given its many rats (the four-legged Rattus norvegicus, not any elected officials)) and the overview effect, which highlights how seeing our whole planet from space can be a reset for your sense of self. Full honors go to the uncanny valley, which is used when something “is human enough to trigger our social instincts, but not human enough to satisfy them.” It is typically used with reference to animation that is so realistic our brains think we are looking at a real person, but we register an alarm because a smile is a bit off or a movement is a bit unnatural. I’m drawing attention to the uncanny valley because I find AI writing often to be quite good, but off just enough to be very off-putting.
Resources
1) Click here to listen (or read) my Easter sermon. For the last 25 years, I have essentially preached the same Easter sermon. This year I went rogue.
2) Also, U2 released an Easter-themed song on Good Friday, which you can listen to here. BTW, Bono and I are the same age, but if you bump into him please don’t bring it up. Not everyone can remain cool with age. I’d hate for him to feel bad.
Closing Prayer
"May I know who I am; may I know who you are. Amen.” (Augustine, 354-430)
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