Theophanies

Recently at small group while studying Untamed by Alan and Debra Hirsch we talked about a form of religious experience called “theophanies,” which they describe as a manifestation of God. The authors gave an example of watching a sunset and suddenly the wonder of it all dawns on a person as time seems to stand still and eternity fills the moment.

In polling members of the group about theophanies, several resonated with a story of God’s creation: a magnificent sunrise or majestic mountains. Others described sensing God’s overwhelming presence while on a missions trip in a foreign land and realizing that followers of Christ have much in common wherever they live. Some talked about how God answered prayers in supernatural ways just when they needed it most.

I talked about the awe-inspiring moments of the births of my three sons. Tears of joy streamed down my face as my wife and I suddenly faced the arrival of an amazing new person into this world.

Of course part of experiencing God is to realize that He is everywhere and that it is our responsibility to demonstrate His goodness to others, whether that be the pregnant teenager, the homeless person, the alcoholic, our co-workers or our relatives.

Death of an Unknown Cousin

I found out from my Uncle Harold last week that my 60-year-old first cousin, Diane Kennedy Bulger, died April 1 after a 17-day stay in a hospital intensive care unit. She had entered the hospital for minor surgery, but complications ensued.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know Diane; we never even met. I knew her parents, my Uncle Frank — a retired law professor — and Aunt Patricia, when they were alive. We saw each other several times at family reunions of my dad and his four brothers. But Frank and Patricia’s four children never attended, and I don’t know any of them.

From the obituary it sounds as though we would have enjoyed each other. She worked as a broadcast reporter in Atlanta, Tulsa, Washington, D.C., and Lansing, Mich. She interviewed everyone from Gerald Ford to John Wayne.

“She was very knowledgeable about a wide range of issues and popular culture,” her husband of 34 years, Bill Bulger, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “She put people at ease; that was her best talent as a reporter.”

Just today I realized that only two years ago I spent a day reporting an event in Roswell, Ga., the very city in which she lived. I wish I had known.

No Thanks to Baseball

The 162-game baseball season is a week old already. Only 156 more games left on the schedule. I, for one, won’t be watching as many contests on TV this season. And not just because the St. Louis Cardinals won’t be as good as last year, when they were expected to win their division but underwhelmed their followers.

Time is the key factor. Our lives only have so many hours to pursue leisure activities, especially if we work full time, are engaged in church activities and are in school, all of which I do. So it’s hard for me to justify sitting in front of a screen for three hours a night to watch men trying to pitch, hit and catch a ball.

The other reason is that I wrote a paper for seminary on sports addiction last month. I’ve researched how sports can not only consume a fan’s time but also impact his personality. A team’s loss truly can depress a person who has an undue reliance on baseball (or football, basketball, hockey, etc.) as a component of his life.

Another factor is whether I really want to express such devotion to athletes who — for all intents and purposes — are mercenaries. While “love of the game” isn’t going to pay a player’s bills, I’m really turned off by Albert Pujols rejecting a reported seven-year, $20 million contract offer as insufficient. I think I’ll be doing more reading and less baseball watching this summer.

Ignorant Americans?

I found the results of last week’s Newsweek citizenship quiz troubling. The magazine administered the 25-question test to 1,000 Americans and 38 percent failed to get even six responses correct.

I’m a history buff, so I managed to figure out all but one of the answers (I didn’t remember that the United States had 27 constitutional amendments.) But even people such as my wife, who has little interest in the workings of the government, answered nearly every question correctly.

The vague wording of some of the questions left a lot to be desired. For example, “What happened at the Constitutional Convention,” “During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States” and “What is the economic system in the United States” should have been more specific.

But the lack of knowledge on some of the basic questions is astounding. Just one in five remembers who was president during World War I. Only 14 percent know how many members are in the U.S. House of Representatives. A mere 12 percent could identify one of the writers of the Federalist Papers.

If you want to test your knowledge, see:
http://www.newsweek.com/2011/03/20/take-the-quiz-what-we-don-t-know.html