Clergy Connect
Sola Publishing
Make Donation
WordAlone® Network is a religious, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, and your contributions are fully tax-deductible.
Recently a group of Lutheran Christians gathered for prayer. Everyone was singing a hymn when the dogs began to freak out—barking, howling and running around the living room. The many children, large and small gathered together, also stopped singing and looked around with a confused expression that asked, "What is going on?" I assumed something outside had disturbed the pups and the children were just wondering why the dogs so spontaneously reacted and to that. No biggy.
Almost a week later all four of my kids and I were together around the dinner table and were visiting after the meal. All of a sudden they started laughing and staring at me. Our two large dogs outside were barking and howling.
This time it was my turn to have the expression on my face that asked, "What is going on?" After they gained their composure, they asked in unison, "Mom, you really can't hear that?" They went on to explain to me that my eldest son, their "big brother," was up to some rascality, which apparently also had taken place during the prayer meeting the week before. He had received from one of his friends a text message with an attached ring tone that apparently has been proven scientifically to be out of the hearing range of anyone older than the age of 30. A high frequency, this sound is apparently clear to the younger generations and the animal population. Yet we, as the wise elders in their midst, sit expressionless and oblivious to what is happening around us.
I note that the use of this ring-tone is so kids who are not supposed to have their cell phones on in school can receive calls and text messages without the teacher's knowing someone has called right into the midst of his or her classroom. Wow!
After almost seven years of leading the WordAlone Network in the midst of an ever-changing institutional church and chaotic society I often, even daily, question in prayer our public positions and statements as a movement. As the pressure to conform on every front increases and pushes in on Christians and non-Christians alike, influencing both the young and old, I continually ask, "What are we not hearing?" Is what we teach and preach and confess "our position" or is it the true, authoritative Word of God?
Are we those who have no ears to hear or are we the voices calling in the wilderness, witnessing to the Word alone and yet being tuned out on many fronts?
Who we are, what we stand for and those which have become battle lines for the faith, are—at an ever increasing rate and everywhere we turn—being questioned. Should we not question these ourselves? I believe it is not only healthy but also faithful to always take inventory and inspection so as not to become self-righteous and promoters of a platform, position or some pious propaganda of our own. We are not called to promotion but, rather, to go faithfully where we would rather not with a message that is ever increasingly unpopular, ridiculed and rejected.
I confess that I daily in prayer question our calling. In complete dependence I cry out for divine guidance and intervention to navigate through a chaotic contemporary culture that confronts us in the midst of an institutional church that seems to hear only the world's calls to conform and accommodate. What are they not hearing? May not only the young have ears to hear but also those over 30!