L - M - R

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L – M – R

(left, middle, right)

                Another generation is taking center stage.  One is nearly gone; another is fading away; and yet another, younger, is sitting on the sidelines watching.  But, another one, the parents of the sideliners, is taking front and center.  These are the 30-somethings.  They are not only the center of attention, but, every generation defines themselves as the center, in many other ways.

                My parents’ generation, the generation that fought world wars, gave so much of themselves, is disappearing rapidly.  Worse, their values are disappearing even more so!  Then, I look to the generation of my children, and they have seemingly shifted way to the left.  My parents lived in a time of “blue laws” and hard work.  It was “no beer” and “no queers” for them.  My children live in a time of diversity and moderation.  (such nice-sounding ideas)  For them it is “liqueur” and “lesbians”.  Maybe there is less racism, but there is, IMHO, more darkness.

                Sure, there is a fine line between being judicial and being judgmental.  We seemingly swing between lawless, loving, and legalistic.  The song says that you must stand for something, or you will fall for anything.  The Moral Argument (for the existence of God) makes a strong appeal for certainty.  But, we keep moving the boundaries and redefining the rules.  The prophets pronounced woes on landmark-movers; and the rebuked moral-re-definers who called right wrong, and wrong right.

                THE prophet, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, warned us about specks and logs; and, He contrasted dropping stones and throwing stones.  Yet, he calls us to be “perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.”  Yet, seemingly Jesus was more about scribbling in the sand, than drawing lines.  (but, He then told her to stop?!)  He did not come to destroy the Law, but rather to fulfill it, a law that will not  bring righteousness, anyways!  But, this law should humble us into acknowledgment of sinfulness and into petition for mercy and grace.

                We so easily and quickly rationalize, twisting and distorting to our own destruction.  As quickly, we must tremble (and maybe even squirm/cringe?!) before the Holy One of Israel.  Like Isaiah, we need the angel to fly with the coal-laden tongs!  We need the washing from the fountain filled with the Lamb’s precious blood!

                God, have mercy on us!  Will the next generation move to a further extreme, or pendulum back to the Center?  Thank God for the “middle-man”!