The news of recent days gives yet more evidence that too many in our world have given up the low bar of common decency in favor of sheer disregard for one another.

The irony is the horrible events of the last few days occurred during a season we associate with … increased acts of common decency.

These horrific acts began long before they happened. They each began as a thought, with disregard for the life of another. They serve as evidence of a world in need of the redemption to which Christmas points.

As we become further inured to indecency through regular violent actions—often spurred on or followed by violent rhetoric—we become less able to reach the higher bar signaled by Christmas.

Amid the indecency of our day, Christmas points us beyond acts of kindness to laying down the whole of our lives as Jesus did for us. May we be so bold.

Horrific news

The following events depict what can happen when we do not lay down our lives for others but, contrary to Christ, assert our superiority over others. The result is horrific.

The killing of two students and injuring of nine in a Brown University classroom Dec. 13 shows the depth of disregard for life. Despite Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee’s asserting “the unthinkable has happened,” such occurrences are all too thinkable, even in a place called Providence.

The slaughter of 15 people celebrating Hanukkah, Dec. 14, at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, shows the persistent disregard for particular lives—Jewish lives. Fifteen lights were extinguished during this Festival of Lights.

That same day, Dec. 14, we received news Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their home. Rob and his father Carl being giants of American entertainment, this news hit many particularly hard. Harder still is that the Reiners’ son Nick has been charged with their murder.

As we were coming to grips with these three horrific events occurring in short order, a further indecency was launched into the news: Donald Trump’s Truth Social post blaming Rob Reiner for his own death. I won’t link to the despicable post or Trump’s shrugging it off the next day.

Decency—common or otherwise—seems in short supply these days. If we could reach even that bar, we would do well. Yet, Christmas points us further. Christmas points us to laying down the whole of our lives for those with whom we differ, disagree or worse.

As much as I’d prefer to write a warm, fuzzy Christmas editorial, I cannot turn away so easily from our troubled times and what Christmas points to amid them.

Where Christmas points

Christmas is our celebration of God the Son being born as a human baby in fulfilment of centuries of prophecy and longing. Jesus didn’t have to go through with it. Jesus didn’t have to be born into this world, much less at the time of his birth. Neither Rome nor Herod were known for their decency, and the Jewish people had their own challenges.

And yet.

Jesus looked at this world and may have said: “Those are some messed up people. I’m going to go live with them.”

Jesus didn’t just live with us; he committed to the bit. He started as an embryo, then grew inside his mother, was born, went through childhood and puberty, became an adult, and experienced ridicule, misunderstanding, brutality and death—not vicariously, but firsthand. He took our indecency. All of it.

While he was facing ridicule and misunderstanding, he told us to love those who revile us, to bless those who persecute us, to lay down our lives even for those who hate us. Jesus commanded us not to meet indecency with indecency, but to lay down our lives in the face of it.

Anyone who says we should do any different is a false witness.

Jesus’ choice to live among us, despite knowing how messed up we are—because he knows how messed up we are—is our call to surpass the low bar of common decency associated with Christmas, a bar too many of us find too hard to meet, and to lay down our lives even for those who disregard us to the point of brutalizing us, who just as soon would see us dead.

A bracing truth

How’s that for a “Merry Christmas?” But isn’t that the truth within the warm fuzzies of the season?

I’d rather write a feel-good editorial, but I can’t make us feel good about the times we’re in. So, instead, I’m calling us to protest the way of this world by following how Jesus lived and told us to live in it. And that is to lay down the whole of our lives like Jesus did so others may be redeemed.

We live in a troubled world during troubled times. If I was old enough, I might say it feels like 2,000 years ago. In a general sense. The details are different.

If I was old enough, I definitely would look like I carried the immense weight of two millennia of disappointment and disillusionment about the state of the world. Trouble, terror and turmoil are a recurring theme in our history books.

If I was a Christian all that time, I probably would be overcome by our collective and consistent inability as Christians to live up to what Jesus called us to do.

But one thing I could not and cannot deny: Jesus knew all about the state of this troubled world and chose to live in it with us anyway.

Think about that as you read the news today—the heart-breaking, stomach-churning news of today so often devoid of even common decency.

While you mull that over, keep in mind it gets better than Jesus choosing to live with us. Christmas is part and parcel of Good Friday, which is part and parcel of Easter, which is part and parcel of where all of this is going—the redemption and restoration of all things.

Christmas is just the beginning, pointing us far beyond. May we be so bold.

*******

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

KADUNA, Nigeria (BP)—Nigerian church leaders insist Christians in their country are persecuted for their faith, rejecting a growing narrative that violence in their country is not religion-based.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Nov. 26 declaration of a national security emergency in response to growing violence there is only “window-dressing,” speakers said, and does not indicate the government will work to end Christian persecution.

In a Dec. 16 global briefing hosted by leading religious freedom advocate Open Doors International, journalist and researcher Stephen Kefas of Kaduna, Abuja House of Representatives member Terwase Orbunde, and human rights attorney, journalist and professor Jabez Musa verified atrocities committed against fellow Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and in the nation’s north.

Refuting the Nigerian government narrative

When U.S. President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern for committing or failing to stop egregious religious freedom violations, government officials insisted Christians are no more persecuted in Nigeria than Muslims.

The speakers at the global briefing refuted the narrative, confirming violence through research and personal stories of persecution. They discredited reports that violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is driven by a centuries-old land-rights dispute between Christians and Fulani herdsmen.

“I can say with all sense of responsibility that, indeed, Christians have been persecuted in Nigeria, and there are so many documented evidences that point to that fact that they have been persecuted in the country,” said Kefas, founder of the Middlebelt Times and a senior analyst for the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa.

“No matter how objective you want to be, no matter how conservative you want to be, you cannot put away that fact.”

Christian communities overrun by terrorists

Kefas, a journalist and former political prisoner who has reported on violence in the Middle Belt for more than 15 years, said Christian communities have been overrun by Islamist terrorists who have destroyed churches, abducted and killed Christians and left communities impoverished by demanding ransoms, destroying property and confiscating belongings.

While other religions exist in the Middle Belt, Kefas said, “only Christians are being targeted” there. What’s more, in the Muslim-majority north, where 12 states are governed by Sharia Law, the few Christians in the region suffer more casualties than moderate Muslims.

“How do you explain that?” Kefas asked. “What I’ve documented in the last 15 years as a journalist on the ground, I can tell you that indeed, there is an ongoing persecution against Christians in Nigeria.”

Violence intensified in Nigeria’s north with the emergence of Boko Haram in 2009, a terrorist group with ties to the Islamic State that has spurred the formation of other factions focused on violence against Christians.

“The group’s brutal tactics, including bombings, kidnappings, abductions, rape and forced marriages and killings, intensified, which have since disproportionately affected Christians and other vulnerable groups,” Musa said.

“Literally, Boko Haram prohibits and hates anything Western, particularly education, and Christianity is viewed by them as a Western culture which must be crushed.”

Musa described as conservative his estimate of Boko Haram killing more than 50,000 Christians in the northeast in the past 15 years, with hundreds of thousands of others displaced and forced to flee the region.

Heavily armed militant groups target Christians

Of the 4,476 Christians killed worldwide for their faith in 2024, the majority of them, 3,100, were killed in Nigeria, Open Doors reported in its 2025 World Watch List.

Militant Fulani, the Islamic State-West Africa Province, Lakawara and the newly emerging Mahmuda are active terrorist groups targeting Christians nationwide, advocates have said, with Genocide Watch reporting at least 62,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria between 2000 and 2020 because of their faith.

Today, militant Fulani are several times more deadly than Boko Haram and are armed with AK-47s and machine guns, Musa said. An ORFA report Kefas authored supports Musa’s claim.

Nigerians in the Middle Belt are offended by the narrative that violence in the mostly Christian region is driven by an age-old land dispute between Christians and Fulani, leaders said.

Attacks coincide with Christian holy days

They pointed out Christians and Fulani lived amicably there before terrorist attacks began. And those killed are Christians, indicating Christians are not attacking Muslims, but only vice versa.

“Land is the least of the things,” Orbunde said. “That may be what they ultimately want, to take the land, but first is to destroy the people. And because they are Christians, we cannot separate that fact.”

Terrorists attack churches and plan their attacks to coincide with holy days, the leaders said, pointing out Middle Belt attacks at Christmas for several years, and deadly attacks at Easter in 2025 in the Middle Belt and north.

Kefas cited research and interviews he has conducted in at least 70 majority-Christian villages where Fulani lived peaceably alongside Christians for decades before terrorism spread.

“It’s the same thing we see all over the world. It happened in Australia a few days ago, when a particular people were having something they wanted to celebrate, and then you have terrorists come and kill them,” Kefas said, referencing the Dec. 14 slaughter of Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach. “So, I think it’s the same thing.”

JERUSALEM (RNS)—In 2023 and 2024, Israeli tour guide David Ha’ivri didn’t offer his popular English-language Hanukkah or Christmas tours.

Tourism had plummeted after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and the start of the Hamas-Israel war, when nearly every international airline canceled flights to Israel.

But in the past few months, and especially after the shaky October ceasefire, tourism to Israel and the Bethlehem region of the West Bank has picked up, along with Israel’s national mood.

‘We are an optimistic people’

In fact, Ha’ivri once again is offering Hanukkah tours for overseas visitors and English-speaking locals. The eight-day Festival of Lights began Dec. 14 at sundown and runs through Dec. 22.

“The airlines are reestablishing their service, and I think that’s a good barometer that people are prepared and eager to visit Israel,” said Ha’ivri, whose Christmas tours remain paused until more pilgrims return.

“The mood here has changed. A lot of Israelis who were army reservists are mostly back at home with their families. We feel we’re getting back to a more normal atmosphere.

“We are an optimistic people. We know bad things can happen, but we want to believe that there are good things ahead of us.”

‘Light up the night’

After two years of war and heartbreak, the ceasefire—despite violations—has given some hope that the war will end in the foreseeable future.

While residents recognize hostilities could escalate, the atmosphere in Jerusalem and Bethlehem is palpably more festive for the holidays this year, with a full schedule of public holiday bazaars, concerts and events.

Many of the activities, once canceled out of respect for grieving families or because no one had the heart to celebrate, have returned.

That’s especially true for social events timed for Hanukkah, which coincides with Jewish schools’ winter break in Israel.

“For two long years we kept saying, ‘We will dance again.’ Now—finally—we get to come together, light up the night, and move as one,” reads an invitation for a public dance party scheduled for the fifth night of Hanukkah.

Celebrating Christmas publicly again

And, for the first time since the start of the war, many Christian communities in Israel and the West Bank are celebrating Christmas publicly.

In 2023, Holy Land church leaders asked their congregations “to set aside unnecessary celebrations.” They spoke against putting up Christmas decorations and hosting concerts, markets and the outdoor lighting of Christmas trees out of solidarity with suffering Palestinians in Gaza.

A year later, the church leaders reversed their decision, but last year’s celebrations were mostly indoors and revolved around family and prayer.

This year, though, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, encouraged locals and other Catholics around the world to openly celebrate Christ’s birth in the Holy Land. Christian businesses have been especially hard hit by the dearth of pilgrims because they rely heavily on tourism for their livelihoods.

Hope present though pilgrims are few

At the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center, a Catholic guesthouse and meeting place across the street from the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a tall decorated Christmas tree graces the entrance. A large Nativity scene and another shimmering tree await visitors in the festively decorated lobby.

Asked whether Christmas feels different this year, Yousef Barakat, the center’s director, said, “Yes and no.”

“For two years we didn’t make any decorations, just prayers in the churches,” he said. “But the patriarch told us we must create Christmas joy for the children. They deserve to be happy.”

At the same time, Barakat said, “there are almost no pilgrims” this year. Although hotel occupancy is “very low” in both Jewish-majority West Jerusalem and Arab-majority East Jerusalem, he said “we are more dependent on pilgrims from outside the country” than West Jerusalem hotels that cater to both Jewish and non-Jewish tourists.

Before the Hamas attack, Notre Dame employed 180 people. Today that number is 75.

“Still, the ceasefire is giving us hope,” Barakat said. “We are hosting a charity bazaar and a concert by a Christian band. You can feel the difference between now and two years ago.”

Lighting a candle of hope

Nabil Razzouk, a Coptic Christian tour guide who lives in Jerusalem, has not led a tour group since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

“I had hoped some groups would come this Christmas, but I waited until the end of November, and when no bookings came, I flew to Vienna, where I’m being hosted by relatives,” Razzouk said in a phone call from Austria. “My earliest booking is with a pastor who is bringing a group from America this spring.”

Just inside the entrance to the Christian Quarter on the third Sunday of Advent, laborers and vendors were racing to complete the preparations for the return of the Christmas market. The thud of hammers mixed with the sounds of Western Christmas songs.

“We hope the war is finally finished and that we’ll have a marvelous Christmas this year,” said Daoud Kassabry, director of the Collège des Frères Catholic school in the Christian Quarter, as he prepared for the public Christmas tree lighting at his school as sundown approached.

“Today, we are lighting the third candle of the Advent season,” he said. “It is the candle of joy and hope.”

(RNS)—Americans who had a positive religious experience as kids are most likely to keep the same faith as adults. Those who had negative experiences are most likely to change faiths or give up on religion.

And while a majority (56 percent) of Americans still identify with their childhood faith, a third (35 percent) have switched—including 20 percent who now say they have no religion.

Those are among the findings of a new report from Pew Research Center, based on data from Pew’s 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study and a survey of 8,937 American adults conducted between May 5 and May 11.

Researchers asked Americans what religion they’d been raised in as well as their current religion, then asked those who switched or left their childhood faith about why things changed. They also asked Americans who are religious why they remain part of that faith.

Nine percent indicated they weren’t raised in a religion and don’t have one today either.

For this study, released Dec. 15, changing from one brand of Protestantism to another did not count as switching faiths.

Childhood experiences matter

The study found 86 percent of Americans were raised in a religion, but those who stayed tended to have a different experience from those who left.

“Our data shows that the nature of their religious experiences as children—that is, whether they were mostly positive or negative—plays a significant role in whether they stay in their childhood religion as adults,” the study’s authors wrote.

Eighty-four percent of those who had a positive experience as children stayed in the same faith when they became adults, while 69 percent of those who had a negative experience now have no religion, according to the report.

Americans who grew up in what Pew called “highly religious” homes were more likely to keep their childhood faith (82 percent) than those raised in homes with “low levels of religiosity” (47 percent).

Those most likely to keep their childhood faith were Hindus (82 percent), followed by Muslims (77 percent), Jews (76 percent), those with no religion (73 percent), Protestants (70 percent), Catholics (57 percent), Latter-day Saints (54 percent) and Buddhists (45 percent).

Most who change religion do it early

Most switching between faiths comes before people turn 30 years old, according to the report. Of those who switched religion, 85 percent did so before age 30, including 46 percent who switched as teenagers or children.

About half of Americans (53 percent) who no longer claim a religion, known as nones, after growing up religious did so by age 18. Of those who switched religions, about 3 in 10 did so as teenagers.

Americans who stick with their childhood faith do so because it works for them, according to the report.

Many cited their faith’s beliefs (64 percent) as the top reason they retained their faith, along with having their spiritual needs met (61 percent) or finding meaning in life (51 percent) through faith.

Only about a third (32 percent) said the faith’s social or political teachings are important reasons to keep their faith.

Those who find spiritual fulfillment tend to stay

Protestants (70 percent) and Catholics (53 percent) were more likely to indicate their faith’s teachings were an important reason to stay, compared to Jews (45 percent).

Protestants (65 percent) and Catholics (54 percent) were also most likely to say their faith fulfills their spiritual needs.

Jews were more likely to cite a sense of community (57 percent) or their faith’s traditions (60 percent) as why they stay with their religion.

Few Americans say they stay in their childhood faith out of a sense of religious obligation, including 33 percent of Jews, 30 percent of Catholics and 24 percent of Protestants.

What prompts the nones to leave?

Many of those who left their childhood faith and now have no religion say they don’t need religion and don’t believe, the survey suggests.

Among the most important factors were they stopped believing their faith’s teachings (51 percent), religion was no longer important to them (44 percent), and they gradually drifted away (42 percent).

Scandals involving religious leaders (34 percent), unhappiness about social and political teachings (38 percent) or the way the religion treats women (29 percent) were also factors.

Researchers also asked those who have no religion about why they are not affiliated with a faith.

Among the most important reasons were they feel they can be moral without a religion (78 percent), they question religious teaching (64 percent), and they don’t need religion to be spiritual (54 percent). About half said they don’t trust religious organizations (50 percent) or religious leaders (49 percent).

About 30 percent of Americans say they have no religion—a figure that has remained constant since 2020.

The report found about 3 percent of Americans who were raised without any religion now identify with a faith—largely for the same reasons as religious Americans. They embrace their new faith’s beliefs (61 percent), say the faith meets their spiritual needs (60 percent) and say the faith gives their life meaning (55 percent).

Parents polled about practices

As part of the study, researchers also looked at the religious practices of children in the United States from the viewpoint of their parents. Just under half of parents with kids under 18 said their children say prayers at night (46 percent), say grace at meals (43 percent), read religious stories (43 percent), or attend services at least monthly (43 percent).

Protestant parents (61 percent) were most likely to say their children attend services monthly. They are also most likely (35 percent) to say their children are being raised in a highly religious household.

Nones are least likely to say their children attend services monthly (7 percent) or are being raised in a highly religious household (1 percent).

Mothers (39 percent) are about twice as likely as fathers (17 percent) to say they play the primary role in teaching their kids about religion, according to the study.

The fifth “wall” in the Baptist “house” Karen Bullock describes in her Pinson Lecture is local church autonomy, paired as it is with congregational governance.

These are not difficult doctrines to describe. Baptists believe each local church is an autonomous entity, free from the control of governments or ecclesiastical hierarchies. Each congregation is governed by the will of its members, in whom the Holy Spirit is active to reveal the will of Christ and empower the local church to carry out that will.

It also is relatively easy to explain the benefits of this way of understanding the church. Each church member is granted the responsibility of participating in the governance of the local church, and healthy engagement in that governance demonstrates he or she is maturing as a disciple of Jesus.

Likewise, local congregations are free to shape their ministry in response to the needs and opportunities presented to them by their context.

Nevertheless, the problems created by these corresponding convictions are so myriad and so consequential they cannot be described fully here. All we can do is make a couple of preliminary observations and then touch briefly on the challenges presented by Baptist polity.

Preliminary observations

So, what does the Bible have to say about church polity? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not as clear as we might like.

The New Testament assumes churches are independent of governmental control, but that is not surprising given the first Christians did not have the option of living in a “Christian” country.

As to the issue of how churches were run, it rightly has been observed that you can find evidence in the New Testament for any of the three broad streams of polity that have dominated church history—episcopal, presbyterian and congregational.

For example, 1 Corinthians presents the church in Corinth as a unified, decision-making body, one Paul had to persuade. In Acts 14, however, we see Paul and Barnabas relying upon their apostolic authority to appoint “elders” in each of the congregations they founded.

So, does one polity seem to work better than the others? That is a matter of opinion, but I would argue every polity has its weaknesses.

We have seen many of those weaknesses played out in the various sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, and many other denominations and parachurch organizations.

In episcopal systems, wrongdoing can be covered up by bishops, and elders or board members can do the same thing in presbyterian or semi-presbyterian contexts. In congregational denominations, the decentralized nature of authority can blunt attempts at accountability and change even when wrongdoing is brought to light.

Autonomy and cooperation

With these preliminary observations in mind, let us turn our attention to the challenges associated with local church autonomy and congregational governance.

The first challenge has to do with how autonomous entities can cooperate with one another for the sake of a shared mission.

Southern Baptists long have cooperated with one another to fund various entities that serve the church—such as educational institutions and mission boards. For several decades, they did so recognizing different churches had different theological orientations and different value structures.

In recent decades, however, there has been less tolerance for this kind of diversity of thought.

Whatever one thinks of the various conflicts that afflicted Southern Baptists over the past 50 years, it cannot be questioned, these conflicts are about the extent to which any given Southern Baptist church has the right to have its particular values reflected in the denomination’s institutions.

At the risk of stirring up a hornet’s nest, let me put the problem in practical terms, using an issue that has been in the news over the last year or more.

On the one hand, it can be argued the North American Mission Board has every right to direct its money into church plants that reflect the dominant doctrinal convictions of the Southern Baptist Convention, since doing so reflects the will of the vast majority of messengers expressed during a number of annual meetings.

On the other hand, it can be argued doing so restricts the freedom of Baptist churches who do not agree with that consensus to see their own values and convictions reflected in the kinds of churches Southern Baptists plant.

Similar arguments could be marshaled concerning the beliefs of seminary professors, the commitments of candidates for missionary appointments, and especially for those allowed access to state convention resources for helping prospective pastors find a church.

My point in raising these issues is not to say who is right and who is wrong, and it certainly is not to hurt anyone’s feelings. Rather, my point is to ensure we understand issues like these are not a bug in the Baptist system. They are a feature of that system, one that must be acknowledged and addressed honestly whenever conflicts arise.

When something goes wrong

The second challenge related to Baptist polity already has been mentioned. When something goes wrong, as in the case of the reckoning that took place after the Houston Chronicle and other news outlets reported on the prevalence of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches, there is no easy way to bring about reforms.

At first glance, it would seem such should not be the case. If the SBC can discipline churches for having a female pastor, then they ought to be able to discipline churches for other transgressions of denominational doctrine or best practices.

But the truth is most problems in ecclesiastical spaces are not as easy to identify as simply looking for job titles on a church’s website.

Without an authoritative hierarchy of church officials that have been entrusted with the task of investigating problems and developing solutions, it is up to individual believers, congregations and smaller denominational units to bear the burden of bringing about reform.

And make no mistake about it. Reform is needed, and it will be needed again in the future.

Baptists will not be able to hide behind their polity when they stand before Christ. So, we had better figure out how we can preserve our commitment to what we really think is a biblical understanding of the church’s governance, while also creating mechanisms to bring about change.

New ways forward?

Perhaps this is one aspect of Baptist identity where we might do some experimenting.

The Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia—the country, not the American state—describes itself as an “episcopal Baptist church.” As of 2013, it was led by an archbishop and three bishops, one of whom was a woman.

More recently, and closer to home, some Baptist churches have traded their business meetings and committees for boards of elders.

Only time will tell whether experiments like these produce better results than the polity that characterizes most Baptist churches and denominations today. Either way, Baptists have a lot to think about. I can only hope they will do so with a sobriety and generosity of spirit not common in our polarized, overly politicized and toxic world.

Wade Berry is pastor of Second Baptist Church in Ranger and has been resident fellow in New Testament and Greek at B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

DALLAS—The House Ways and Means Committee unanimously voted to advance the Clergy Act, H.R. 227, which would provide ministers who opted out of Social Security a one-time window to opt back in.

The bipartisan legislation was reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by California Congressmen Vince Fong and Mike Thompson, and has gained the support of several co-sponsors.

The legislation is supported by GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention and other leaders from a wide variety of large and historic denominational benefit boards.

“At GuideStone, we believe this is a positive step honoring those who faithfully serve in our churches and communities by helping them prepare for a more secure future,” GuideStone President Hance Dilbeck said.

Create a two-year window

The Clergy Act would create a two-year window beginning in 2029 that would allow eligible ministers who have opted out of Social Security to revoke their exemption and begin contributing.

Ministers still must meet the standard 10-year contribution requirement to earn full retired-worker benefits, receiving benefits proportional to their contributions.

The bill would require both the Internal Revenue System and Social Security Administration to submit a plan to Congress outlining their strategy to inform ministers of their eligibility to re-enroll.

Many ministers, against their best interest, choose to opt out of Social Security, often due to immediate financial concerns and inaccurate advice, Dilbeck noted.

“Ministers who opt out of Social Security trade the short-term benefit of lower taxes for the security of ongoing retirement and insurance benefits, including benefits for their families should they die young,” he said.

“GuideStone supports this legislation and will work to inform our members and ministry partners of how to opt back in should this legislation become law.”

Rep. Fong’s office reported the last time Congress offered an opt-in window for ministers who had previously opted out of Social Security was in 1999. Periodically, Congress has approved these limited re-enrollment windows with bipartisan support.

Companion legislation has been proposed in the U.S. Senate with Alabama Sen. Katie Britt and New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan as co-sponsors.

It was Dec. 25, 1997, when I got what felt like the most important gift in my 13-year-old life—a Sega Saturn and with it, the video game including multiple Sonic the Hedgehog games in one, “Sonic Jam.”

I’m a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan from way back. I played all the games and watched every animated TV series.

I think the Sonic cartoon that aired on ABC on Saturday mornings is the best out of them all. But I digress.

When I opened that box on Christmas morning, I shouted with joy and jumped around the living room.

I composed myself and began to set up the Sega Saturn.

I played for hours, and the only reason I stopped was for our family dinner. All I could think about was getting back to my game.

When we returned home, I stayed up extra late to keep playing.

Christmas 1997 is my favorite memory for a few reasons.

It was the Christmas my mother insisted I read a book and write a report to earn the system. I found the request to be ridiculous, but if I was going to get that system, I needed to devote myself to the mission at hand.

Looking back, the moment taught me patience. But it also makes me think about how my hope for a specific thing to take place was met with a promise kept.

Anticipation at the temple

In Luke 2:25-35, a righteous and devout man in Jerusalem named Simeon—with the Holy Spirit upon him—was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

He was waiting with anticipation to see God’s salvation.

The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

Simeon, led by the Holy Spirit, made his way to the temple. It was there Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to Simeon to present the newborn king to the Lord.

Simeon took Jesus into his arms and blessed God.

Much can be said here about the response to receiving Jesus—blessing God with exuberant praise and joyful celebration.

Between verses 29 through 32, Simeon immediately thanks the Lord.

Simeon would be able to depart in peace because his eyes had seen the Lord’s salvation, which God prepared before the faces of all people.

After witnessing Simeon’s public praise for being able to see the salvation of the Lord in the flesh, one can only imagine how much Mary and Joseph struggled to process the weight of being parents to Jesus.

Verse 33 says they “marveled.” This is an appropriate response.

Simeon then blessed the parents, a moment that could be missed if grounded in anxiety and fear, or an experience that captures the depth of what God is calling Jesus’ parents and all of us into.

Simoen told Mary: “The child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34).

Those who believe in Jesus and decide to follow him will rise, receiving salvation. Those who do not will fall.

Imagine being the mother of Jesus and getting a front row seat to who loves or hates your son—God’s son, to be specific.

The things we hope for

For many of us, the year has been like the line from Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Political, social and cultural challenges and division are forefront in America’s mind. The economy is shaky. And, if we all were honest, no presents for Christmas to survive financially through New Years’ almost doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Almost.

But as much as I love giving (and getting) a good gift, my hope isn’t in gifts, the economy, political parties or myself.

My hope is on the Lord.

This year made me consider what hope in the Lord meant to me, to see it beyond the cliché we too often throw around in Christian circles.

Editor Eric Black’s editorial encapsulates the meaning of that hope so well. So, I’ll take a moment to shamelessly plug it and encourage you to read it at your leisure.

I’ve lost things and gained things. I’ve had family members to bury and friends to console in the loss of their loved ones.

Then there’s that endless list of things we hope to accomplish, only to find ourselves hoping the next year will be different.

Sometimes we get lost in the shuffle of life because of the places we put our hope.

But, like Simeon, I believe when we place our hope in the Lord, his salvation and his return, we won’t be disappointed.

Together, we’ll be celebrating.

Kendall Lyons is news reporter for the Baptist Standard. The views expressed in this resource article are those of the author.

WACO—Baylor University received a $9.76 million Lilly Endowment grant to launch and provide financial support for the Ministry for Life initiative at Baylor’s Truett Theological Seminary.

The Ministry for Life initiative is funded through Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. The grant to Baylor University is one of 45 approved in this competitive round of Lilly Endowment funding to support theological schools as they lead large-scale collaborations with other seminaries, colleges and universities, and church-related organizations.

Truett Seminary’s Ministry for Life initiative is based on a collaborative, comprehensive approach to pastoral formation intended to span the ministerial lifecycle.

The program is organized around four related pillars:

• Shaping cultures of call.
• Educating the called.
• Placing the educated.
• Supporting the placed.

The grant-funded effort aims to build reciprocal relationships among leaders, congregations, denominations, educational institutions and church-related organizations through the Ministry for Life Center with a view to equipping healthy ministers to lead healthy churches over the long haul.

Addressing a ‘systemic concern’

“For a number of years now, several of my Truett colleagues and I, along with many of our ministerial partners, have grown increasingly concerned about a decreasing number of people embracing and preparing formally for vocational ministry and an increasing number burning out and dropping out of the same,” Dean Todd Still said.

“This generous, indeed transformative, grant from Lilly Endowment, which is the largest such gift Truett Seminary has received to date, enables us to collaborate with others to address this systemic concern.

“At scale, we are convinced that Ministry for Life will have a considerable impact and will help to create and establish virtuous ministerial cycles that will extend the gospel and strengthen congregations.”

Truett’s Ministry for Life program—which is due to become an endowed, permanent center at the seminary—will be supervised by Truett faculty and staff members Angela Reed, associate dean of academic affairs and director of spiritual formation; Jack Bodenhamer, assistant dean of external affairs; and Michael Mauriello, associate clinical professor of youth and family ministry. The five-year grant will allow for staff hires to support the initiative’s work.

Collaborative effort, holistic approach

“We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to build upon the work of teaching and encouraging those with a call to ministry by developing new collaborative degrees and academic certificates, mentoring young people drawn to ministry leadership and walking alongside pastors already serving for the long haul,” said Reed, who is the grant’s principal investigator.

“No theological school does this work alone, and we are very pleased to collaborate with denominations, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations in this project to support faithful, healthy congregations for God’s purposes in the world.”

Additionally, Bodenhamer, co-investigator on the grant, said Truett Seminary is confident the grant “will help shape the landscape of the church in North America for generations to come.”

“Its holistic approach—supporting ministers, churches, denominations, educational institutions and para-church ministries—positions us to serve individual pastors and congregations while also fostering meaningful change at a broader systemic level,” he said.

Strengthen churches and their leaders

The Ministry for Life initiative reflects Baylor’s “abiding commitment to the church in North America and to equipping future leaders for vibrant, lifelong ministry, not least through our seminary,” President Linda A. Livingstone said.

“We are deeply grateful for the Lilly Endowment’s continued partnership with Baylor University and for their faithful investment in the renewal of the church and support of congregations. We look forward to continuing this good work together to strengthen the church and support its leaders, both for today and for future generations.”

Lilly Endowment launched the Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative in 2021 to help theological schools across the United States and Canada as they prioritize and respond to the most pressing challenges they face while preparing pastoral leaders for Christian congregations now and into the future.

Since then, it has provided grants totaling more than $700 million to support 163 theological schools in efforts to strengthen their own educational and financial capacities and to assist 61 schools in developing large-scale collaborative endeavors.

I realize Advent has moved on to peace, but I’m stuck at hope. It won’t sound like that at first, but keep reading.

I’m a bit of a Grinch about the holidays—any holiday. I humor the holidays, but I don’t really get into Christmas until a couple of days before Dec. 25.

Part of humoring the holidays is understanding we will start singing Christmas hymns the first Sunday after Thanksgiving and will sing them through the first Sunday after Christmas. The same songs. Every year.

And those same songs will play. Everywhere. Sometimes as early as October.

Maybe this Grinchiness started when I worked retail in college and had to listen to canned pop Christmas tunes nonstop for hours on end for days on end. Some things are hard to get over.

Or maybe it happened while I was a pastor. Most people don’t realize how much work Christmas is for a church staff and volunteers. The staff would love to celebrate with you, but they’re likely busy and exhausted from all the extra events and all that goes with them. So, even their celebration can be … sleepy.

Anyway. Some people love this time of year. I humor it. Grinchy, I tell you.

So, I wasn’t prepared to be moved by “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” while we sang it during the modern worship service at our church this last Sunday morning.

I had a similar experience last year when our choir sang a particular arrangement of “O Holy Night.”

I really don’t expect this to become a holiday habit.

A holy hope

Last year, I wrote that “O Holy Night” has “long been one of my favorite Christmas hymns.” That’s true. Once Dec. 22 rolls around, I really like it. But I may have given the impression I appreciate the song at any time. So, I will clarify: “Let’s not get carried away. The song should inhabit it’s proper setting—Dec. 22 through 24.”

Or maybe just Dec. 24.

“Boy, he is Grinchy, isn’t he?”

“O Holy Night” seized my attention last year because of the arrangement, which I’d heard before but really heard that particular moment in that service.

The same happened this last Sunday morning with “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” this ubiquitous song of longing for the Messiah.

Sunday morning, we sang a modern arrangement of this old Latin hymn, translated bit by bit into English centuries later.

Words of woe: “O come, o come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here.”

Met with the hopeful chorus: “Rejoice! Rejoice! E-ma-nu-el shall come to thee, O Israel!”

To this, the modern arrangers added: “Rejoice, again I say rejoice, For unto us is born, The savior of the world; Take heart, O weary soul take heart, For Heaven’s on its way, And holy is His name.”

And we sing it loud.

Sunday, I saw the words on the screen, and I sang them as I saw them, but the lingering echo wasn’t, “Take heart, O weary soul take heart,” but “Take heart, O weary world take heart.”

Why should it? Why should this weary world take heart?

Because Emmanuel is on his way. Better still, because Emmanuel is here.

A hollow hope

My jaw tightens at so much of the news. It’s hard to rejoice amid the news of this world. It’s wearying and disheartening. It’s hard to hold out hope, or at least to believe there’s much substance to hope. Hope really can ring hollow here.

It’s also disappointing to see so many people—especially Christians—putting their hope in worldly solutions. Even Christians place undue hope in policies, money, power and material things.

There is no policy that will make everything all right, no political party, no amount of money, no accumulation. We know this intuitively. Yet, we maintain hope in the world, or we give in to hopelessness, hiding it in hedonism or despair.

“Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!”

This is the substance of a world and a people who don’t know, don’t see or who refuse to believe: “Heaven’s on its way, and holy is His name.”

A ‘foolish’ hope

What we hope for is foolishness to this world. What we hope for actually is an inversion of this world. What Emmanuel taught, what he came to do was to turn this world inside out, and nothing will be all right until it is turned inside out.

We can cease firing and sign the treaties, we can cross the aisle and make deals, we can sell all we have and give it to the poor, but until our hearts are inverted—read: converted—by the One whose name is holy, all that activity won’t satisfy the true substance of our hope. Until Jesus is Lord and we quit being pretenders, our hope will be hollow.

We can do all the worldly things right, but doing them won’t mean everything will be all right. Because the problem isn’t in our politics, policies, social positions or pockets. The problem is in us. To fix the problem, we must be turned inside out.

The substance of our hope is beyond the power and money and stuff of this world. The substance of our hope is not dependent on who wins the war. Yes, it would be easier—so we think—if our side wins—whatever side that may be. And we do hope our side wins, thus the fight.

To this world, saying Jesus guarantees what we hope for is abdicating the fight. Or it’s militarizing Jesus. Talk about polarization.

But what we really long for, what we really need, is not guaranteed by our side winning. It is guaranteed by Jesus and is kept in his kingdom. To this world, that’s hopeless, irresponsible, stupid, weak, naïve, foolish.

A hope fulfilled

Back to peace: Scripture warns against proclaiming peace when there is no peace. This world warns against proclaiming hope when this world thinks there is no hope.

But Jesus really was born. Jesus really did live and teach and heal. Jesus really did die. Jesus really did rise again to live and reign over all things for all eternity. And Jesus said he will come back and restore all things.

No, there may not be peace on Earth right now, but there always is hope—a hallowed hope.

And that will make any Grinch’s heart grow.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer of national Woman’s Missionary Union, announced Dec. 10 she will retire in January 2027, marking 36 years of ministry service.

Wisdom-Martin has led national WMU, an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention, since October 2016. Previously, she was executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas.

She announced her intention to retire to the national WMU general board—comprised of state WMU presidents and executive directors—during a called meeting and then with the staff of WMU, SBC.

 “After much prayer, reflection and conversation with my family, I am asking the WMU executive board to begin the search for a new executive director-treasurer as I will retire January of 2027,” Wisdom-Martin said.

“Faithfulness in this season calls me to be present with my family in a way that cannot be sustained by the obligations of my current ministry role.

“Our mission remains unchanged because it is rooted in God’s calling, not in one individual. God’s plan for this organization is bigger than any single person’s role. I have every confidence the Lord will guide and undergird WMU. His faithfulness does not change.”

Next steps

Wisdom-Martin voiced gratitude for national WMU staff and presented next steps.

“I am proud of how you serve others so selflessly and with excellence,” she said. “I am more confident than ever in WMU’s future because of you and our valued stakeholders. I do not intend to slow down. Together, we will continue to serve faithfully.”

Wisdom-Martin said she and WMU President Connie Dixon believe God already is preparing the right person to lead WMU forward. Dixon will appoint a search committee soon.

“It is the board’s role to find the next executive director,” Wisdom-Martin said. “They will seek the Lord’s direction, confident that he will make the path clear. We will move forward with gratitude for what has been and hope for what is to come. This will not be a disruption, but a continuation of God’s unfolding story of this ministry.”

‘Passion for missions’

Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, called working with Wisdom-Martin “a delight.”

“Her passion for missions, personal devotion to Jesus and determination to lead Woman’s Missionary Union to make a kingdom impact has inspired and motivated me to be a better leader,” Iorg said.

“Sandra’s genuine humility is a model for all of us. She has served with honor, and we will miss her contributions to the Great Commission Council and other national leadership platforms.”

During WMU’s January Board Meeting last year, Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, said: “Missions in the SBC would not be what it is if it were not for WMU and if it were not for Sandy Wisdom-Martin. We are very grateful for her, and we are grateful for how you support our missionaries. They are overwhelmed with gratitude when we tell them all that you do.”

In her role, Wisdom-Martin led WMU to help raise more than $513.5 million for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and more than $1.4 billion for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering since 2017.

In addition to helping raise funds for these two offerings, Wisdom-Martin has promoted giving to the SBC’s Cooperative Program and to the WMU Foundation to advance the gospel, as well as practical ways to involve more believers in evangelism.

Focused on mandate to make disciples

In the past 10 years, Wisdom-Martin has led WMU to be focused on its mandate of making disciples of Jesus who live on mission.

“We are failing to do the one thing Jesus told us to do, and that is to make disciples,” she said. “It is incumbent on every Christ follower to proclaim the gospel. This responsibility cannot be abdicated.

“We have church members who get married in the church and get buried in the church and live their entire life without once sharing their faith. This is the greatest tragedy of our generation, that we would not personally take responsibility for the sacred task entrusted to each of us.”

‘Sought to build bridges and strengthen relationships’

That conviction led Wisdom-Martin to seek partnerships in which WMU could provide practical resources for discipleship and evangelism. She also wrote countless articles, conferences and public addresses designed to encourage and equip others to share their faith.

“Sandy is a dynamic leader, one of the most creative thinkers I have ever known and a dedicated woman of God,” WMU President Connie Dixon said. “She has sought to build bridges and strengthen relationships with all SBC entities and leaders.

“Her genuine love for others is so apparent. Whether speaking on a national platform, writing inspiring articles, serving on a missions trip, or leading children’s Sunday school in her church each week, Sandy inspires all ages to grow stronger in their spiritual walk.”

Linda Cooper, who served as president of national WMU from 2015 until 2021 alongside Wisdom-Martin, agreed.

“A great leader is one who is both strong and kind,” Cooper said. “They lead compassionately and confidently as they inspire others. Sandy Wisdom-Martin is the epitome of a great leader.

“Her leadership has never been about her title or position. It was simply about one life influencing another to make disciples of Jesus who live on mission. Sandy certainly influenced my life and countless others whom her life touched as she has humbly led national WMU. I was honored to serve alongside her.”

Leadership during a global pandemic

During her tenure, Wisdom-Martin led the organization through a global pandemic that she described at the time as a crisis that negatively affected WMU’s bottom line, but positively amplified its mission.

Knowing church attendance and giving would be down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisdom-Martin engaged WMU leaders across the country in 2020 to handwrite more than 18,000 letters asking churches to support the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

With plummeting sales during a time when churches were closed and missions groups were not meeting, WMU increased efforts to engage others in missions in different ways.

Examples included reaching out to SBC seminary presidents with an offer to help international students stranded on campuses, sending daily prompts via email encouraging prayer for pastors and missionaries, working with IMB and state WMUs to help with a surge in requests for missionary housing and launching a podcast that grew to 63 episodes.

Sitting in church, noticing the lights and holiday decorations in the worship center, I remembered this week was approximately the anniversary of my bout with clinical depression 35 years ago.

I recalled not everyone is joyously anticipating Dec. 25. Not everyone wants Christmas lights shining in their eyes.

Loneliness and fear in the midst of a celebrating crowd is very real. Depression can gain a foothold like at no other time of the year, perhaps partially because of holiday expectations and loss of loved ones.

While some folks are celebrating the happiest time of their lives at Christmas, others are hiding under the covers and praying for spring.

People have trouble understanding depression. No wonder. It has taken me 30 years to be able to describe and write about the illness I experienced.

The illness I experienced

Overcast skies with cold weather bring back that feeling of desolation that nearly put me in the hospital. I was in my 30s and had a young child, and my husband served on the staff of a large church.

Emotional illness carried a huge stigma back then, and for that reason, my doctor decided to treat me for depression at home and not in the hospital.

Unknown to us then, I was without estrogen and had a nonworking thyroid. I was exhausted by motherhood and church work, with a body not operating at full speed.

We knew for months something was wrong, that my energy was very low, but thought I could cope with it. How often hardworking, determined people try to throw off illness and cure themselves.

One day, I lost color in my vision. The world was gray, and visual space perception or perspective changed. Rooms in our house looked huge and dark, and objects seemed far away. Kind of a scary tunnel vision.

Inside my entire body, I felt a vibrating, extremely anxious sensation. Terrifying, but I was able to sit quietly with the shaking. When I no longer could sit, I would pace back and forth across the room, praying for God’s help.

I remember being so sad I was ill and could not help my family. I was a burden, that fate worse than death to depressed people.

Facing a perplexing condition

My doctor met us at church that Wednesday night where we customarily had dinner and a leadership meeting on Wednesday evenings. I could barely get in the car, but my husband helped me to our appointment.

We three went into a Sunday school classroom, and the doctor determined he would prescribe a general antidepressant. I followed up with him in his office and then with a psychiatrist, who added an antianxiety medicine and a beta blocker for my racing heart.

Immediately, my vision returned to normal, and about six weeks later, my symptoms were mild. Apparently, I needed the brain chemical serotonin. Fortunately, medication with counseling were successful and helped me return to daily activities.

Whatever it takes to get well, however many times you must see the doctor, do it!

If God allows life, live fully

Some people, including myself, fear leaving home with the illness. At home, we have strategies to manage depression or distract ourselves from symptoms, and we can hide our condition from other people. So, for a while, I saw the logic in staying home and protecting myself from the stressful surprises of real life.

We depressed people try to manage our anxiety, stoically and with phenomenal effort, until two things happen: (1) we collapse, and/or (2) we realize we no longer are “living” life, not a healthy, abundant life. Of course, by then, we are in serious need of help.

So again, accepting medical and counseling help is the way through the maze. Severe illness is a trauma, and we need strong support from family and work, as well as doctors.

God heals in Jesus

I wonder if people in Jesus’s day experienced depression. Certainly, they did.

I know Jesus came to heal and save those who lived in pain—physically and emotionally.  Remember, he asked the invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, “Do you want to get well?” (John 5:6). When Jesus heals, he seeks our willingness.

Our physical, mental and spiritual dimensions get sick together and get well together.

With depression, problems tend to layer atop one another until the exhausted body and brain are affected. Some say a chemical imbalance comes first, but even if that is so, what does it matter? Our darkness still needs light.

Scripture speaks of “eyes seeing God’s salvation” (Luke 2:25-35). Luke relates a precious story of the prophet Simeon holding baby Jesus in his arms at the temple when Jesus was 40 days old.

Simeon knew his prophetic work was fulfilled when Jesus, light to the Gentiles and glory of Israel, was revealed. Simeon then could go to heaven holding on to God’s personal promise to him that he would see Jesus, after which he prophesied of Jesus’s impact on humanity.

Jesus was a light to my eyes even when the physical “real world” looked gray. He was the one spiritual light that never went out. Darkness cannot extinguish Christ. He is beyond physical light, dwelling in the impenetrable light of God.

The light of Christmas

God has boundaries, and he is bound by his radiance, but when we seek him above all else, we can enter his presence through Christ to pray and to praise him.

God is healing light. One might think of laser, radiation or ultraviolet light used in medicine. Light carries power that breaks down cells and kills germs, cuts and cauterizes, reveals disease and health. Light meets the present need.

Depression did not befall me because I lacked Jesus. Jesus, the light of the world, carried me through the illness. He was my safe place, my sanctuary, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 8:14).

Whatever you are going through, there always is more of Jesus than any of us can comprehend and more to the life he can give than you can fathom. He has put the potential for healing within you and comes to you personally with healing in his wings. Yield yourself to him and your personal physicians, and find sanctuary.

You can feel once again the joy of salvation, and the lightness—not weariness—of Christmas.

Ruth Cook is a longtime Texas Baptist. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Advent should remind justice-minded Christians their “yearning” and “longing for more” is rooted in the awareness God’s kingdom has come, but it also is yet to come, theologian Will Willimon told religious leaders on a Zoom call convened by Pastors for Texas Children.

Christians live “in the meanwhile” between Christ’s first advent as a baby in a manger and his second advent when he returns to set right all that is wrong, said Willimon, a former United Methodist bishop.

So, observing Advent reminds the church “what we need most we don’t have,” he observed.

‘Take the longer view’

In times of discouragement and defeat, Advent reminds Christians to keep the end in mind rather than focusing on the disappointment of the present moment, he asserted.

“There come those times when the discouragement is so deep, and it seems like the opposition is so effective against us, that we have to take the longer view,” Willimon said.

He made that observation when the Zoom call resumed after temporarily being disrupted by a malicious hacker.

Some of the “pushiest prophetic poetry” in the Hebrew Scriptures that focused on hope grew out of the exile in Babylon, Willimon said, citing the late Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.

Consider the scope of the gospel

“The good news of Jesus Christ is more than personal. It’s more than subjective. It’s more than individualistic,” Willimon said.

In an “aggressively subjective, individualistic culture,” Christians need to be reminded of the scope of the gospel, he asserted.

“This thing with Jesus is more than personal. It’s cosmic,” Willimon said. “Your little heart is too small an arena for what God is busy doing. … Everything is being turned upside-down so it can be turned right-side-up.”

The prevalence of bad news may be opening up the possibility for good news, he suggested.

Advent challenges Christians to hold loosely to temporary human systems and structures, because God is at work doing something on a grander scale, he insisted.

“In some of the dismantling that is going on, some of the letting go that I’m being forced to do that I find very, very painful, is God maybe in some of that, too, so that something new can come?” he asked.

In fact, he suggested, “God may be taking away some false idols.”

‘God is doing a new thing’

Without a long-term, Advent-informed view, Christians who strive for justice and goodness find it “hard to keep at it,” Willimon acknowledged.

However, the Advent message centers on the idea: “God is doing a new thing among us,” he insisted.

Kyle Childress, recently retired pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, asked Willimon how his preaching has changed since he began in the ministry. Willimon replied he gradually has learned to “take the long view.”

“I hope that the long hope we have—who has a name and a face, Jesus Christ—gives us enough short-term hope to keep working for the good and for others,” Willimon said.

“I do know we have a relentlessly redemptive Savior.”