Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case brought by Calvary Chapel, a rural Nevada church. Calvary Chapel was looking to block enforcement of Nevada’s 50 person attendance limit on all places of worship – a rule which applies regardless of building capacity.

The attendance cap for Nevada churches has drawn righteous indignation from Christians since Nevada businesses, restaurants, movie theaters and casinos are allowed up to 50% capacity.

According to a new Gallup poll, more people say that wearing fur clothing is wrong than those who say that divorce, homosexuality or adultery are wrong. In that same poll, sex outside of marriage is more morally acceptable for adults, but 40% less think so for teenagers.

We are living in a time when people will feel guilty if they throw their empty water bottle in a trash can, but not feel guilty about living together outside of marriage. It is a time when people will say that there isn’t equality of pay for women, but they are the same people way say there no such things as binary sexes of men and women. It is a time when people will become emotional about the crazy cat lady with twenty malnourished cats. But those same people are not affected when a child is gunned down from street violence.

The first time the pastor saw George in church, George was in his mid-80s, with thinning silver hair and a charcoal gray suit. The pastor had gotten to know George over the past few years. Everyone enjoyed being around George. He was a pleasant, honest and respected senior citizen. He had lived a fascinating life that had taken him through the Great Depression and several wars. He was a widower twice over from cancer. Three times he had been on the receiving end of the call no parent wants to receive – news of losing a child.

Men, you want your fishing or deer hunting stories to be worthy of retelling. Women, you want your projects to be Pinterest worthy. Parents, you want your children to be accolades worthy.

We put bumper stickers on our cars boasting our children are on the honor roll. We post our personal successes on social media for validation. We want to be remembered for our greatness after we’re gone.

Last fall, Professor Mark Zarling, who was serving as the President of Martin Luther College – where we train our pastors and teachers – announced his retirement from the ministry. I jokingly told some Synod officials that they could put my name on the call list. If I was President of MLC, they could save money on business cards, brochures and nameplates. They could just print, “M. Zarling.”

I’ve also facetiously said that if I ever wanted to move something along faster in the Synod, I signed my email as “Pastor M. Zarling,” instead of “Pastor Michael Zarling.” If people thought it was coming from “Mark Zarling,” that carries a little more weight than “Mike Zarling.”

I grew up watching and loving the Looney Tunes. So, I was excited when I learned that the new streaming service, HBO Max, will be airing the old Looney Tunes cartoons.

But I wasn’t so excited to learn that HBO Max is making new Looney Tunes cartoons. The new cartoons may be funny, but they have already given in to our current cancel culture. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam will no longer carry guns to go after Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck.

I watched “Braveheart” earlier this week. At the end of the movie, William Wallace is being tortured for leading the Scots in battle against the King of England. While he is being brought to the platform for his public execution, the crowd boos while throwing rotten food at him.

First, William Wallace is strung up. The crowd cheers at Wallace’s pain. Then Wallace is put on the rack as his limbs are being pulled out of their joints. The crowd winces.

Little Red Riding Hood is one of world’s best-known fairy tales. Like most European folk tales, it has been told and retold so many times with so many adaptations, that its origin has been lost to time.

The modern versions we’re familiar with have a “happy ending.” Where Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are heroically saved by a woodsman. However, older versions were much scarier. In those versions, the wolf gobbles up Grandmamma in haste, “with mustard or bread.” The last scene grimly depicts the wolf doing the same thing to Little Red Riding Hood.

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” These are really weird verses. The eleven disciples see the risen Jesus standing in front of them. They talk to him, eat with him and worship him. OK. That’s not weird. They should be doing all that. Then we hear these words, “but some of them doubted.”

Right smack in the middle of seeing the biggest miracle that has ever happened – the Son of God dying and rising from the dead – some doubted. That’s just bizarre, don’t you think?

An entire vocabulary has arisen for this new time: Covid-19, social distancing, new normal, and more. Who of us really knew what a Zoom meeting was until a few months ago? A new reality has taken over where we become more expressive with our eyes, since our mouths are covered with masks; where we stand on X’s 6 feet apart in the store; and where we are constantly washing our hands with sanitizer and wiping surfaces with wipes. It is a new way of doing things where we worship online from home or celebrate birthdays, graduations, and funerals by driving by the house.

Who knew our reality and vocabulary could shift in such a short time?