2020 Vision: November 2020

Times are a'changin'....

I know -- that's something you probably heard an elder say when you were growing up.

But, no matter how old you are today, it's a statement to look into ... one made by someone paying attention ...

Recently, after the same aim in which I started this blog, I went out hunting for evidence that someone is having the conversations that matter. Someone might call it observing the culture -- which must be done specifically and intentionally in an age where so many have space to make their opinion known .. and also weighed.

It used to be that such broad access to culture, to influence the massive waves of people belonging to the various groups, happened around more specific causes -- music/art, good leadership/the topic of governance, religion/beliefs. There was a space when more of those who had a hand in making those large waves had paid a price, formed the character, were masters of their craft, lived and breathed the same thing they were dishing out. And, this tends to happen around things that matter, what our next generations will be able to walk and grow and build in.

Today, all you have to do to be (instantly) seen by millions of people is post a thought on a social media page. And, whether we like it or not (for those paying attention), although the value of such instant contribution may likewise not be the same as back in the day, it is yet helping to build the ebb and flow of what is making up today's culture. My question, is anyone talking about what matters?, the things that carve out what the next generation will be looking at? For,

times are a'changin'.

An aspect of this dynamic I notice additionally, people WAIT to have these unsuspectingly weighty (instant feed) conversations with those millions of people they can't see. Having the weighty topics that progress the ebb and flow of culture as regular conversational pieces in our everyday lives with the people around us (at work, school, the grocery store, the park) are things we tend to not get too messy with until behind a screen and keyboard -- because that's the community, right? Within this dynamic, people groups are 'out there' somewhere. And, this is what I recently went a'looking into.

The truth is, there is an ebb and flow making up the culture, and it's formed by the conversations being had.

They're just not in the same format that they used to be. On a scale like never before, the unseen mass influencing what your outside experience is - the experience outside of your own immediate world and comfort zone - may not necessarily be those who have any time invested in what they're talking about, or good reference even. What they do have is that they're getting together and agreeing. This is what forms culture.

It is necessary to understand what people are agreeing about these days, to actually understand the culture we look up and find ourselves in as things rapidly change around us.

News flash -- if you haven't figured it out in reading this post (or my blog) already -- I believe you cannot watch the news to find out what is going on around you. My strong opinion contribution. And, this is exactly why I started this blog. When doing so, having a degree of nerve to walk up to total strangers and ask them to share, I was convinced that there was a place to get the real news and that the way I'd dreamed of, making real connections with those around me, was that way.

It was a task to get up and go on this recent hunt, to have to accept that mere opinion is helping to form the world I live in on an unprecedented scale in no less than 2020... and decide to go to where that opinion is being shared.

But, I went ahead, praying God willing, I would come away with discovery that allowed some hope some of those discussions, which mark the commencement of a brand new era, are not mere instant opinion ... that groups somewhere are agreeing in some sense of what a future looks like outside of a trending feed, based more in real life experience and where life is actually occurring - and likewise valued...

I found great little nooks in my venture.

As a Christian, one of those finds I appreciate greatly, led me to give a listen to a November podcast message from the lead pastor at Jesus Culture Church in California. The message was titled A Counter Culture People. It's episode #330 and can be found on the church site at jesusculture.com.

I really appreciated the message, given by Pastor Banning Liebscher

(leeb shur), because it helped bring the vision with which I started this blog into a new degree of focus. My vision - based on observing the best of humanity being revealed under pressure this year - to bring to light the everyday life narratives that are sprouting up to reveal this truth. Banning's message was rooted in Galatians 5, the well known place in Christendom for learning about the fruits of the Spirit.

A Christian believes that those things I've been trying to describe via this blog aim, to tell an honorable story of humanity, are qualities deeply, solely rooted in the One Who created us, after His own image.

In essence, as Galatians describes, God has the monopoly on everything that is GOOD. And, Galatians 5 has the list of what the treasure is. Banning went on to ask of his listeners the question -- how can we be sure we're manifesting the fruits of the Spirit? ... Answering, 'It requires that you pay attention'.

Boom.

Listen to his full explanation here.

One of the things that drew me to tell the story on this blog is complete fascination with how I could observe people in such a tense time as this being patient, kind, encouraging -- it not occurring in an observed environment, somewhere like at church on a Sunday, or while someone's boss is watching them .. but instead seriously as the evidence of what is rooted in a person. I speak of one of these encounters in my Patience post.

Met with all the messiness of a year unlike any other, in all it's expected potential and legacy, 2020, I believed it was extremely important to likewise take a look at and tell the story of what is good about this space in time.

Being a Christian and herein able to believe that the Galatian strengths I've seen around me this year are rooted in God Almighty gives me great hope for the future. And, moreover, having been able to observe these strengths in hidden nooks and corners from unsuspecting gems - people - gives me the vision that God can show up absolutely where ever He wants to. And does.

GOOD News Flash -- it does take God to pay attention in this day and age. If you have found this space and do not yet know Christ, invite Him into your heart today.

Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. John 20:29

Praying you have a wonderful holiday season, paying attention!

Love, Isie

Check out the next post for a further journey in Gal 5 and the Fruits of the Spirit .

#2020&Beyond

References

Gospel of John

John 1 | ESV.org

Galatians

Galatians 5 | ESV.org

A Counter Culture People

https://jesusculture.com/podcasts/show-episodes/a-counter-culture-people/

Additional

The Heart Of A Shepherd

https://jesusculture.com/podcasts/show-episodes/the-heart-of-a-shepherd/

2020 Vision

Saturday, November 28, 2020

#2020&Beyond

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Culture