Timeless Wisdom for Modern Life
Every word matters…
Timeless
Innovation and technological advances are remarkable. The mind-stretching breakthroughs in science and tech radically change people’s lives… and, much of the time, for the better. One of the secrets to the information revolution is that new discoveries still face old questions: who am I? Why are we here? Is there life after death? What is happiness? Is there right and wrong - and who gets to decide? etc. Lakelight looks at the best of the Christian intellectual tradition to find timeless truths.
It is possible to think of something ancient as out of date or irrelevant. Timeless, by definition, is unaffected by the passage of time or changes in fashion. Timeless things have an enduring quality that result in admiration. We are out to discover those qualities.
Wisdom
Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! (Pr 4:7 MSG). Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase captures the priority of acquiring wisdom. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, which is a jarring claim today.
This not only means there is a divine reality, but a divine personal God and a need for humans to demonstrate a posture of reverence and fear for this God. This starts with studying and locating wisdom in a created/designed order of the universe. But the New Testament makes this even more explicit, stating that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus (Col 2:3).
Wisdom is ultimately found in a person, Jesus the Messiah from Nazareth who was born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, died and buried, yet rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. (See Nicene Creed)
For
This gets at the purpose of the institute. It is easy to fall off on two sides of knowledge First, some simply try to make everything practical and avoid all abstract categories. Second, some climb higher and higher up the proverbial ivory tower until no one understands (or care about) their ‘research results’ and ‘insights.’
As a result, knowledge and learning lose their purpose. They are not ‘for’ anything. But the often painstaking work to retrieve timeless wisdom has a purpose. The modern world desperately needs its application.
The shortest word gets the shortest description.
Modern
This is both a technical term (historical/cultural approach in 19-20th century) and a colloquial reference. You can start a fun debate at your next party trying to find precise dates on modernity, but our focus is the latter. Many questions surfacing in the “modern” socio/political moment are new. Rapid change characterizes the modern moment. Innovation outpaces ethical reflection.
Lakelight maintains that ancient approaches help, not hinder, the modern quest to answer questions of the day. We desperately need something sturdy right now. If you are exploring bio-tech, cryptocurrency, self-driving cars, gender debates, cyber-security, or a blockchain economy, there are deep Christian resources ready to frame and formulate wise responses.
Christians are called to be modern people, not Luddites. We want your help discovering how to do that faithfully.
Life
Life - Ultimately, we aim to locate wisdom in real life that leads to life and flourishing, not pain and death. A central aspect to ‘real life’ is the work we do. Not simply the compensated work we do for employment, but the great contributions of care for people and environments. God designed ‘life’ to work by working and resting. It’s a 6 to 1 ratio (those who believe Sabbath was fulfilled in Christ might argue the exact ratio). Still, we face a moment in American Christianity when faith and work are dis-integrated for many and faith is a 1 day act and not a part of real life.
We are targeting this Sunday to Monday gap (see recent Barna study) as a contribution for the work of Lakelight. We believe it leads to life for Christ-followers and the common good.
3 Core Emphases
Imagination. Integration. Formation.
We believe personal and cultural formation emerge from a biblical and theological imagination directed toward one’s (paid and unpaid) work.
Christian formation happens in relationship to God and neighbor. It is not a formula. Rather, it is a strategy to devote oneself to learning and relearning; a commitment to form and reform the things we love the most. And we believe this happens best when we are together, not alone.
To that end, Lakelight will focus its efforts around three core areas:
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The first core emphasis, Biblical and Theological imagination, does not mean we are looking to innovate on historic beliefs. Quite the opposite. While all the statistics of biblical literacy in America are pointed the wrong direction, the response is not just more information. The Christian mind requires our starting point to be the ancient context of Scripture while applying to our modern technological society. This invites an imaginative approach.
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The default settings of our day push faith to a Sunday activity, with extra credit to those who wake up early for a time of devotions. Faith becomes compartmentalized. The normal work week operates with a different set of rules unless we deliberately integrate faith into ordinary aspects of life. This core emphasis stems from the belief that Jesus not only created all there is and holds it together, but stands above it as the king. This truth invites us to integrate faith into our working lives, paid and unpaid work.
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Society is always an agent of forming our values and tacit assumptions. Today, the cultural centers of media and education, big business and the arts are leading, formative influences. Here’s our question: how are they forming us and how are we forming them? The third emphasis fights the idea that faith should only be private or that the gospel only impacts eternity. Instead, the gospel implicates our personal practices and systems that govern business, education, the trades, legal practices, arts, government, etc. Lakelight is committed to offering redemptive solutions to cultural sticking points.