Wrestling with value, authenticity

The late Al Jolson in one of his ballads croons, “Come out here in the moonlight.”

The rest of the song hints of a lover's plea for authenticity and perhaps intimacy in a relationship.

This theme finds me at a time when I'm wrestling with an explanation of value and authenticity for the life we live.

The late James Stewart was given a movie role in which he was allowed to be a quasi sheriff in a town in the Old West. I didn't get the impression that it was a paid position. His service was weakly enhanced by the crudely fashioned star his son had made for him. His position was elevated very quickly when a lawless crew came to subject the town to a violent murder and other indecencies.

The sheriff is discouraged by the town who reminded him of the shabbiness of his office. The sheriff defends his opposition to this ruthlessness with words about having to respond to life or just walk out of it.

This is fodder for most theologians interested in leading people to avoid ignoring what is going on, and to step up to the plate and face all the issues of life.

I dislike it when I, or anyone else, tries to reduce all our lives to simple clichés. I hope I'm not peddling clichés, when I say our spirituality rises or falls with the intensity we bring into life.

We must take off the blinders and maintain a Christian world view. This view allows us to recognize all the challenges, oppositions and powers in our world. The opposition to maintaining a Christian world view centers around the ignoring, minimizing and perverting many of the wonderful things the Lord has given us.

Our sexual nature is an example of how our culture has minimized, ignored, and perverted this God-given blessing. Material possession have been the victim of this inadequate assessment of life.