Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. [Ecclesiastes 4:9–12]

“The whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.” We’ve all heard that maxim. It is often mysteriously true.

The maxim explains how the Guardians won their division on Sunday! They have the lowest collective batting average in baseball. They were down by a million games to the Tigers less than a month ago. They lost two key pitchers to gambling accusations. And except for two players, they are not loaded with all-star, household names. And yet “the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.” Playoffs, here we come!

I’ll throw the Beatles in that category. Yes, John, Paul, George, and Ringo each were pretty special musicians and had very successful solo careers. But collectively they produced music and created a phenomenon that is still booming today. Why? “The whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.”

This can apply to a staff at work. A cohesive team, with a clear vision and a purposeful synergy and camaraderie, can achieve more than a group of talented individual staff members who don’t work well together—which is why I am not a big fan of the “work at home” trend that has become popular since COVID.

This certainly applies to the Church. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as members in the Body of Christ are edified and sharpened in their lives and faith. The New Testament’s words about spiritually gifted people serving for the good of others speaks to that. The many “one another”s also remind us of the dynamic dimension of ‘church-life” when people join their lives together to encourage and comfort.

I often comment on the Ecclesiastes passage above at weddings.” Two are better than one…” when they join their dreams and ideas and agendas as well as their bodies in this covenant relationship called marriage. And by God’s grace their lives become greater than they could have ever been apart.

A triad of threes

Three games. That’s how many chances the Guardians have to win twice against the Detroit Tigers and move on to the next round of the playoffs. The games start today.

Three areas of ministry: education, healthcare, and women’s care. These are Dignity Freedom Network’s holistic emphases as they bring dignity, restore freedom, and transform the lives of the most marginalized of India. This is on top of the great work of planting churches that the parent ministry, Good Shepherd Churches of India, is all about.

Three fatal shootings over the weekend. Yikes! On Sunday morning in Michigan, a gunman rammed his truck through the front of a Mormon church and then began shooting. Four people died and many more were injured. He also set the building on fire.

In Southport, North Carolina, a gunman fired on a waterfront restaurant from his boat on Saturday night, killing three and wounding five. (We have eaten there more than once!)

In Eagle Pass, Texas, shortly after midnight on Sunday, two people died and five more were injured in a shooting at a local casino.

…Sorry, this makes four. In New Orleans, on the well-known and highly populated Bourbon Street, a quadruple shooting killed one woman, wounded two other women, and injured a man.

The grip of evil on our country and world and the incessant violence ought to grieve us greatly. But I am afraid it is becoming a numbing routine we simply read as just another newsfeed.

Three movies of note

Eleanor the Great
A lovely story of aging and friendship between generations and not losing the memories of the Holocaust along with the effects of grieving on everyday life. Go see this one. You won’t be disappointed. It’s a very warm story. Not as minor key as my opening description sounds. (It’s also Scarlett Johansson’s directing debut.)

Tina (Mother)
(Didn’t see this one yet. In the States it is only available on Hulu. Comes highly recommended from a reliable person.) Tina is about a Samoan woman who takes a job teaching choir at a snooty rich New Zealand school. She also instructs the privileged kids about life, respect, love, and culture. The Samoan songs and Christian hymns are breathtaking. The climax is said to be powerfully heart-wrenching. A must see, I was told.

The World Will Tremble
This film is on Amazon Prime and Apple TV. It is based on the true story of how a group of prisoners attempted an escape from the first Nazi death camp to provide the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the unknowing world. Described as a nail-biting triumph of the human spirit where even under the worst human conditions, man’s determination can overcome the most insurmountable of odds. (On my and Sue’s watch list.)

Three passings

Voddie Baucham
Popular pastor, conference speaker, and author Voddie Baucham, Jr. died suddenly after suffering a medical emergency last Thursday. He was 56. “Voddie was a Reformed preacher who loved the truth. But note what you see in his sermon videos: tears. He had a soft heart. He loved his hearers. He knew the gospel’s power,” said Professor Owen Strachan.

Robert Redford
This well-known and prolific actor was a favorite of mine. Three movies of his that I loved: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and Ordinary People (which he directed but didn’t act in).

Redford must have had a wise father. The famous actor tells this story: “When I was in the third grade, I had a friend named Lois Levinson. One day I began to notice this buzz around school: Somebody was a Jew. I didn’t understand what was going on. Then I heard words like kike and Yid, things like that. Suddenly… out of the blue, in class, Lois stood up and said, ‘My name is Lois Levinson, and I’m a Jew… and I’m proud of it.’ Very bold, very brave but very confusing to me.

“So I ran home, and at the dinner table I said, ‘Hey, what am I?’ My dad said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘Today Lois Levinson got up and said she was a Jew. What am I?’ My dad said, ‘You’re a Jew.’ I said, ‘What?’ I thought my life was over…and I was devastated… I ran to my room and was in there awhile before he came in and said, ‘Look, I told you that to make a point.’ It made a huge impact on me. From then on, I was going to defend anybody in that situation.”

Christoph Von Dohnányi
The longtime conductor and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra passed away in September. He led Cleveland’s world-class orchestra from 1984 to 2002. Sue and I saw quite a few of his concerts.

Three books of note

In our day of commonly “making Jesus” according to our biases and cultural practices, I thought it good to suggest three books that engage our understanding of the Lord and perhaps make us fall in love with him anew.

But first, a reminder of the person of Jesus:

Jesus was a Jew. He was born Jewish, lived Jewish, and died Jewish.

Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, attended synagogue, celebrated Jewish festivals, and called God by Jewish names. His Jewishness is essential to understanding his mission. “When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” (Luke 2:22)

Jesus participated in the culture and religious life of his day. He observed the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening, he followed kosher dietary laws, attended the regular Jewish festivals and pilgrimages to Jerusalem, said the daily prayers, and completed his Torah study. while also challenging some interpretations of the law.

Now for the books:

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Anything by Yancey is worth reading! This book is bit of a different perspective on Jesus (his work, his teachings, his miracles, his death and resurrection—and ultimately, who he was and why he came). From Yancey: “In this book I emphasize the relational and personal rather than the scholarly. Who was this man Jesus? What was he like? No one who meets Jesus ever stays the same.” And an endorsement from no less than J.I. Packer: “In a day when novel ideas about Jesus are all the rage, Yancey’s pages offer major help for seeing the Savior as he really was.”

Knowing Christ by S. Craig Glickman
Glickman was the reader of my Master of Theology thesis. I always found him an out-of-the-box, very creative and challenging thinker. This very biblical work is no different as Glickman walks the reader through the Gospels and shows Christ as a man filled with justice and truth and grace who is worthy of being followed and imitated. Craig connects very interesting dots to the entire biblical story.

Jesus Was: Not What We Expected but Better Than We Imagined edited by Susy Flory and Scott Johanningsmeier
The premise of this book piqued my interest. “Throughout history people have molded Christianity to fit their desires and passions. In response, there has always been a call back to the biblical text. Jesus Was is our response, by examining different characteristics of Jesus as revealed in the Bible… In Jesus Was, we hope you will meet Jesus in a whole new way through some of the fresh new voices in the church. If you’ve ever wondered who Jesus really was, you’re in for a restart.” (It was just published, so I have not had a chance to read this work, which has many contributors. The reviews praise it and say the book is very accessible. It sheds light on Jesus’ first-century Jewish world while also causing the reader to contemplate who Christ was and how to live in relationship with him in our world today. Still. I am a wee bit reluctant to suggest a book about Jesus that I haven’t read.)

Trinitarian prayer for these days

“Good morning heavenly Father,
good morning Lord Jesus,
good morning Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I worship you as the creator and sustainer of the universe.
Lord Jesus, I worship you, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship you, sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in your presence
and please you more and more.
Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.
Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Holy, blessed and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God,
have mercy upon me. Amen.”
[John Stott]