Still Looking for Truth

Marketing experts write that every three to five years our culture completely reinvents itself, with the process compressing with each passing cycle. This change is not just limited to the United States or even Western Civilization; the entire world is going through this process of societal and cultural upheaval. Current societal change is often mistakenly called “Postmodernism”, an older term describing societal trends in the 1970’s breaking from what used to be “Modernism”. But in reality what society has become today is highly individualized, what British Philosopher Dr. Alan Kirby calls “Pseudo-Modernism. Kirby states, “whereas postmodernism favoured the ironic, the knowing and the playful, with their allusions to knowledge, history and ambivalence, pseudo-modernism’s typical intellectual states are ignorance, fanaticism and anxiety”.

Today in America personalized spirituality is all the rage, even if these same individuals can’t express any deep understanding of what it is that they actual believe. Fanatical commitment, at least for short periods of time, has been evident as well (remember the “Occupy Wall Street” protests a few years back?), but just not to religious faith as statistics show that now 27% of Americans state as “None” their affiliation with organized religion. Today, by some estimates, there are five to eight times as many high school and college students being diagnosed with anxiety disorder as was true half a century or more ago. As Dr. Peter Gray wrote recently, “The changes seem to have much more to do with the way young people view the world than with the way the world actually is.”

The truth is that people today are still looking for Truth, they just might not realize it.

Reaching people in our ever adjusting secular society will require that we tenaciously adjust, creatively consider and honestly evaluate our methods of communicating the Message of Messiah Yeshua, never deviating from the clear proclamation of our message. And one more thing: we need to make sure our message is clearly validated through the actions of our everyday lives.

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director

https://philosophynow.org/issues/58/The_Death_of_Postmodernism_And_Beyond - Dr. Kirby

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201001/the-decline-play-and-rise-in-childrens-mental-disorders - Dr. Gray

Effective Service!

Happy 2016, I think. It’s too early to tell whether this will be a good New Year or not, but regardless, this year too will pass, and if we are not careful, will pass us by without much lasting result. Devar Emet Messianic Jewish Outreach will be celebrating it’s 20 year anniversary in April; I also will be turning 50 that same month. It’s hard to imagine! As I reflect on these years, I would like to share some important principles for effective service for G-d that is important for all of us as believers to consider regardless of our age or occupation.

Effective service for G-d doesn’t just happen, it takes continuous development! Devar Emet began out of a desire Carla and I had to do something new within the Jewish community that would allow us to effectively reaching out to Jewish friends and neighbors with the truth of Yeshua’s Messiahship. We had done ministry in previous contexts, but we had always felt held back from trying new things that to some seemed edgy, like working with children and teens. All ministry efforts can over time grow complacent, lose their edge and become hardened into a comfortable and acceptable pattern of busyness. Organizations and congregations need to seek renewal, make time for reflection, and be willing to think outside the box to really stay effective. But most importantly, they must never ignore new approaches to reaching out and communicating the Good News of Messiah to our ever changing world.

Effective service for G-d requires staying flexible, being uncomfortable, and keeping focused on G-d’s task! I see as people age that they tend to shy away from what’s hard and uncomfortable. This may be natural, but for the believer it must be avoided. Working with people, especially people who don’t believe in Yeshua, is always hard work. The longer we walk with Messiah, the more effective we should be becoming in our ability to witness and spiritually encourage others. My passion for us as followers of Messiah Yeshua is that we stay ready for and focused on the important Kingdom work G-d has for us to do each and every day.

Effective service for G-d must inevitably lead to the raising up of new qualified workers for service!  G-d’s work always needs new workers. It is my prayer that G-d will work through our outreach at Devar Emet to raise up many new workers to serve G-d, individuals who are willing to give their lives to meet spiritual, emotional and physical needs within the Jewish community in the name of the Messiah! The need is absolute as even now the work is greater than our over-extended time and efforts can handle. Yeshua said in Matthew 9:36 when he saw the crowds, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. Pray that the L-RD of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.” This is my passion and hopefully yours as well. It is a tall order, both in time and finances, but this is G-d’s work and He will provide for what He wants to have done until our Messiah Yeshua returns!

Forward for Messiah,

Kirk Gliebe

Rabbi & Director