Some Words with Jon Jordan

Are the Beatitudes merely beautiful words — or do they actually mean something in a broken world?

The Beatitudes are not simply moral advice or self-help teaching, but Jesus’ announcement that a new world is breaking in. Spoken into a first-century world shaped by violence, power, and fear, the Beatitudes declare that those who live by God’s kingdom values now are already blessed.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week—but this week is more than what it appears to be.

It is easy to move through these days as just another stretch of time filled with responsibilities, schedules, and routines. But Holy Week invites us to see more deeply—to recognize that beneath the surface, something eternal is unfolding.

Many of us feel the tension—wanting to follow God fully, while still holding on to the life we want for ourselves. Can we live our way now and God’s way later?

The invitation of the Gospel is not a loss of joy, but the discovery of it—both now and forever. To entrust our lives to God is to find the meaning, freedom, and joy we were made for.

In which I reflect on the meaning of the cross, not only as a symbol of suffering, but as the ultimate victory of God over sin, death, and evil. The cross was meant for destruction, yet through Christ it has become the source of life, hope, and salvation.

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In which I explore the deep human question of identity through Deuteronomy, Colossians, and the parable of the Good Samaritan. Before we ask “What must I do?” we must first ask “Who am I called to be?”

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Note: as is often the case, this short note started with a quick thought I recorded in a parking lot. Below is the first attempt to put down in words some of what I am trying to say. If you are curious and okay listening to unpolished thoughts, here is the original voice memo.

Here is the slightly more polished attempt:

Opening Premise

Humans are better off when they spend more time talking with family, friends, and neighbors than they do listening to strangers. This approach to personal interaction leads to the good life.

Historical Overview

Before the popularity of radio and television, it was impossible to do the reverse. You simply could not spend more time listening to strangers than talking with family, friends, and neighbors.

(Lewis raises a red flag about the barrage of “the weekly press” in Screwtape Letters, and his point is valid. But his is in a different world than ours. Many of us are trying hard to return to only consuming news media weekly!)

So, radio and television made it a little easier to listen more to strangers than to dialog with people you actually know. The dawn of the telephone—and eventually the cell phone—was different: these devices actually made it easier to talk with family, friends, and neighbors more frequently. One pathway towards the good life was strengthened, if you chose to take advantage of it. Video calls, an extension of this technology, also widened the pathway towards the good life, for those who use them well. (N.B., meetings with people you could otherwise see in person != using them well.)

The dawn of the smartphone flipped all of this on its head. With email, an internet browser, and social media all in your pocket, it is nearly impossible to spend more time talking with family, friends, and neighbors than listening to strangers.

If you are seeking to return to an older, better way of human interaction and you own a smartphone, the deck is stacked against you.

Conclusion

Some of the technological developments of the past century actually help people maintain this balance. Others actively hinder this sort of healthy alignment of interactions.

How then shall we live?

The only way to begin to return to an older, better way of human interaction is to use these technologies well. And one major implication of the data is this: without actually getting rid of your smartphone, your only chance at turning the tide is to remove email, internet browsers, and social media from your smartphone entirely. Force yourself to sit down at a computer to engage in these forms of technology.

This is a new recording of an essay originally published in June 2022: livingchurch.org/covenant/…

Social media is a form of the unexamined life Socrates warned us about.

But does it have to be so? Are the current popular iterations of social media, which I will refer to as Big Social, our only option for consuming information, connecting with friends and strangers, and developing bonds across borders and oceans?

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The Tower of Babel and Pentecost call us to reject the murky, downstream pursuits of self-reliance and instead seek the pure source of life found in God. At Pentecost, God comes down—not to control us, but to dwell within us, empowering us to live a Spirit-filled, unified, and abundant life.

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A sermon on rest, interruptions, and what it means to be human. Mark 6 is the primary text. Proper 11, the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost 2024.

By moving Jesus’s words about his body and blood out of the Last Supper and into the context of this chapter, what is John trying to reveal about humanity, and what is John trying to reveal about Jesus? A sermon for Proper 13 2024: the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. The primary text is John 6:24-35.

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