Month: December 2025 (Page 1 of 4)

Anthony Bradley continues to be an insightful  source of material for my blog on masculinity.  He recently post a blog entitled, “Secularism lied to boys and men.”  He notes how Gen Z men are running back to church for the truth they were denied.  “The boys and men in the West are not alright,” warns Bradley, “adrift in a culture of digital distraction, economic volatility, and profound loneliness, a generation of young men is waking up to the fact that the secular world has broken its promise.  Secularism doesn’t work.  It was all a big fat lie.” 

Bradley references the recent data from the UK showing a quiet but powerful current that seems to be pulling a growing number of young men toward an ancient faith.  There is a conscious rebellion or as some call it “a quiet revival” against a trivial society. It is “a search for an anchor in the form of a rigorous full fat orthodox Christianity.” Bradley asks, “Why are the lost boys of the secular age finding their way back to God, and what does their journey tell us about the future of the West?”

Gen Z is a generation whose consciousness has been shaped by perpetual crisis, economic precarity, and the hollowing out of communal life.  It has produced a generation of spiritually destitute young men.  “Disenchanted with the the triviality and banality of a screen-addicted society, young converts are searching for transcendence – for something beautiful, awesome, and enduring.”  Young men are being drawn to a robust, full fat orthodoxy and the stability of its deep historical and institutional roots.  They is a search for “rediscovery of an inheritance.”  

Gen Z is experiencing a crisis of meaning. The structural failure in culture has created a new demand for the Christian message.  Young men are being drawn to Christianity because of its “truth claims.”  “The Christian faith,” notes Bradley, “is not being adopted as a mere therapeutic tool but as a comprehensive framework for a flourishing human life…..The church is functioning as it was designed: as a community of belonging and purpose, offering a coherent answer to the alienation that plagues the modern West.”  

Young people are rejecting a “half fat” gospel in favor of the “full fat” orthodoxy of historic Christianity.  They are drawn to the radical, counter-cultural, and comprehensive claims of the gospel.  Bradley wonders,  “What is happening in the UK should serve as a sober-minded and encouraging case study for the church in North America. It suggests that as the secular narrative continues to exhaust itself, opportunities will emerge.  The question is whether the church will be ready with a compelling, orthodox, and deeply communal expression of the faith that offers a true alternative to a world that has lost its way.”

The last sentence in the previous paragraph presents, in my opinion, a challenge to the men of my generation.  Do we have a compelling story of the good news that will speak to generation Z?  Do we have a full fat orthodoxy or is it a “half fat” message?  I accept this challenge from Bradley.  Young men are searching for an anchor in their lives, living in a secular culture that seems to be exhausted?

As the writer of this blog, I have not changed in my convictions.  Articulating the truth is vital.  Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8;32). I believe in a “full fat” orthodoxy.  I have continued to cry out for older men, like myself, to mentor and gather with younger men.  Masculinity is “caught more than taught.”  Finally, I need to act like a real man. 

The week before Christmas, our senior apartments had our annual Christmas party.  I began our time together with a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing.  In my prayer, I reflected on how so many of us had  memories of past Christmases with family get-togethers,  Now we were away from family, living with seniors, knowing that our days were numbered.  Yet, we could celebrate the birth of Jesus, knowing that we will soon be going home, since Jesus had come to prepare a place for us. The bells I heard in my youth, sound more loudly as I anticipate my going home to be with Jesus. 

We sang many of the old traditional carols, along with familiar songs of the season. I was struck how we all knew the songs by heart.  Memories flooded our thoughts as we sang. While the hymns, seemed to keep Jesus in the season, many of the seasonal songs seemed almost out of place.  For example, Bing Crosby’s  “White Christmas,”  and “Walking In a Winter Wonderland.”  Much has changed in our culture.  All the seasonal songs relate to traditions and memories of our childhood.  But with the carols, it seems different.  We were singing about the birth of Jesus, which to me, seemed as relevant today, as when I  sang  them over 60 years ago in Negaunee, Mich.

I thought about our present moment, for all of us, old folks, as we sang, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”  The  first verse speaks clearly of the  meaning of Christmas. “I heard to bells on Christmas day, Their old familiar carols play/ And wild and sweet the words repeat, Of peace On Earth, good Will to Men/ I thought as how this day had come, / The belfries of all Christendom, Had rung so long the unbroken song of Peace on Earth Good Will to Men.” Yes, the carols of Christmas would once again declare “the unbroken song” that declares Jesus was the one who brought peace and good will, which seemed to be in short supply in our day

It was the second stanza that caused me to sing more joyfully and confidently as all the seniors of Northern Lakes Senior Living sang: “And in despair, I bowed my head, ‘There is no peace on earth,’  I said, / ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song of Peace on Earth Good Will to Men./Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, / ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep./ The wrong shall fail, the right prevail/ with Peace on Earth Good Will to Men.’  

I worshipped the Lord, as we song the second stanza. It meant more to me in 2025.  I have the tendency to “despair” about the state of our world today.  I am living in a land where “deaths of despair” are on the increase.  It seems the voice of negativity reigns loudly in my day.  I can find myself “bowing my head” in despair.  I contemplate – “There is no peace on earth.”  What bother me most is, “hate is strong and mocks the song of Peace on Earth Good Will to Men.”

Then in the company of other senior believers, I remember the old, old story of Jesus and His love, being told  for 2,000 years.  Yes, the song will continue to be heard “loud and clear.”  “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with Peace On Earth Good Will To Men.”  

I can sing with confidence as I remember the words of Jesus.  “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’   Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”  (Rev. 22:21)