The western media have begun to banter about the suggestion that this winter’s political upheaval in the Middle East is like a spring thaw, warming heretofore rigid dictatorial or monarchical governments into pliable, receptive fields for democracy. The “Arab Spring” they call it. First Tunisia and Egypt—now Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and possibly Libya.

"O God, Japan!" The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and thirty-foot tsunami that decimated northeastern Japan’s coastal cities (just as spring break began here on campus) is not only the sixth strongest quake on global record, but is also the most costly natural disaster in earth’s history. However, it is the human toll that has broken our collective heart.

Whatever possessed a rich, well-to-do man like Zacchaeus to climb a tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus? Today’s sermon, based on the Bible story found in Luke 19:1-10, spins a tale of the way it might have been.

Come with me as we travel to the backside of the Roman Empire, into the sweltering, fly-infested land of Palestine. We continue our track across difficult terrain until we reach the fragrant field city of Jericho. Here is the home of the despised man, Zacchaeus, a tax collector.

Several months ago someone sent me the 1577 prayer of “England’s most famous sailor and explorer,” Sir Francis Drake. A quick check of Wikipedia revealed that this swash-buckling privateer (a private ship owner authorized by the government to prey on foreign vessels during a time of war) was never a candidate for Anglican sainthood.

Like teetering dominos, the Islamic giants of the Middle East fill our news. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Iran—will Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Syria and the smaller nations be exempt from the sweeping unrest that has already spread across the desert sands of these neighbors?

Have you read this survey on teenagers? George Barna, the Christian demographer, released a national survey of 602 teenagers, in which they were asked to describe what they think their lives will be like in ten years. And their responses are intriguing.

I know it isn’t a church holiday, but when we were kids, giving each other those little red and pink cards on Valentine’s Day was a favorite pastime. I don’t suppose we ever really figured out the meaning of that innocuously short query that we scribbled in third grade penmanship on those floppy heart-shaped cut-outs. Nevertheless we handed it out to all our friends at school: “Will you be Mine?”

If the 19th century sage Ralph Waldo Emerson had a page on Facebook, perhaps his “favorite quotation” would be his own words: “Events are in the saddle and tend to ride mankind.” Events really are in the saddle these days, aren’t they? A contagious unrest in the Middle East spreading street riots from country to country.

Three people died this week: Don Kirshner, the veteran music mogul, hailed a “legend” for his creation and management of young rock groups in the 60s and 70s, including the Monkees; Sargent Shriver, described as the most influential non-elected politician in U.S. history, serving his brother-in-law John Kennedy’s administration as head of the Peace Corp and leading the War on Poverty for President Lyndon Johnson; and, an unnamed and unknown elderly man in Mongolia. The first two are being feted in the national press for their portfolios of achievement.

When was the last time snow was on the ground in 49 of our 50 states? Welcome to the Winter of 2011. But the tragic killings and attempted assassination of Congresswoman Giffords in Tuscon, Arizona, last weekend are a somber reminder that this nation’s greatest challenge is not meteorological but moral.