One of my favorite David Bowie songs is called 'changes'. It is a typical late 70's song that like most was too long and too repetitive, but even with that I adore it. The song focuses on the ever changing flow of life and how we handle it and how we respond to it. It points out that change is inevitable and that the best route is to 'turn and face the strain' and accept the nature of what life is pitching at us next.
As I was reading people's comments about the state of the church recently, I was listening to this song. I couldn't escape the feeling that things weren't as bad as some were saying it was. The comments were dire to be sure. Some were predicting the end of the church, others were saying that we now reside in a post-christian landscape. And yet, I found myself unwilling to accept the most dire of the predictions.
I found myself realizing one central truth, change is constant. As the centuries have rolled by change has been the primary and immutable force behind it all. We can't assume that the church will be the same tomorrow as it is today. Only God is able to pull that one off. The church as we know it today may cease to exist, but that has been true since the ascension of Christ into the heavens.
Think about it this, would a medieval christian recognize the faith as it expressed today? My guess is that the answer would be a big fat no. And yet the fundamental tennets of the faith remain unchanged from that time to this, the only thing that's changed is the expression. If we were permitted to come back a century from now, (assuming that the Lord tarries that long), would we recognize the same faith that we claim as our own today? The answer would be that I don't think that we would.
As such, I think people need to ease up on the dire rhetoric a bit. God will still be God tomorrow. The church is the bride of Christ and it belongs to God. God won't allow his bride to be destroyed! We should relax a bit and allow God to be God in the midst of this, and accept the changes that are coming to the church.
A new generation is beginning the process of taking over the leadership of the church, the baby boomers are starting the process of marching off into retirement. A generational shift of this magnititude was likely to cause some shock waves. The key is that the church can handle it. The bride has survived much worse in her tenure on this earth. If she survived the first century Roman genocide attempts, she can weather this without breaking a sweat.
As for the post-christian landscape comments, allow me to say the following... I am not sure that the christian landscape was much more than a thin veneer that covered over a whited sepulcher filled with dead men's bones. I am not convinced that it was ever all that christian to begin with. If we trully reside in a place with this sort of geography, which I am not convinced of in the first place, then I believe its a good thing. At least, we can admit that what we're calling this landscape is actually what it really is. In other words, we aren't saying its christian, when it is anything but that.
Change is a good thing. We need to accept it. We need to turn and face the strain, and move forward in stride with our creator, our redeemer, and our God. Anything less will leave us stuck in the past without a path of forward progress. Anything less will turn us into the 21st century equivalent of the Amish, without all the interesting skills, and abilities.
As I was reading people's comments about the state of the church recently, I was listening to this song. I couldn't escape the feeling that things weren't as bad as some were saying it was. The comments were dire to be sure. Some were predicting the end of the church, others were saying that we now reside in a post-christian landscape. And yet, I found myself unwilling to accept the most dire of the predictions.
I found myself realizing one central truth, change is constant. As the centuries have rolled by change has been the primary and immutable force behind it all. We can't assume that the church will be the same tomorrow as it is today. Only God is able to pull that one off. The church as we know it today may cease to exist, but that has been true since the ascension of Christ into the heavens.
Think about it this, would a medieval christian recognize the faith as it expressed today? My guess is that the answer would be a big fat no. And yet the fundamental tennets of the faith remain unchanged from that time to this, the only thing that's changed is the expression. If we were permitted to come back a century from now, (assuming that the Lord tarries that long), would we recognize the same faith that we claim as our own today? The answer would be that I don't think that we would.
As such, I think people need to ease up on the dire rhetoric a bit. God will still be God tomorrow. The church is the bride of Christ and it belongs to God. God won't allow his bride to be destroyed! We should relax a bit and allow God to be God in the midst of this, and accept the changes that are coming to the church.
A new generation is beginning the process of taking over the leadership of the church, the baby boomers are starting the process of marching off into retirement. A generational shift of this magnititude was likely to cause some shock waves. The key is that the church can handle it. The bride has survived much worse in her tenure on this earth. If she survived the first century Roman genocide attempts, she can weather this without breaking a sweat.
As for the post-christian landscape comments, allow me to say the following... I am not sure that the christian landscape was much more than a thin veneer that covered over a whited sepulcher filled with dead men's bones. I am not convinced that it was ever all that christian to begin with. If we trully reside in a place with this sort of geography, which I am not convinced of in the first place, then I believe its a good thing. At least, we can admit that what we're calling this landscape is actually what it really is. In other words, we aren't saying its christian, when it is anything but that.
Change is a good thing. We need to accept it. We need to turn and face the strain, and move forward in stride with our creator, our redeemer, and our God. Anything less will leave us stuck in the past without a path of forward progress. Anything less will turn us into the 21st century equivalent of the Amish, without all the interesting skills, and abilities.
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