Day Four

This morning’s Big Picture Bible reading was going along nicely when two things happened. First, two black birds began chasing each other around the Big Top, much to the consternation of many of the members of the audience. Second, the speaker spoke about some of the profound changes we are experiencing in our society. Changes like moving from consequences to options. There were others, but I can’t recall them at the moment, I may buy the CD.

The point is this, our society is changing and the church needs to change in response. As evangelicals, change often scares us. We fear that change means altering the fundamental truths we hold dear, but some of those truths are the very things that have got in the way of engaging with our communities. 

I’m not suggesting here that it’s time to change the message. The Gospel will always be the Gospel, any change to the fundamental message of the cross would be a dangerous strategy. But some of the “thing we hold dear” are less gospel than we think they are. 

As the morning speaker unfolded the message of Isaiah 42-43, I heard echoes of something I’ve been saying for years. I believe that the best question we can ask as a church is this: Lord, what are you doing and how can we help?

How different might church be if we only did what we saw the Father already doing? I fear there is a real chance we'd do nothing because we are too often unaware of what God is actually doing in our communities.