I have
walked the beaches of Normandy, strolled through the fields of Bastogne, sat in
Flanders where real men bled and died for freedom. I have read the very words of men who fought
and bled to buy the freedom that we take for granted today, for freedom is
never free! And I weep for a lost
greatness that should be our legacy. Now
the free world is clamoring to give up this freedom for bits of shiny metal and
glass beads. Gone is our national
consciousness and as a culture I believe that we are in decline.
This may be a strike against
American culture but that is not the worst part. In the middle of this cultural decline and
moral malaise the church has followed the same path. It is hard to imagine the church, the Bride
of Christ, the living body that carries in its breast the Holy Spirit of God;
has willingly walked away from her source of power. We now stand amidst the ashes of our former
glory marginalized by the very people that we are charged with saving and
loving. How do we, the body and bride of Christ, reach out to a world that
does not want us? How do we look into
the loving, tear streaked face of Jesus and say that we have done all we could
to tell the world that He loves them?
Some have
tried to answer these questions by pulling back from the world, to isolate
themselves and their children and hope that whatever has infected the rest of
the world will pass them by. Others have
tried to straddle the fence and live in both worlds, the effect of that is to
really be a child of neither world.
Others have tried to engage the world using the world’s tools. They embrace the Apostle Paul’s mantra of
being all things to all men. For me I a
feel that none of these answers are really effective in the long run. That leaves us still with the question of how
do we live in this world and fulfill our calling to be in the world and not of
it?
Pastor AL Weeks,
Slave of Christ
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