BLOG 7/3/18. THE END OF AN ERA: PART II
Last Friday in this blog I raised the question of whether, or not, we were looking at the end of an era, and of the American Empire as we have known them. Designate that blog as a reality check. The answer is that we are unmistakably looking at a very turbulent period in nearly every dimension of our culture, and with most of those influences that impinge upon all of our lives. So, what’s new? Our calling by Jesus Christ is the same even in the turbulence and unpredictability of this cultural white-water. We are those who pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.” That is the prayer that gives us focus no matter what is going on around us, … and it may lead us into some of the most thrilling episodes of discipleship that we have known, i.e., faithful discipleship in the midst of cultural white-water.
Kingdoms, empires, structures of stability, powerful agencies / power-strictures, and other unexpected forces can fade into insignificance, … but not God’s New Creation, his Kingdom. God’s tomorrow has invaded our today, and it is ultimately irresistible—God’s future has invaded our present, and that reality is present in those of us who are Christ’s disciples and who are responding in joyous obedience to his teachings, and so are a people of hope, a people of purpose, a people of love. This calling is what motivates us even in the most uncertain, and even the most hostile or uncomfortable of situations. Don’t lose this: We’ re called to be the incarnation of his design no matter how much the chaos, the cultural (social and political) darkness seem to be prevailing.
But, brothers and sisters, this also reminds us of how much we need a community of faith, of those other disciples with whom we have the word of Christ dwelling among us as we teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16 in loc). We need one another’s encouragement, their refinement, their input into our lives. It is such intimates in the faith who may well see in us some potential, some potential role of engagement or leadership that we don’t see in ourselves. We don’t function well in isolation from those of Christ’s people who love us. They also serve to ‘check us’ when we would take off into some role for which we are not gifted. This has certainly been illustrated many times to me, when I was encouraged into roles that I would not have chosen for myself, and likewise challenged when I was contemplating some venture that would not be helpful.
In this ‘white-water period’ this could even mean that one’s Christian friends could encourage a gifted participant to run for political office, … though most of us simply need nurture and encouragement for the vicissitudes of our lives with family, neighbors, working associates, or classmates.
But such a calling to faithful discipleship means that we need to be equipped with knowledge, to discern the times, to be informed about the forces that impact our lives in the civic communities. We dare not go into the battle ill-equipped, or making lame excuses that are “only a poor layman” when we are, rather, called to be ambassadors for Christ, and those men and women of God who abound in hope. No, it is a thrilling time to be alive no matter the demise of an era, or of an empire. God’s future has invaded our present, and, in that reality we engage each day with the eyes of faith. Take heart! Who knows what is around the next corner for you and me? God’s kingdom is irresistible, even when all seems to be in chaos, even when its proponents are in prison, even when its heralds and disciples are called ‘foolish’. God uses the weak and foolish and of no social pedigree to accomplish his eternal design. That makes us a people of hope … even at the end of one era, and the demise of the empire.
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