Dear friends,
Do you ever get the impression things are coming undone in our world? Our institutions, from primary education to the university, from the press to social media, from Hollywood to governments, are in trouble. Christendom, the outward forms our faith takes in society, is being chipped away. But that is something very different from Christianity. Christendom is a system, a power structure, based on the Christian faith but built by mortals. As journalist Malcom Muggeridge wrote, "It bears the same relation to the everlasting truth of the Chrsitian revelation as, say, laws do to justice, or morality to goodness, or carnality to love--or, if you like, as Augustine's City of God to the earthly city where we temporarily live" (from The End of Christendom). Jesus said "My kingdom is not of this world," making clear we are not to build his kingdom on the world's terms. He also promised "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). Therefore even if society is dethroning all its former certainties, we can be certain of this: that we share in God's purposes for his creation, and those purposes are loving. This is what church does for us: it helps us live gratefully and creatively in this truth. That is comfort and joy, something all of us could use more of.
In Christ's love,
Pastor Randy
